When the Family Gets Together…

Tonight’s Family Home Evening was taken care of by the kids.  Corinne volunteered to conduct as she does almost every week.  She loves being in control, and she does a great job moving things along, much to the frustration of the person giving the lesson.  Jillian was relating a story from the August Friend when Corinne interjected:

“Thank you, Jillian.  That was a great lesson.  Now we’ll turn the time over to…”

“Corinne!  I wasn’t finished!”

“I know, but that’s enough talking.  It’s time for the game.”

We asked Jillian to finish her lesson on repentance and she did a great job.  Afterwards she thanked Corinne for being reverent.  Corinne admitted:

“I wasn’t really listening.  I was just waiting for you to be done.  Let’s play the game now.”

Evan asked:  “Great.  Are we playing bubble/fairy/farmer tag?” (a mixture of the types of games we play when the little girls are in charge.)  No, not this time.

Jillian almost lost us as she explained the rules of the game she made up to go with the lesson, but we agreed to try it.  She had put a lot of thought into it and even made a “tangerine” prop.  We found ourselves running around the basement trying to avoid being tagged by the tangerine tree.  If the tangerine touched us, we were frozen in place and waited for Mrs. Baker to hug us before we melted into the floor or we’d be the next tangerine tree.  Have you ever played that game before?  Probably so, but it was our first time and we actually enjoyed it.  I should have taken a picture but I was too busy trying to dodge the tangerine. 

The fun ended too soon for Corinne and she begged for another game.  When we wouldn’t accommodate her, she collapsed on the floor and refused to conduct the rest of the meeting.  We continued without her.  When it was time for the closing prayer she raised her head and asked:

“Dad, what was I sad about again?”

“We wouldn’t let you play another game.”

“Oh, yeah.” 

She puts head down and starts crying again while we all try to control our laughter so we can pray.  And then we adjourned to the kitchen for some Snickerdoodle Casserole.  Just ask Evan for the recipe—it was really tasty!

How to Save Money on Groceries

Another child in braces?  How are we going to pay for that?  I needn’t have worried.  For days after the metal was installed in Evan’s mouth, he was unable to eat much of anything.  What a savings!  If this keeps up, we may actually come out ahead. 

PS—Don’t worry, I got permission to post this picture.  It wasn’t easy.  Every time I snap a shot, my older kids demand:  “You better not blog that!”  Oh, the  wonderful pictures you’ve been missing.

google.mom

Corinne thinks I know everything. Here is a sampling of the questions she asked me one morning, all within a couple of hours. And these were just the ones I remember.

“Why does the sign say trucks can’t drive on this road?”

“Why is there an American Flag? We don’t live in America.” (It took Evan and I awhile to convince her that we do live in America. “But you said we live in Utah? We can’t live in two places.”)

“Why are peppers spicy?”

“Why don’t we want the weeds to grow?”

“Can I play with Aidan?”

“Why do cousins live so far away?”

“Why do people lock their doors when they aren’t home?”

“What does ‘vorce’ mean?” Vorce? “Yeah, like when someone gets a divorce?”

“Why can’t Hayley eat peanut butter?”

“What is facial hair?”

“Why does Heavenly Father create hurricanes and tornadoes? I think it’s a bad idea.”

“Why do we need baptism to wash away our sins? Can’t we just go in a pool or bathtub?”

“Why are Ashley and Morgan getting married? They seem like they are already married because they’re together all the time.”

“Can I watch the Harry Potter movie with skeletons?”

“How does a baby get out of your tummy?”

“When I turn eight or ten can I have my own laptop?”

“Why isn’t lying OK with Heavenly Father?”

“Is tricking or kidding OK?”

She obviously has the cross-examination skills, and she’s also working on her reasoning and negotiating. After church today she wanted to jump on the trampoline but I told her she should find something better to do on Sunday. “Mom, jumping high on the tramp makes me closer to Heaven, and that makes me think about Heavenly Father and Jesus. So it’s actually a great thing to do on Sunday.”

Is it too early to apply to law school?

Here We Go Again!

Yes, it's back-to-school time at our house! Grant and Jillian are just finishing up their first week of 6th and 3rd grades. Sometimes I think it's harder for me than for them that they have to start school in July. You'd think I'd be used to it by now after six years in Utah (!!!) but every summer it just feels wrong to start a new grade when it's 100+ degrees outside and stays light until almost 10pm. I just love trying to get them to bed on time, especially when they are the only ones in school so far. Evan and Alyssa won't start for 4 more weeks, and soon after that G and J will be out for the whole month of September! Crazy.

It's Great to Be Eight!

Jillian celebrated her 8th birthday with a Backyard Camp-out (that ended at 10pm so they didn't really camp overnight). Seven girls (plus Jillian and Corinne) played games, went on a treasure hunt, sang around the campfire, told scary stories in the tent, ate campfire cake, and lit sparklers. It was a great party, and now we're looking forward to Jillian's baptism on Saturday! (Oh, I almost forgot to thank Mitchell and Erin for their suggestion about making a log cake. It was a big hit!)

She's Off the Charts!

But the wrong way off. As in, not even on the shaded portion of the growth curve chart--in the 2nd percentile. At least she's consistent. Hayley's 9 month dr. visit was last week and she weighed exactly 15 lbs. However, her head circumference puts her in the 89th percentile. Good thing her head is big enough to support such enormous bows.

She is so much fun these days! You can look in her eyes and tell that she is soaking up new information daily. She claps and squeals when excited, and tries to imitate the sounds she hears. Hayley is a great eater even though she usually makes a face at the first bite of something new. She spends more and more time playing contentedly, as long as Jillian and Corinne are close by, and doesn't constantly need to be held. She's almost crawling, and loves to stand and walk with help. She usually sleeps through the night, which is wonderful when it happens, and still takes a couple of good naps each day, as long as we're home during nap time. Corinne is sitting by me and wants me to write that Hayley knows how to say "dada" and "mom", which is true, but at this point those are just experimental sounds--I don't think she knows what she's saying. This little girl gets so much attention from her whole family--we love her!

Give her FIVE!!!

I hope Alyssa isn't embarrassed that I'm posting this. Yesterday in the mail we received the results of her first AP test. She scored a FIVE (the highest possible) on her AP Human Geography test--as a freshman! I always knew she was smarter than me.