Peaches in Quarts and a Bun in the Oven

On Thursday, I got a good deal for peaches at the grocery store (.50/lb) and bought 25 lbs. That night, Stuart and I taught the kids how to can them. It was a lot of fun and we canned 16 quarts. I'd like to get more, but that sale is over. I'll be looking for deals on apples and pears next.
On Friday, we took the boys on a field trip to the Air and Space Musuem. There are more than 300 aircraft there. The most impressive in my mind was the Air Force 2, otherwise known as Freedom 1 because it brought home the hostages from Iran in 1980. I remember seeing it land on the news back then, so it was cool to see it in person. Stu and the boys were fascinated by all the planes and missiles etc. I enjoyed watching their reactions.
On Saturday, we relaxed. I have a sore throat and so does Diane, along with a slight fever and runny nose. Stuart did take some of the boys to play paintball in the morning. In the afternoon, I took enough tylenol to feel well enough to run errands. I then went to the Dollar store and bought 7 pregnancy tests.
This morning, while the family was still asleep, I took those tests and sure enough, they were all postive. I wrote a note to Stuart, quoting Psalms 127:3-5 and showed him the tests when he woke up. He was as happy as I am. We are so thrilled and feel so blessed by the Lord to send us another one of his choice spirits to love and care for on this earth. We pray for his guidance in raising our children and providing for them. We definitely need a new van now and probably a new house too.
~Heidi

1st month of Homeschool complete

Well, I can hardly believe that we have completed our first month of homeschool. My biggest problem is there just isn't enough time in the day to do everything I want with them. Once we finish our PE in the morning and get dressed, it is 9am before we start our scripture study, then finally we get to our academics at 9:30 or so. We usually work hard till noon, then slow down until it is time to pick up Elijah from kindergarten at 1:45pm. We have learned a lot though. I like the constant review of the basics in math and grammar.
Diane got her driver's permit last week and so I let her drive around as much as possible. She also got a small part in her school production of Romeo and Juliet. Between that, piano lessons and practice and homework, she is pretty busy.
Greg and Eli started Karate lessons 2x a week. Chad is taking gymnastics lessons too. We have decided to have Chad take an on-line science class through the district. Greg is going to go to the elementary school 1x a week for an after-school science program there. He also is taking piano lessons once a week. Jake hasn't found the right extra-curricular activity yet, but we'll keep looking around. He does keep busy with Boy Scouts.
Today we celebrated Greg's 9th birthday. His aunt and cousins came down from Gilbert to eat dinner and cake with us. We decorated the cake with a paintball gun and target. Tomorrow the older kids are going to play paintball early in the morning with Stuart. They really love this new hobby of theirs! Meanwhile, it's all I can do to keep the house clean!

Day Away experiment

Well, today was my first day away from home while the older 2 boys home schooled themselves. I think they did pretty good. Diane had her bi-monthly infusion up in Mesa, so I left with her, Greg and Adin at 6am, dropped off the Greg and Adin with my sister in law, with a card of activities for Greg to complete, and went to the hospital for 3 hours. I left assignment sheets for Jake and Chad as well as instructions for getting Eli to kindergarten and back. When I returned home at 3:30pm, the house was a bit untidy, but Eli was home and had had a good day at school. The boys had completed most of their school work and were watching TV. So, it didn't go too badly. Stuart took everyone out to get milk tonight because we are out and I think because he thought I could use 20 minutes all by myself. He is such a great husband. Yesterday, Chad tried out a gymnastics class and really loved it. Greg is doing well in piano and is trying out a Karate class on Thursday. We haven't found any extra-curricular stuff for Jake yet, but he is keeping pretty busy with Scouting.

The newest additions to our family, Sparky (grey) and Scout (cream). Our family pyramid.

Elijah's 1st day of Kindergarten, 1st day of homeschool for Jake, Chad and Greg, and Diane's last day of Summer Vacation!

1st Week Down!

Well, my 1st week of homeschooling is finished. It went pretty well considering the obstacles we faced. We had to wait until Thursday before most of the curriculum arrived, so I had to come up with my own math and grammar activities for a few days. We are still waiting for Chad's math books to arrive, so I'm still fishing for work for him to do. I might have him practice measurement tomorrow while baking some cookies! Our thermal pollution science experiment did not go as well as expected, I guess our goldfish are used to warm water here in Arizona because the heat didn't seem to phase them. We did kill of 6 though when Greg put to many water conditioner drops in the tank. We rescued 4 of them, which I have named "Faith", "Hope", "Charity" and "Jaws". The other big challenge for me is helping Greg to stay focused. It takes him an hour to complete 15 minutes worth of work. He gets distracted by EVERYTHING. I don't know how the public school teachers handled this with him. They all said he completed his work, so they were not worried. Maybe their work was too easy, or they just didn't have high expectations, I don't know, I just know that I have to sit right beside him the entire time or he is gone- both mentally and physically!
I am really loving our "PE" class. We run every morning for 10 minutes. I go really slow to encourage Greg, for him this is a real challenge. I'm also trying to get Jake to run the whole time because he would rather walk then sprint, walk then sprint etc. Yesterday, Stuart and I found a used jogging stroller for $70, so next week, when Diane is gone to seminary, I can bring Adin along for our run. I'm really going to miss having Diane home in the mornings. Her school doesn't start until 8:30 am, so she has been helping me with Adin and Elijah while I jog with the boys. Next week will start a new routine of driving to seminary, then getting Eli ready before we can run. Maybe we will do the sit-ups and push-ups first though, so I can shower as soon as I get back. (It is usually 90 degrees by 8am here and I'm told that will last through September) So, I have to say that I enjoy home schooling so far. I do worry that we might not cover everything I have planned, but I hope I turn out to be a good teacher and can get the boys thinking and writing and learning.

