Wanna Bet!

This post.

Oh my.

In some ways it is nice to know that I am not alone in this world. That other mothers have creative, resourceful children too.

But in other ways it makes me think perhaps mom is right.


I may miss these days.


Some perspective is a good thing.

Car City

This post is really just a quick note-to-self so I don't forget about this newest great game the kids have invented. Plus the picture of Colin and Robyn with their new glasses they got this month.


Car city is a game the kids started this summer in the sand pile. Caden started it by filling the sandpile with water creating a swimming pool for the matchbox cars and the game took on a life of it's own as it evolved into a whole community.
Car city is on “Hamburger Island” in “Garbagetown.” The cars soon outgrew the sandpile and development crept out onto the patio. There are well laid out streets with houses and shops lining them. The opening of the shops necessitated the need for a bank and some kind of currency to shop with. The currency has changed as they discover better and easier ways to keep track of it. Of course, the store owners wanted lots of business so they needed to advertise. Then, like all larger cities, they needed rules to guide conduct. Laws were written but crime still became a problem and they needed a prison and policemen. Soon they needed a hospital and doctors and nurses because of injuries and diseases that were being spread throughout the community. (One of the diseases was house flu and it resembles Swine flu.) Over development occurred surrounding the swimming pool and the old time residents marveled at the changes but due to poor community planning “The Villages” were soon destroyed by flooding.

It has been so fun to see this game unfold. I have loved watching what happens next. It's been interesting to watch the changes that happens as the “community” grows and evolves. I plan to let them go with this as long as it lasts.

Morse Code

As the mother of gifted and highly motivated homeschoolers, I never know what project I will find the kids doing next. This is just one example of the scenes I often encounter.



I went upstairs to put Caden to bed and upon my return I discovered Colin learning Morse Code. He used his new circuit set to build a light with a switch and then he got out all the encyclopedias to find out what each letter was in Morse Code. His method worked just fine but things got a lot tidier when I showed him that the "M" encyclopedia has a chart with ALL the letters in it.

Gospel Hour

The kids were in their Gospel Hour fiddle show this past weekend. They did great! It was so fun to be their mommy!
My pictures didn't turn out so great. There are better pictures at http://www.pricelessmemoriesstudios.com/. Currently, Colin and Robyn are in the picture that comes up with the site. They are on the bottom left. If you want to see more, enter the site and click on Gallery. The pictures are in Gospel Hour. Most of the good pictures of my kids are on page 2 and 3. Picture DSC_19031 is a good one of Robyn (there are a lot of good ones of Robyn). DSC_19131 is a good one of Colin. He and Robyn are at the mic for that part. Colin gets on the second row usually and it is hard to get good pictures of him. The pictures of Grace are DSC_1917, 19181, 19211, 1927, 1940. She is in a few others too.

Colin's Baptism

Colin was baptized this month. I am so proud of him!

Cub Scouts

Colin turned eight on Saturday. That makes him a Cub Scout and me the mother of a Cub Scout. It's so fun! He's been working hard it this week and has accomplished a lot.



Here he his earning his Bobcat tonight at pack meeting. He is pinning my first mother's pin on me. How exciting!
(I didn't realize quite how large I am getting until I saw this picture. Yikes! Tomorrow makes 17 weeks.)



On Wednesday, Colin set up a pretend library and his books kept falling over. We got to work on wolf achievement #5 and make him some awesome bookends. I think he's got some potential in wood working.

Music Man

Caden woke up this morning "singing" the train part of Orange Blossom Special. I don't know how to type what he said. Something like "err, errrrr, err, err buck, buck, buck, buck." How can you not wake up with a smile when that's your alarm clock. So funny!!




Of course, the little turkey won't do it again for me so I could get a movie. This is not today's picture, but it's classic Caden.


The big kids have been doing several Christmas Fiddle shows at nursing homes and care centers for the past two weeks. With all the practice and the shows, it's no wonder Caden can sing the songs.

Merry Christmas!

Hoedown Pictures

This is a picture of the Jammers doing the Patriotic Medley. It's my favorite song of the whole show. They play each of the armed forces songs and have the veterans from each stand while their song is played. It's AWESOME!
Colin and Robyn are on the front row in the center. They are standing next to each other.


This is Colin and the other contest winners playing Dill Pickle Rag.


Here is Grace in the practice room just before going onstage.

It's that time again - The Country Harvest Hoedown is here!

This is it. The BIG Weekend we've all been waiting for. Finally.
The Country Harvest Hoedown is tonight and tomorrow. I can't wait to see the show.

Colin, Robyn, and Grace are all in it and they have been practicing for months to get ready.



Yesterday, Colin and Robyn were on TV as the dress rehearsal was televised during the weather reports on the news. That was pretty cool.



