Happy Birthday Rocket!!!

Rocket turned 4 yesterday. Where has the time gone? And why did it go so quickly!!! He had a wonderful family birthday party. He got lots of nice things. Funny thing...he got 3 Little Einstein batons! Fortunately, no one was upset about it. So, he returned one today and picked out a musical instrument set with a drum, maracas, harmonica and tambourine.

I had a nice video I made of him to post here, but it's not uploading. I'll keep trying, cuz it's so awesome! But, in the meantime here's some pics:

Rocket, you are an amazing little boy. Your imagination astounds us. You always bring a smile to our face.

Happy Birthday, Rocket!!!
We love you!!!

Another Lego Movie

Here's the latest Lego Movie by Wally and his friend:

Weekly Report

For those of you who like to follow along in our school endeavors, this post is for you.

We have completely revamped our schooling. We basically were doing mostly traditional book work type things. It was going okay, but the boys were just rolling along. Pokemon King began to get a little difficult. Dinodude was okay, but nobody was enjoying it. I really want them to enjoy it, so for the next 6 weeks, we've put aside the majority of our curriculum (except Math & English). We are now following a Charlotte Mason type schedule. We're using the guidelines from Ambleside Online. We've already completed a week and so far the boys are enjoying it. Here's what we do:

I took a regular die & made it so it has 6 different colors: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, & purple. Each color represents a form of narration:

red-drawing
orange-written
yellow-oral
green-art/craft
blue-skip narration
purple-student choice

So, after their reading selection, they roll the die. If they land on red, orange, green or yellow, then they pick a folded piece of paper from that category. They do whatever the paper says. Here are some examples:

red-draw a picture of a place in the reading & label it/draw a picture of a character from the reading
orange-write a letter from one character to another/write a multiple choice quiz of what you have just read
yellow-give a telling to mom about what you just read/be a TV reporter & give a report from a scene from your reading as if it is happening live
green-write & perform an original song that tells the story of your reading/make a poster advertising your reading so someone else will want to read it

Those are just a few examples. Here's what the boys did this week.

Pokemon King was sick Thursday, Friday and half of Wednesday, so we didn't complete everything he was supposed to do. But, here are a few things we did do...

This is part of his postcard from the Goblin from the reading "The Princess and the Goblin." (the other side wasn't scanning clear enough)
Here's his picture of Vasco de Gama. He wanted to draw it on the markerboard instead of on paper. He looks kind of like a rappin' Vasco de Gama, doesn't he?


This is his rendering of the first part of Marco Polo.



This is song about Paul Bunyan.


If you can't understand what he's saying, here are the words:
Chop, Chop, Chop the trees,
The tiny toothpick trees.
Hammer the stumps down with the maul. (that was our new word from the story!)
Smash 'em to the little ground.
Chop, Chop, Chop, Chop, Chop the ground with my ax.
Chop, Chop, Chop, Chop, Chop the tiny trees.

These are Dinodude's accomplishments. This one is from a story from "Parables of Nature." It talks about a caterpillar, a butterfly, and a lark.

This is from Aesop's Fable, The Tortoise and the Ducks. Here, he was supposed to make an ID for one of the characters. He chose Turtle and got a little creative with the info!

Here's his skit on Henry VIII.

And here's his puppet show on The Sword of Damocles.

Memories Meme

Got this off my sister's blog.

How to play: BOLD anything you have done.

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland (DisneyWorld)
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language-(only partially bold-I'm trying to teach myself German!)
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied (in general)
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelos David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling-(does trying count?)
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Read an entire book in one day

My....How We've Grown

This was from December 2004:


And this was from November 2008:


Bond's side of the family went from 5 grandchildren to 11 grandchildren in 4 years. That's a lot of kiddies!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

On this wonderful Thanksgiving Day, I sit here with Babymoon on my lap, Rocket eating a gingerbread pop-tart at the table & the rest of the crew playing football in the Turkey Bowl. What am I to do? Well, I will make a list of all the things I am grateful for. (note to my sis--sorry if I seem to copy your idea!)

In no particular order:

I am grateful for my amazing husband. He says all the right things. He does all the right things. He's a wonderful father. He treats me like a queen (which, of course, I am!) He shared the Gospel with me. He puts up with me when I'm a psychotic lunatic (which is rare...wink, wink!) I would be so lost without him by my side.

I am grateful for my children.

