Our Christmas Tree

One of our family's favorite Christmas Traditions is to go cut down a tree with Ben's sister Amber and her family. We had a blast- and found a beautiful tree. We went to a different area this year than we've been before- and there was SO much snow. We took the snowmobiles, and we were glad we did! Roo- tromping through the snowBug digging in the snow

Our tree this year is a bit smaller than the past couple of years- only 15 feet ;) instead of 20. But it looks beautiful. ;) The angel at the top is just centered in the top windows.

Frosty the snowman

It was the first real big snow of the season yesterday- and some boys were SO excited they could hardly stand it. (I definately didn't have the same emotions!- snow- UGG!) So after church they were begging to dig out the snow stuff and go play in it.

And here's Mr. Frosty It's snowing and blowing now. BRRR!

Wind, oh Wind!

In the words of Marie Hall Ets in Gilberto and the Wind, (a picture book I've read with each of my boys as we do a unit study on wind) "Wind, oh wind, I don't like you today!"


The wind was just a howling yesterday- And the boys told me "Mom, Come look at the Trampoline!" It had blown from the back yard to the front yard, and crashed on the fence near the truck. Right on top of my rose bushes. Smashed the fence, smashed the tramp, luckily it missed the truck by a foot or to. Here's what it looked like after Ben and Bug moved it off the roses.Needless to say- it's not fixable. :( Doodle said "Maybe we'll have to ask Santa for a new Trampoline." Maybe so.

Car Time

It seems sometimes as homeschoolers we are never really at "HOME" And we spend a fair ammount of time in the car. I began to realize that this was prime time- they are a captive audience with nothing to do- and I wasn't using it well enough.

Every morning I have to run pick Bug up from his class at the public school- he's taking a first hour class this year- he has PE right now- and will have Band the next 2 trimesters. So every morning- We pile into the car to go get him- it takes about 10 minutes there, and another 10 back home- not to mention the few minutes we spend waiting for him to come out- so there's lots of car time.

On our way to and from the school we practice the songs and poems that the kids will perform at the care center each month. Doodle and Roo practice their poems, and we go through the songs. It seems to be perfect timing- we finish the last song right as we pull up to the school.

The car seems to be a perfect time to practice memorizing poems, they have to say them loud, so I can hear them over the car engine. After they have their poem memorized, we work on Articles of Faith, Math facts, spelling words, or other stuff that needs memorized.

As we are waiting in the car- I keep the newest copy of The Friend magazine Each boy takes a turn chosing a story to read while we wait. We also have a copy of The Big book of 5 Minute Devotionals and we read a story from it. On the way back home we practice the songs for the care center again, with Bug's help.

Other times when we are out running errands or in the car- we have a book on CD to listen to. The library has wonderful selection of children's books. I've found if the kids are listening to a story, they are less likely to fight amongst themselves (maybe I'm the only one who has kids who like to fight in the car- but I kinda think not)

Science Saturday!

We have been studying astronomy this year- so when we read that the Ott planetarium was offering free shows along with Science Saturday- we decided to go. We were a little dissapointed at the shows that were at the planetarium- we were hoping for something more "astronomy like" the Nature of Science and the Legend of Orion that we saw were good- just not what we were expecting. BUT-- the Science Saturday stuff was AMAZING! :D As we went in- each kid got a passport to stamp after they did the various activities, and a book bag with a science experiment in it- complete with all the necessary materials. Also there were rules, pencil sharpeners, a small notebook, and other cool stuff.

They taught us about snakes and bearded dragons- Roo looks a bit scared! ;) He's like his big brother Bug- who stood at the door-

A neat Magnet game-

Bug's trained termite- the termite followed his pen line around the paper Testing to find out "Who did it" and solving a crime.

While we didn't learn more about the solar system like we set out to- we did learn a lot of other cool science stuff- We'll have to fit Science Saturdays into our schedule more often!