I'm a Home Educator!

Today was the first day of our family home education! I'm educating Jacob (13), Chad (11), and Gregory (almost 9). It was a bit of a crazy day trying to set up the routine, which was interupted by a Dr. appointment for me and lots of phone calls. Also, not all of the curriculum that I have ordered has arrived, so I had to swing it on the math, and skipped the language arts for the older boys. Here's how our day went: The kids were so excited, they woke up early (6:45) and started the "Rise and Shine" routine. (Make beds, Eat Breakfast, Get dressed, brush teeth, Do chores and family prayer). Then we walked Elijah (5) to kindergarten. After leaving him in his classroom, we went for a 9 minute jog/walk together. This was followed by sit-ups, push-ups and chin-ups. We hope to track our improvement over the next month (doing PE and Physical Fitness merit badge at same time). The we started what I call the Smart Start routine. Prayer, Pledge of Allegience, Announcements, and Book of Mormon studies. This was supposed to be followed by academics, but I had to get ready for the Dr. apt, so I assigned them a "life skill" task (more chores) and then gave them permission to do free reading until I got back. All went well at my annual exam, though I was a bit nervous because I had the Dr. remove my IUD. After much prayer and discussion and a fast or two, Stuart and I have decided that it's time to allow a 7th child to join our crew, so today I opened the way for that possiblity. On the way home I stopped by the store and got some more school supplies that I needed and some prenatal vitamins that I'm going to start taking (just in case it happens sooner than later). When I returned home we had lunch, then started in on some math. Since the textbooks weren't in, I had everyone do brainpop.com for math for a half and hour, followed by a dictation exercise. We were interupted by a phone call from our new piano teacher, then it was time to go pick up Eli from school . We walked in the 1o4+ weather and returned happy and ready to go to Wal-mart to get a fish tank for our Science lab. We are going to test the how Thermal pollution affects living organisms (goldfish). (Another merit badge project-boy scouts will be used a lot in our home school). We set up the lab and will get the fish tomorrow. Then we all rested and I cleaned a bit and started dinner. I then had Greg do some grammar work out of his new textbook and we took a swim before Stuart got home from work. It was overall, a pretty good day. We got a lot done, though I lost my temper with the teasing and complaining that went on. Hopefully we will all do better and improve on that part. Day 1 down, 179 to go!

Gregory is Eight!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Summer is over, but it sure was fun.

Well, the kids have been back to school for just over a week and I'm starting to feel like myself again. This year, Diane is in 9th grade, Jacob is in 7th, Chad is in a Gifted and Talented 5th grade, Gregory is in 2nd and Elijah started preschool 2x/week just yesterday. The coming school year will be busy with lots of homework, keeping up with our scouting responsibilities and volunteering in the schools. It's a good thing we had such a fun filled summer to give us memories that will lighten our hearts as we look back on the year.

After school let our in June, Diane, Jacob and Chad started Summer Music. Diane was in the choir, Jake in band, and Chad started to learn the Stringed Bass. Diane began volunteering at the Discovery Science center one afternoon a week and she took several private voice lessons throughout the summer to help her prepare for the Honor Choir (Improv) that she will be singing in this year at school. Diane also attended 2, week-long volleyball camps to help her improve her skills. She is playing on her 9th grade JV team this fall and is looking forward to the games starting next week.

For the 4th of July, we started the day with a pancake breakfast and bicycle parade at our church. After that we floated the Boise River on our little raft. That night, we drove downtown and watched the awesome city fireworks, returning home in time to light our own little display in the the cul-de-sac.

The next weekend, our family took a one night camping trip to Hot Springs campground, where we cooked a dutch oven dinner, sat in the tiny little Hot Spring across the road, cooked marshmallows, etc. the next morning we cleaned up camp, then went to a shooting range where we practiced our rifle skills with Stuart's 22. After shooting the gun, we drove to a pond where we tried fishing, Chad caught his first fish ever, and then went swimming. We spent the rest of the afternoon playing in the sand and water before driving home.

Our family's former exchange student, Carina Claussen, arrived on July 14, and then our fun really began! She and the boys took some paddleboats on the Julia Davis pond one afternoon, we took her to Cabela's and ice skating. We spent a day at Roaring Springs water park, where she ate a funnel cake and some dipping dots for the first time. We took her camping in McCall where we went swimming in another natural hot spring pool as well as in the very cold Payette Lake. My in-laws came for a visit while she was here and we all took a train ride in the old west style. Just before she left in August, Stuart took Carina, Diane and Jacob on a white-water rafting trip where they forged through class III and IV rapids. It definitely was a fantastic summer with Carina around. After she left, we took one last camping trip as a family, up to the very first campsite we ever camped at as a family- Grayback Gulch. The next Monday, school started and I have been trying to figure out what happened to all our pencils ever since.

Our 4th of July Floating trip down Boise River.

Our Flag Cake

Stuart and Eli enjoy the Hot Spring pool.

Heidi takes aim.

Chad catches his first fish ever.


Adin- a real live nephew of our Uncle Sam! Happy 4th of July!

Blog? Who me?

Who ever thought I would start a blog? I've got 6 kids that I never have enough time for, why would I start another new project? Well, for one thing, I've been keeping a journal from the time I was 8 years old, however, I have hardly had time to keep it up, and it is NEVER shared, even when I think I have something important to say. I guess I'm thinking that if I have a blog, I can help my extended family keep up with what's going on in the lives of my busy children, husband and myself as well as for me to personally keep track of the time that seems to slip so quickly by. My grammar and spelling are probably not going to be very good, though I noticed there is a spell check, hmmmm. For those of you who take the time to read this I hope you will feel more connected with my family as I report on the events of our life and the thoughts I have to go with them. Thanks for visiting this site.
~Heidi