Grace didn't go because it was WAY too early in the morning for a four year old. She and Caden had a good rehearsal anyway.
Uncle Mike wrote and said to make sure Caden learns something "manly" like the guitar. Caden is happy to comply. Every time Randy picks up his guitar to practice, Caden goes for his too. Admittedly, Caden's playing backup isn't too pleasant on the ears, but it sure it fun for the eyes to watch.
(He still can't wait to get his hands on a fiddle though.)

Crazy Manimal!

Cader Bader is a crazy manimal! But he has beautiful big brown eyes so he gets away with everything.


He is not afraid of ANYTHING.


The girls and I made the cutest table display yesterday with some great little gourds and pumpkins we found at a farmers market. Today Caden put all the great little gourds and pumpkins down the vent! Even the adorable little warty one.
Randy saved the day by crawling under the house and pushing up on the vent so I could retrieve them. Hooray for Dads!



He thinks he is big like his brother and loves to get in on the computer games. Colin has been building a chess playing robot this week with the Lego Mindstorms and Caden loves to "help." I'll have to get a picture of it when all the bugs are worked out. Colin is building it for Robyn - she likes to play chess, but no one likes to play with her because she always wins so he is building her a robot. What a great brother! :)
I love to watch the things these little turkeys come up with.



One good feature about Caden is his impeccable table manners. He can use a spoon better than his three siblings put together. He is contrary even in that though - notice he is a little lefty!

School?

At our house we don't do "school". We have routines like get dressed, make your bed, brush your teeth. Then we have fiddle practice (which is what is going on now as I write this). Then Caden goes down for his nap and we gather for what we call school. It consists of a devotional of sorts where we have morning family prayer and then we study out of Gospel Principles together. Then we have "kids school" where I teach them whatever I feel like for anywhere from 5 minutes to an hour. Then they build things or draw or read while I study. Then we usually we have really great discussions about what we've each learned.
I have found that everyone remembers what they study themselves a lot better than they remember what they are "taught" plus, it really adds to the learning of the whole family when everyone learns what they are excited about and then teaches the rest of us.
For example, on Tuesday, we were studying the story of Daniel in the Lions Den as part of our study of Gospel Principles and Colin remembered that he had heard in The Story of the World that King Nebuchadnezzar had gone mad and ate grass. Somehow in my almost 30 years of life I'd never heard that story so we looked it up in the chapter of Daniel that I usually skip. Sure enough he was right on, as usual. So we talked about that for a minute.
Later that night we told Randy what we'd learned just before he picked up The Long Winter to read to us. Three pages into chapter 31 he read, "'Could we eat grass?' Carrie asked. 'No, Nebuchadnezzar,' Pa laughed." Then, of course, we all laughed. It was great. I have read that book at least three times and never got that reference before Colin taught me the story. I love it when our books talk to each other and when my kids teach me things!


Sometimes I do freak out a bit and get nervous that we will miss something or some crazy fear like that. At those times, I take it to the Lord in prayer and he always comes through for me.
Two Examples:
1 - Geography.
I have issues with geography because the only thing I remember about geography is sitting in that basement room that had a lot of rolled up maps on the wall in the Jefferson. We colored a lot, don't remember what, and I remember wishing I could be across the hall in the library or the cafeteria instead. How was I going to "teach" my kids geography?!!
I read somewhere that the best way to learn geography was to draw maps. My artistic skills were killed in kindergarten when the class laughed at the "flower" hands that I drew. Those weren't petals - they were fingers! How was I going to "teach" my kids to draw maps.
I prayed about it and later that day at "school" I pulled out the Draw Write Now books and drew myself a chicken. I CAN draw and it's fun! I finished up the chicken with a barn and some hills. Caden helped me with the "finishing touches."



I left the books out on the table and went to make lunch. They were still out that night so Colin took one to bed with him after prayers, scriptures and stories. He came down to the kitchen around 10:00 holding a map of Australia he'd drawn. God does answer prayers! I didn't even know that maps were in that book. Colin has since drawn many, many maps and has big plans for building an interactive web page using his pictures.



2-Long Division
I do fine at good old fashioned arithmetic. I love it. Robyn spends hours doing her math workbooks and we have great times together. Colin doesn't particularly care for workbooks - as a general rule, they bore him silly. He spends hours working out problems that matter to him. He adds the letters in the alphabet using either the corresponding number on the telephone pad or the number the letter is in the alphabet (1-26). He even can add roman numerals and binary numbers. I cannot "teach" him math. I searched for math books that we could find common ground with and I think I found one. It's Life of Fred. Problem is, you have to know long division before you start.
I prayed about math and, the next day, Colin asked me how many 22s were in 72. He had made himself a game and didn't want to count the 72 spaces. He knew that there were 22 spaces on the board so if he knew how many 22s were in 72 he wouldn't have to count so much. He now knows a bit about long division.



