Keep it simple

Last month one of our little friends touched this and the wood part fell off. No big deal, I thought.

Anyway....lots of weeks later and after lots of money spent I finally fixed it using hot gun. Seriously, why didn't I think of a glue gun weeks ago.

Faces

Peter drew these faces in school today. I thought they were so funny.

Random things with pictures

In China, it's a common thing to have noodles and eggs for breakfast. I'm not sure if they eat the egg scrambled, like this, or hard boiled. Regardless, I tried it last week and I'm in love. It is so delicious! The noodles are just so satisfying that early in the morning and the eggs are so healthy. The Chinese also eat tomatoes with this meal which I will do once I have some tomatoes from our garden.

Peter wanted to make a light saber for this tinker project in March. He did a great job with it. All I had to do was buy the duct tape. He has quite the skills. He also used the left over duct tape to create three masks (two for himself and one for Luke). He really does love to create things with duct tape. 

I recently found a really yummy recipe for Peanut Butter Cookies. The one thing that makes it even better is that the boys will both eat these cookies (a rare event for them to both like something). Peter decided he wanted to try making these cookies by himself one afternoon. He thought he would double the recipe so we could have tons.....but he neglected to read the recipe carefully and instead of 2/3 teaspoon baking soda he put in 2/3 cup of baking soda. Thankfully, he did read the part about mixing the wet ingredients separately. So, all was not lost. A valuable lesson learned on the importance of reading carefully.  I love that Peter is getting into cooking. 

Luke recently learned about volcanoes in science. We got a kit at Christmas time from a kind neighbor and we were able to build our own volcano. The worst part was waiting for it to dry. I love it because we can, and will, use it over and over again. We had a wonderful time making it explode. It was even awesome watching it bubble once the major explosion was over.  

The kit also came with pumice and a geode which we broke open. It was fun to teach Luke (once again) about geodes and how they are created. 

In our geography box this month we learned about the country of Kenya. Peter was super thrilled about it because he had recently watched the Black Panther Movie (Wakanda Forever) which takes place in Africa. He happily sat for an hour and made this cool bracelet. Each color has a different meaning. For example: 

Red - Strength and Bravery

Yellow - Hospitality and Kindness

Green - Healthy and Energy

Purple - Grit and Determination

Blue - Wealth and Good Luck

The kit also had a pair of binoculars that you could make along with these cute paper animals. Peter had a great time putting them together too. Luke isn't into making things with his hands. He mostly enjoys rocking out to music. I'm thinking about having him do a song writing class next school year. I think he would enjoy it. 

Lastly, the Provo City Library had an art exhibit that looked delightful. Funny enough, it was my cousin in Idaho who recommended we go. So, the boys and I went and enjoyed it. It wasn't too long which was good for the kids. I could have stayed there for a long longer. It was all about the happy dreams of a young girl. Fairies and lanterns and mystical magical things under the sea. This was Luke's favorite picture. 

Peter just really enjoyed watching the movie on how all the pictures were made (I'm sensing a common theme with that boy). 

The artist Adrien Bloom is pretty amazing. I went to his website and found it to be equally amazing. Some people are so talented.

Teaching highlights of the week

 

This adorable student Anilya drew a picture of me. I am astounded - especially because she was so engaged in the class and I never saw her doing to the actual drawing. 

Student Steven told me an amazing story all about a crocodile and the bird that flew into his mouth to clean his teeth.

I got to see a pet silkworm!

It was a fun week and I really enjoyed my classes each morning. But, I am really looking forward to my first class being at 3:45am instead of 2:45am which stars on Monday.

Candy - the 6 year old

 I just finished a 1v1 class teaching Candy. She was only six years old and she was in a Level 5 class. It is one of my most favorite classes because we are learning about how to plant flowers. Candy was a delight - she spent most of the class drawing me pictures as we were learning together.

We started with a pink watering can.....

Then, she got more excited and added more color to her watering can and a flower pot full of flowers.....

Then, we learned about a flower shovel (that's what they call it in this class), so she drew one. Notice that it is pink too.....

At the end of class all she wanted was pink roses.....it was such an adorable class. 

Hiking the P

For our Friday adventure this week we went to Payson and hiked the P on the hillside. Growing up down there I was always aware of it being on the mountain. I just never thought it was worth climbing up to. Fast forward a few decades and now I'm purposely climbing mountains with my boys. 

I figured winter climbing is actually probably better than climbing in the hot summer months. Today this theory proved true. Yes, we did run into a bit of mud, but I much preferred that over the blistering hot sun. 

