Happy Easter

The kids had egg hunts at both grandma's this year. We are up to 18 cousins on Merritt's side and 7 cousins on my side. And both families are still growing! The kids love their cousins. It was wonderful to see everyone. Thanks to my mom and Nana for hosting our Easter celebrations. We love you all.

Owen's 5th Birthday

Owen turned five this weekend and had a fun Star Wars party. The boys had play time the first hour to build Lego space ships, make space art, or free Han Solo from carbonite (ice in the sand and water table). But the highlight was Jedi training with Dad and a guest appearance from Darth Vader. We had pool noodle swords flashing everywhere until Darth was finally defeated. Then we let loose on the Death Star pinata. Good times. Love you, Owen. Happy birthday!

Antelope Island at Great Salt Lake

After a rainy weekend, it was a beautiful spring-like day on Sunday. I came home from church and Merritt had packed us all a picnic lunch and said we were going to the lake. It was a great surprise. We enjoyed the day so much. We live very close to Antelope Island State Park. We like to go there when skies are clear in the spring (before the brine flies arrive). In the spring the lake and the island are just beautiful.

Free-range bison roam. Boulders abound for the kids to climb on. And the rocks are interesting and fun. Ancient rocks are embedded in new sandstone compressed by Lake Bonneville during the last Ice Age. The conglomerate rocks are so colorful, green, purple, red, white, brown. I think Tessa just wanted to pick up every rock she saw. She was squealing and running and then would stop to pick up a rock and study it. Then do it all over again. The boys found caves and climbed as high as they could on the various boulders.

The highlight for me was adding two new birds to my life list. I saw a Horned Lark and a Western Meadowlark for the first time, several of them actually, as we were driving out of the park. It was about an hour before sunset and their songs echoed through the grassy plain. It was so peaceful. And I loved the smell of the sage. It felt so good to get out in the sun, do a little hiking, and give the kids an adventure after the long winter.

In this last scenic shot you can see the causeway that was built to get people to the island and across the lake. Originally a railroad track, it still divides the lake into a north and south arm (the north arm being much saltier than the south arm). We stopped at the visitor center so the kids could see the tank of brine shrimp. Brine shrimp are the only organism (besides algae and other microbes) that can survive in the Great Salt Lake. Millions of migrating birds that cross the Pacific flyway depend on this tiny little shrimp for a food source. I wanted my kids to see what it was that the birds are eating here.

Next time we come we want to bring some art supplies so we can paint the beautiful views from Buffalo Point. The reflection of the Wasatch mountains in the lake water calls out to be painted. We also want to bring bikes and fire wood. There are fire pits on the beach and it would have been fun to roast hot dogs and marshmallows as we watched the sun set. I feel lucky to live by this beautiful and scientifically fascinating place.

Pig tails and a Sharp-shinned hawk

 My little girl has hair long enough to wear pigtails now. I smile every time I look at her. This is her saying, "Mom, I wanna draw." (See the markers in her hands?) She will write something and then say "A! A!" I think she already understands that print has meaning. It's so incredible to witness a child's mind learning and growing.

Unlike my boys, Tessa plays with her "babies" all day long. She feeds them, takes them for walks, reads to them, puts them down for a nap, and gives them lots of kisses and hugs. Oh, and she also draws on them. Thank goodness for washable markers. 

 This is Tessa's first experience with paint. It was quite the colorful masterpiece. And below is Tessa in a silly mood, trying to put on glasses that belong to Mr. Potato Head.

But the funniest thing Tessa does is say, "Pop" in a very nonchalant way whenever someone farts. It still cracks the brothers up every time she does it. Fart. Pop. We can't even remember what life was like before this little girl. What would we do without her? We just love her so much.

Collin traded in his skis for a snowboard recently. He went snowboarding for the first time last weekend and loved it. He can't wait to get back on the mountain, just him and his dad. Luke also tried skiing for the first time. Merritt eventually wants us all up on the mountain together. 

Little Owen has shingles right now if you can believe it. He was immunized for chickenpox but no matter. I didn't even know kids could get shingles. I thought it was an adult disease. Poor kid. 

And I just can't resist posting a picture of this cool hawk that attacked the birds at my feeder the other day. I had never seen a Sharp-shinned hawk in the wild before...until now. It's the smallest hawk in North America, not much bigger than a robin. But it swooped in like a predator, from out of nowhere. It was incredible. Birds are so awesome. It's the bird sightings that get me through the winter. I'm already aching for spring.

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween! Love, Harry Potter, Karate Kid, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Minnie Mouse

I'm starting a home preschool!

I'm so excited to be a teacher! I've been playing school ever since I was a little girl, and now I'm finally going to have a real classroom! With 8 boys and 1 girl! I'm still hoping to recruit some more girls. (Otherwise, poor Elle.) But I do kind of specialize in boys. (I have three of my own.) So I don't mind a bit. I'm unofficially calling it the Science Discovery Preschool. My school will emphasize science, naturally. But what will make the school really great is that I use a project approach to learning. I am very committed to that.

I'm already having fun preparing materials for my classroom. Thanks to Merritt's cousin (who is a general contractor), I am now the proud owner of a set of homemade Montessori baric tablets. The wood is beautiful to look at, interesting to touch, and smells earthy. Baric tablets are very sensorial. Students sort the tablets by weight (light, medium, and heavy). As an extension, students can sequence 6 different tablets by weight. A blindfold is optional. Thanks Brian for gifting me the wood and the time it took to make them. I am seriously in love with these. It makes me happy just to look at them. Amber, I hope you can find a way to make this activity for your classroom too. It would be fun to swap stories about how the children use them. Cheers!

Baric tablets extension:

The student sorts six different tablets by weight from lightest to heaviest. Here is the order: cedar, pine, walnut, cherry, hickory, wenge. The student uses a balance to check. Alternatively, the tablets could be numbered on one side.

 Baric tablets classic:
The student brings the tablets to the table or floor with a mat. Here is pine, oak, and wenge (3 of each).

 

The student mixes up the tablets on the mat then closes their eyes (or is blindfolded). Alternatively, the student can mix the tablets by stacking them to build a tower on the mat.

 The student holds each tablet in the palm of his hand then sorts the tablets by weight into 3 groups (light, medium, heavy).

 

 The student opens his eyes and checks that the tablets have been sorted correctly (the colors match).

The tablets are then returned to the shelf, ready for the next person to use.

Oregon Vacation