We celebrated New Year's morning playing at the park with friends. The men and the getting-older boys played some flag football.
The littles and I froze on the playground long enough to get some wiggles out before giving up and riding our bikes home.
Ollie loves slides. Definitely takes after his siblings!
Snuggling together on the toys kept us warmer.
Zeb is embracing his inner artist. He drew this picture after finishing a quiz at school one day in December and was waiting for the rest of the class to finish (and didn't show me until halfway through our month-long winter break).
"This is a Gma House rocking on a chair. It was from my imagination and one of a kind"
We needed to find some missing library books. I asked the kids to look under the couch cushions. This was their method. Not exactly as I had envisioned, but still productive.
Turned out that no library books were hiding in the couch. One bonus was that Zeb took it upon himself to vacuum the couch while it was taken apart. I sure do appreciate his responsible nature.
We needed to get out of the house! Having an entire month winter break (we had an extra week since we pulled the kids out of school for our Utah trip in December) meant lots and lots of creative times. When I ran out of creative options we tried to venture outside. Anything to keep the kids from being on electronics all day long.
Our bike ride was just long enough to get us out and about before the rain started up again.
The new Come, Follow Me curriculum that we are using in our scripture studies this year is simply amazing! Finding ways to focus on the teachings of Jesus Christ is such a blessing in our home. The children are embracing our efforts at having focused study time each day. We try to change up how we study each day. Sometimes acting out scenes, sometimes drawing or coloring pictures, sometimes playing a fun game, sometimes just reading the verses. We are seeing the promised blessings already.
Some nights work better than others. Some nights don't work at all. Zeb and Abby aren't always wiling to take their turns preparing and leading our discussion. But we are improving. The kids love coming home from church to report that they knew all the answers to the questions their primary teachers asked during class time. I catch them singing the songs we've been using as teaching aids at random points during the day. They talk with each other about the scriptures while playing toys. Just when you think your heart is full...it grows and grows.
Gpa and Gma Downs came for a visit. I ran out to do some grocery shopping and came home to find Oliver and Gpa snuggled up and napping on the couch.
Gpa Downs is Oliver's favorite person. He will leave me to go to Gpa. That might not sound so impressive, but Oliver is very hesitant to leave my side for anyone or anything. I love the special relationship that these two have.
Elizabeth fills us with joy every day. She is full of enthusiasm and fun. She loves to play and imagine.
She also very talented at making silly faces.
Speaking of silly...the kids were playing with costumes one day and Maggie chose to wear Bryan's pirate pants.
It looked like she was in a sack! Haha!
Cousin time! We had one last hurrah before everyone went back to school. Nothing says cousin love like a game of Twister!
**No cousins were seriously hurt during the making of this fun** After all, what fun is it without a few bumps and shoves. It just wouldn't be competitive enough without all the underhanded tricks.
Macy put her makeup skills to use with Abigail. They were supposedly playing upstairs. I should have known they'd be up to something.
Creepy!
We finished off the night with a re-enactment of "the Grinch". Laughing for days at the antics of these crazies.
We love living so close to family and building close relationships between cousins.
We went on a drive to have a better view of the blood moon. We found a secluded spot not too far from home.
The wonders in the heavens never cease to amaze us. It just reaffirms that there is a higher power directing things.
Super Hero day at school!
They spent the week focusing on kindness and anti-bullying. They talked about how being kind is what makes you a super hero.
Science is awesome! Zebediah loves science as was really looking forward to doing a science fair project. Now that he's had the experience, he still loves science and doesn't mind the thought that more projects are in his future.
He chose to do his project on "Which type of liquid will dissolve the color coating on skittles the fastest: vinegar, milk, water, lemon juice, or soda?"
We did one round of the experiment in Utah and one round at home. Zeb tracked his results and compiled all the data. (I helped with the formula to find the average times).
Zeb designed his board and put it all together. Super proud momma over here! He did a fantastic job, but more importantly had fun while doing it. He even got a good grade on the project. He was a bit disappointed that his class didn't vote on his project being one of the favorites, but that's life sometimes. Not everyone can be the popular favorite. He was still proud of his work. Great job Zeb!
Saturday school is all the rage right now. Every so often (I'm not sure exactly how the dates are chosen) the school puts on a STEAM Camp. Our kids are always so excited to sign up. It helps that the camps are filled with fun learning activities. This time around they did artwork. They traced each other doing dance moves on large paper...then got to paint their pictures.
They also made name monsters (fold the paper in half, write your name near the fold and cut around it - not cutting the fold side - to get the shape of your monster)
Zeb did some work with perspectives.
Abby and Maggie did art with salt and glue.
Lots and lots of fun times were had at Saturday school.
We drew comics for our scripture studies one night. I saw the idea online and thought it looked fun. The kids weren't convinced at first, but once we got going they had a blast.
Studying about John the Baptist gave us a chance to talk about our baptisms and the joy we felt during that special time. It also gave us a chance to practice baptizing the little ones that haven't had the opportunity yet. Lots of joy and laughter that night.
These two. They are the best of friends when they want to be.
I get joy from watching them play together. The fact that Lizzie forgets to take off her helmet after riding bikes (or just refuses...sometimes it's a conscious decision) also brings smiles to our faces.
Margaret and Elizabeth find joy in reading our family books. This particular morning they were going through our book from our recent Porter family reunion. They would look at a picture and ask me to name everyone in it. Then Liz would get super excited and say, "Look! It's Gpa and Gma Quarters!". Joy. Pure joy from this girl. Finding joy in family history is so great!
Smiles for days from this kid. Oliver can find joy in just about any situation.
Putting candles on his head, for example. And his joy is super contagious! His giggle is never far away when his grin is so big. Who can resist a baby giggle? Not us!
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