no rhyme or reason

Two Thursdays in a row we have had missionaries return to our family.  Roberts sister came home from St.Louis and my brother came home from Brazil.  Yay! And we have had very mild weather this March, which brings a lot of backyard play.  And yes, we do go out in the backyard in our pajamas. These pictures are of random days from the last week or two.

Tabors Bearthday

Tabor wanted a "Bear" birthday.  We went to the zoo and visited the bears.  After dinner we had a Bear Party.  We had a "Ned the Healthy Bear" FHE lesson, followed by a bear hunt, and the perfect bear cake made by Grandma Vicki.  Tabors favorite activity was chasing Robert around (who was wearing bear ears) with his nerf gun.  He had a great day!

responsible

I feel such a responsibility for this boy.  Most kids come, and you have to teach them how to work.  Tabor came as a worker.  He wakes up in the morning, eats breakfast, then asks what he can work on.  I have mentioned it several times I know... but his eagerness to work and his ability to stay on task astounds me.  If dad, grandpa(s), uncle(s) etc. are working he is outside helping rather then watching a show or playing with toys.  He also asks millions of questions about how things work. And the questions are always more specific then "why". He listens to your answers intently.  (top picture: him listening to why mushrooms grow in them middle of the grass). Anyway I hope I can keep him busy enough with "fun" tasks and information that he won't "unlearn" how to work.

adventures with color

I continue to do a "PeeWee Science Group" at my house once every two weeks.  This week we focused on primary and secondary colors. We read a few books on color, the most informative being "Adventures With Color".  It talked about how we use colors with stop lights, sports teams, holidays etc.  Then we sang the song "Primary Colors" several times as we used their egg cartons (painted in in the primary colors) and gathered matching paper clips.  We stuck 2 popsicles (food coloring in water) into 3 separate cups to mix the primary colors into secondary colors.  Next we mixed the primary colors into our ranch dressing to make the secondary colors... which brought us our snack--- carrots and dip!  Last but not least, we made a color wheel by using red, yellow and blue paint.  Okay so it sounds like we did the same thing over and over.  I guess we did.  Hopefully the repetitiveness helps them remember what they were taught :) 

afternoon with Tabor

Tabor and I were able to have some one on one time.  Tabor is an outdoors man so that is where we went.  It was fairly warm out on Friday.  Tabor thought it was swimsuit weather.  It only took a few minutes of being outside shirtless before I could easily convince him to put a sweatshirt on.  First we dug up carrots. I put the buckets of carrots on a stick so we could both carry it back to the house, just for fun.  He loved how it "hangs".  He figured out if we set it in between two things it still hung above ground.  He was convinced we needed a picture.  Then we got out the croquet stuff and set up an uniform course.  It was a lot of fun.  He can focus on a game a lot better without his sisters around to distract him (or argue with).

Nuts About You!

Pepper made her own Valentines this year. 

Ear Infection Cure

Both of my girls have had chronic ear infections.  Pepper went on one antibiotic after another.  I became determined to find a more natural way then tubes and antibiotics with Kitt. I have heard from SEVERAL sources that it is likely an allergy to dairy.  I believe that and have tried to keep her off, but it is just so hard.  I have tried Mullen Garlic and Essential Oils (melaluca) which seemed to soothe her long enough to fall asleep, but did not kick it.  The combination of Goldenseal (natural antibiotic) and Mullen Garlic does! In just a couple days she went from a flaming red ear infection to no trace of an ear infection.  It tastes nasty... but it worked!  And they are inexpensive in the natural section at Fred Meyer. What a find!

woods

Every time we go in the forest we learn new things (yes, I am back on the forest subject - I am a little obsessed).  We talk about what about smooth v.s. rough, where the roots they trip over are from, animals tracks, plant names, examine bugs, who eats what, all about life-cycles. Today the kids noticed a woodpecker tearing a tree to shreds. Look at the amount of chips at the bottom  of the trunk.  I think it was going beyond looking for bugs... it must of been building a home.  I love when they make new discoveries.

preschool books

My Grandma gave me a box of both coloring and preschool books from the 1960's.  Can I just say that I LOVE them.  I love the pictures.  I love how they are of the countryside and simple games.

Kitt's Kitchen Habits

Kitt feels the need to dart into the fridge whenever it is open.  She is pretty sure the bottom of the fridge is a seat made just for her.  She will just sit there and sip on her smoothie.  I probably should of cleaned the fridge before I took the picture but I feel that the fact Kitt sits there all the time will justify all the spots. Right? Her other favorite things to do is push the chair over to the sink and do the dishes.  13 months seems early for this stage.  But she just thinks she is the biggest girl.  I am pretty sure she has not realized that she is not the same age as Pepper and Tabor.

rain.

Pepper will grab her basket and Tabor his bucket and then ask to go collect things in the forest.  They get so excited when they find a leaf or pine-cone, as if they can't see the 20 ga-zillion other ones sitting right next to it. I think it is great and am slightly jealous of their enthusiasm for life.  As we arrive back to our house Pepper always goes straight inside. An hour of the wet & cold is about all she can enjoy.  The other two couldn't care less what the weather is like. They have felt this way since birth.  Tabor would never step foot into the house if I didn't make him.