Where does the time go?

Time really does fly, doesn't it? I'm amazed that my little girl is almost one, and my oldest boy is almost 8! I swear it was yesterday that I took James on a flight by himself back home to visit my family! Now 8 years later, I'll be embarking on the same journey with my 4th child... where does the time go? But honestly, other than slowing time down a little, I wouldn't change it all for the world.

I love watching them all grow up... interacting with

each other as a family, with their peers, watching their little mind work, making connections, connecting dots, and just loving life. I'm not going to have this opportunity forever... they will grow up not needing/wanting my help in connecting my dots. So, until that moment, I'm trying to catch every moment that I can.

I've got a ton of pictures from the past few weeks, so hope you don't mind! They were just too cute to pass up! So, here they all are in their glory! The first picture is one I am DEFINITELY keeping for blackmail! When she becomes a teenager, and starts to become moody, I'm pulling this picture out and telling her that she better shape up or I'll show this picture to her friends! It's such a classic, isn't it?! Can't you see her process... "Huh, look at this interesting hole!"

The next picture of her, I wish I could say was chocolate all over her mouth... but not a chance. Glenn had been a big help, and had swept the floor for me! And the nice pile of dirt was right in the middle of the floor. While I was doing something else, and Glenn was trying to find the dustpan, she crawled right over, and started an eating fest on dirt! Yum, yum! As you can see, she loved it! Just great... she's going to be the type that will eat worms!

And then in the same breath, I LOVE this outfit, and the hat especially is so cute on her. Thankfully she enjoys having it on! I still love Sunday mornings, to decide what outfit will look the best for the day! She's so bright an happy!

Next on my list is Alex. He came up to me with Buzz Lightyear and said, "Look at his guarding stance." So, here is a picture of Alex and Buzz doing their guarding stance together! Alex never ceases to amaze me. I can feel like stringing him by his toenails, and then the other moment be as sweet as sugar, and just makes me melt. I do feel like his sweeter moments are becoming more frequent, and I do pray that they will continue to do so as he moves out of his two's! But I'm not holding my breath. I do feel like he is going to be the child that teaches Todd and me the most about patience!

The boys and I headed over the the coast last week for Homeschool Days at the Aquarium. They give you a phenomenal deal on tickets, and give you free reign to roam with lots of learning stations set up around the place. And they have classes offered that you can pay for, and others that are free. I noticed that they had a class titled "Shark Dissection." It was free, and the kids LOVE sharks, so we headed over there. I had no idea what to expect, but thought it must be where they just show you different parts of the shark, that have already been cut up, preserved, etc. I was wrong!

If you click on the picture to blow it up, you'll see that he completely cut up a fresh shark. In this picture he's showing us his heart! It was fascinating! James and Glenn had front center seats. I was off to the side with the others. I thought it was spectacular! There was one part that I was sweating buckets... the man asked if anyone knew the difference between male and female sharks. James' hand went up instantly. Now, if you know James, you know that he's not afraid to speak what he thinks... not shy at all... and you never know what is going to come out of his mouth! The guy never did call on him, which I was saying "Whew..." and turns out it had to do with the fins. But anyway, I asked James what he was going to say, and he actually was just going to say that he thought it was about their different electronic signals that they send... ok, James, that would have been a good guess. I was so worried it would be about something else anatomical! It was an excellent class, and my boys stayed as long as they could afterwards, touching every part of the shark they were allowed to touch! Thank goodness for baby wipes!

The other most fascinating exhibit at the aquarium, was called "Oddwater" and had to do with odd animals from the bottom of the ocean. The fish were spectacular, but the blown glass artwork that were in every one of the displays were incredible! They had seaweed, fishhouses, platters, bulbs... it really was incredible! The touchpool that they had here to the right was full of glass starfish, but also these platters, that if you look closely at the picture, there were skate rays that loved to just lay in them! It was fascinating!

They had Nemo in one exhibit which Alex kept pointing to and saying, "Look Mama, Nemo!" Over and over, and over again! He loved it! They also had a Dora from Finding Nemo in another tank, and she was beautiful! I had never seen on so large before!

