What's Going On

I haven't blogged in a while. Not that we never do anything interesting. I think I've become dependent on pictures to remind me what to blog about. Since we never take our camera anywhere...I'm completely at a loss to remember what we've done lately.

Lets see...

There was the book fair full of tons of people and too many events that overwhelmed everyone so we left. Apparently we missed a circus act that we really cool. Plus we skipped the airshow the next weekend because I just wasn't up to another day of way too many people crowded into one space. Maybe next year.

We ate green stuff for St. Patty's day. I don't think anyone's poop turned green. Although their faces may have turned a little green when they saw the slime colored eggs they got for breakfast. We didn't get around to a spirited reading of "Green Eggs and Ham" that day. I'll have to make sure we do it next year. Although I think I may be leaning towards green waffles for next year. Those looked good!

We went to an awesome park with a merry go round type piece of playground equipment. You know, the type they used to have in parks that would spin you around until you flew off or lost your lunch. Or both. We'll definitely be going back.

We had the ultrasound for baby #4. I sent the picture of the important "parts" to my sister in Utah (without looking). She'll be sending me a package full of stuff that I'll be opening on mother's day. I'm thinking it's a boy based on comments made by the ultrasound tech. Chad's betting on a girl. I think he just likes to be contrary. It's hard for me to talk to Ruth right now knowing that she knows and I don't know. Ya know?

And finally, we've been gardening. I have pictures. I'll have to do a separate post for that one. Since pictures and blogging seem to go hand in hand in my house. Actually, I have to post just one. Here's a picture of the tiling we did at my parent's house. I have to show it off a little bit because it was a lot of work. And I think it turned out pretty nice.

Birthday Girl Drama

A Kiwi birthday would not be complete without a little drama. I have a friend with an eight year old who is also quite the little over-reactor. So I guess I have to learn to deal with it instead of getting annoyed by it. I love my little five year old, drama and all.

On a side not we went to a very fun play area in Chandler to celebrate her birthday called Makutu's island. Perfect for her age. Chad's 3 year old nephew wasn't quite up to it, but Kiwi had a blast. It's kind of like a overgrown McDonald's play land made to look like a tree. We'll definitely have to go back again some time.

This was all in between tiling my parent's back splash in their kitchen. We had quite the busy weekend. Now I think we may have to tile the back splash in our own kitchen. Right Chad....Chad?

News of the G

A few stories and happening in the life of our G-man.

We introduced sport that seems to fit our son's intense desire to perfectly follow instructions. His intense nature seems to fit quite well with martial arts.
Other things didn't seem to quite fit or hold his interest. He lost interest in soccer once he started getting kicked in the shins. We signed him up for a baseball class that actually made him worse at baseball than he was before. He was so intent on following the coaches exact explanation of proper throwing form he could no longer actually throw a ball. Or hit a ball. And since G seriously dislikes being bad at things, we haven't pursued it.
At this point we've only tried Parks and Rec classes, but this is the first class he's taken that he's actually cared to repeat. And this sport doesn't require Saturday games (at least at this point).





We bought a desk for the G to do his homework on. It seems he works much better when there are no siblings pestering him or mom critiquing him while he works. He loves that he has a computer in his room too. We may have him guest blog this summer to build up those typing skills.










The boys working together to get the job done. This is probably the first time I decided to spend more money on the desk I liked the most instead of the cheapest one I could find. I think the red is fun.









We had our first Science Project. I learned a lot. I don't know how much he learned. I let him choose his topic, which involved watering bean seeds with distilled water or tap water. I am a firm believer in letting a child do their own homework. He was in charge of watering, measuring, and recording his findings.
Unfortunately when we reviewed the data at the end I found multiple days where his plants had actually shrunk between measurements. He had no idea what to do with the data he had collected. I felt like I got way more involved than I wanted to.
In the end we were able to put it together in a way that he understood, instead of the way I thought it should be. It was really hard to let his first grade brain come to it's own conclusions when my college educated brain wants to tell him everything I know so he gets the answer exactly right! I wish he had picked the M&M counting experiment. At least he would have known what he was doing.

Out on the Town, Part S

For Christmas we gave our kids the gift of time and a special outing. Each was promised a date with mom and dad, all on their own. I remember doing this once when I was little. I was the 3rd of five, and one on one time with my parents was really hard to come by. Especially both of them. It obviously meant a lot to me because it's something my parents did for me that I've always wanted to do for my own kids.

Mr. S was up first, and he will probably be the cheapest date by far. We rode a little train around the park, went to the zoo, fed the giraffes, and had a treat on the way home. He fell asleep as we drove home, so obviously he had a great time. Here are a few pics.

Spring Garden Prep 2010

Even with all the chaos that comes with having an extra set of kids (see earlier post) around the house, Luann and I were able to finish up getting the garden prep'ed for spring planting. We decided to plant in a second area, as the first still has a few plants that are not done with the cycle. The garden now covers twice the area, and will be on fully automated watering. That is really the only reason that this works for us. We used way less water once it was automatic, what with the prevention of over-watering (read: forgetting to turn the water off), and the ability to fine-tune the amount via the duration.

The plants you see are: (foreground) Broccoli, (against the wall, short) Carrots, and (against the wall, tall) Sunflowers. There are some Garlic, Potatoes, Tomatoes, and Onions hidden in there as well.

A day with Friends

Yesterday, G-man, Kiwi, and Mr S got to spend an entire day with another family's kids. The parents had to be out of town for various reasons, so their three kids stayed at our house for the day. And, those three kids are almost the same ages as ours.


It was a beautiful day outside, and much of the day was spent outside. Using the new climbing dome, they built a nice little fort. There was so much room, the fort was complete with a kitchen, an area for the pets, and a parking space. Of course, there was plenty of sitting areas. Oh, did I mention that the food was both real lunch, and a big pot of mud soup, with a touch of sand. And, the best part was that the pets were termites from the yard. Fun for all!

And, the highlight was the cool afternoon snack of Rainbow gelatin!



Post Script: Today at church, in talking with the Dad of the friends, we found out that not an hour after the kids got home (at around 7 PM), they were fast asleep. And, they didn't get up until 7 AM. We wore them out.

First Pictures (Of No 4)

Luann finally got in to see the midwives to "make official" the due date. The heart beat was fine, and the due date stayed at the 26th of July. I think that Luann knows how to calculate the date after three kids, so no surprise on the date. And, the midwives' office has a new ultrasound machine, so we have an early picture of the baby. In this picture, the legs are cross, and the head is on the left side.