30 June 2013

Brandan took a vacation this week to spend time with our family and work on some projects.  On Monday he took Gib and Helen to a kids' cooking class at the library.  "Cooking" was a loose description of the pile of candy they assembled.

 Here is a photo of Helen with her creation.

 Abe spent the week at cub scout day camp.  The theme was "Space Camp" and lots of the activities were science oriented.

 The weather was crazy this week.  It started out wet and cold and ended up in the 90s.  Abe played kickball and soccer while wearing a garbage bag for a poncho.

On Friday we went on an overnighter to a nearby lake.  The hot day felt perfect in the water or in the shade.

Here's a photo of Helen.

 We hiked up to the Bigfoot Trap on Saturday morning so Brandan could see it.  Sofi's friend, Johanna, also came with us.  It's a great little hike.

 Gib was tired on the way back so Sofi gave him a piggyback.  

Here's a photo of the lake.  We came back from our quick trip feeling very relaxed.

23 June 2013

Helen, Abe and Gib have been sleeping on the landing outside their bedrooms this summer.  It's a tight fit.  Gib often sleeps with his eyes partly open which can be startling. 

Sofi prepared for and went on the 4th year overnighter this week.  Becky's style is to avoid cooking on a backpacking trip.  There is plenty of food you can eat cold.  However, Sofi wanted to try cooking.  Her friend, Joey and Joey's brother, Logan, tried out a variety of foods-- both to practice cooking on a backpacking stove and to taste test.  Instant potatoes and hot chocolate were their two favorites.

The hike leaders helped the girls make backpacking stoves out of aluminum bottles.  The stoves are very lightweight and burn denatured alcohol.  It takes about an ounce of fuel to boil a pot of water in less than 5 minutes.  Can't be too picky about the labeling-- the stoves were completely free.

Here's a group photo of the girls before their hike.  It sounds like the hike was about 10% hiking and 90% slumber party.  The girls had a terrific time.  They battled epic swarms of mosquitos and somehow Sofi spent the night with 3 other girls in a 2 man tent.  Gib and Abe did not go on the hike.

Becky took Abe, Helen and Gibson on a short hike on Friday.

 Here's a photo of Helen, Abe and Gib.

16 June 2013

Here's a photo of the finished quilt Becky and Abe made for his school teacher.  It is a true patchwork quilt.  Except for the pink strips and the back of the quilt (pink with white polka dots) all the fabric came from scraps.  Most of the scraps came from Sarah.  Thanks, Sarah!  We like to imagine a little girl playing I spy with this quilt in a few years.  Will she find the rabbit holding a balloon? The frogs holding hands?  The girl asleep in a hammock?

 Helen made a book as a gift for her teacher.  She drew lots of pictures and sewed covers for the book out of felt.

 Here is her finished book.

 Tuesday was the last day of school.  All the kids came home with big smiles!

 Here's a photo of Gib, Abe and Helen at the bus stop after school.

On Friday we hiked up to the Bigfoot Trap.  It truly is THE Bigfoot Trap, not A Bigfoot Trap, because there is only one in the world.  The trap was built in the 1970s by the North American Wildlife Research Team (don't you love how scientific the name sounds?) who kept it baited with carcasses for 6 years in an attempt to catch Bigfoot.  They only caught bears.  The trap is now bolted open and is a popular hiking destination in a very pretty location. 

Brandan took Abe and Gibson to the father/son campout Friday night.  They had lots of crazy late night fun on Friday and then explored a fish hatchery and nearby park on Saturday.  Here is a picture of Abe and Gib at the park.

Sofi spent the weekend at Youth Conference, so Becky and Helen were home alone.  They went to dinner and a movie Friday night.  Saturday morning they helped make lunch at a soup kitchen.  One of Helen's jobs was laying out doughnuts for the early patrons.

 Abe has been building domino trains today.  This one snaked down the hallway into the kitchen.

 Here go the dominoes!

9 June 2013

Sofi has been taking photography lessons and is becoming very skilled at taking photographs.

 We think these pictures she took are especially nice.

 The elementary school had the last assembly of the year on Friday.  Gibson received an award for a writing contest.  Each class had one winner.

 Helen's story was chosen as the best story for kindergarten, first and second grade.  Her name was engraved on a plaque that will hang at school.

Helen got to bring the plaque home for the weekend so we could all admire it.

 The PTO honored our retiring principal at the assembly.  She was crowned queen for the day and given the cape Becky made.  She received lots of special attention and tributes on Friday; she has been a terrific principal.

 Two doves built a nest on top of one of our outdoor speakers this week.  They're pretty cute, but we hope it's temporary.

2 June 2013

Memorial Day was rainy and cold here-- pretty typical weather for the holiday weekend.  We started the day at a memorial service to honor our veterans.

 After the ceremony, we went to Abe's final soccer game.  His team played beautifully.

 They ended the tournament by winning 1st place in their bracket and 3rd place overall.  The boys were pretty happy with the medals they received.

 Abe's teacher is expecting a baby so we are making a quilt to give her.  It might seem crazy to start a quilt when there are only 2 weeks of school left, but Becky wanted to wait for the teacher's ultrasound to know what color to make the quilt.  It's a girl!  Abe picked out the fabric and is laying out the design.  Becky sews it together.  Making a quilt would be a great project for a math class-- so many calculations and lots of geometry.

Abe played in a piano recital on Tuesday.  This was the first time his teacher held her recital on a night other than Sunday and she did it specifically so Abe could come.  Abe plays the piano like he plays soccer-- he looks like he's having fun!

 Gibson's class took a field trip to the library this week and he got his own library card.

Sofi also had a piano recital this week.  She played "Moonlight Sonata" by Beethoven as a solo and "Hungarian Rhapsody #2" by Liszt as a duet.  The Liszt piece was especially a crowd pleaser!

 On Friday we reached another milestone and barely realized it.  We take turns reading the Book of Mormon at bedtime.  Gibson was halfway through his verse before we noticed he wasn't asking for help sounding out words or complaining that his verse (Jacob 4:5) was too long.  He just kept going, word after challenging word.  We're all readers now!  

 School is almost out for the summer so we made a list of things we want to do this summer and posted it on the refrigerator.  We've already checked one thing off the list-- we've moved our picnic table into the shade for lots of al fresco dinners.  And we realized we meant that we want to go swimming at Jackson Park, not Hawthorne Park.  Lots of fun ahead!