This is a picture of little Ellie, who was in front of the large picture window that looked into the huge immense shark tank with thousands of other fish in there as well. The window was from floor to ceiling, and about 20 feet wide. She crawled from one end to another, back to the other end, and then back the other way. She couldn't get enough of it! Sometimes she'd stop and stand up against the glass... she LOVED watching all the fish! And since there was an art project in this room that the boys were taking their sweet time on, I was happy that she was so entertained!

I included these last pictures of Alex and Glenn crawling up into the diver's helmet, because when I look at Alex's eyes in his picture, they are so GLENN! So, click on that picture and see the resemblance!

Oh yeah, and one last thing... we went to the beach after the Aquarium fun, and we brought our kite Opie. Now Opie is Very light, and flies at the tiniest wind... and wouldn't you know... there actually was NO wind at the coast... ever heard of such a thing??? So, Alex pulled Opie around in the sand! Oh well, better luck next time!

Well, sorry this is so long! Hope you enjoy the pictures at least! Take care, and we miss you all!

Fabulous Book

What's Math Got to Do with It?: Helping Children Learn to Love Their Least Favorite Subject - and Why it's Important For America by Jo Boaler

If you get a chance, this book is at the Corvallis Public Library, and it is fabulous. I think every parent of a public schooled, private schooled, charter schooled, or homeschooled child should read this book. I found it quite insightful with quality research. Jo lives in England, so much of her research is done in England, but she also was a professor at Stanford for a while, so did studies in the States too. She's also gone abroad to look at classrooms abroad. She has analyzed different classrooms with different teaching habits, and has done extensive surveys to teachers, but more importantly the students. And really gets to the heart of our where our society is going with math, and how we need to help it from going down the toilet.

She talks about worksheet math, which she agrees has a place, but math is so much more than just plug and chug. There is communication and problem solving, intrigue and richness, not fully comprehensible when you are only plugging and chugging. She discusses the importance of understanding math in the real world, and not just memorizing equations. And she discusses the dangers of track systems, and how group work with a variety of levels is beneficial to everyone.

Anyway, if you're a parent with some extra time (yeah right!), this really is a fabulous book. It's new, so it's a 14-day checkout still at our library.

Other than that, the 3 funny stories from last week are:

Ellie proud of her car she's been hiding in the boot!

1. Our family has been quite sick this past week... really can't remember a time that we've been down for so long! Todd, Ellie, and I so far are fine, though, and we are triple crossing our fingers we don't get sick :-) Anyway, Glenn woke up one morning, and I asked how he was feeling. He said, "Good!" with enthusiasm. I asked him how his nose was feeling. He took on BIG LONG Sniff, and replied, "It's still a little bit snuffy." I thought that was adorable.

The boys making a mock stained-glass solar system

2. Todd's been reading non-stop with James... trying to finish the 3rd Eragon book. Todd edits some of the gory stuff for James, but both are THOROUGHLY enjoying it. The other night I served chicken for dinner, and James politely told me he was done with dinner (he didn't touch his chicken). Well, if you know James, he is a bottomless pit. "What do you mean, you're done? Don't you want your chicken." "No," he tells me. "I don't want to eat meat anymore." I looked at him in utter shock... where on EARTH did this come from? With my mouth still open, I reply, "What??!! Why don't you want to eat meat anymore?" He replies, "Because I love animals." WHAT??!! I looked at Todd in utter disbelief. Todd gets an 'ah-ha' moment in his eyes and says to James, "Is it because Eragon is a vegetarian?" James shakes his head up and down. I almost put a stop to reading that book! :-) That night as I was explaining this to my friend who has loaned us the books, she assures me it's fine. Eragon comes to reality and eats meat again. Well, the boys have come to this point, and Eragon is eating meat again, but James still wouldn't eat his chicken last night...... books, I tell ya!

