Two Words

Wishful Thinking!

Art

I figured that even though we won't be seeing cooler temps for a little while longer I decided that maybe we could atleast bring some fall color into our day. Our whole family enjoys painting but we never seem to have enough time to do it. So I got this idea from Thatartistwoman . I could feel myself wanting to be a control freak at any minute but we managed to make it through the project with minimal damage. Victoria's is on the left and she got a little help from me. We were having a little problem with the brown paint being a little too thick. And then I turn my back for a second and she had a whole story going on about how she was hiding in a big pile of leaves and on and on and on. I paniced because I thought for sure any minute she was going to spell her name out right through the middle in dots. I think it is hard for her to understand that less is sometimes better. Kaleb ended up painting two. I think I made him nervous. I decided that Friday probably wasn't a great time to do such a wonderful project. Life has been so stressful with our current situation that it was really hard to just let go and enjoy what was going on. There is a lesson in everything. I told Kaleb that today wasn't necessarily about art...it was more about doing what you want and enjoy doing it. Even if your control freakish mother hovered here and there. I always know when I am doing it and will be the first one to say I need to leave the room. We all laughed and moved on and I went to the grocery store...alone!

Biology Experiment #1

For Jared's first Biology experiment he needed pond water in 4 jars to grow some pretty nasty smelling liquid. I will tell you about that in a minute. As he was obtaining the water these little hispanic kids were instantly on him asking a million questions. They really wanted to know if he was catching fish. The little kid in the white shirt showed us the fish he caught. It was in a water bottle. How he got a four inch fish that was double the diameter of the opening into that water bottle...I have no idea. Poor fish. I asked him how in the world did he get it in there and he said "oh, it fit". My cousin Rich called and we had a great conversation talking about what both of us have been up to. As we were talking he and Mary Kaye were up in a canyon out of American Fork, Utah sitting beside a lake taking in the cool weather and fall colors. I guess we won't be experiencing any of that any time soon. Cool weather or fall colors. We also ran into a our friend Meaghan and her little boy Trevor. He could fit into our family perfect with his color hair. He was trying to get up the nerve to come pet Sammy. He is used to big labs. I guess smaller dogs kind of wierded him out. He was so cute. I am glad that we got a chance to see them. Meaghan was like a big sister to Daphne for quite a few years and her younger brother is Jared's buddy Doug.As for the stinky water, Jared put pond water in four jars. He added straw to one, uncooked rice to another, cooked egg yolk to one and composted soil to another. We thought it was a tie between the rice and yolk as to which ones were the worse smelling. It was too hot to work with the microscope outside so he did it at the kitchen counter with incense burning beside him. It was pretty bad. And it was a little freaky viewing what is in that water. Pretty creepy with these little tiny organisms racing around, paramecium, and an abundance of these little spiky ball things with big pointy ends. He spent two hours pouring over numerous slides drawing what he saw. He was a constant distraction to the other kids with all the "whoa...look at this..." and "wow, where did it go...". I was happy for that distraction and that he was really getting into the subject. I love Biology.

September Cooking

Victoria's Giggles Cooking Club met at the park for a particular reason and were literaly cooking. We have hit record high temperatures for September. It was definately over 104 degrees at 5 pm. Once the sun tucked down behind the trees though it was so much more tolerable. My friend Kelly who comes up with these awesome little ideas for the girls to do had the girls preparing their own mini hamburger treats. They were adorable and tasted really good too. Who wouldn't like peppermint patties combo with mustard and ketchup(frosting) on a sesame seed bun(vanilla wafer). Victoria ate one and brought the rest home for her Dad and brothers and sister. They also made these little hamburger key chains. Victoria decided to glue hers all together to make a hamburger for her American Girl Doll. My kids have always had a mind of their own and did almost the complete opposite of what all the other kids are doing. I think they use that right side of their brain more than their left. They definately march to their own drum beat. They had a great time even though it was hot. They didn't care, they were at the park having a great time!

Happy Birthday Kyle

It's Kyle's 16th birthday this week. So we celebrated. My Mom picked him up for the day. I baked him a marble fudge cake and planted 16 candles on top. The heat radiating from the cake was pretty intense in an already hot environment. We were in the pool from 1 to 7. I actually got out at 7 because I was cold. I know...really wierd. It was still nearly 100 but I was shivering. We hated to leave because the kids were having such a great time but the girls were having a hard time keeping their eyes open. The boys were having coordinated dive sessions. And challenges to see if they could get Kaleb and Jared on Kyle's shoulders. These kids have just sprouted. Jared is almost my height and is about to pass up his sister. Kyle is already taller than me. They just aren't these little kids anymore. At one point I asked my Mom if she was okay with them nearly splashing a quarter of the pools water out. She said "yeah, I'll just fill it back up tomorrow". She didn't want to stop their fun either. What a great way to wrap up the season... swimming, hot dogs, and great company.