Happy Valentine's Day!

Continuing another family tradition, I set out little Valentine's Day presents and treats for the kiddos when they woke up. Everyone got My Little Pony cards, stickers, and a little tin of candy.

 And a few other photo moments from daddy's phone this week:

 Playing with the baby bath tub that also serves as a toy bin, car, and laundry basket.

Brother M being a big helper too:

Baby L's First Bath

I always like to wait until the little cord stub falls off and then some before giving my babies their first real bath.  They get washed off twice at the hospital and their skin is so sensitive. 

Baby L loved her first bath! She took to the water like it was her favorite place to be. Totally relaxing and enjoying it. All her older siblings wanted to be part of the fun too.

I was thankful for our nearly 100 year old bathtub was designed with the "seats" in the corners:

All clean and showing off how well she can hold up her head:

Family Schooling Summary

This week big sister A did all her usual school stuff: 8 workbook pages/day, reading practice, dance class, art activities, and a trip to the library.  The kids also watched some nature videos about wooly mammoths and the ice age. 

Brother S found his favorite letter on the library's magnetic letter wall:

I took A for a special treat since she has been such a good helper.  I have always appreciated how my parents acknowledged and rewarded good behavior with "treats" and little notes of encouragement.  We want to try to make sure that we focus on rewarding good behaviors too (rather than punishments).  Big sister A got a professional manicure for her "treat".  Then we went to Sephora so that I could look at some make-up. A very girly outing. She was a little nervous about getting her nails done, but LOVES feeling grown-up.  That part is a little scary for mama. Six years old! oh my!

We also practiced some sewing crafts this week.  Watching me sew all the time has my kiddos wanting to try it all the time too.  When I ordered the cookbook last week, I also ordered this kids' sewing book.

 I thought mostly big sister A would be the one wanting to use it.  But brother M surprised me with his enthusiasm and skills.  The book includes pages with dots that you can poke out for use as sewing/embroidery cards.  We copied some onto card stock. I threaded the needles and let the kids get to it.
Big sister A's Tulip:

 Here is brother M's Rabbit:

Look at how well he did on his first try! (Had to flip it over to the back so that you can see the dark blue threads he was using).

We did another reading/cooking activity directed by big sister A too -- Chocolate Ice Cream Soda... Hubby and I both agreed that it was NOT a delicious old fashioned treat.  More like "a poor man's root beer float" he said. The kiddos thought it was great though.

Recommended Reading: To the Rescue: The Biography of Thomas S. Monson

Shortly before baby L was born my dad loaned me this book:

I love biographies and this one was excellent.  His story is so inspiring.  I have heard him speak in every General Conference that I ever attended. He has been a General Authority since well before I was born.  I love his talks because he illustrates everything with personal experiences. But I never knew about his hobbies -- keeping pigeons and chickens, or his prankster habits in childhood, or that his family spent summers in a cabin up Provo Canyon. 

Two quotes stood out to me as I was reading his story.  The first one was about preparing missionaries for service while they are young:

Preparation for a mission is not a spur-of-the-moment matter. It began before you can remember. Every class in Primary, Sunday School, seminary-- each priesthood assignment-- had a larger application. Silently, almost imperceptibly, a life was molded, a career commenced, a man made.

... You who hold the Aaronic Priesthood and honor it have been reserved for this special period in history. The harvest truly is great.  Let there be no mistake about it; the opportunity of a lifetime is yours. The blessings of eternity await you. (pp.412)

That one made me think about my kiddos and how I hope that they will each have the opportunity to serve missions. My missionary experiences are one of the cornerstones of my spiritual foundation. I hope that I can do a good job teaching my kids now, so that they will be excited to serve when the time comes. 

The other quote that I wanted to remember was about how to have an "abundant life".  

He counsels those just starting out in their families and careers to seek "the abundant life." Wishing will not make it so, he says, "The Lord expects our thinking. He expects our action. He expects our labors. He expects our testimonies. He expects our devotion." He cautions: "To measure the goodness of life by its delights and pleasures and safety is to apply a false standard. The abundant life does not consist of a glut of luxury. It does not make itself content with commercially produced pleasure, the nightclub idea of what is a good time, mistaking it for joy and happiness." He measures the abundant life by the capacity "to face trouble with courage, disappointment with cheerfulness, and triumph with humility".  (This comes from the March 1988 Ensign.  I want to read the whole talk). 

The two things that stood out to me in that one were not "the delights and pleasures", but the "safety" part of things.  I always pray for safety for my family. Probably everyone does. But having everyone and everything be "safe" is not the indicator that he says that we should use to measure the abundance of our lives.  Rather the attitudes with which we face our challenges and successes. That is a much trickier thing to do, but something that we have total control over. 

Visiting with Grandma Suzy

We did some baking last week while Grandma Suzy was visiting.  We made a lemon meringue pie. Big sister A requested it. Then we ended up with extra crust and made a pumpkin pie too. 

For FHE last Monday we started some of the early seeds.  We planted broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, and lavender. I am so excited for them to sprout so I can put them under my new grow light.  These pans are hubby's creative idea for the seed starting medium.

Baby L is growing so fast.  I feel like she looks older every day.

These pics are from the week before last. They made a big snowman in the back yard with daddy.

Here is one of us taking the fish out and putting them in their new home.  Sad to report that as of yesterday, one did not make it.

This is what brother S did last week - He gathered all the "Rs" out of the bananagram game. He knows the letter "R" and its sound from a letter game the kiddos like to play on the tablet.

Family Schooling Summary

This week we had big sister A's first bi-annual home schooling review with the school board. Actually, we had to go to a big auditorium with lots of stations set-up and they assigned us to a teacher who interviewed us and looked at what we have done this year.  I brought all A's workbooks and things, but I thought I would be able to show these blog entries too.  They did not have computers at their stations though, so she just had to take my word for it on a lot of the nature center and art class stuff.  Next time I will print out some pictures so that she can put them in A's file. Overall, it was a good experience. The only thing that we really need to do better on is putting dates on all of her projects, worksheets, etc. 

This week A received a present in the mail. She is getting very interested in cooking and now that she can read pretty well this was a great way to "practice" reading without her feeling that I am forcing her to practice. 

We chose to make the brownies recipe.  True to form, we sort of followed the recipe.  We used mostly carob powder instead of cocoa (trying to cut back on chocolate/caffeine), honey, and whole wheat flour.  It was still very yummy and sweet.

My helpers -- and tasters:

This is what baby L did the whole time.  She was in the bjorn.

Reading the instructions and directing the process:

Happy taste tester, bowl cleaner, and muncher:

At Home

If you are wondering what we have been up to this week, "At home" sums it up. We are still in germ prevention mode -- week 3 of not mingling with other people. Brother M has been skipping preschool and we are only attending the first hour of church on Sundays.  The only excitement has been Grandma Suzy's visit. She came on Monday evening and will be helping us out for a couple more days before she goes home. 

Baby L had her 2 week check-up and Brother S had his annual exam.  Both are doing great even though they had to get a couple of shots.  Big sister A has had daddy and grandma helping her with school stuff. I have been able to take some daytime naps and doing a little sewing.  Baby L is getting the hang of sleeping at night and is mostly eating and then going back to sleep.  3-4 am seems to be my kids' 'witching hour". For some reason all my babies like to be awake at that time. Baby L has had some trouble with gas in her tummy, but that is getting a little better now.