On this adventure we brought along our homeschool friend, Talmadge. It works out great because Peter and Talmadge can go fast while Luke and I can take it slow.  

Finding the trail was a bit of a challenge. Thankfully Google maps knew right where it was. You take the road heading up to Payson canyon. Then, you watch for a dirt road right next to a house. Seriously, I thought it was the road leading up to someone's farm pasture. So I had to do a u-turn and come back.

The road was a little rough and I was nervous driving down it. It's a one way road so I was super glad we were the only ones there. I felt much better once we got to the large muddy parking area. Then, I was sure we were in the right place. The trail was easy to follow from there.

The beginning of the trail started out easy. At one point you have to climb a bit of a steep part to get to the actual mountain. Luke was very nervous about it, but he did it. It was so cute to see Talmadge come back down to help Luke up it.  Talmadge is an experienced hiker which really helped to motivate my boys. 

When we got closer to the P the boys could see a trail running up the side of it. It looked steep and slippery. It was - they love it! The thrill of the challenge was great for them. Luke and I took the easier/flat route. It was perfect for us. We stopped for lots of rests and drinks of water.  Luke seemed to be more comfortable with this hike (until we started coming down). I think (and hope) his confidence is getting stronger. 

I have been purposely choosing hikes the boys will continue to see throughout their lives so they can realize and remember that they did a hard thing by going and climbing it. 

 We hiked around for about 90 minutes. We all felt a little bit sore as we climbed back into the car. It was well worth the effort and we will be going again. I think taking a picnic next time would be awesome. There are so many flat places to put down a blanket and food. The view from up there is also pretty spectacular (can you spot the temple).

One moment in time

On January 20, 2021 I awoke to find this mac and cheese bowl in the sink. Right now Peter is going through a phase where he likes mac and cheese (this preference comes and goes often). Anyway, on this particular day this scene was emotional for me.

In my minds eye it represents the facts that he is still a child and won't rinse out his dishes. I know that this time is so very fleeting. I can feel it in my bones. Soon he will be grown and won't be around to dirty my dishes anymore. I am trying to hold on to these days as tight as I can.  

Covid Quarantine

Brandon came down with Covid 19. He tested positive on Friday January 15th and sent me notification later that afternoon. My first reaction was total surprise. He had mentioned earlier that day he felt that he was coming down with a cold. Since the boys were to spend the entire weekend and Monday with him (for the Martin Luther King Jr Holiday) he figured he better go get tested just in case.

So......for the past 10 days we have been keeping to ourselves. In my grumpy and depressed moments I tell myself that I'm on total lockdown. However, not all of it has been bad. I've used the time to get more sleep. After all, what's the point of starting school at 9am when you have the entire day with nothing to do, no commitments, and no where you can be with people. 

Luke made some a fun animation and Minecraft dragon this week. That was good for him. 

We went the the Provo cemetery to visit family and friends. 

We also went on a short hike to the dripping rocks (although it was pelting us with rain so we didn't actually see the dripping rock part). Luke found a cool animal house in the dirt while we were there.

There were many, many people who checked in on us regularly and I got really good at taking our daily temperatures. Here is the chart I made to keep track of them all. Pretty hilarious. 

I have a feeling we are not done with Covid yet, so I want to take what I learned (try better to keep a schedule, don't sleep so much - it makes you depressed, clean more of the house, reorganize your bedroom closet) and do a better job at happily surviving next time. 

Scripture Time

One good thing that has come out of Covid quarantine was the motivation to start family scripture reading. We have been able to do it 7 days in a row. It's a record - not that we had much to go on. We've never had family scriptures or family prayers at our house. 

I have discovered that the best time for us to do it is immediately after dinner. Sometimes I don't even finish the dinner dishes. It's adorable to see the kids reading their individual verses. We typically read half a page. Perhaps with time we will work up to reading an entire chapter. 

A trip to the cemetery

I took the boys down to the Provo cemetery today. I thought it was a good day for them to meet Great-Grandpa Thomas. 

Luke was utterly confused at how this person was related to him. Peter got it a little better and was interested in the picture of Grandpa that I brought with us.

Later, I discovered that the Come Follow Me lesson this week was all about Family History and Ancestors. Super cool. 

We also found my friends Dad and visited him too. He isn't that far away from Gpa Thomas.

I am so thankful for faithful ancestors that give me courage and a hearty dose of perspective.