Just a few- Roo-isms

I love learning along with my kids- it's one of my favorite things about homeschooling, is learning new stuff with them. Quite often, they are the ones teaching me- Last night Roo taught me a lesson. It was our family's turn to clean the churchhouse building, so Roo and I had our paper towels and window cleaner and were working on all the doors and windows in the foyers. We were just about finished when Roo told me "This is like cleaning Jesus's feet." I was confused. He told me "Yesterday at church we talked about how Jesus cleaned his apostles feet, and now we are cleaning his house- and it's kinda like cleaning his feet. We are serving others." I told him how right he was. I'm amazed at the ways he can remember his church lessons and simply apply them in other situations.

A few days ago he was upstairs playing with his cars and trucks, And told me that one of them was broken and went to the shop to be fixed. He said we were like cars. - me halfway listening- "ok Roo, how are we like cars?" "A broken car is kinda like a sinner" he told me "They have to go to the shop to be fixed, and a sinner needs to repent to be fixed"

We're the Chipmunks....

Alvin, Simon, Theodore....do do doo doo doo...

3 boys have been planning their halloween costumes since LAST year- so here's the chipmunks- Doodle is Alvin, Bug is Simon, and Roo is Theodore

Happy Birthday Ben

Yesterday was Ben's Birthday- and ever since Nick's wedding and the kids did THIS:

They've been anxiously waiting for Ben's birthday so they could carry out their plans of THIS:

Happy Birthday Ben! You are the BEST!! You are such a wonderful husband and father, and we appreciate you and all you do!

WHAT?!

You mean Andrea actually updated the blog! (shocking isn't it!) I've been a huge slacker lately- mostly because I'm frustrated with blogger lately- and I can't get it to let me drag my pictures to where they are supposed to go. :p So here's a few random pics of our recent goings-on- hope they will drag where I want them.

From a recent drive up the canyon to see the fall colors.
Last month's field trip out to the Golden SpikeThe boys at the Rocket Display on our way to Golden Spike We went to AZ for Ben's little brother Nick's wedding. Congrats Nick and Amber!

We are happy for you two and wish you the best!Fishing at Lee's Ferry in AZ- We were so bummed when we went down in July that we didn't get to go fishing- so we made SURE we got to fish this time. Stopped at Cedar Breaks again- decided this is a beautiful place! Silly Doodle- just barely in the picture-

Cabin trips....awww! Fall is the BEST time to go. (okay, and spring and summer and winter too) This one is taken in Yellowstone near the East Entrance- We don't usually make it all the way over that way- but wow! It was beautiful.

Gotta be sneaky to get Doodle's picture!Roo and Trish- hiking around Mud Volcano areaAnd what's a Yellowstone trip without a Bear sighting! He's a small black bear we saw not too far off the road. He didn't seem to care that we were there. Ok- now I'll try and do better about staying caught up on the blog! ;)

Online learning games

In Doodle and Roo's workbox drawers each day- one of their drawers has "Computer time" written on a card for them to do. Pam usually has some fun math game for them to play, and I have a few other websites I rotate between- and I thought I'd share some of our favorite online learning games. (ha! This also puts all my links where I can find them when I forget where that fun game was!)

First off- Ones Roo likes-
Starfall.com is one of my favorites, it's a complete reading program, lots of games, books to read, alphabet games
Fun4theBrain has a bunch of fun games- along the top click addition, Roo especially likes the Monster dentistry (he answers 10 add problems then gets to clean the germs off the monster's teeth) silly- but he likes it. Another favorite is under English at the top- there is a popcorn words game that works on sight words.
BBC has lots of fun and simple games
Sight words with Samson is a simple sight word game, it goes through 4 steps- learning, the spelling of the word, identifying, quizzing, and a fun ocean themed game of recognizing the word
UEN has links to other games that are helpful (a lot of them are pbs games)