Wally-the Actor/Singer

Pokemon King-the Gamer

Dinodude-the Athlete

Rocket-the Imaginator

Babymoon-the Cuddler

They are all growing into fine young men. They each bring something special into our lives. They are special in their own ways and they are very different from each other!

I am grateful to my parents and my in-laws. I love them all so very much. They've been very supportive to us, especially within the last few months. They dote on their many, many grandkids and spoil them so much with love!

I am grateful for my Heavenly Father, who gave me this wonderful life, this wonderful earth and its beauties.

Lastly, (although I am grateful for so much more) I'm grateful that I am not cooking the turkey! I get to bring the green bean casserole, cherry pie, and pecan pie. That is fine by me!!!

I wish all of you a very Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Oops...He did it again!

It's time for another episode of...

ROCKET'S INJURIES

In today's adventure, we see Dinodude and Rocket chasing each other around the house. This was done repeatedly, even after the failed attempts by Queen Mama to stop the madness. Due to the superheroes' negligence, Rocket succumbed to a fall on the living room table, which resulted in a small gash on his head. King Bond and Queen Mama were forced to take action in driving the victim to the hospital, where surgery was performed. (Ok, it wasn't really surgery, but it sure makes the story sound better!) A gooey, chilly gel was placed on the wound and later 2 stitches were used to sew him up. After the process was over, Rocket received a secret orange stick (popsicle) to devour for being such a brave superhero.

Join us (hopefully, never) but realistically sooner for another adventure in....

ROCKET'S INJURIES

Hooray for German Traditions!!!

We had our annual visit from Pelznmartel (Wally gave me spelling, not sure if it's correct, mother-in-law not available-Ines, help?) Anyway, every November 11th he comes to deliver yummy chocolate, usually German, to our family. He puts treat bags on the porch, rings the doorbell and is gone in a flash! Here are some pictures:

This is of Wally. Bond took this one. He was supposed to get a picture of him with his candy! Wally wasn't home when we checked our porch, so this was later on in the evening after the other boys went to bed.


Dinodude wasn't happy because I told him he couldn't eat the entire chocolate Santa. Sorry, Dinodude, but he was just a bit too big to eat at 8:00 at night!


Pokemon King showing off his stash.


Rocket getting ready to chow down on his treats!


Pokemon King, Dinodude (before the letdown!) and Rocket ready to dig in!

Bond and Me

We went to a friend's Halloween party on Saturday night. It was a costume party, so the boys got to wear their costumes. Bond and I decided to dress up as well. We didn't have any costumes, so we thought we'd check out Target to see if they had some marked down. After talking with my neighbor, she so graciously lent us the costumes she and her husband wore. So, voila! Here's Zorro and Marie Antoinette (without the wig!)

Trick or Treat Halloween

Trick or Treat was last night. Wally had a party to go to. So, Bond takes him and no one answers the door. Turns out it was 6:30 for the party, not 6! So, they come home and Wally passes out the candy for a half hour. Pokemon King & Dinodude went with our neighbors. Rocket wanted to go, too, but we told him he had to stay with us. But, we all ended up going out together. As Rocket was going to some of the houses, one of the people held out the bowl and told him to pick one. Rocket, so innocently and honestly, says..."I don't like chocolate." So, we told him to take it and he can trade with his brothers. It was too funny! I'm still hoping this chocolate thing is a phase. So, we'll see what happens.

Here are some pictures of the boys and the pumpkins we carved.

Wally=Jack Sparrow
Pokemon King=alien
Dinodude=skeleton
Rocket=dragon
Babymoon=halloween outfit at first, but when it got chilly, he was a bear

This one cracks me up! Jack Sparrow holding a baby and taking a hostage!

Babymoon in his Halloween outfit.

Babymoon in his bear outfit. It's not really a costume, just a cute coat. But, it worked fine.

Isn't he adorable? Dinodude wore this ostume a few years ago. It made a roaring sound when you pushed a button. The head kept falling down because of the battery pack/sound stuff. Since the battery was dead this year we just took it out. Voila! The head stays up now. So, what moron invented the costume where you wear the battery pack on your head!

We have Frankenstein, a bat, and a skeleton. The candle in the bat didn't work well, so it was hard to see at night.

6th Picture

Found this on my sister's blog: You find the 6th folder and the 6th picture and post it. In my case I had the 6th folder, 6th folder, then 6th picture. This was from Christmas of 06.

