How Ellie made friends with a goat...

Hi Mom!

Oh, look there's a goat behind me!

Ellie with her new friends,
Sylvie and Billy (isn't that what all goats are named?).

Karey's cake...

So I really like to make pies and I usually can make them so they look and taste pretty good. But I have this huge block with cakes. I just really don't know how to make a really tasty cake, and it's completely elusive to me how to make them look pretty. So I usually avoid making them except for birthdays when I feel compelled to produce a cake. Lately, I have ended up delegating the task to Cami who is quite adept at making cute "people" cakes.
My sister-in-law Karey just had a birthday and I decided I was going to try my best on her cake, since she is new in the family and all. I labored over it, and tried some things I thought would be cool...so it tasted pretty good and looked a lot like a 10 year old had created it...but that's about as good as it gets for me! °Ü°

What do you think of Spence's new "do"?

Spence is trying out a new do. What do you think?

Jokes only a mother could love...

Ellie: Knock Knock.
Me: Who's there?
Ellie: Knock who.
Me: Knock who who?
Ellie: (silence, awaiting me to finish joke)
Me: Owls say, "Who who"
(Yeah I know I'm hilarious.)
Adam: Knock Knock
Me: Who's there?
Adam: Car
Me: Car who?
Adam: Banana, I named the car, Banana
Emma: Knock Knock
Me: Who's there?
Emma: Radio
Me: Radio who?
Emma: Radio not! Here I come!

The books I'm hooked on...

I've read a lot of classic books over the last year (Bleak House, Count of Monte Cristo, Sense and Sensibility, etc.)
So when Stephenie Meyer's "Twilight" showed up on our book club's reading list I was more than a little skeptical when I went to Amazon to read the reviews. I got a little scared off by the words, "vampire" and "erotic" in the same sentence. After three friends raved about it and informed me that the author was a BYU graduate and that it was actually a "chaste" love story about vampires...I decided I could try it....Well, several hours later after a long night of not being able to put it down I was officially hooked! Who needs sleep anyway?

Now AnnaLisa and Glen are caught in their snare and we are all anxiously awaiting for "Eclipse", the third in the series to be released this summer.

It's actually listed as a teen novel and frankly the quality of writing is not super great. But the story is completely compelling and you'll want to make sure that you have "New Moon" waiting for when you finish "Twilight".

So here's an excerpt from the Amazon review:
"Meyer has achieved quite a feat by making this scenario completely human and believable. She begins with a familiar YA premise (the new kid in school), and lulls us into thinking this will be just another realistic young adult novel. Bella has come to the small town of Forks on the gloomy Olympic Peninsula to be with her father. At school, she wonders about a group of five remarkably beautiful teens, who sit together in the cafeteria but never eat. As she grows to know, and then love, Edward, she learns their secret. They are all rescued vampires, part of a family headed by saintly Carlisle, who has inspired them to renounce human prey. For Edward's sake they welcome Bella, but when a roving group of tracker vampires fixates on her, the family is drawn into a desperate pursuit to protect the fragile human in their midst. The precision and delicacy of Meyer's writing lifts this wonderful novel beyond the limitations of the horror genre to a place among the best of YA fiction. (Ages 12 and up)" --Patty Campbell

Fashion Statement

Adam and Emma pick out their own clothes and get dressed themselves each day. We’ve gotten used to the long sleeves Adam continues to wear and it isn’t unusual for one of them (usually Adam) to completely mismatch.

In case it's hard to tell: Adam is wearing his blue BYU shirt with black and red sweats
Emma is wearing a light pastel calico shirt with very bright large print capris

So it was on Friday we had to suppress giggles when they each walked out of their rooms wearing these respective outfits.

...Yes we let them wear them all day.

Letterboxing: Good family fun!

What is letterboxing? In case you haven’t noticed the link we have listed under our hobbies, letterboxing is one of our family’s favorite pastimes.

Basically letterboxing combines a hike with a treasure hunt. An actual letterbox is a waterproof container that contains a hand carved rubber stamp and a logbook.

We pick somewhere we’d like to visit (usually parks with hiking trails) and we find the nearby letterboxes listed on www.letterboxing.org website and print off the clues on how to find them. They are hidden in and around trees and rocks near walking/hiking trails in many parks. We’ve been to many amazing and beautiful places in hunt of a letterbox.

Can you see the letterbox hidden right at Emma's feet in this picture?

Once you find a letterbox you stamp their stamp into your own logbook and stamp your own family stamp into the box’s logbook. You sign your trail name, where you’re from, and the date. It’s a wonderful way to get outside with the family, and you can’t beat the price…FREE!

If you are inspired to try it yourself then buy a small notebook (for the logbook), a stamp (store bought or hand carved), and an ink pad (your only expenses) and then print off some clues…and happy letterboxing trails to you!

Make sure you let us know how your adventure goes.

No joy in Mudville...

To quote from the classic tale, Casey at the Bat "there is no joy in Mudville." Cami did awesome on her speech today, but unfortunately did not win the elections. Her and her two best friends all picked different offices to run for so they would not have to run against each other. Her two friends each won their elections, so her disappointment is compounded.
However true to Cami form she is already starting to perk up and show us her smile again.
Thursday update: Cami is already doing so much better and eagerly enthusiastic about her next pursuits (field day and pizza party today)! She is even setting an excellent example for all of us as she is including her friends and running mates in her prayers. I love children's prayers.

Cami's campaign for student council elections!!

