Sledding

Its hard to believe that just a few short days ago there was plenty of snow every where. 

The kids were so excited to go sledding after a particular snow storm. 

We were not able to take Evelyn and Stetson. 

Evelyn went to dance and Stetson was away with a friend skiing in Brianhead for the week. 

The rest of the kids ha a blast and were very frozen by the end. 

Ironically while we were at our favorite sledding park, alone. Not common. When our friends from Mendon showed up and all were able to sled and enjoy the snow together. 

We love random meetings with our fun homeschool friends.  

With all your learning do a lot of play!!!

 

Dance Party

 

It is hard to record a dance part in photo but it was attempted. 

We are a big fans of good music and often love to start dancing. 

Even Silas can groove and can't help moving when he hears a tune. 

As you can see in these photos all are in their PJ's. This was a dance party before bed. 

We are busy with lots of classes on Wednesday, more school on the other weekdays and playing together or working together on the weekend. There is always so many options each week. 

We try to keep things simple but there is always good things to do each week. 

 

Bowling

We had a fun time going bowling with our homeschool field trip group.  It just happened to be on Hailey's birthday so we got to see lots of friends and her dad even met us to join in the family fun. It was great to have the whole family together playing and having fun together. 

School is going great. Kids really like listening to books. We listen to "Harry Potter" in the car coming and going and are listening to "Wing Feather" series here and there at home. There are also lots of books from the library and out own, games and nicer weather.  

 

Evelyn's Story

 My Evelyn is getting rather creative in her writing. 

This is not her only script and she loves to write as well as draw. 

We all think her very talented!

Hailey and Bristol both enjoy drawing and writing as well and are getting very talented for their age. 

Ezra and Silas will always want to draw if there sisters are and I am sure in time will gain great skills. 

I hope that they all will take after their father and develop great talent in drawing. 

Mine is only moderate. I am sure that with practice and desire anyone can improve. 

Stetson generally only draws rockets but those are also very creative. 

Catan

 We received the game "Catan" for Christmas and it has been a big hit especially with the 3 oldest. 

It say's that it is for 10 or older but it has been easy for Hailey to learn how to play. 

Bristol also wants to play and is learning but it is harder since she is still struggling with reading. 

Spencer has played this game with the kids more than any other than I have seen. 

We are hoping to acquire the extension pack as it will accommodate all of us being able to play. 

I think that they would all really like playing "Ticket to Ride" as it has similar strategy and fun but we are yet to pull it out. Maybe soon!

Hair Cut

 Okay, so this has taken us months of talking to get Stetson to let me cut his hair. 

He has a friend that has his hair down past his shoulders and another one who is growing it out. 

Stetson thought he wanted to grow it out but got tired of it being in his face so this is the transformation.  Evelyn say's "he kind of looks hot now." I think he looks more respectable and I know it is easier to keep clean although he does have nice hair. 

Evelyn has voiced a desire to learn how to cut hair so I told her next time I cut Ezra's hair I would let her do it. He has the easiest hair to cut. 

I learned how to cut hair when I was just a little older than Evelyn on my fathers thick full hear of hair. 

I remember that the first hair cut took 3 hours. 

Valentines

 Valentines day was filled with gift giving. 

Hailey handed out pencils. 

Bristol made little gift bags with hearts, chocolates and a bounce ball. 

Evelyn also made gift bags with chocolates inside. 

They all had fun going to classes and handing out their handmade items.

Stetson was a typical teenager and didn't do anything. 

Ezra had a little party at his preschool on Monday prior to the holiday. 

Wednesdays are filled with driving around so after Hailey's piano lessons and picking up Stetson from his YLA classes we went to Dad's office and delivered chocolate bars to all of his employees and to Dad. 

Ezra really like learning in preschool how to cut out hearts and made heart valentines for all of us. 

There was a lot of school mixed in with all of our fun!!!