Church Funny

Bond and I teach the CTR 8 class at church (well, I should say he teaches...I'm just there for support or responsible for anything needed involving the computer!) He was asking the class questions on the reading and drawing part of a picture when answered correctly. Well, somewhere along the lines his picture resembled a cheese grater (it was actually a sacrament tray), so one of them guessed cheese grater. Then from the back of the room, one of the boys starts singing...

"Are you smarter than a cheese grater?!"

We could not stop laughing! Now every time I hear anything about that show, that's what will pop in my head!

It's About Time!

We are finally up and running. We got back on the internet today. In just 3-4 weeks, I had probably 400 emails! I'm still not even finished going through them!

Our new house is pretty much in order with the exception of quite a few things in the garage that we are planning to sell. We are hoping to have a garage sale in the near future. I have to give kudos to Bond, because he's the one that did most of the unpacking. What was I doing, you might ask? I was holding Babymoon, of course. The child would not let me put him down. I did have him in his little baby carrier thing, but he didn't like that too much. But, they're only young once, so what they hay, right?

The neighborhood is great. There are so many kids for the boys to play with. A few even homeschool, too! Rocket is always asking to play with "my kids" as he calls them. Our backyard hooks up to all the other backyards and everyone has some kind of playyard or trampoline. So, the neighborhood kids are always bouncing from yard to yard. We are so blessed to be in this neighborhood. Even I've made a friend!

The one drawback is that my mother-in-law can barely stay an hour in our house. The reason? The previous owners had a cat and she seems to be highly allergic! She stars having trouble breathing about 45 minutes of being in the house. I'm so bummed! I'm sure some of you out there would be happy if it was your mother-in-law, but I adore mine! So, if you have any ideas, please let me know!

Since moving, I haven't even been able to put our decorations up. I'm really bummed about that, because I LOVE Halloween! Is it worth it to put them up now? Only 1 week left. Hmmmmm.

Mega Suits Rule

This is Pokemon King. Testing Testing is it working. This is me in cool mega suit form. VICTORY!

Last Post....For a While

Well, this is the week we'll be moving to our new house. I won't be on the computer as much, so I won't be able to update the blog. But, here's an update from church today.

Bond stayed home sick, so I trudged along with all 5 boys. I think it was my first outing with all of them by myself. I got off to a rough start. I was already running around trying to get everyone ready. I was pumping (since I can't breastfeed-is that too much info?) and the doorbell rang. It was to collect for fast offerings. So, I set down what I had pumped so far and accidentally knocked it over and lost some milk. Bummer! I go do the fast offering, then continue to pump. Then, while I'm getting bottles ready for Babymoon to take to church, I spill one of the bottles. Bummer, again! I still had to get Rocket dressed and work on his talk. I wanted to leave at 12, but ended up leaving about 20 minutes later. So, we finally get there and things are working out better. Although during church Rocket just has to keep touching and poking Babymoon while Dinodude is constantly asking me how to spell words and then he's getting upset with Pokemon King for taking his Mario figures! But, on the cute side, while taking Rocket to the bathroom, he holds the door open for me and so sweetly says, "Ladies first!" I thanked him immediately for being so courteous!

He had his first talk in primary today. The theme for the month is "I can pray to Heavenly Father, and He will hear and answer my prayers." So, I asked Rocket a few questions and wrote down his answers. When he delivered his talk I explained that although I was whispering the answers in his ear for him to say, they were really his own words. He did a great job, so I must share! Here it is: (his answers are in red)

What can you tell me about prayer?

• pray to Heavenly Father
• Fold your arms
• pray by yourself
• sing songs (for family prayer)

Why should you pray?

• make people feel better
• to get a new clubhouse
• bless mom & dad & Wally & Pokemon King & Dinodude & Babymoon & Oma & Opa
• for Heavenly Father to play with me, but he can’t because he’s at his home

When should you pray?

• 15 hours
• before you eat
• before you go to COSI
• before you go to sleep

Does Heavenly Father answer prayers?

• yes, but not always the way I want

So, he did an awesome job! I am so proud of him. I just feel bad that Bond wasn't able to see it.

Well, this week I'll be busy with packing and moving, so check back in a week or so for updates! Although, who knows I might need a break and have to post anyway!

