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| Abe started piano lessons this week. He now practices the ukulele in the morning and the piano after school. |
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| We counted 5 tiny green pears on our pear tree this week. We wonder how many of them will make it until August when we can harvest them? We're feeling oh so lucky we do not have to grow our own food. |
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| It's been a cold, wet week. We lit a fire Sunday afternoon and had snacks and a story in front of it-- pretty unusual for a Memorial Day weekend. |
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| This post begins in 1991 when Brandan was called to serve a mission in Finland. Brandan loved many things about his mission and about Finnish culture and especially enjoyed Finnish saunas. |
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| When we built our house, we talked to the builder about putting a sauna in the master bathroom. He had never built a sauna before and thought it wouldn't have resell value. We left space for the sauna anyways, thinking we'd install one soon after we moved in. It took longer than we thought, but Brandan started working on the sauna in March. The first step was to remove all the baseboards in our bathroom. In the photo, Abe is scraping up the caulk left behind. |
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| The next step was to frame in a room 5 1/2 feet by 8 feet. |
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| Heat rises, so to help keep the heat close to the bathers, Brandan lowered the ceiling inside the sauna to 7 feet. Becky and Sophie held the framing while Brandan nailed it in place. |
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| The outside of the room is covered in drywall and painted to match the walls in the bathroom. Here's a photo of Brandan and Abe hanging a sheet of drywall. The little kids were fascinated by the building process and very interested that most of the walls in our house were built the same way. |
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| When the drywall was finished, Brandan put insulation in the walls and covered the insulation with a reflective moisture barrier. |
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| Next Brandan began installing the wood paneling. We chose hemlock instead of the typical cedar or redwood for our sauna because hemlock has fewer associations with allergies than more aromatic woods. |
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| Here's the finished sauna. It has upper and lower L- shaped benches, with the stove and door on the opposite wall from the long side of the benches. The bucket holds water to throw on the rocks and increase the intensity of the heat. |
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| The sauna passed its inspection on Wednesday and we tried it out that night. The kids bounced in and out of the sauna, liking the novelty of the experience, but not sure about the heat. Sophie stayed in the longest and liked it quite well. |
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| Other news from the week: on Thursday we attended Honors Night at Sophie's school. She was recognized for her GPA and also received a "Solid as a Rock" award. This recognition is given every year to students in each grade level who demonstrate the character traits of respect, responsibility, accountability, integrity, honesty, self-esteem, patriotism, loyalty, work ethic, social responsibility, empathy, self-motivation and self-restraint. |
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| Abe did a hiking double-header this weekend. He hiked Lower Table Rock with his class on Friday and Upper Table Rock with Becky, Helen and Gibson on Saturday. Saturday was a beautiful day to hike. Abe was like a mini park ranger as he taught us the botany and geology he had learned the day before. |
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| Usually Helen doesn't let Gibson touch her violin (probably a good policy), but earlier this week she let him play it. In the photo, she's showing him how to push down on the bow to get a bigger sound. |
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| Becky doesn't like video games, but lets the kids earn game time by doing extra chores (1 chore= 15 minutes, maximum limit of 15 minutes per day.) Here's a photo of Abe folding laundry so he can play. |
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| Abe talked Helen into playing soccer with him earlier this week. She defended the goal very well with a putter. |
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| Sophie is babysitting a sweet bunny named Cookie this week. So far, it's been a piece of cake. All the kids love holding and petting the bunny. We're just hoping the neighbor's German Shepherd doesn't notice the little ball of fluff on our back porch. |
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| Gibson came home from church with this hilarious bumblebee hat. It can barely squeeze onto his head. Gibson loves his Sunbeam teachers-- they make class time very fun. |
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| Happy Mother's Day! In the photo the kids are recording a recordable book for their grandma. It took many, many tries to get the book recorded because the kids were giggling so much. |
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The elementary school alternates between holding an art show and a science fair every Spring. This year was the art show year. Helen painted the rabbit above her head. |
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| Abe is pointing at the big cat with a green face which he painted. |
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During the month of May the kids bring marbles to school to play with at recess. The favorite games are chase, rebound and donkey. The kids have names for all the different colors and designs of marbles. It's a fun tradition at our school, with the older kids teaching the younger kids how to play. |
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| The kids finished their pinewood derby cars this week. Each of the kids chose their design. Abe and Sophie did most of the work on their cars. Brandan did most of the work on Gibson's and Helen's cars. Helen called hers "The Red Racer" because it was red with flames on the side. Abe didn't name his car. His was a sleek blue design. Sophie's was a futuristic silver car that she called the Silver Bullet. Gibson's car looked like Lightning McQueen. (By the way, Sophie got new glasses this week -- very stylish.) |
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| Here is a photo of Abe's car at the top of the track, ready to race. |
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| Abe modeled his car after this concept car but chose a sparkly blue color instead. |
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| Sophie's inspiration came from this car, with modifications so it would fit on the track. |
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| Abe's car was the 3rd fastest in his wolf den and the 4th fastest in his pack. |
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| Gibson's lip is healing great. Brandan took the stitches out on Friday and now there is only a tiny line visible where his lip split open. |