Kind Deeds

The peach arrangement is from Grandma Janet and Grandpa Weyerman who were a great help to us. Grandma Janet had quite the adventure getting us the flowers. I guess that they didn't want to stay in their vase as she drove them across town. It is amazing that they lasted as long as they did. 

They yellow roses were from my dear counselor and neighbor Kandice Mortenson who came over the night I returned from the hospital and helped me immediately. 

She helped Ezra and Silas clean up there room and fold laundry for me. 

All of my Wade sister's, except Andrea who sent me bath bombs, 

had this arrangement delivered to my home. 

They are so thoughtful and kind! 

Heyley also left this on my door step. 

The balloon was tied to the chocolate. I was very grateful for the taste treat. 

From Hayley Nielson acquired after Stake Conference

A combination of all flowers after some started to die. 

I was surprised at how many roses were in each arrangement. 

Some other views. Evelyn did a great job taking the pictures! 

All kids continued with school and were able to accomplish a good deal even though we had a major disruption to our lives. 

 

Life

Brother time and trying to fix a Nerf gun that Stetson took apart long ago. 

Ezra really wanted to fix it but we just couldn't figure it out. 

Silas was great at misplacing parts. 

Silly time!!!

How many people can you fit in a really small kids tent? 

Six-ish!!!

I was just hanging out with the boys when everyone came and joined us and then Hailey requested a picture. We tried, you can't really see Hailey and Silas didn't want any part but the whole family is there. 

School is still going well and we are doing well. 

There has been some sickness and there have been days that little energy was available but we continue to do our best each day. 

 

Winter Dance

Evelyn and Hailey went with me in the middle of a crazy snow storm to a family dance with the school that Evelyn attends on Wednesdays. There were only a few families there but the music was good and we had a great time. These girls are fun dancers. 

Dancing is a regular thing for us we love to have dance parties and I often use music to motivate us all to get a room clean or a job done. 

While we are doing school I will often put on instrumental music to keep our atmosphere clam and our minds working. I really feel that music is a great influencer. 

What kind of music do you listen to? 

How does it influence you? 

 

Hard Workers!!!!

 So theses kids are amazing! We were living in a construction zone for the holidays. We had our kitchen cement counter tops refinished with epoxy and the process was a doozey. Because the countertops were cement the first step was to level and sand down the counters. This may seem simple but is was very dirty and our entire house became filled with cement dust. Thankfully we have a kitchen in our basement and we put a barrier to try and lesson the amount of dust that came to the basement. We lived in the basement for about 10 days. Christmas Eve was spent cleaning. New Years Day was also spent cleaning. In total we spent approximately 55 man hours as a family dusting every surface and room in our home. Spring cleaning in December/January. These kids are amazing and they helped us out so much. 

HARD IS GOOD IF WE TRUST IN CHRIST!!!

We were able to work hard and play hard. We decided to reward the kids with a pizza dinner and Jamba's after. They were all stuffed and tired once we returned. I am grateful for theses amazing helpers! 

We work hard at our school too so the ability to work hard, 

I hope, will carry over into all of our efforts in life. 

New Years Eve

 We had a good night enjoying yummy food and family games. We all went outside at 8:45pm and banged pans and sang out "Happy New Year" so that the littles could go to bed at a good time. 

Everyone went to bed  at a good hour. Mom and Dad like that! Someday we will host games and fun for those who want to stay up late but for now we enjoy our littles and our sleep. 

One of my friends husbands told me that one year there daughter wanted to stay up until midnight and was pretty determined to do so, so they slipped away and moved the clocks forward, when she wasn't aware and then were able to get her to bed a few hours early. Genius!!!

We took a good break between Christmas and New Year but not much longer than the weeks of. 

The girls were able to get back to their work once the holidays were over. Bristol is still struggling with reading but we are trying. Consistence is a big part of our problem. 

Stetson is as regular as a teenage boy can be. He gets himself up regularly and I think gets to classes at the high school on time but only wants to do what he wants to do when he wants to do it!!!