Our Adventures!!!

So on Thursday evening the boys were bound for an adventure.  They were headed out to go 'hike' and 'explore' the forest and mountains and rivers and waterfalls.  This is them preparing for their long journey......

They packed in their back packs some chips, a stick of butter (i guess for that protein they will be needing..) honey, some bread, and anything else from the fridge and cupboards they could get their hands on.

Bridger Packed and ready 

Setting out for their long journey

'Hugs and kisses' were given to mom and dad and some tear filled good byes :)  OK not really but they were going to be gone for a long time ;)

This is them on the trail, mom and dad decided to stop in for a visit... 

 We missed them so!

I love when they get in the moment and have their imaginations go Wild.  They played for a couple of hours like this....So cute!

Block Project

These are some blocks we made have different things on each block......

these are good for....

 a rainy day

cleaning time with kids

a nature walk and looking for things

art time

school time

 when they are 'bored'

and anything your amazing imagination can come up with   

Fun one for cleaning......

The blocks are divided into actions, what room, what emotion, what animal and the free time activity you get to do when all done.....

So you need to 'pick up' the 'play room' while acting like a 'Angry dragon' and when it is all picked up you can put on a play for mommy.

Actions: make pretty (decorate), organize, vacuum, wash, pick up,and dust

Rooms: Bedroom, bathroom, play room, kitchen/living room, Mud room and School room

Emotions: happy, Excited, lonely, scared, sad and angry

Animals: snake, dragon, tiger, cat wolf and horse

Free time activity or reward activity: read a book, draw or paint, act out something, go on a walk, cook or bake something and sewing

These are my art cubes....

There is a one for colors, shapes, and different lines.   So they get to pick a paper or marker or crayon that is that color draw the shape and decorate it with the special line that was given.

shapes: star, circle, square, rectangle, heart, and triangle

Lines: straight, dotted, curvy, loopy, zig-zagy, and springy

I have a texture dice too....  This is something they had to find that was prickly

 (yes it is misspelled in the picture...oops)

Textures: Holey, scratchy soft, prickly, fuzzy, and bumpy

I even made one with subjects to learn about or to look for on a nature hike....

Subjects: Astronomy, insects, plants, weather, experiments, and animals

or you can just use them to build a tower or castle with :)

A Gymnastics Coach...?!

So Sunday my friend Heather came up to me at church, (who happens to be a coach as well) and asks me to come and coach gymnastics at the Gym on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  They had a coach quit on them and are looking for a replacement and since I was the only other person she knew tha had previos experience she asked me........Ummmmm........  At first I was thinking oh that might be fun but then I realized i haven't had a job for 6 years......I like my freedom......My last job was coaching Gymnastics in McCall while i was pregnant with Gideon.  So after a few days contemplating and checking out their amazingly small gym and letting Gideon try it out and praying about it I have consented to Coach Gymnastics once again... :)

I coach from 9-11:45am  and 3-5pm on Tuesdays and from 3-5pm on Thursdays.  So that is a total of 7 hours a week. 8 classes and 72 gymnasts...yes I said 72.  There is 8-12 in each class.  These are all beggining classes for different age groups from toddlers to 10 year olds.  Should be fun :)  It is about 20 minutes away.  Every other Week the boys can be home with their daddy doing daddy and boy stuff and then the other week will be at Gymnastics with me.  Nice I can have them with me.  they can be in a play room while I coach or else be with me doing gymnastics.  Gideon tried it out this last week and LOVED it.  He looks like he is built for it.  We just need to get him more comfortable with heights.
 so for the next 4 months i will have a job, be a coach and juggle my life a bit to make it work.  i am excited and hope it will all go well.

FHE #3 and Families 40 points for this year

We talked about the creation and Gideon had the lesson.  We read Genesis 1 and then colored pictures and cut them out to go along with our lesson.  Bridger had song and prayer and daddy had the treat YUM!

Gideon wrote CTR on the Etch a Sketch... Way to go buddy!!

Coloring and cutting out the days of the creation

Daddy helping

Good Job Bridger!

Gideon cutting and cutting....

FHE snack :)

And cutting :)

Then the surprise treat!!  Yeah for Drumsticks!

