Temple

(aren't my kiddos so precious! It's hard to believe they were once this little!)

Winslow and I were blessed to be with Jacob at the Temple this past Saturday. It was a wonderful opportunity. It was so neat to be in the Temple with my boys. How grateful I am to now have 2 priesthood holders in my family. What a wonderful BLESSING!

 I read an amazing talk Enhancing Our Temple Experience in preparation. 

This particular part really caught my attention.

President David O. McKay counseled, “When you enter a Church building, you are coming into the presence of our Father in heaven; and that thought should be sufficient incentive for you to prepare your hearts, your minds, and even your attire, that you might appropriately and properly sit in his presence” (Improvement Era, July 1962, 509).

It hit me. Part of going to the temple is to prepare me for being in the presence of GOD!

A clear picture came into my mind, of my husband and myself taking our children by the hand and coming into the presence of our Savior. 

I pictured the Nephites when the Savior came to them.

I pictured my family there worshiping at His Feet. 

And I came to a greater realization that Greater Temple Attendance prepares me for the eventual time when I WILL enter into HIS PRESENCE.

field trip

We went to the Sledding hill for our "field trip" today.
3 families from our Home School Co-op came.
The big kids were daring! I tried not to watch.
I prayed we wouldn't have to make a trip to the ER.
I was so glad we didn't!

 

The little kids wore out before the big ones.

But we had lots of fun.

Then we had Arby's for lunch.

 

random

Often I find scenes like this thruought my house. Makes me smile.

Valentine's Day

For Preschool we did some fun stuff. We played a Heart Board Game, the game cards were numbers with stickers added. Draw a card and move your game piece that many hearts forward. (number recognition)
(you will need to color your board game in :))

Board Game

We did bar graphing too. Each child got a box of Sweethearts. They graphed them by color and then we discussed which color they had the most of and which they had the least of. I was very impressed. The majority of the class is 3 and 1/2 and they all got it! AWESOME.
Sweethearts Bar Graph 

Homeschool and the Grand Canyon

This morning we made Fossils. We are learning about Rocks in science, and recently we learned that fossils can only be found in Sedimentary rock. So we made salt dough, put impressions in them and then baked them, (for a really long time, I um, Kinda forgot they were in the oven. OOPS!) They turned out awesome! They turned brown and super hard (due to the extended time in the oven.)We talked about how the salt dough, like sedimentary rock is mold able.And the oven, like time and pressure, make the rock/dough harden and the impression is left behind forever in the rock. Now before you start to think too good of me, I've been meaning to do this for over a week and a half. And finally just made it happen this morning.
I've been exercising and one of the ladies there asked me what Math I was using for home school. Math U See by the way. However, I didn't choose my Math program just because I liked what it taught. And although some of my children love it, others could care less either way. One of the big things for me is that it is USER FRIENDLY. I'm learning better what works for me. As a mom I only have so much time for each child, I can only be in so many places at once, and I only have so much time. So I am learning (like the rest of the moms out there) thru trial and error, and fabulous suggestions from friends, things that help me teach and give me more time.
I'm not a big testing mom. I don't give lots of tests to see where my kids are. Mostly because I sit next to them as they do their work, so why do I need a grade on a test to tell me. I already know if they need more practice. I don't know if that's good or bad, it's just how I do it.
So the other question I get ALL the TIME is "Do you like Homeschool? Or How's it going?" And these are sometimes hard questions to answer. It's like Hiking the Grand Canyon. Is it fun? Well yes, in some ways it is. The company is fun. The stairs all the way down and all the way up, maybe not so much. Do you love it? When I'm done I do! The last three miles when I feel like I am going to die and my legs are giving out underneath me, when all I can do is hold on until the next marker, well, maybe I don't love it at that moment. But! When I reach the top and I think, I did that. I accomplished that. I MADE IT. THEN, then, I love it, and I am grateful for all the hard work that went into it. Of course, there are breathtaking moments along the way. Small beauty in the bloom of a cactus, or the gorgeous purple blooming trees. I think homeschool is the same way. There are days when I wonder if I am really getting thru, when all I hear is whining. And there are days when it all clicks and they understand, when THEY feel that accomplishment, those "I did it" moments. Those are celebratory days and moments.

Running

So I ran on Saturday. You might think of it more of the motion of running, the speed of fast walking. It was definitely slow, but I did run the whole way, well, I walked up graveyard hill but that's a serious hill! And then I was right back to running. I ran with Jacob. He is a sprinter. He would sprint ahead and then do jumping jacks or jog in place while he waited for his slow mother. We ran 1.6 miles on hilly terrain. I felt so good. I was proud of myself for running the whole way, even prouder that I didn't feel like I was going to die. And then, I woke up this morning. SORE! That's good though, right. I keep telling myself that every time I have to bend down and my quads protest loudly. It is so fun to run with Jacob. He's very athletic and he loves it when Winslow or I invite him to run. He's good company and he pushes me to go farther. Our trip to the Grand Canyon was postponed last fall, so I am excited to get in shape so I can go this Spring. The Spring at the Grand Canyon is incredible. Snow at the top, and everything in bloom at the bottom, with every stage in the in between.
Hiking has been a great activity for me to enjoy with Winslow. He is so encouraging and patient with my slow pace. And of course, who wouldn't enjoy getting to stare at your spouse for 17miles~! (I'm actually being very serious. It's terribly attractive to accomplish such a big thing together :)). Things like this are the times that rekindle the romance, when most of our life is filled with the busy happenings of just that, LIFE.
So, I am so excited to run Battle for Brigham and then after that to go tackle the Grand Canyon!!!

LOVE OF LEARNING

Today as I was helping Abby with her English I realized something. I LOVE IT! (english I mean.) Abby was working on Helping Verbs, you know am, is, are, was, were, be, being, been, do, does, did, can, could, shall, should, will, would. Yes, I memorized them in Jr. High and I still remember (any of you buffs can let me know if I am missing any. We discussed verbs, and adverbs, adj, noun, etc. And I thought to myself "I love this Crap." Not exactly lady like, but that's what I thought. I like analyzing books, research paper writing, I love Math and numbers and seeing how it all fits together. I took Biology in College as an elective after I had already filled all my science credits. Yes, I am a NERD! Proud of IT! I had so much fun this week putting together David's preschool lesson on Groundhog's Day and HIBERNATION. I truly feel that the Lord has blessed me with a desire to Learn. A love of Learning. A Love of Good Books. It makes me so secretly happy at night when I tell my children to put away their books and GO TO SLEEP. It makes me even happier when I have to steal their books away from them so they will sleep. (just like my mom did to me. She actually would lock her door so I couldn't sneak into her room and get the book and read again.) I pray for my children daily that they will LOVE Learning. That they will have a desire on their own to increase their understanding. Now I am not saying they have to make up math problems to do during the summer like I used to (although we do year round so that's not an issue.) Or that they should make up their own spelling lists and practicing handwriting for the Fun of it. (Now you really think I'm a nerd, Don't be fooled, I liked social stuff so much I didn't study near like I should have!)_But, I want them to love learning. To know that joy of accomplishment through learning and study. LOVE IT.