She was mad about something here-I can't remember what now, but isn't she cute when she cries?
Big brother-He is so cute too
Prepare yourself for instant death...by Giant Leek! These giant leeks were for soup from the New Town Farmers market Sat. but before I could put them away Garrett started a sword fight. Ezra wasn't very happy when he realized there were only 3 deadly leek swords.
Dad and his little girl! They adore each other.
Enoch had set the table and Ezra had made a fruit/veg. center piece for the table. We were really impressed with their preparations for Garrett's Father's Day breakfast :) Not bad for a 6,4 and 1 year old.
They were so proud of their hard work and Garrett and I were so pleased to see that they had worked so hard without any prompting from us.
I was making a big meal for Dinner that night for our family and the missionaries but since Garrett was sick I had to cancel with the missionaries and take dinner to them instead of having them over. Since we have a really small oven and since the missionaries don't live close, AND since this was a big ordeal kind of meal I needed to do a lot of preparation before hand. I didn't have a recipe so we popped in the DVD of Jamie Oliver making the meal and I followed the instructions as he went through it. Garrett, Enoch and Ezra kept shouting out what he was doing to make sure I didn't miss anything :)
I paused cooking long enough to take pictures of my cute family enjoying Jamie and each other's company :) The kids chastised me at first for putting something on the TV on Sunday since it isn't something we usually do. But after I explained that this was the only way for me to get the recipe they curled up together on Garrett's legs.
Ezra pulled his hat over his eyes and pretended to snore and I died laughing when Enoch and Ethne started doing the same :) Ezra really is the comedian in the family and keeps us all in stitches.
Such little sweeties, I wished I could curl up with them instead of cooking in the kitchen. I made Parsnips, carrots, butternut squash, potatoes, chicken and wilted savoy cabbage. Each dish was seasoned differently for a unique flavor and I made my own marinade for the roasted chicken so there wasn't time for laying down with them.
At the end of the day Garrett was more sick and I was worn out so I wondered if all the work I put into the meal would have been better spent lounging around with my family. But they seemed to really enjoy the food, so hopefully it was worth it.
Ethne is the Queen of appetizers. If I tell her no she may not eat food she must wait for breakfast/lunch/dinner she goes to the fridge or pantry and gets herself something to eat. If I am there to catch her I can stop her before she eats something, but unfortunately I often find out after she has eaten it. Her favorites are bread and fruit. If she can reach crackers she will take those as well. Little stinker! She is quiet and independent so she can eat 1/2 an apple before I even know what has happened.
Dinner is the hardest meal to put her off for. Anytime I am making food it sets off her body thinking it is time to eat. She sits in the kitchen and whines and tries to grab things etc...saying she is SO HUNGRY!!! It is really hard not to let her eat before hand and I have to admit I usually end up giving her a few bites or pieces of something. The problem is that she looses her appetite quickly and things that she would eat when starving she won't touch after an Ethne Girl Appetizer.
This is Ethne's new favorite stuffed animal is a monster made by one of my friends here. Ethne sleeps with it and pushes it around in her stroller. It is so funny.
My friend made around 15 of these for each of the kids that came to her sons birthday party. A lot of the work was hand done as well. I was so amazed at the amount of work she put in. Ethne kind of crashed the party and shouldn't have brought one home but there was a boy that was adamant about not wanting his so she got to take it home. She had been carrying it around since the moment he put it down. The body is made of of flannel and is soft and nice.
cute boy telling me all about his plans for make-believe play that day.
We are really blessed to have a yard that is not only big but also very interesting to the kids. The have trees to climb, and lots of bushes and vegetation to hide in both the front courtyard and the back. And since the whole thing has a high fence and lots of trees and plants it is private and I don't have to worry about them getting watched or bothered by strangers. They have so much fun when it is nice outside. I love it!
Enoch has made himself a gun and a barricade
They have built a world in the back bushes called "Bug World" where they collect bugs from all around the yard and bring them there for bug world. They get out their bug jars with magnifying lids and study them and then release them into "Bug World". It is so fun to see them explore and play. This is Ezra with the "spear" he made hiding amongst the trees. He had a very menacing look so I was careful not to get too close :)
If it weren't for the bright blue shirt I think he would fit in quite nicely.
#1 thing that I am grateful for right now-Sunny Day's in Winter-Thank You Heavenly Father for being mindful of me on this day.
This year we are using Horizons math again and Enoch is just about to finish Book 2 of Kindergarten and start his Book one for 1st grade. Ezra has finished his preschool math and has started kindergarten math. They both dislike working on writing #'s and letters but it is already paying off. Enoch had horrible penmanship when he was 4 and 5 but he can write really well now when he takes the time. Ezra has a naturally beautiful hand, but he is starting to get fast and lazy and so we have had to work more on slowing down and "trying", because trying is really all it takes for him. Lucky boy!