I broke up 'The Family: A proclamation to the world' into 40 points.  My plan is to set aside Family Home evenings to go into depth and have a fun time learning the things that will help with life now and tomorrow.  I look forward to recording on here what we come up with.  This proclamation are things I believe and have Faith in.  The family is sacred to me and I want my boys to know they have a heavenly father in Heaven who loves them and wants them to return to him again. 

 Here are the 40 points.....

The Family: A Proclamation to the world

1. WE, THE FIRST PRESIDENCY and the Council of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, solemnly proclaim that marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God
2. … the family is central to the Creator’s plan for the eternal destiny of His children.
3. ALL HUMAN BEINGS—male and female—are created in the image of God.
4.  Each is a beloved spirit son or daughter of heavenly parents, and, as such, each has a divine nature and destiny.
5. Gender is an essential characteristic of individual pre-mortal, mortal, and eternal identity and purpose.
6. IN THE PREMORTAL REALM, spirit sons and daughters knew and worshipped God as their Eternal Father and accepted His plan
7.  … His children could obtain a physical body and gain earthly experience to progress toward perfection and ultimately realize their divine destiny as heirs of eternal life.
8.  The divine plan of happiness enables family relationships to be perpetuated beyond the grave.
9.  Sacred ordinances and covenants available in holy temples make it possible for individuals to return to the presence of God and for families to be united eternally.
10. THE FIRST COMMANDMENT that God gave to Adam and Eve pertained to their potential for parenthood as husband and wife.
11.  We declare that God’s commandment for His children to multiply and replenish the earth remains in force.
12.  We further declare that God has commanded that the sacred powers of procreation are to be employed only between man and woman, lawfully wedded as husband and wife.
13. WE DECLARE the means by which mortal life is created to be divinely appointed. We affirm the sanctity of life and of its importance in God’s eternal plan.
14. HUSBAND AND WIFE have a solemn responsibility to love and care for each other and for their children. “Children are an heritage of the Lord” (Psalm 127:3).

 Parents have a sacred duty to rear their children in…

15.  love and righteousness,
16. to provide for their physical and spiritual needs,
17. and to teach them to love and serve one another,
18. observe the commandments of God,
19. be law-abiding citizens wherever they live.
20. Husbands and wives—mothers and fathers—will be held accountable before God for the discharge of these obligations.
21. THE FAMILY is ordained of God.
22. Marriage between man and woman is essential to His eternal plan.
23. Children are entitled to birth within the bonds of matrimony,
24.  … be reared by a father and a mother who honor marital vows with complete fidelity.
25. Happiness in family life is most likely to be achieved when founded upon the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ.

 Successful marriages and families are established and maintained on principles of

26.  Faith,
27.  prayer,
28. repentance,
29. forgiveness,
30. respect,
31. love,
32. compassion,
33. work,
34.  Wholesome recreational activities.
35.  By divine design, fathers are to preside over their families in love and righteousness and are responsible to provide the necessities of life and protection for their families.
36. Mothers are primarily responsible for the nurture of their children.
37.  In these sacred responsibilities, fathers and mothers are obligated to help one another as equal partners. (Disability, death, or other circumstances may necessitate individual adaptation. Extended families should lend support when needed.)
38. WE WARN that individuals who violate covenants of chastity, who abuse spouse or offspring, or who fail to fulfill family responsibilities will one day stand accountable before God. Further,
39.  We warn that the disintegration of the family will bring upon individuals, communities, and nations the calamities foretold by ancient and modern prophets.
40. WE CALL UPON responsible citizens and officers of government everywhere to promote those measures designed to maintain and strengthen the family as the fundamental unit of society.

The blog that inspired me to do this.  Thanks Amy!

Rolling into school again!

Unit:  Animals                 

Week 1: Creation

Creation (scriptures) perfect state, no production, just constant

Our responsibility:  to take care of, tend to, make use of and nurture animals

Week 2 production

Conception/fertilization, egg/birth, nursing to adulthood

Week 3 Life cycles

All the different types of life cycles; raise our own, plant seeds; raise a mill worm…..

Week 4 Predators and prey

Food Chain, all things have a purpose

Week 5  Animal uses

What different animals do, used for, how they help

Week 6 how to kill, and eat animals

Hunting techniques, gutting (explore anatomy), cooking, preserving

Week 7 what can I do today to help

Environment, raise animals, take care of them, love them

Week 8 project

Boys create a project to tell what they have learned

The next unit will be Man v Wild unit.  The boys are thrilled for that.  

