We had a great week.
We kept busy with school prep, nature camp, a lot of cleaning and celebrating Pioneer Day.
Last Sunday: Someone took this picture of their temple.
And their piano.
Samuel fell asleep during family prayer after being up late the night before hiking.
Monday: Talea got a kindergarten workbook at Sam's Club and was so excited about it.
We were planning to have a talent show with friends visiting from out of state. When they didn't come we still did our talent show. Here Thomas shows us everything he made with his 3D pen.
Madalyn did an awesome poem/song thing that blew me away. I had no idea she knew such a difficult piece. It was "The Maladjusted Jester" from The Court Jester movie.
Treats afterward. I love family nights!
(Spencer and Madalyn were there too, just took their piece to the couch.)
Tuesday: Talea whipped through a dozen pages of her new workbook. She's pretty advanced for her age and reminds me of Madalyn at 3.
First time at the dentist!
She's been waiting a long time to join her siblings but our dentist waits till age 3.
Walked into the garage and found Andy drilling a hole into his wooden cell phone to put a stylus.
He was really good at it! I was impressed.
Wednesday: Nature camp for 6 year-olds.
I had a great group of kids and a cooler cloudy day, which put us in a good mood.
You probably don't care about all the pictures but I'm putting them here because this is my family's scrapbook and when we move from this ward I want them to have pictures of their friends and fun things we did with them.
Looking at tiny worms on rocks.
Carving sticks.
Sketching.
Making fishing poles.
Mary is roasting a clay marshmallow. Samuel made a moose.
They put roly polies in the pool of water and were seeing if they swim. Kaitlyn turned her fishing pole into a bow.
The kids went exploring up a swampy hill. Makenna made a dragon with clay and balanced it on a log on a branch.
Then they found a drier hill to explore.
I love storytime with the kids.
When we got home we had a popcorn party while waiting for parents to come pick up. Then the kids decided they all wanted to walk home in the rain so we made several trips climbing over the wall and walking kids home, loving the rare rainy day.
First trip back to the library! We're now allowed a 10 minute appointment for 2 people at a time to run in and browse a very limited selection and pick up holds. Still, it's fun to set foot in a library again and come home and read.
Thursday: Walking from the car to the playground at the park.
Talea putting hands up like a roller coaster and showing me she can pump.
I was trying to get the kids to walk to the car when I found these two high up in a tree. :)
Alexis is getting really excited about her nursing class this fall and has been playing a lot of doctor or NICU babies with Talea.
While talking to Kylie on the computer I could hear a lot of banging around upstairs. I'd sent them to get in the bath then remembered they were probably waiting for me to turn on the water. Turns out they were having fun climbing up my shower walls. It was so funny and I tried to take appropriate pictures.
Alexis made this sign for Madalyn's last week of spring term. She does her online classes by zoom in the mornings then does homework all afternoon so we're excited she's finally done and free! And she got a 100% on her calculus test! Way to go!
On Monday morning Alexis decorated Maddy's room and brought up a plate of zucchini bread for Maddy to show her classmates she was having a last day of class party but Maddy never got a chance to show it.
Friday: Spencer giving Makenna her first violin lesson in preparation for her taking lessons this fall.
This is the way Kaitlyn makes a fruit salad for dinner.
Eating hot dogs and hamburgers for Pioneer Day dinner. We had a great night!
After dinner and a sextuplet episode Spencer took us hiking to a lookout spot to watch fireworks.
I love watching my kids all hike together. We rarely go hiking as a family because it's something fun I like to take different age groups on mommy dates to do but I'd like to go more often with all the kids.
I lagged behind with Talea and loved looking up the switchbacks and seeing my older kids trekking along up there.
Parked to sit and read and wait for fireworks.
It was a beautiful city view and I loved how green the neighborhood was right below us but with the sun glare the pictures didn't turn out.
Then I decided to take the 5 younger kids to the bridge because we've never been before.
Alexis came along to help. We got rained on a bit but it was a lot of fun.
We knew there wouldn't be a lot of fireworks close by b/c they weren't allowed on the East side of town this year but we didn't care. It was still a fun outing. The girls all read anyway and we all ate popcorn and candy we brought.
Saturday: While I was riding my exercise bike at 7am Talea got dressed, got some Cheerios, and brought her food and books up to have herself a reading party next to me.
Playing doctor again.
Thomas and I had a pancake making competition. I made whole wheat ricotta cheese pancakes and he made multigrain pancakes. Both turned out great. The kids liked mine slightly better but they did burn a bit as I kept leaving them to set the table and do other things.
My ricotta cheese pancakes.