Weekly Report

Here's our weekly report for the September 15th:

Pokemon King:

• Math-It still seems like we're reviewing. He's been doing negative numbers, number lines, bar graphs, and word problems (yea! everyone's favorite!)
• English-simple & complete predicates as well as diagramming
• Reading, Spelling, Handwriting-the usual: read a story & do the worksheet; spelling worksheet & final test; cursive handwriting letters o,l, & v (hooray-he can almost spell olive!)
• Science-the sun & the earth

Dinodude:

• Math-still reviewing (one downfall to Saxon)-word problems, fractions, addition & subtraction facts, coin values & patterns
• English-poetry memorization, story narration, nouns, learning address & family members
• Reading, Spelling, Handwriting-the usual: read a story & do the worksheet; spelling worksheet & final test; cursive handwriting letters a, e, i, & o
• Science-what science is, what scientists do, the universe-he did do an experiment on whether salt has an impact on making objects float. As you can see from the picture...it does!
  

History for both-we discussed China and Dynasties, mainly the Shang Dynasty. We also talked about Pictograms & the boys made their own.

Pokemon King's:


Dinodude's:


We also finished our Mohenjo-Daro buildings from last week:

Pokemon King's:


Dinodude's:

All in all I think we had a pretty productive week. We've got one more week until we break for our move. Hopefully it'll be a good week.

It's the Thought That Counts, Right?

Every day we start our schooling off by reading the Book of Mormon. We're following along with Primary and trying to read it by the end of the year. We got a little behind in the summer, so we're doubling up here and there. It takes us probably an hour to read what could normally be read in 15 minutes. Here's why:

I have Pokemon King and Dinodude read as well as myself. If I'm the only one reading, I may as well be reading to a wall! So, first they have to pick which verses they want to read. Easy? Not a chance. They both like to read the last few verses of the chapter. They both want to read only the short verses. So, it takes us 10 minutes to decide who's reading what. Can they do it without arguing? Of course not! While Pokemon King tells me what he wants to read, Dinodude is yelling out, "Hey, that's what I was going to read!" The same thing goes when Dinodude is picking. So, I finally have to tell them who's reading what. Five minutes later, we can finally start reading.

We have a small futon in our schoolroom that the boys like to sit on. As I start reading, they start annoying each other: "Move your leg!" "Get off me!" "Stop pushing me!" So, I finally say, "Everyone to the table!" Another 5 minutes gone.

We're finally in a rhythm of reading. Here's how the rest of our reading goes:

ME: And now it came to pass...(Dinodude's hand shoots up)

Dinodude: Where are we at?

Me: Verse 1. And now it came to pass in the twenty and sixth year of the reign of the judges...(Dinodude's hand....again)

Dinodude: Can I get a drink?

Me: After we're done. (I continue) ....over the people of Nephi....

Pokemon King: Mom. Dinodude's drawing!

Me: Dinodude, please pay attention. (continuing) ...behold, when the Lamanites....(Dinodude...again)

Dinodude: Mom, Pokemon King's not sitting at the table!

Me: Pokemon King, please sit at the table. (continuing) ...awoke on the first morning of the first month... (Babymoon decides he's hungry, so we pause so I can change him and get his bottle-then I continue while feeding him) ....behold, they found...(I pause at the sound of Dinodude & Rocket fighting over the scriptures. Dinodude finally gives in and let's Rocket have his scriptures-I continue) ....Amalickiah was dead in his own tent....(Rocket's hand goes up!)

Rocket, with the scriptures open: Where are we at?

This continues throughout our entire scripture reading session. See why it takes an hour? Sometimes more! So, again, I ask...It's the thought that counts, right?

Wordless Wednesday-Three Little Monkeys Sitting in a Tree

Pokemon King Funny

We stayed my my parents' house last night, due to the fact that our power went out. We had a huge windstorm from Hurricane Ike. We would've ridden it out at home, but Bond is a Steelers fan, so we invaded my parents to watch the game. They graciously offered to put us up for the night.

Well, while we were there, Pokemon King was looking at pictures of my sister and me. Here's our conversation:

PK: Who's older? You or your sister?

ME: My sister is. Why?

PK: I thought so. Most of her pictures are in black and white!

My sister is only 4 years older than me, so I thought that was real funny.

Wordless Wednesday-Rocket Can Fall Asleep Anywhere!

Introducing....

He's here! He's finally here! He was born on Wednesday Aug. 27th at 10:38 am. Here's some pics. I'll try to talk more about him later because he needs me right now!