Science 101

In the summer time I like to find ways to keep the kid's minds engaged, so every once in a while I come up with some sort of experiment. I know that this is not a unique one, but I thought it was fun. We filled vases/glasses with water and food coloring and then I had each of them come up with a hypothesis as to what they thought would happen to a white carnation after being in the solution.
Owen: He thought that the flowers would change color (smarty pants)
Davis: At first he thought that it would make them grow, but then decided that it would make the stems change color...a good guess I thought.
Kate: She just kept saying, "I don't know." That girl is always afraid to guess because she doesn't like to be wrong...we are working on that.
Gracie: She just wanted to drink the water. :)

Here's what happened...
After one hour there was no visible change to most of the flowers, except for a couple of tiny spots on the red.
After a couple of days they all showed color and the kids were thrilled with the results.
The yellow was by far the most brilliant.
An easy experiment I would definitely do again.

Back from Paradise

We recently returned from a week long trip to Paradise...Paradise, Utah to be exact. Jed's Mom was in charge of a reunion for her whole extended family. I think that we were all braced for A LOT of work, very little sleep and tired cranky kids. While it did meet our expectations in all three areas, it was also SO MUCH FUN! Really, I hate to sound like I am bragging, but we hosted one rockin' family reunion. The bulk of the credit is due to Nila's excellent delegating. She did a great job of organizing. Hope you enjoy a "few" photos from our adventures...

Jed was in charge of the boat making and then the races down the river. This was Kate's boat. Gracie asked me to get a pic of this rock.
Such attitude...

Davis in his element with the BB Pistol.
Of course there was BB gun shooting--oh, and air soft guns...and paintball guns. Proof, once again, that the boys get the urge to destroy things from Jed's side of the family.
Kate took awhile to warm up to the idea of the slip 'n slide, but once she did there was no stopping her.
Kate and her "new cousin", Claire, sporting some flowers that we made for their hair.
Me and my sis-in-law, Kristin...I love all my sister-in-laws. They are so encouraging and supportive.
Tom sporting a kilt for the Scottish Games--what a sport!
Cousin Scott brought coins from around the world and let each child choose 10 of their own--you know our boys were in h-e-a-v-e-n.
5 year old Cousin Jake doing two hula hoops at once--classic.
Cousin Jessica crafting with Grandma Nila
Cousins...Cousins...and still more cousins!I feel so blessed to have all of these hard working, nice men for my kids to look up to. Gotta love the Uncles!After reviewing all of the pictures I remember why we were tired at the end of the week...and I didn't even cover the rocket launching, talent show, service auction, family meals, sand pit digging, jeep rides, horse rides, geo cashing, camp fires, puzzle building, tree swings, Cousin Kristine's dance class...I told you it was an awesome reunion. :)

Mother of the Year

Things that make me feel like I am succeeding as a mother....

• Taking the kids to the library and watching as they run around so excited to get new books!

• We have a variety of Science experiments going on the kitchen counter.

• The days when the kids don't even ask to watch TV (although I will admit these days are more rare than common)

• When I ask Gracie to do something instead of saying "okay" she says, "Oh, thank you"...so polite.
  

Now for the sake of "keepin' it real"....Things that help me remember that I am not about to be named "Mother of the Year" any time soon...

• Last week I returned half of Owen's library books to the library...the wrong half...oops! He was actually a really good sport about it and forgave me pretty quickly, but seriously, who can keep ups with what he is reading!?!
  

• I am ashamed to say it but my boys got terrible sun burns...ugh, as a cancer paranoid mother, I felt sick about this one...oh, the guilt of a mother.
  

• Owen made a creation for the local toy stores LEGO building contest and I missed the deadline for turning it in by a day. Again, poor Owen forgave me pretty quickly...more guilt for me....

• Gracie's tantrum on the floor at Staples...words cannot describe it, but I am sure you have seen something similar yourself...try not to judge the mother, she's probably doing her best.

Photographers in Training

Every once in a while when I download pictures from my camera there are pictures there that cause me to wonder where they came from, who took them and where in the world was I when the culprit had my camera? Who is in charge around here anyway? Here are a few of these from the past couple weeks...

I think I know who took this one!

Fourth of July Weekend

As I mentioned in the last post, my mom and dad came up for the holiday weekend and brought our friend Miss Cara with them. We had such a great time...Picking cherries in the backyard and making jam with Nana...Birthday gifts for the girls...matching outfits...Reading outside on a Sunday afternoon (the kids followed Cara around all weekend--she was GREAT with them)...

Flags and stories about my Grandpa who served in the military from Papa...A hike to one of our favorite spots...Playing croquet with Miss Cara...Eating homemade ice cream while waiting for the sun to go down...A fireworks show put on by this classy looking guy (we all agreed he looked like the guy on "Honey I Shrunk the Kids"...what a good sport to pose for me)....

Gracie is TWO

Warning: this is the birthday that went on and on and on....

Two days after Kate's birthday, it was Gracie's turn for a birthday. Luckily she had been watching her big sister carefully, so she knew just what was going on.

We took all the kids to the local Grange Co-op to celebrate one thing that Gracie loves...ANIMALS! She started squealing as soon as we walked through the doors. Too cute. Why do I see a pet in our future?In the evening we had a rice crispy treat heart cake.
Gracie's favorite gift? A furry puppy with it's own carrying case...Thank you Courtright family! Of course she loved her other gifts as well and is thrilled to have some more things to call "mine". The day ended with dancing and somersaults...oh how I wish I could bottle her excitement.
A few days later Gracie's friend, Sarah, also turned two. We just couldn't help but celebrate together, especially because my parents and our friend, Cara, were in town.MORE presents
(Check out Sarah in her cut swim suit and sun glasses)After cake it was straight to the bath. Meanwhile...The big kids played in the "warm tub" as they called it. What a fun celebration with the Robinsons! How lucky to have kids the same ages AND like the parents as well. :)Celebration #3...Miss Loretta and Miss Carol were at it again. Check out their creations for Gracie (with a little help from Jenny, Brian and Pete?)...Okay, so it's official, Gracie is spoiled as well as Owen, Davis and Kate...
Some of Gracie's favorite things...
Food: She is not really a sweet eater, but will pick salami over a cookie any day
Thing to do: Play dough, side walk chalk, pet furry animals, draw, wave to Daddy in the morning
Habits we can't seem to break: She still twirls her hair into knots...UGH!
Newest Phrase: "My turn!" (sounds like a 4th child thing to say, right?)

How can you not love this girl?!? We love you Gracie!