Miekka: November 2009 Archives
I've been so bad at blogging lately that I hardly know where to start. It's too overwhelming to try and think about covering everything so here are the highlights:
(Heavy on pictures, light on words, isn't that what blogging should be about anyway??)
Father and Sons Camp Out
James took the boys up to the Stake property for the annual Father and Sons Camp Out. They had a great time roasting marshmallows and learning about bear safety. I think the boys were a little freaked out that a bear might actually come in their camp, but James gave them glow sticks and then they forgot all about bears...
Lia is Crawling
Lia began crawling on August 20th and hasn't stopped since. She loves being able to move around on her own. She also just recently began pulling herself up on things, but she is pretty scared of falling down, so I think walking is still a way off for her.
School at Home
We started our home school on the 24th of August. We have had so much fun. I have been chronicling some of our adventures on my personal blog, so if you want to read about what we've been learning go here: Miekka's Blog. Seth has made wonderful progress in reading and loves the History and Science classes the most.
Labor Day in Yellowstone
We spent Labor Day weekend camping in Yellowstone with John, Courtenay and Joseph.
Jacob tried to impale himself on a low branch sticking out of a tree.
Seth did the Junior Ranger and Young Scientist programs and got a lot of school hours for doing them.
(If you want more details of the school aspect of the trip go here: Yellowstone School .)
Lia spent most of the time in the front carrier and was so glad when we finally left her crawl around one of the visitor centers at the end of the trip.
We hiked, saw tons of wildlife, had some great camping food, and enjoyed good company.
The Elephant Parade
Every year the Barnum and Bailey Circus comes to Salt Lake. The day before the Circus begins they have an Elephant Parade that is free to the public. We actually heard about it in time to go see it this year. The gave out clown noses and circus signs. The parade itself was only about 10 minutes long. (Which is actually a great length for a parade in my opinion.) The kids had a great time watching the elephants lumber past and playing around with their clown noses.
Seth's Loose Tooth
Seth lost his second tooth right as he was going to bed one night. It was really convenient because he didn't have to wait a whole day for the Tooth Fairy to come. He just popped the tooth under his pillow and went to sleep. The Tooth Fairy left him a dollar this time. Seth loves to stick his tongue through the hole in his teeth and is developing a tiny lisp. His big boy teeth are coming in quickly, and a little bit crooked. I hope some more of his teeth fall out soon so those big guys have room to come in!
Visiting Jenni in Nebraska
I packed up the car and braved a nine hour drive with 3 kids by myself, so that we could visit Jenni in Nebraska. We were supposed to leave on Friday, but the weather reports said a big storm was supposed to hit that day, so we postponed til Monday. The weather ended up being great on the drive there and back. The kids were wonderful on the drive too, I have awesome travelers!! We helped Jenni and Justin get moved into their new house and had fun playing with Amelia and Phillip. My major contribution for the week was helping Jen install new track lighting in her kitchen. It looked really nice when we were done. Jenni also did a photo shoot of the kids while we were there and we ended up with some really cute shots. I hardly got my camera out the whole time we were there, so if you want to see some of the pictures Jenni took go here: Apple Green Photography
Jacob's Joy School
Jacob has been part of a neighborhood Joy School this year. He likes it for the most part. Some days he tells me that he doesn't want to go, but he's been pretty clingy lately about everything so it's not too surprising. Once he gets settled in he has a great time and loves to play with his friends. The days I am in charge of Joy School are a little challenging, because then I have 2 hours of Joy School on top of the 5 hours of Seth's school. Luckily, I only have to teach every 4 weeks so it's not too bad. The picture below shows Jacob holding a loaf of bread that he made one day in Joy School. He was pretty proud of himself!
Lia's Piggy Tails and Talking
Lia has quite the head of hair for an 11 month old. Jenni put a pony tail in Lia's hair while we were visiting and it was pretty cute. I, however, have never been a fan of the single shaft of hair sticking out of the top of a baby's head. I tried piggy tails on her next. They are so cute and they make her look more like a little girl than a baby. Lia puts up quite a fuss when I do her hair, so it doesn't happen very often. She let Courtenay do it for Halloween though, maybe it's only when mom does it that she has to scream about it.
Lia has also been making more and more sounds that actually sound like words. She says "Hi" when we go in to get her in the morning and when James comes home from work, it makes his day I think! She is getting better at saying "Mama" and "Mom", but usually only when she's cranky or hungry. She also has mastered the roar of a lion and the screeching of a monkey. I'm working on dog and cat sounds with her and for some reason I like to teach my kids to say that they are "one" so they can say it on their first birthday. Seth was really awesome at it, Jakes would barely do it, and I think Lia is somewhere in between the two. We only have 10 days to find out though! Gosh, that is sneaking up on me.
