29 January 2012

Here's more fun than you can shake a stick at-- an indoor snowball fight.  We filled nylon stockings with fiberfill and pelted each other with them.  Some of our snowballs came apart which is the fluff in the photo.  The couch made a good barrier to hide behind or sneak up on someone.  Much thanks to Vivian for this fun idea.

 

Sofi's school changed its dress code to allow wearing hats.

 

Abe got his first guitar this week.  He has wanted to play the guitar for a couple of years.  His teacher started him on a ukulele because it was smaller and had 4 strings instead of 6.  This new guitar is the perfect size for Abe.  The frets are farther apart than the ukulele, but Abe is adjusting quickly and the extra strings will add depth to his music.

22 January 2012

We made some fleece projects on Monday for Martin Luther King Day of Service.  Sofi,  Abe and Helen tied knots round big pieces of fleece to make fringe on blankets.   ~   Brandan spent several days at a conference in Seattle, in the middle of the snowstorm that shut down the city.  He was warm and safe, and only had a small delay in his flight.  He was struck by how frequently family came up as a topic of conversation or during ice breakers.  When two people, each with 2 kids, were trying to understand how Brandan can connect with 4 kids on an individual level, he explained our process of monthly one-on-one meetings with each child (beginning at age 5, which Gibson is eagerly anticipating), and one of the people called his wife after the meeting, excited to share the idea with her and make plans to try it.

 We also made scarves that needed a little machine sewing.  Gibson pushed the accelerator on the sewing machine while Becky steered the fabric.

Here are our finished projects.  Helen is wearing a stack of scarves we made for girls.  We had a lot of fleece left over from Helen's birthday party so we made 7 girl scarves.  Abe and Sofi are holding the blankets.  Gibson is wearing 2 scarves we made with boy friendly fleece.  We donated all of our projects to a local organization that supports homeless and at-risk teens.

 

Cuties are a favorite winter snack here.  We can eat a sack full in an afternoon.  Gibson calls these little oranges, "Punies."

15 January 2012

Simple pleasures-- Gibson loves to start the washer.  He asked Becky to put a note on the washer to remind her to ask him to start the washer when she does laundry.  Helen read the note and asked if she could take turns with Gibson.

 

Another one of Gibson's joys-- shooting a target with his marshmallow gun.  He really likes it when 2 or 3 marshmallows come out of the gun at once.  He likes shooting people, too, but most days he's just home with Becky who doesn't get outraged the same way his siblings do (and, therefore, is not as much fun to shoot.)

Abe got a tool box for Christmas and now he is a regular handyman.  Loose drawer handles?  Abe tightened them up and checked the rest of the kitchen for loose hardware.  Very helpful.

 Sofi is getting acquainted with her graphing calculator.  She has been learning Geometry this year with a group of 5 other 8th graders.  They are going to finish their course soon.  Sofi and one other boy asked if they could move on to Algebra II.  Their vice-principal gave them the okay this week and they registered for an online class through BYU.  There's got to be a word for this kind of crazy smart self-motivation, but we can't think of it.

 

It snowed a bit this morning.  We were all delighted.  The kids rushed out to play in it-- Helen was still in her nightgown.  This snow melted quickly, but hopefully more is on the way.

8 January 2012

Brandan reached a milestone birthday this year and we celebrated by spending 4 days in Sunriver, Oregon.  Sunriver is near the High Desert Museum, a great location for exploring natural history and pioneer life.

  Sunriver is near the High Desert Museum, a great location for exploring natural history and pioneer life.  One exhibit featured a restored cabin.  A family of 7 lived in this tiny 12' x 20' foot cabin in 1905.  Our family posed for a photo on the parents' bed, which was in one corner of the one-room cabin.  The 5 kids slept in an attic space that might have been 2 feet tall.  Experiences like this help put "needs" and "wants" in perspective.

Abe, Helen and Gibson enjoyed a train ride through the Sunriver Village.

On New Year's Eve, we drove up near Mt. Bachelor to find some snow to play in.  It's been unusually dry this winter, but a little snow had fallen the day before.

Here's Sofi giving Helen a ride.

Here's Brandan, Helen and Gibson riding triple decker style down a short slope.

 

We celebrated New Year's Eve by playing Risk while watching movies.  We told the kids they could stay up as long as they could last and they all made it until midnight.  Becky thought Helen and Gibson would fall asleep much earlier.  They thought it was awesome and amazing that they stayed up so late.  Gibson was sound asleep by 12:03 am. 

Brandan's true birthday was Wednesday.  Brandan asked the kids for help blowing out the forest of candles on his cake.

It's hard to see the puzzle on Brandan's cake, so here's a photo of the paper Brandan worked the puzzle out on.  Solve the puzzle to learn Brandan's age.  This kind of puzzle is called a nonogram and you can find directions for solving nonograms online.

1 January 2012

Christmas Break is a great time for the kids to write thank you notes for their Christmas presents.  Helen likes to decorate her cards with drawings like this picture of a robot.

The break has also been a good time to work on some chores around the house like cleaning out Sofi and Helen's closet.  This is the after photo.  In the before state of the closet, Becky was able to hide 2 large Christmas presents without Sofi or Helen noticing.

                                                        

 Our big event this week was Helen's birthday.  She had a birthday party on Wednesday afternoon.  Many of her friends were out of town, but 2 sweet girls came and had a lovely afternoon.  Helen had a Fancy Nancy themed party.  Fancy Nancy loves accessories, so the girls made fleece scarves.

They also had a tea party.  The girls were dressed in fancy clothes, so Abe put his Voldemort costume on from 2 Halloweens ago.  He made the girls giggle by pretending to be Voldemort while sipping hot coca with his pinky extended.  Becky was pleased with the menu-- hot cocoa, 3 kinds of tarts and fruit-- all wheat, milk, egg and nut free.  The biggest hit of the tea party were the gummy bears, though.

Sofi read some Fancy Nancy storybooks to the girls.

Here are Gibson, Helen, Brandan and Abe modeling scarves and being cozy.

                                          

Helen's birthday was Thursday so the celebrating continued with presents and birthday cake.  Happy 7th Birthday, Helen!