snow

It is spring and we just experienced the first snow (that stuck) of the year.  The kids just had to get out in it before they had their breakfast.  So Pepper is in her pajamas.  After breakfast we got on our snow suits and made a snowman.  The building went great, the kids LOVED it.  All went well until it was time to give the snowmen arms.  Pepper and Tabor picked different sets of sticks.  I could not convince them that we would use one of each of theirs... it was all or none for them.  Soon the argument turned into a fight of hitting each other with their new found sticks.  Tears came and we went inside, our poor snowman is armless.  We have warmed up with hot chocolate and baths.

row row row your...

Today the kids sang "row row row your boat" several times while paddling their horses.  And they couldn't step on the carpet (it was water, with mean sharks in it).  I love love love their imaginations.

Peppers Flower B'day Party

The day before Peppers birthday I threw a flower birthday party for her.

 We got a calendar of different flowers.  We cut out the small pictures on the back and put them into a basket (to draw out of) and used the big ones to walk on.  Instead of a cupcake walk... we did a flower walk.

planting seeds.

 going on a flower hunt

 blowing out the candle

 eating dirt and worms

 On Peppers actual birthday my mom curled Peppers hair and gave her a mani and a pedi.  This is also the only picture I have of the cake "Grandma Vicki" made for her.

Shrink art.  A genius present.

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.