One more funny thing that Lia has been doing lately is that whenever I try and take a picture of her and she sees the orange red-eye reduction light come on, she will scrunch her eyes closed because she knows the flash is coming next. About half of the pictures I've taken lately have her face all scrunched up. It's pretty hilarious to watch
Swim Lessons
Jacob and Seth both had swim lessons this last month. Jacob did really well, except for the times when he didn't want to stay with his teacher. He loved jumping in the water and had the best stance for the game "Chop, Chop, Timber!" That's where the kids have to pretend that they are trees and the teacher "cuts" them down and then they have to jump into the water. Jacob would stand straight and tall with his hands way above his head in perfect diving formation. Of course when the time came to actually jump into the water, all that form went out the window and he just jumped in...
Seth was in a Level 2 class this year, but I think it was a little much for him. Over half of the kids in his class could already swim a little, but Seth had only done one Preschool level before this and hadn't learned any swimming yet. He made some great progress though and even got to go in the big lap pool and swim a little. I will have him retake this level again so he can get more confident.
Halloween
This year Seth dressed up as Snake Eyes from GI Joe, Jacob was Buzz Lightyear and Lia was a super cute bumblebee. Halloween seemed to go on forever. We had three different days of celebrations.
On Thursday, we went with the Abbotts to their school parade and then headed over to a Joy School party. The party was really fun, we sang songs, bobbed for apples, decorated cookies, pinned the face on the pumpkin and ate jack-o-lantern pizza.
On Friday, we had our ward Trunk-or-Treat and Chili cook-off. The kids got a sack-full of candy each and we had great food. John and Courtenay joined us for the evening, they were dressed up as Cinderella and Captain Hook. Courtenay was the star of the evening and had her own entourage of kids following her around all night. My family also had their annual pumpkin carving party that night so we made a token appearance after the ward party.
On Saturday, we spent the day in Santaquin with Courtenay's family. The men all went shooting in the morning, while the kids played and the women fixed spooky hors d'oeuvres for the party. We were also going to go on a hay ride, but found out they weren't doing them that day. We had a Halloween carnival, with games, treats and prizes and then the kids went trick-or-treating and filled their sacks again. Needless to say, we have a lot of candy!! I am pretty tired of Halloween and am glad it's over for this year.
(Heavy on pictures, light on words, isn't that what blogging should be about anyway??)
Father and Sons Camp Out
James took the boys up to the Stake property for the annual Father and Sons Camp Out. They had a great time roasting marshmallows and learning about bear safety. I think the boys were a little freaked out that a bear might actually come in their camp, but James gave them glow sticks and then they forgot all about bears...
Lia is Crawling
Lia began crawling on August 20th and hasn't stopped since. She loves being able to move around on her own. She also just recently began pulling herself up on things, but she is pretty scared of falling down, so I think walking is still a way off for her.
School at Home
We started our home school on the 24th of August. We have had so much fun. I have been chronicling some of our adventures on my personal blog, so if you want to read about what we've been learning go here: Miekka's Blog. Seth has made wonderful progress in reading and loves the History and Science classes the most.
Labor Day in Yellowstone
We spent Labor Day weekend camping in Yellowstone with John, Courtenay and Joseph.
Jacob tried to impale himself on a low branch sticking out of a tree.
Seth did the Junior Ranger and Young Scientist programs and got a lot of school hours for doing them.
(If you want more details of the school aspect of the trip go here: Yellowstone School .)
Lia spent most of the time in the front carrier and was so glad when we finally left her crawl around one of the visitor centers at the end of the trip.
We hiked, saw tons of wildlife, had some great camping food, and enjoyed good company.
The Elephant Parade
Every year the Barnum and Bailey Circus comes to Salt Lake. The day before the Circus begins they have an Elephant Parade that is free to the public. We actually heard about it in time to go see it this year. The gave out clown noses and circus signs. The parade itself was only about 10 minutes long. (Which is actually a great length for a parade in my opinion.) The kids had a great time watching the elephants lumber past and playing around with their clown noses.
Seth's Loose Tooth
Seth lost his second tooth right as he was going to bed one night. It was really convenient because he didn't have to wait a whole day for the Tooth Fairy to come. He just popped the tooth under his pillow and went to sleep. The Tooth Fairy left him a dollar this time. Seth loves to stick his tongue through the hole in his teeth and is developing a tiny lisp. His big boy teeth are coming in quickly, and a little bit crooked. I hope some more of his teeth fall out soon so those big guys have room to come in!
