Sunday, July 27, 2008

A Quiet Week...

All I can say is that the kids are BORED! We shut off the t. v. during the day because...well...there isn't anything on! It's funny, I can find plenty to do. They think that we have to go somewhere to have fun or be entertained. Where is the imagination? So...I decided yesterday that we would do all these little projects that I have been meaning to work on, but can never find the time. Alec is the one who is the most bored (and then trouble follows!). So, I taught him how to fill all the holes in his walls with the spackle. Our playroom looks like it had the measles and now has calamine lotion all over it!

This picture is of a quarter-pipe that Alec pretty much built. This was during the Fourth of July. His brothers helped (and cousins, Charity and Emily), but Alec was the mastermind behind the designing and supplying the materials. For his next project, he wants to build a dog house! Shep would probably like that.

I think this next week I will show him how to paint! I don't know if this would help lessen his distruction ratio around the house. This could backfire on me and he would want to create holes just so that he could repair them! But...painting could keep him entertained for hours! We'll see how this goes. If you have any other ideas on keeping the kids going until school starts (only two more weeks), let me know. Have a great week!

Sunday, July 20, 2008

All in a week...

Well we started off the week with a death...

We were watching Angel, a golden retriever (pictured below and to the left, with Dallen), and she slept in Dallen and Ashton's room. In there are the gerbils (Lillian and Harriet). Angel loves the gerbils and would sit and watch them for hours. It's pretty funny. Anyway, I heard a loud thud about 4:00 am and just thought that it was Dallen falling off his bunk bed (it happens sometimes), but I didn't hear any crying. I heard another couple of thuds, but since no one yelled for me, I just went back to sleep. In the morning Dallen came in crying and saying that Harriet was dead and Angel killed her. So, I went in the bedroom and they said, "we haven't been able to get Angel out all morning". She was under their bed and wouldn't come out. I couldn't tell if she thought she was in trouble or that she knew something had happened to her little friends. Ashton then proceeded to tell me what happened...The cage fell off the table it was on and the gerbils were loose. Ashton woke up when this happened and tried to get them back in the cage. Amidst the commotion, the gerbil got nipped by Angel (I think because it was dark the gerbil ran up on Angel and it probably freaked her out...who wouldn't be freaked out if a gerbil ran up on you in the middle of the night?!). So, Ashton put them back in the cage, but Harriet didn't make it through the rest of the night. We shed a few tears, flushed her down the toilet and went on with our day. Jenette came and took Lillian because she wanted her to have children...so in about a month we should have bouncing little baby gerbils! This isn't the first gerbil we have had die (obviously by the sentimental laying to rest!), and I am sure it won't be the last...they don't live forever you know!


Dallen did dinosaur camp this week. For those of you who live in St. George, it is highly recommended. Dallen loved it and I couldn't get him to leave...every day it was a struggle. The first day he "excavated" chocolate chips from a cookie, and whoever was able to get the most, got a prize. Dallen said he got 36 choc. chips. They made fossils and put together dinosaur things and talked to a paleontologist. He was in heaven. The rest of the kids went to the skate park (with their helmets) and Derrek learned how to "drop in". After Ashton learned, he just couldn't stand it anymore. This video attached is of him working the half pipe in our backyard.

Then at end the week...Dallen comes home, almost out of breath..."MOM! I JUST CAUGHT MY FIRST SNAKE!". He has finally entered the Boy Hall of Fame! This actually is a common occurance in our house and so we always have a cage on hand for whatever critter gets brought to our home. This is a picture of Dallen with his snake. He's so proud of it. I just love having boys.
I think that was all the excitement. Scott and I saw Mamma Mia! Scott really didn't care about ABBA music (I love it) before we saw the movie, but he loved the movie and the music. It was done well and I was impressed how they could incorporate the music. It was fun, and it was a fun crowd that we saw it with. I heard it was cleaner than the play, which is good. So...if you are in the mood for something like that, go see it.






Sunday, July 13, 2008

What's new?


Heidi (Scott's sister) has finally accomplished the goal of getting me to "blog" by posting not-so-desirable pictures! There is a picture of us that I want on here, but it is on another computer...so until then, this will have to do. This is SHEP (because that is the name he came with). He is about 9 months old and obeys better than the kids!

This week was exciting in the fact that Dallen got a really good concussion on Monday. He and Calvin collided at the skatepark and Dallen went down. He didn't have a helmet, and I KNOW...so I don't want to hear about it! It was a little scary because every five minutes or so he would ask me what happened and I would tell him and then he would just ask again. He was fine, though, but the lesson sunk in.

So, because we have provided helmets before and the kids let the dog use them as a chew toy...they have to now pay half for one or they cannot skate on the half-pipe or at the skate park. They also have to wear them because there was a kid life-flighted from the skate park about a month ago due to head injury. I didn't worry about it much before, but now they are doing more dangerous things and just the fact that they collided and it happened made us realize that it's better just to have them on no matter what.

Other than that...not much is happening. Just four more weeks until school. It's a bitter/sweet thing. I do like being able to sleep in until 7:30! But, having a set schedule is nice. We will be keeping busy. Dallen has a dinosaur camp this week and then Derrek is off to Timberline Scout Camp (he's really nervous about it), and then Calvin is going to be playing football. Nothing like watching football games in 110 degrees, or playing in it for that matter. I am hoping, though, that he will like it. We shall see! Between the rest of the camps/activites, swimming, and shopping for school stuff, we will be busy.

Friday, July 4, 2008