Scouts - Critter Care

This is my pet Rex Thomas. He is a blue tongue skink.

1a. These are the things I've done to take care of Rex for two weeks.

2a. I made a poster about my pet and the things I do with him. We made it into a video

3b. We watched these YouTube videos which talked about people that take care of animals.

One of the people in the video was a vet at the zoo here in Utah. A vet is a person that checks animals. They also protect animals. They get to help sick animals which would be really fun, but it would be stinky.

Another one was about an animal shelter. They protect animals that don't have homes. They feed and play with the animals and help them find new places to live.

I think all of these people studied animals when they were kids so they would know how to help. I know they also had to study about animals in college. But, most important, they had to work with animals so they would know what to do to take care of them. One guy in the video said he went to work at the zoo for just the summer, and then he got a job there for 17 years. Working with pets, especially my pet, is lots of fun.

Ma

This week this little dude started calling me "MA". It's so hilarious! I'm not sure where he picked it up from, but I love it! I hear him say it a billion times a day.

Ma, I'm hungry
Ma, I hate piano
Ma, I don't want to wear shoes
Ma, come look at this
Ma, when is Daddy going to come home
Ma, I'm ready to get out of the tub
Ma, Peter is being mean
Ma, I need a waffle
Ma, I don't want to go to church

I hope he never quits.

Missing Daddy

We've had some very low key days around here lately. We are on Christmas Holiday and most days I don't let the kids have screen time. So, they have to come up with creative things to do. A few days ago, Peter decided to dress up like Daddy. He did this around 11am and stayed dressed up until Brandon got home. He even hunched over like Brandon and complained about his back hurting. He would also walk around the house complaining that he was sweating - just like Brandon does. It was hilarious!

Scouts - Cyber Chip

Our Pet

Sometimes you do something that you never imagined doing. Yep, almost two weeks ago we got this little fellow. He is a blue tongued Merauke skink. It all happened so quickly, but I know it was meant to be. I mentioned to Brandon that I thought it might be time to look into a family pet. This was late on a Thursday night. On Friday & Saturday Brandon did a lot of intense research on the kind of pet that would be best for us. On Sunday, after church, we drove up to West Valley City and picked this guy up. He is 20 inches long and should grow about another foot before he is full grown. His name is Rex.

He has been absolutely fabulous. He eats veggies and canned chicken. He also likes blueberries and we've heard he can also eat dog food. He only eats twice a week and he loves to snuggle. It's been so much fun to see Brandon excited about this pet. He even built a special tile platform so that he can bask under his heating lamp. Rex is already a super spoiled lizard.

Hiking with the Homeschoolers

A few weeks ago we got out and hiked Big Springs in Provo Canyon. It was a cold morning and Peter found a mud puddle before we even got started. Thankfully it warmed up as we hike and pretty soon he was ditching his coat in a bunch of trees to retrieve later. Thank goodness for nature. I feel so blessed that the mountains are literally in our backyard.

He loves to pretend he is fishing

Racing to get back to the car

Scouts - Roaring Laughter

1. The things that make me laugh are:
Funny faces, funny things, funny shirts

2. Reading a tongue twister

3. I wrote my own Mad Lib. My friend Isaac Ames came up with different words for it.

4. I played the game Star Wars Loopin' Cheewie with my best friend Blake. That game always makes me laugh.

Scouts - Salmon run

1. We talked about the Buddy system and why there are lifeguards at the swimming pool. Blake Christensen is always my buddy.

2. We went swimming at the Provo Rec Center

3. We talked about boat safety. I've never been on a boat yet.

4. We talked about safety equipment needed for boating. I never knew you had to have the right size of oar for how tall you are.

7. I did the front crawl swim stroke while we were at the Rec Center.

8. I learned about, and named the 3 swimming ability groups for Boy Scouts. They were easy. 

When the Teacher gets sick

Mid-week I was slammed with the flu. Body aches and constant chills were the worst part of this sickness. It caught me completely unawares, and there were so many commitments that had to be renigged on.

Reality is, when I get this sick school doesn't happen. Wednesday I spent the entire day in my bed. Boys happily played with each other along with lots of video game playing, and TV show watching. I think they ate goldfish crackers for both breakfast and lunch. No gymnastics for Peter that afternoon. I couldn't even stand up long enough for a shower.

Thursday was better and I got a shower in. I managed a few hours of feeling decent, so I gathered up our school books and my bedroom became our classroom.

Friday was an even better day and we got through most of our work (sorry, spelling. I tried so hard to get to you). Even though I felt much better it was still fun to snuggle under warm blankets while we learned about Galileo and how he used telescopes to study night skies. Although I consider our school week a failure, I cherish the time I got to slow down, rest, and just listen to everything happening around me.

I always come away with a profound sense of gratitude after being sick. I feel so blessed to have a healthy and strong body that can do almost everything I ask it to do.

 

Halloween

Since we started the month out with our family party, it seemed to take FOREVER to finally get around to Halloween night. The Sunday before we decided to carve pumpkins. This was the most successful year we've had. Luke was still pretty grossed out. It was hilarious. Peter & Brandon made a spider-man face on Peter's pumpkin.

Peter was lucky enough to be invited to go trick-or-treating with friends. So, he was gone for almost two hours. Luke went with Brandon and they were gone for a bit over an hour. They still got plenty of candy, and they had a wonderful night.

Aunt Amy completely surprised us by showing up and playing with the boys once they got home. She was here until 10pm because the boys were having so much fun with her and didn't want her to leave. It's been a fun tradition to have her come on Halloween the past several years. The boys absolutely love her. Uncle Morgan had to work, so he wasn't able to join us this year.