Cami's campaign sign, using the same slogan Glen used to win
President of DECA elections in HS and VP of accounting honor
society, Beta Alpha Psi at BYU

Here is Cami's speech:

Good morning! My name is Cami Goold and I am running for the SCA position of Vice President. I think I would be a good Vice President because I have two years of SCA experience, I am not scared to talk in front of people, and I am creative. What I want to do in the SCA next year is have more spirit days, more after school activity nights. More language, club, and spirit day choices for the whole school. I want to have more language choices because many of us wanted to have an option on the language we get to learn. The world is a big place and it would be nice to be able to learn a variety of languages. I think there should be more clubs because we all have different interests and a lot of them can be easily put into clubs that we don’t have. Like cooking and many other things that people might have interests in. I want more spirit days because we have such a great school like Fairhill and we need to show our spirit more often. That’s why I think I should be Vice President. VOTE FOR ME!

Preschool soapbox...

This is my eighth year in a row participating in a home preschool group with my kids. Somehow I’ve ended up the unofficial coordinator of all the groups in our ward and adjoining ward. Each year it has become more and more rewarding for me and I have never once regretted the time or effort that it takes to be an integral part of teaching my preschool aged children.

Adam at the end of another year (2 down 1 more to go)

That time kids have at home with their mom is way too short to send them off to be taught by others who are probably much less qualified anyway, not to mention that they don’t know your child’s interests and learning style, nor do they have the same values I’m trying to instill in my children.

A shot of this year's preschool group (minus one).

AnnaLisa finally talked Adam into wearing shorts and a tshirt, but it was a one time occasion. He went home and
immediately changed and hasn't worn short sleeves since. But could this be a crack in the armor?

Our home preschool groups consist of 5-7 students and each mom takes a week teaching preschool at their home that week. This year we had mother “experts”—for instance I always taught about heroes at our house, like George Washington, Helen Keller, Thomas Jefferson, Christopher Columbus, etc. Another mother focused her teachings on music—teaching them to play the recorder, to recognize the different instrumental sounds in Peter and the Wolf, the musical alphabet, etc. The other focuses were science and nature, character development, geography, art, and seasons/holidays. Of course still learning all the other preschool skills of numbers, letter sounds, singing songs, taking turns, and much more.

Summary: I love our home preschool and I think it’s been a very good thing for my children (and myself).

…now off my soapbox…

So fashionable!

Adam and Emma pick out their own clothes and get dressed themselves each day. We’ve gotten used to the long sleeves Adam continues to wear and it isn’t unusual for one of them (usually Adam) to completely mismatch.

In case it's hard to tell: Adam is wearing his blue BYU shirt with black and red sweats
Emma is wearing a light pastel calico shirt with very bright large print capris

So it was on Friday we had to suppress giggles when they each walked out of their rooms wearing these respective outfits.

...Yes we let them wear them all day.

Cute Little Chickie!

On Thursday the kindergarten classes at our elementary school performed a musical rendition of the “Little Red Hen”. Even the pianist and narrator were fellow kindergarteners.

Emma had decided that the part of the little red hen belonged to her…you know since her hair is red. As cute and naïve as we thought Emma’s criteria were apparently there was something to it as the little girl who did get the part has bright red curly hair.
So Emma became one of the hen’s ten little chickies…and a very cute one at that!

Nate, heirloom shirt, and more

Excuse the poor picture quality (it is from 1983), but here is a picture of my brother, Nate and I back in the day before I had my braces.
Nate is just 13 months younger than me so he's always turning the age I just was, and as it was just Nate's birthday a couple of days ago, and it has caused me to reflect on Nate's influence in my life.
Although I feel like we were always pretty close growing up, I will start off by letting you all know that the very first sentence that Nate uttered was, "Lara did it."
I did get blamed for a lot of his mischief, but he was also my best defender, quick to explain us older kids' side of the story. As we've grown up his enthusiasm and amazing ability to negotiate and actually accomplish things are an inspiration to me.
Of course I would be remiss if I didn't also mention the fact that it was Nate that introduced me to Glen back in the early months of 1993. For that I am eternally grateful. I truly am blessed to have Nate for a brother, and I truly wish him the best on his new adventure to California.
Now scroll back up and look at the shirt I'm wearing in the first photo and compare it to the one Emma is wearing. Yes the picture quality makes it hard to tell, but they are the very same shirt. My mom made it for me when I started kindergarten (and apparently I was still wearing it when I was 10) and now my own daughter is wearing it to kindergarten 24 years later. It's an heirloom shirt.

Flying high at the new Air and Space Museum

After numerous times of visiting the downtown DC Air and Space museum, we decided to try the new Udvar-Hazy Air and Space Museum out by the Dulles Airport. It's quite large and built to look like an airplane hangar with an observation tower and all. (Note Adam's winter clothing wearing continues...)

Spencer had been there once before for Scouts and knew that wearing his Heely's in there would be very cool and save him from actually having to walk. Well...he enjoyed them for a short time, before the Heely police came (seriously, they even carry the tool needed for removing the wheel) and put his cruising to an end!

Probably everyone's (except Mom and Ellie) favorite activity of the day was trying out this flight simulator (above). It was actually quite a bumpy, jerky ride that lasted about 5 minutes that looked unpleasant enough from the sidelines. Apparently Adam screamed at one point that he wanted to get out, and one of the other children in the ride was about to press the emergency stop button, but luckily Glen was able to comfort Adam quickly and they didn't get their ride cut short.

Another fun experience was the observation deck. It was a gorgeous view of the Dulles airport and surrounding areas. Of course the first thing everyone had to do was locate our car in the parking lot, because you know seeing your car from above is always enlightening!

Here is AnnaLisa bravely trying to get Spencer to pose willingly for a picture. Obviously it was only semi-successful as we decided that it looks like she's about to throw Spence out of the Observation tower.