Life is so fun!

Weekend Fun

My Kids are so very creative. :)  Here they are being "doggies."  Caden thought it was pretty funny.  I am not sure what the implications for the future are.  Hopefully he doesn't try it in Oreo's water dish.  

Last weekend we went to Gunfighter Skies. It was pretty awesome. We even got to see the Thunderbirds.  

A Couple of Pictures of Colin Because I Like Him

He sure is a handsome feller ain't he?






The boy loves his fiddle. He is currently combining his loves by creating a fiddle web page. Life doesn't get any better than that!

morning jam sessions

Here are a few pictures of morning fiddle practice. Everyone loves to jam with Dad! Dad can make everything more fun. Randy has been in charge of fiddle practice all summer - I love it! I hope he can keep it up when he starts his classes again this fall.

Jeremy and Shannon's Wedding Day

We got a new aunt this weekend! As far as I could tell, everything went great. Shannon was gorgeous. The food was good. The decorations were pretty. And, of course, the company was good. Here are some pictures from the day.


The Groom (aka Uncle Jeremy) and Caden at the luncheon.


The girls with the Bride (newly known as Aunt Shannon) at the luncheon.


The girls with Uncle Sam who is almost done with his service to "Uncle Sam". After two tours with the Marines in Iraq, he will be coming home for good in two weeks. Thank you Sam! We love you a lot.


Colin provides some entertainment between the luncheon and the reception. He did a great job at keeping the kids busy. He played several primary songs for them to guess the tune and some good dance tunes for a dance party.
Colin, Robyn, and Grace each played their fiddles at the reception for some live entertainment. They did a fine job.

Quick update

1 weekend + 700 miles = visiting with lots of family.
Grandma's bounce house is always a hit with the kids.
The bows Aunt Katie made are AWESOME. I have incredibly talented sisters! (Not to mention incredibly beautiful daughters - they definitely take after their aunts.)


Caden turned 1 = Happy Birthday, baby boy!


Van's fixed. 1 rock chuck = $1700 worth of damage!


Sour dough experiments = complete success! Go me!


Jeremy + Shannon = a new aunt for us in August! Go Jeremy!


Last year's jam = 1 jar left + 26 new from this year's crop. Talk about good planning!

3rd week of June = National Old Time Fiddler's Contest. Colin, Robyn, and Grace played with the Jr. Jammers as entertainment during the evening contest last Tuesday. Fun Stuff!

Contest Video

Here is some video of Colin and Robyn playing at the contest.
Colin is playing Florida Blues.
Robyn is playing Margarette's Waltz.
Have I mentioned how much fun it is to be their Mommy?! Gads, I love these kiddos!

A Mom's Gotta Brag!

Colin and Robyn played in their first fiddle contest today. They did AWESOME! I was so proud to be their Mommy!

They both played in the Small Fry Beginner Division.
Robyn scored 738 points out of 900. She played Liverpool Hornpipe, Margarette's Waltz, and 4-String Polka.
Colin got 778 points playing Woodchopper's Reel, Edelweiss, and Florida Blues. (I love Florida Blues - you can't help but dance when he plays it.) 778 was enough to send him on to round 2 this evening where he played Camptown Races. He ended up getting fourth place and a big trophy. How exciting!

I gave them each $5 to tip their accompanists, Scott and Skylar. When the kids tried to give them the money, they refused to take it and told the kids to keep it.
Colin said, "But my Mom gave it to me to give to you."
Scott told him, "Well, you get to keep it then. You earned it."
They took him at his word and kept the money.


It was a long day that started early and ended late. We got home just before 11:00 PM - the poor kids were all fiddled out!

Spring Time!

I love spring time! This year is even better than last year - the kids are actually getting helpful! Fabulous!
The kids each have their own gardens this year. Colin planted strawberries and celery. Robyn planted corn and beans. And Grace planted every seed packet she could get a hold of. At least we squared her garden before she started planting so it is a little bit organized. She has a few squares of onions, some of carrots, some of radishes, a pumpkin, some beets, and several squares of lettuce. She has a LOT of thinning to do, but planting sure was fun! Randy is growing the tomatoes and peppers this year and I am growing broccoli, cabbage, peas, cucumbers, sunflowers, herbs, and potatoes.
The trees are doing well. We have tons of almonds, peaches, nectarines, plums, and a few cherries, apples, and pears. The grapes are growing like crazy and the strawberries are looking good. Hopefully the raspberries grow berries this year. I think I over fertilized them last year so all we got was leaves.