Cross Country Skiing-

I guess we've had a boring life lately- nothing blog-worthy anyhow. For Family Night last night we went out for a ski. It was a great night for a ski- not too cold, the wind wasn't blowing. As we were driving up to the park- we could see some deer down in the valley under a tree- but of course- they were long gone by the time we walked down the hill.

Bug on his skis The speed demons- Ben and the older 2 boys were so fast! Roo and I couldn't keep up with them. "Hurry- move- Mom has the camera out!" Roo- He's a good little skiier- slow, but he just keeps on chugging along.

Where does the time go!?

Bug is 11 years old today. It's hard to believe that it was 11 years ago that I became a mother. On a rainy morning 11 years ago we were headed to the hospital to have a baby. I had no idea how much my life would change. Motherhood is amazing. I have loved watching him grow and change. I loved seeing him for the first time-watching him take his first steps, first birthday, learn to ride a bike, be baptized and all the other firsts. Bug is such an awesome big brother. He looks out for his little brothers Doodleand Roo.Bug is so sweet and helpful. He's always willing to help Roo find his pants that are lost, or play with Doodle, and help with the laundry. He's becoming quite responsible, and we love him.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY BUG!!!

Random workbox fun

School is back and in session around here. The Workbox drawers are working SO well. I love that the kids know when their schoolwork is done- when the last drawer is done- so are they. I LOVE that it gives my "mover and shaker" Doodle a chance to get up in between each subject (as he has to walk into the other room, and return 1 drawer and get the next one) Ok- walk isn't the correct word there---- he usually sommersaults, cartwheels, runs, jumps, skips, and does all sorts of tricks on his way in there. Anyhow- here's a few fun things we've had in the school drawers lately.

First off- Doodle got this awesome Chemistry kit from my grandma for Christmas (Thanks grandma- he loves it!) And so we've done lots of Chemistry lately. Lots of solids, liquids and gas experiments. One of them that he was especially excited about was making candles. We melted the wax and turned a solid into a liquid, then made a candle out of it- making it a solid again, then burned the candle.

One of Roo's favorite school things is pattern blocks- he likes to make "bridges" across the cookie sheet with them.

For math last week- Doodle was learning all about graphs and reading graphs. So we learned about Venn diagrams and pulled out the animals to play games with the graph. This graph was 4 legs and eats meat.

Doodle and Roo both love the geomags. They are such fun to build with!- and they love to take pictures of their creations afterwards.

Mini-Vacation Fun

We HAD planned on going up the the cabin the whole week between Christmas and New Years- but unfortunately there isn't much snow up there. Only about a foot. (Considering usually they get between 4-5 feet of snow- a foot isn't much!) So instead we decided to take a little mini-vacation to Salt Lake City. Pam, the boys and I headed out Wednesday morning- YES- in the snowstorm! Our first stop was the Planetarium. We loved the exhibits, and watched a dome movie about the Universe. Roo and his "lellow scarf"- he got this for Christmas from Aunt Trish- and LOVES it and wears it everywhere. He forgets his shoes, and coat- but he remembers his scarf!

Then we ran a few errands and made our way to the Hotel. A while back when we were driving through SLC, we saw this cool hotel that had a water slide that came out the side of the building and went back in. So we searched online and Found it! I only got a couple of pics at the pool- I need to get the rest from Pam. I wasn't so sure about taking my camera by the swimming pool. Roo loved the little water park, and the big boys loved the slide. It was crowded, and a bit more expensive, but we loved it.
Thursday morning we got up and headed for the Aquarium. It was fun. We especially loved the octopus, electric eels, and the caiman.

Christmas Traditions- Christmas Eve

One tradition that we look forward to all year long is our Formal Christmas Eve Dinner. We had a 7 course meal this year. It was such fun, and a great way to teach manners and how to behave in various situations. I tried to keep it simple and nothing that required too much prep. time.

Course 1- Appetizers- we had crackers and cheese in the Parlor (ok- so really it was in the "toy room") and worked on small talk, and how to carry on conversations with others.
Course 2- Shrimp cocktail (and cocktail dogs, for my non-shrimp eating boys)

Course 3- Salad- we had a delicious Spinach salad with pomegranites and shredded carrots.

Course 4- Soup- I made this delicious Onion soup in the crockpot

Course 5- Sorbet (pineapple sherbet around here)

Course 6- The Main dish- we had Roast Beef and Broccoli.

Course 7- Dessert! Pumpkin PieAfter our Formal Dinner- we open 1 present on Christmas Eve- and yes....it's ALWAYS pajamas and a book. (though I'm not sure any of the boys have made this connection except Bug)

Dec. Field Trip

We love our Homeschool Group, and the many activities that are planned. Today we went on a Field trip to a Japanese Restaurant and Sushi bar. We don't eat out real often, and when we do- it's definately not to a Sushi Bar ;) So we'd never had Sushi. I've been preparing my boys since we learned where the field trip was, that they would need to try Sushi. We've let them know that there will be times in their life when they'll need to try foods that they aren't familiar with, and this would be a good experience to practice.

Here he's explaining some of the various ingredients that go into his Sushi.

Roo thought this was pretty- cool- Octopus. Doodle volunteered to try Sushi first, I didn't get a pic of him, but he quickly decided he didn't like Sushi. I'm proud of him for trying it, and being so eager to be first. Bug wasn't so sure. I made him eat a 2nd piece so I could get a picture of him eating it. lol- Meanie mom- huh.

Journey to the Center of the Earth Study

Bug has been going strong on his State Studies for quite a while. He only has about 8 states left to do, and while he's enjoyed them (and has become a real expert on where you should visit if you go to a certain state, and how many LDS Temples are in each state) he's getting excited to be done with them. He's taking a break for December (as we always take a break in December anyway) But he's doing a simple unit on Journey to the Center of the Earth for fun. So Ben found these great resources- Vocabulary words for each chapter, along with writing assignments- at http://www.lessontutor.com/lit5home.html And this way cool Science Activity guide that goes along with the movie- http://www.earthsciweek.org/J3D_web_150dpi.pdf Bug is enjoying this book- and really liked the first writing assignment- Make up a cryptogram message.