We are on book one which is really suppose to be 1st or second grade so we take it really slowly and do lots of review so that it will become a part of them and not something they learned when they were really little and forgot :) So far they have learned about "The Earliest People", "The First Writing", "The Old Kingdom of Egypt", "The First Sumerian Dictator", "The Jewish People", "Hammurabi and the Babylonians", "The Assyrians", and "The First Cities of India". Yesterday the boys were able to tell me the whole story of Shamshi-Adad, Gilgamesh and Enkidu, and Utnapishtim and the scheme for immortality. They can identify the Assyrian empire on an ancient map as well as Egypt and the surrounding rivers and land area's. They impress me everyday. Most of what they are learning comes from listening to the CD's over and over during quiet time and free time, but the maps, narration exercises and activities solidify what they know and give me a chance to explain what things mean and correct any misconceptions.
Homeschooling is like most things in my life. There are times when I think it really just couldn't be any better, and there are those days where things are so ridiculously hard that I think I really must be crazy for even trying :) On those days it can be a huge challenge to just get through the day, but on the good days it feels close to perfect. My hardest time of homeschooling is when Garrett is working overtime for 6weeks or more and there are no breaks in my day. There is no one, for the kids or I, to look forward to seeing at the end of the day. No one for them to proudly display their work for and no one to tell us all how wonderful we are for surviving :) For now it is the very best thing for us and we are enjoying this time in our life where dad comes home for dinner and puts the kids to bed giving me a break to think and relax as I clean up dinner and the house at the end of a long day. Next week will come all too soon when Garrett is back to coming home, eating dinner, and studying statistics until bed time :( No fun for us but especially no fun for him. Poor dad :(
We had the first one last Friday night and these pictures are from that. We had a great time. There was popcorn and candy again and we watched "Bolt". It didn't go exactly as I had thought because a few of the kids were board with "Bolt" by the end, but they played in the toy room instead so they still had a good time. I was glad they liked our toys and had fun.
Aren't they cute. We have Isabelle on the far left, then Kate, Ethne and Evie. Don't you think those girls have great hair? I Love it! They were cute, polite and fun girls to have over, and we hope they come back again.
Here they are playing in the toy room- Parker had been in here playing too but came back for the Superman Short Garrett showed them after the movie :)
Ethne, Evie, Ezra, Parker and Enoch watching the "Superman" short. Garrett thought it only fair that since there wasn't a short at the beginning of the movie that we should have one at the end :) All in all it was a great night and we thought very successful. We will have one every month and all kids in the ward aged 4 and up can come and watch with us and have a fun time while their parents enjoy going out.
Ethne had stayed up about 2 hours past bedtime and was having such a good time. She was wound up and didn't want to go to bed. Garrett and I had a lot of fun playing with her while putting her to bed.
She was jumping around and laughing and playing etc... and was so cute that I had to get out the camera.
This was her "mommy, no Sleepy, no sleepy mommy". She could barely talk with her pacie in her mouth.
"see mommy? See?" She was asking to see the pictures I was taking.
See that cute little ponytail on the top of her head? Evie put that up there. She had fun arraigning Ethne's hair over and over. Ethne became Evie's biggest fan and Evie was really good with her.
"Ahhhhhh! Oh no! Oh no!" That is a favorite phrase of Ethne Girl's. She loves to pretend to need to be saved from unseen danger.
Ethne in cage-watch out she bites.
It really is a wonderful thing that my kids are getting old enough to help out around the house. They are finally getting to the point where they are complaining less and getting excited to do it. I am finding out that the best time to get them excited about a job is when they don't want to do something else :) For instance-Enoch didn't want to take a nap so we delayed quiet time for an hour and he cleaned windows :)
He actually did a really great job and didn't complain or give me a hard time when I had to ask him to redo parts that still had spots to be cleaned off. In a house with this many windows I really am glad that Enoch knows how to help with them. Thanks son for being so wonderful and helping me so much. You are the best!
Isn't he handsome? I sure think he is :) 
Another thing they LOVE to do together is play outside. Anytime there is a little bit of sunshine in the backyard Ezra leads the way outside. Enoch is a little more intimidated by the cold but when Ezra goes out Ethne wants to go out. Enoch usually follows too but has to bundle up and can't stay out quite as long :)
Here they are: Ethne bundled up in thermals, jeans, long sleeve shirt, short sleeve shirt, coat, hat and mittens:) Ezra has short sleeve shirt, long sleeve shirt, sweater, hat, shorts, tall wool snowboarding socks and cowboy boots :)
Ethne's happy scream
Enoch was inside doing school with me but when I went out to take pictures of the other two he had to come out and join the pictures
Aren't they cute? I am so glad they enjoy each other so much.
A toilet full of toilet paper (always Enoch. Enoch uses too much-Ezra not enough **sigh**) and then this lovely little ball of toilet paper art :) what in the world he was thinking when making this I don't know, but he can make a million of these for all I care as long as they stop doing things like flooding the bathroom, knocking whole rolls of toilet paper into the bathtub or toilet, putting towels into the tub when full of water, "cleaning" the bathroom with 1/2 a bottle of hand soap or toothpaste etc...
I just know that ONE DAY I will have to be done with toilet training. Even if they have to move out first.
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