Doodle's websites-
Multiplication.com - Melinda over at Homeschooling a Houseful introduced me to this site- and it's perfect for Doodle who is just starting learning multiplication this year in math
Academic Skill builders is another great site with math games for multiplicaiton, as well as addition. They also have a few English games that are fun.
Dance Mat Typing- is SUPER for learning to type correctly. Doodle has just started working on this game- but it goes through all of the keys on the letters on the keyboard. I don't think it does the numbers.
A few others that Pam has assigned Doodle to play games on are mathplayground.com and coolmath4kids

Bug uses many of these sites along with bigiqkids (just the free version works great for us)

Fishing and Leaves

We had a great weekend! Saturday we decided to go fishing at a local Reservoir, It was a beautiful day- and we caught a bunch of fish too.

Doodle playing in the float tube Pam and Roo catching a fish

Ben took Doodle for a ride on the back of the pontoon boat

Roo and Bug playing in the float tube

Skipping rocks

Roo- building rock castles

Doodle had a kite that he got from Cub Scouts- so he and Bug were flying it. (until it crashed into a tree!)

Roo's turn on the pontoon

Sunday after church we went for a drive up the canyon to see the beautiful leaves changing color. The fall colors were just beginning to show. So we're going to have to head up there one more time this fall.We drove to Old Ephraim's grave (the same place we hiked to earlier this summer) and had cake for dessert. Doodle and Roo at the Stone that marks Old Ephraim's grave.

Doodle's Baptism

Doodle has been anxiously counting the days since he turned 8 until it would be his baptism day. The day finally arrived. Doodle was Baptised a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints today. It was a wonderful day as Ben was able to baptize Doodle. I am so thankful for a wonderful husband who holds and honors the priesthood, and was able to perform this sacred ordinance. I am so grateful for the Gospel in my life, for the direction it gives me. I'm proud of Doodle and for the decision he made to be baptised, which is the first step in Following in Christ's footsteps. For making the covenant with the Lord to Always Remember him, and to Keep his commandments. I am so thankful for a wonderful and supportive family. We love you sweetie!

We are loving astronomy

Or as Roo calls it "Pastromomy" For a bit of extra sicence fun we are using Apologia Astronomy We finished the first chapter this week- and made our model of the solar system. The distances to the sun are not right- and the sun should be Bigger- but we had a fun time with it.

Boy- some of those planets were tiny! The boys keep asking "When can we pop the balloons?" I told them after we study about each planet, they can pop it. Luckily The Sun is the next chapter.

Doodle tying a string onto Jupiter

Doodle is 8!

We were on vacation at the cabin when Doodle had his birthday- but I'll not skip posting about my boy- even if it is a bit late- so here's a few reminiscing photos of Doodle- (I still can't believe he's 8!) It's SO hard to find good pics of Doodle- Here's one I took to put on his Baptism invitations-
Doodle is....well Doodle is Doodle! He IS who he IS, and there's no changing his mind. He is a leader, and likes to have people follow him. He especially loves playing with his younger cousins- because they do just that- look up to him and follow him. He is a goer, a mover and a shaker, he's not one to let life pass him by. He is always on-the-go and loves to move, go places and do things.

Big brother Bug, and Doodle just after he first came to us.

The Adoption Day! :DDoodle LOVES being outside- camping, hiking, fishing, exploring, This is what pictures of Doodle *usually* look like- The Back of his HEAD! (unless it's blurry because he was running!)
Doodle and I building a sand castle. Doodle- We love you! And are so blessed to have you in our familiy!

We didn't drop off the edge of the earth...

But we did climb to the top of the world! At least that's where we told Roo we were driving to- We went for a Sunday Drive yesterday- and drove to the top of Willard Peak- WOW!! In Roo's words "This is amazing!" It was stormy- so we couldn't see the valley very well- but we could see the clouds-

Here's what the sign said- lol- not sure about that lower case i in POiNT - A view on our way back down the mountain. I LOVE the mountains...(how does that old camp song go? something about mountians and rolling hills, flowers and daffodils)