Crafty Kids

Robyn has been knitting on a spool this weekend.  She started this scarf yesterday afternoon and finished it this morning.  It turned out really cute.  Colin was inspired by her work and he is now working on one too.  I was inspired by her work so I went to Walmart and bought some knifty knitters so we could make hats too.  How fun!

Christmas Songs

The kids got Christmas songs today at their fiddle lesson!  Time sure does fly.  It seems like just yesterday that I was planting the garden.  

I can't wait for them to get good at the songs.  It is really fun to have a real talent to share at Great Grandma's Christmas party.  Ok, so I don't personally have any fun real talents, but I think it is alright to live vicariously through your children sometimes.  :)  

Country Harvest Hoedown

We haven't slept much and the kids and I have been sick so I am not at my blogging best right now, but I wanted to brag on the kids a bit anyway. 

We had a very fun, busy weekend!  The kids did three fiddle shows, one on Friday and two on Saturday.  They did SO GOOD!  I loved being their mommy!  My Parents and Keri came up to visit and of course we loved that.  We always love it when family comes to visit.  We got tickets for both sets of grandparents, great grandma Reeder, Uncle Jeremy, and Aunt Keri to see Saturday night's show.  It was very fun to have that much support.  The show was very good too.  

We didn't get many really good pictures.  I am hoping that maybe one of the Grandmas got better ones and that they will share them with me.  If you look really close in this one, you can see Colin's nose and one eye behind the girl standing next to Robyn.  He was one handsome cowboy!  This picture does almost show how cute Robyn and Grace were in their outfits.  

Kiddos in a Pumpkin

We carved pumpkins last night with the neighbors for family night. Grandpa Byron brought us three HUGE pumpkins when he was up to visit last time. We had a lot of fun turning them into jack o' lanterns.

Happy Birthday to Me!

I have a fabulous family! They made my birthday just wonderful this year. Randy and Colin made me breakfast while Robyn played "Happy Birthday" and a host of other songs for me on her fiddle as I got ready for the day.

Randy baked the cake. Grace frosted it. Robyn candled it. And Colin put the customary candy pumpkins on it. (I cannot have a birthday cake without candy pumpkins - it just wouldn't be my birthday without them.) It was delicious!
Randy got me the lovely sweater that I am wearing, the roses and two boxes of candy. The kids were extra happy all day, just for me because, like my mother, all I want for presents is happy children. They know that "When I choose to obey, I'll be happy all day." (It really does work out that way, even for Mommies, but that is another post in itself. Like should I get up and shower before the kids need me or sleep in and should I do the dishes right after dinner or let them pile up for a while.)
We spent the whole day just hanging 'round the house. It rained all morning so Randy and I worked on our goals for the year (I don't have much time left to get everything-I-am-going-to-do-before-I'm-thirty done.) Then, when it quit raining, the girls and I planted the spring flower bulbs and the garlic in the garden. Fun Stuff!

Mini Golf

We did mini golf for PE today. It was a fun course. The kids loved it. There are about eight families in our PE group and we get together once a week for something new. We have done soccer, basketball, softball, and hiking so far this year.

Hiking for PE

We went hiking for PE last week. The weather was perfect! Grace was a trooper, she kept right up with all the big kids.

Fabulous Book!!!

I am currently reading Your Money or Your Life by Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin. Highly recommended for everyone!! Fabulous, just fabulous.

Plato Quote

Knowledge which is acquired under compulsion has no hold on the mind.
Therefore do not use compulsion, but let early education be rather a sort of
amusement; this will better enable you to find out the natural bent of the
child. ~ Plato

What About Socialization?!!

We took the car in to be serviced today at the dealership. After all four kids emerged from the van, the guy looked in and said, "Any more in there?" Apparently four kids is a lot.
We went in and got settled in for the wait with our free popcorn to watch TV in the kids lounge and an old lady poked her head in the room. She said she just wanted to look at my adorable children. (They are adorable, aren't they?!) Anyway we talked to her for a bit and she asked Colin if he was in first grade. He just shrugged his shoulders at her so I told her that we homeschooled. She looked at me very seriously and said, "Oh, I just don't think that is a good idea." It was very funny, but I didn't laugh. Luckily I have read about this happening enough to be prepared. I simply told her that we weren't going at it alone, we have a great co-op that we learn with and she left. There it is - I have had my first encounter with a complete stranger who knows what is better for my children than I do. People are very interesting.
We talked about this experience after scriptures tonight and did some role playing to help the kids know what to say when they are asked what grade they are in. Colin said next time he would say that he was in Core Phase, but he didn't know what to say if asked what that was. I explained a little about leadership education to them and told him that Core Phase was like the core of the Earth with the other phases around it. Then he wanted to know what Love of Learning was using the layers of the Earth analogy. I didn't know so we each went in different directions to find out. I found a Childcraft book about the Earth and Colin can back with two encyclopedias - the E and the W. We looked it up and talked about each phase with the proper layer of the Earth to compare it to.
I love that he knew where to look for the information and actually wanted the answer. His first thought was to Google it, but it was too late at night to get started with that. :)

(Mom and Dad - Thanks for those old books, they are getting some good use now. You guys are the best!)