The complete solar system

3. While Todd has been reading the past few nights on the couch (till midnight one night! Little stinker :-)), Glenn was laying all over him the first night, and last night Alex starting crawling all over Todd. He announces, "Why must everyone climb all over me whenever my bladder is full!" James replies without hesitation, "Maybe it's because they think it's squishy." Todd and I laughed hard over that one, and told James, that was a good comeback!

Well, that's about it for us. I'm hoping today will be our first day back to normal in about a week, but we'll see. James still had a fever last night, and Alex is still coughing and not sleeping well... but I know it will end, and it's gotta be soon :-) Have a good one!

And the results of the Abraham Lincoln cake.... drum roll please... (please remember this is designed by a 7-year old... I just helped create... so if something doesn't make sense, sorry!)
1. 200 in pink marshmallows: Lincoln turned 200 this year

2. A.L. initials in white marshmallows: obviously Abraham Lincoln's initials

3. butterscotch chips: outline of Abraham Lincolns face

4. chocolate-covered pretzels: James thought they looked like 2 eyes and a mouth, so they ended up representing Lincoln's 2 terms in office. (He didn't finish his second, obviously, but he did start it!) 5 pretzels (4 plus 1 :-))

5. peanut butter: representing the copperhead pennies... once again, 2 for his 2 terms!

Thanks for all who participated!!! It was fun to see what everyone thought! The winner goes to the Bluemels in Wyoming! They actually got them all and then some! They even added the twist of the brown pretzels off-setting the white marshmallows representing the civil war and slavery movement! I thought that was clever... so did the boys! So, I'll be sending cookies off to you guys sometime soon!

As for the rest of our lives, I thought I'd add a few funny pictures with a few funny moments this past week... First, is Ellie stretching... is she ready for karate, or what!? James was QUITE proud of her! Her new favorite thing to do now, is to put cars in shoes. Many-a-time lately I have gone to quickly get in my shoes... only to step into a car!!!! Gotta love her!

James literally had a minute between doing his math and spelling, and he ran over to the chair to be silly, and said, "Ahhh.. I'm taking a break!" I thought he was funny, so I snapped a shot.

My 'bad-mom moment' with him this week came when he said at night, "See mom, this is what I was talking about when I told you about the vultures carrying those heads away." What??!! Ok, so I have NO recollection of him EVER talking about that, EVER! So, this is my 'bad-mom moment', when I'm sure he mentioned it, and I was doing something else and not really paying attention, and saying "Oh sure, hon, sounds good!" Yeah, so much for my New Years Resolution! :-) Anyway, turns out he was reading a fun book (believe it or not!) that lets you choose your way through Ancient history (if you think you should make spears for the soldiers, turn to page 14, etc.) and there was a part about a Sumerian army advancing on the Ummaites, and talks about vultures carrying off with their heads... yikes... the things parents let their children read these days :-) honestly, it is a fun book!

So, while we are doing school, Alex actually loves to participate by coloring in my Teacher's Math Manual, while the kids do their math! When I say it's math time, he eagerly pulls out their math books for the boys, and pulls out my manual, and starts to color in it! We're talking full concentration here... tongue hanging out and all! Other than that, he loves to create his army on the table while we work away! Isn't he proud of himself!

And the last picture, is a cute picture I took when I found Alex in the carseat, and I honestly thought it was Ellie at first! He sure is cute... when he wants to be! If he doesn't want to be... you better watch out :-)

One more funny story of the boy who didn't make it into the pictures this week (better known as Glenn, or G-2)... Aristotle came up nonchalantly in our history this week, and I asked James if he remembered who he was... he thought for a moment and said, "Oh yeah, he's the guy who thought the Earth was the center of the universe." Glenn says, with hands moving, "But that's not right, it's the Sun that in the center. It's a good thing the Earth isn't in the center, or we'd all be on FIRE!" We got a good laugh out of that one.

Well, hope you all have a good weekend! The Iditarod starts Saturday, so we'll be watching! The boys have their mushers picked out, and I'm hoping to whip up some 'dog chow."

Anyway, we had Stake Conference last weekend for church, and they showed a phenomenal video on prayer that I really enjoyed. If you haven't seen it, check it out. I loved it! Enjoy, and Take CARE!