This is us creating the solar system today....

Poke some holes in some paper and have interchangeable constellations you can look at

Orion

Loving his new knowledge of 'light'

It was SUNNY today!!!  Freezing but sunny.  This is the boys eating some snacks on the back porch

Taking their wood shields and making a perch in the willows :)  Love it!

Our Solar System Mobile hanging up in our School room

Catching up

This is our obstacle course in our living room.  The boys loved going back and forth jumping off things and climbing up and on and jumping off.  It was pretty cute.  I even got Akina (my dog) to do it and she did it well.  It was fun!

Taking a break after a few runs

An Anniversary Flower!  Beautiful!

We got to go out to dinner at an Italian place in Kyllburg called Bella Italia and then took a back road and watched the lights of the town from a bench wrapped in blankets and just talked, laughed and well that is all you need to know. :).....It was a beautiful, romantic and a fun Anniversary. Happy 7 years!!  Year 8 is going to be the best out of them all!

Here is a Math board I made for Gideon.  He loves math and so I got the magnetic paper and printed 4 of each # on it and then made math columns to show the ones, tens, hundreds and thousands place. 

Magnetic ABC's I got Bridger for Christmas

New years was fun.  I went out by myself (Joseph worked in the morning and stayed in bed while the 5 kids slept) and I parked overlooking Spangdahlem and watched the fireworks and heard the church bells.  It was nice.  I hope we will be able to go out next year as a family....we will see. 

I babysat our neighbors kids over New years and well lets just say it was a handful at church.  No husband and 5 kids and those girls well are something else especially the youngest one.  :)  My friend called me after church and complimented me on my patience with them during sacrament meeting...That was very sweet of her.   It is just so different with other kids besides your own.  

We have been trying reading time before bed now and the boys love it.  They were having a hard time setteling down for bed but with reading time now they do better.  Sure love these boys.

So limited on space or you are tight on a budget then make a school desk out of a crib.  The boys love drawing, playing Lego's, doing school lessons and having fun at this table.  

Sometimes it is just good to celebrate your love.... Not because it is your anniversary or Valentines day, but just because it is good and worth celebrating!!!

Decorating our cake

Love our Family!

Saturday night the boys surprised us by  setting up a slumber party in our room :)  Bridger went back to his bed around 10 and crashed and Gideon fell asleep shortly after that :)

Getting ready for church the following morning.  Bridger got Stegosaurus hair :)

A part in the clouds equals opportunity!

We went for a hike the other day in the back woods behind the base.  It was very much needed.  I feel like we have been cooped in the house for FAR too long.  It never stops raining here and not just a drizzle like down pouring and a constant heavy thick mist.  So we saw a window of opportunity and jumped on it and so glad we did.  We love hiking in the woods together as a family! One of our Family goals this year is to hike/backpack in the ALPS this year.....I really hope we do it!  We just have to plan on hiking more.

 

This is up in a hunters hut.  They have these "hideouts" that are on the edges of all the good meadows around and they sit up there ready to pounce on a wayward deer.....To me there is not much sport in this but more i guess in necessity....You would have to get a few of them to feed a family.  The deer are pretty small here.

Akina in the meadow

Joseph played some more with the wood burner and made a sign to hang up in our house for our 'future' company :)

Our Service Jar!!   When we sit down for dinner we put a 'warm fuzzy' in the jar for serving others through out the day.  If we cannot think of a service then we go around and compliment everyone at the table.

We are starting some crystals......We will see if it works.  I got the kit for free....It looked really old and who knows if the chemicals will take.  We will see :)

I got a french bread roll and cut it into 4 sections and we all made our own shape and baked and ate it.  YUM!

Spread with butter and garlic and oregano

It has been a good week.  My goal this week is getting organized and our house clean (tomorrow) and then get my lesson plans together for the boys, organise my music adn personal progress callings at church adn prepare for a class I am teaching for the Red Cross on the 21st.  I have an 8 hour class I am teaching on CPR, First Aid and AED.  Wish me Luck!  A really Amazing Rescue Story I found recently from KTVB.  This is why I am teaching others the importance of saving a life!