Visiting Jenni in Nebraska
I packed up the car and braved a nine hour drive with 3 kids by myself, so that we could visit Jenni in Nebraska. We were supposed to leave on Friday, but the weather reports said a big storm was supposed to hit that day, so we postponed til Monday. The weather ended up being great on the drive there and back. The kids were wonderful on the drive too, I have awesome travelers!! We helped Jenni and Justin get moved into their new house and had fun playing with Amelia and Phillip. My major contribution for the week was helping Jen install new track lighting in her kitchen. It looked really nice when we were done. Jenni also did a photo shoot of the kids while we were there and we ended up with some really cute shots. I hardly got my camera out the whole time we were there, so if you want to see some of the pictures Jenni took go here: Apple Green Photography
Jacob's Joy School
Jacob has been part of a neighborhood Joy School this year. He likes it for the most part. Some days he tells me that he doesn't want to go, but he's been pretty clingy lately about everything so it's not too surprising. Once he gets settled in he has a great time and loves to play with his friends. The days I am in charge of Joy School are a little challenging, because then I have 2 hours of Joy School on top of the 5 hours of Seth's school. Luckily, I only have to teach every 4 weeks so it's not too bad. The picture below shows Jacob holding a loaf of bread that he made one day in Joy School. He was pretty proud of himself!
Lia's Piggy Tails and Talking
Lia has quite the head of hair for an 11 month old. Jenni put a pony tail in Lia's hair while we were visiting and it was pretty cute. I, however, have never been a fan of the single shaft of hair sticking out of the top of a baby's head. I tried piggy tails on her next. They are so cute and they make her look more like a little girl than a baby. Lia puts up quite a fuss when I do her hair, so it doesn't happen very often. She let Courtenay do it for Halloween though, maybe it's only when mom does it that she has to scream about it.
Lia has also been making more and more sounds that actually sound like words. She says "Hi" when we go in to get her in the morning and when James comes home from work, it makes his day I think! She is getting better at saying "Mama" and "Mom", but usually only when she's cranky or hungry. She also has mastered the roar of a lion and the screeching of a monkey. I'm working on dog and cat sounds with her and for some reason I like to teach my kids to say that they are "one" so they can say it on their first birthday. Seth was really awesome at it, Jakes would barely do it, and I think Lia is somewhere in between the two. We only have 10 days to find out though! Gosh, that is sneaking up on me.
One more funny thing that Lia has been doing lately is that whenever I try and take a picture of her and she sees the orange red-eye reduction light come on, she will scrunch her eyes closed because she knows the flash is coming next. About half of the pictures I've taken lately have her face all scrunched up. It's pretty hilarious to watch
Swim Lessons
Jacob and Seth both had swim lessons this last month. Jacob did really well, except for the times when he didn't want to stay with his teacher. He loved jumping in the water and had the best stance for the game "Chop, Chop, Timber!" That's where the kids have to pretend that they are trees and the teacher "cuts" them down and then they have to jump into the water. Jacob would stand straight and tall with his hands way above his head in perfect diving formation. Of course when the time came to actually jump into the water, all that form went out the window and he just jumped in...
Seth was in a Level 2 class this year, but I think it was a little much for him. Over half of the kids in his class could already swim a little, but Seth had only done one Preschool level before this and hadn't learned any swimming yet. He made some great progress though and even got to go in the big lap pool and swim a little. I will have him retake this level again so he can get more confident.
Halloween
This year Seth dressed up as Snake Eyes from GI Joe, Jacob was Buzz Lightyear and Lia was a super cute bumblebee. Halloween seemed to go on forever. We had three different days of celebrations.
On Thursday, we went with the Abbotts to their school parade and then headed over to a Joy School party. The party was really fun, we sang songs, bobbed for apples, decorated cookies, pinned the face on the pumpkin and ate jack-o-lantern pizza.
On Friday, we had our ward Trunk-or-Treat and Chili cook-off. The kids got a sack-full of candy each and we had great food. John and Courtenay joined us for the evening, they were dressed up as Cinderella and Captain Hook. Courtenay was the star of the evening and had her own entourage of kids following her around all night. My family also had their annual pumpkin carving party that night so we made a token appearance after the ward party.
On Saturday, we spent the day in Santaquin with Courtenay's family. The men all went shooting in the morning, while the kids played and the women fixed spooky hors d'oeuvres for the party. We were also going to go on a hay ride, but found out they weren't doing them that day. We had a Halloween carnival, with games, treats and prizes and then the kids went trick-or-treating and filled their sacks again. Needless to say, we have a lot of candy!! I am pretty tired of Halloween and am glad it's over for this year.
