Fun after a good day's work

Last week we told the kids we would go do something fun as a family as soon as we got the whole house clean (a relative term). They worked really hard and chose to go to Randy's Tumbling for their reward. Following are a few pictures which are sadly full of spots because I think one of my kids got into my camera and got spots all over the camera lens. But the pics are fun- especially Jared in the middle of his flip. All the boys were brave enough to jump off the high platform. Emily - our child with no fear, jumped off with Jared.

A Good Day

Today was such a good day. It was so refreshing compared to my bad day yesterday. First we went to the Primary Get-to-Know Your Teacher Breakfast. Emily's teachers didn't show so we did some fun games with her class. It was just fun to sit in a circle and watch the delight of the "Sunbeams" when we played Duck-Duck-Goose and Spin the Cup. I should take time to have fun more often.
Then I came home to teach a piano lessons - I so love it! After my students left, Emily wanted me to do a lesson with her so she learned to play a song with F-G-A-B on the white keys. Jacob was next in line. Ever since he discovered the Happy Note Game and Staff Wars games where he can shoot bullets at the notes and name then as they slide across the screen, he's been really interested in piano. I love to see his persistence. Then we played Piano Candyland together. Emily was quite distraught when she got bumped back to the Bass Clef Candy Cane when she'd been ahead the whole time. Jacob can be so sensitive in a good way sometimes. He had a definite lead but when he noticed how bad she felt, he actually "cheated" by making himself go backwards on a few of his turns instead of forward so that Emily could catch up. Maybe I shouldn't be celebrating when my son cheats, but I was just amazed at his maturity of being more concerned with his sister's feelings than about himself winning. He's usually quite competitive. I actually got a lot of housework done in between all the fun because the boys were really content playing outside and watching Jared help out our friend who we hired to finish a room in our basement. Jared, Dan, Emily & I had fun playing UNO this evening. It brought back memories of playing games with my brother Matt when I was a kid. I have always liked playing games way more than watching TV or movies. In fact, I guess it was on our 2nd date when Jared saw my competitive side come out when we were playing Risk that Jared decided he was interested in asking me out again. So, my kitchen floor is still dirty and we have some company coming tomorrow, but I'm happy anyway:)

Christmas Morning 2009

Christmas Eve

This year for Christmas Eve we invited our friends Sharyl and Wanda Waldron over to join us. The kids sculpted their own nativity characters out of play dough and then acted out an impromptu nativity w/ the traditional Bible reading. Emily really wanted to be the angel, so I was Mary w/ Daniel as Joseph. Then we sang some Christmas carols and Rebecca & I played a couple of duets on our violins. Playing w/ her was one of those nostalgic parenting moments that brings tears to my eyes. The kids were so excited to open the gifts that the Waldron's brought and they've really enjoyed playing with the puzzles and books they received over the holiday break. I guess Rebecca enjoyed her turkey, mashed potatoes & gravy and pistachio pie a little too much because she threw up at the end of the evening but was fortunately was feeling just fine by Christmas morning. Daniel let us in on his grand schemes to "catch" Santa. He rigged up a string of bells to hang/tape on the front door so he could hear him coming. The boys were so excited about their plans, they went to bed pretty late and awoke at 1:30 a.m. to discover that Santa had already come. But just the sight of seeing what he had left for them got them pretty wired and they were up for at least another hour after that chattering in their room.

Digging Holes Builds Character

The first time Jared & I saw the movie "Holes" was soon after we had quit our job working as home parents at the Utah Boys Ranch - a correctional facility for troubled boys. It is a funny movie about wayward boys who are sent to "Camp Greenlake" to dig holes all day long. It says something like... You take a bad boy, make him dig holes all day and it makes him a good boy. Our boys watched the movie recently and have caught on to this concept. They keep retreating to the backyard to dig holes for fun. So my kitchen floor has been a little bit dirtier, but my boys are having fun and getting along better. But now the hole digging has come to an end. The other day Jacob came in and said, "Mom, I found this yellow pipe in my hole but I can't get it out, Can you help me?" So I went out to survey the situation and found that he had dug down to the gas line- with fortunately no damage done. He quickly filled in his hole, and therefore the hole digging has come to an end.

Who Needs Toys...

when you can play with packaging materials? I received some packages in the mail and Dan & Emily had a great time popping the air bubbles. It kept them busy for a really long time. A few days before that I found Emily playing pretend in my bedroom with...earplugs! One was the mom, the other was the dad and she found some other random objects to be the kids. I think toys are overrated sometimes.
Oops! I forgot to rotate again.