MaeLyn's Musings

Today is day three of normal life after Spring Break. Kind of. I'm not sure it's really normal when most of it has been catching up on things that I put off last week because the kids were home. Monday was mostly spent cleaning the house and putting it back in order from the weekend. I also cleaned out the boys room again. I filled an entire kitchen sized trash bag with trash and papers that were scattered all over their floor. They are down to pretty much beds and clothes in their room now, but somehow they still find ways to trash it. Go figure. Yesterday I made granola and yogurt (we finished off what the kids made last week, and they've been begging me to make more). I figured out our meal plan for April, made a shopping list and went grocery shopping at Sam's Club. I went Visiting Teaching. I washed, dried and sorted two loads of  laundry. I walked to pick up the kids from school. Somehow during all this I injured my knee so now it hurts to bend if I put any weig...

Last week was the kids' Spring Break. Five days, four kids, one mom, one snow storm. Monday was sunny and warm. We started by straightening up the house from the weekend, then we went to the library for books to read during the week, and then played for an hour or so at the park. Hannah made Rice Krispie treats for FHE and cut out the pattern pieces for a dress. (She loves to sew, and I thought it would be interesting to teach her how to make clothes from a real pattern and cloth rather from just her imagination and newspaper bags.) We (Hannah, John and I) started writing stories and I had Hannah and John practice their times tables while Josh and Peter watched a "All I need to know in 1st grade" DVD that Josh's teacher had sent home for him to watch. All in all it was a fun, busy, and exhausting day. Tuesday began crisp and cold. I got the laundry started for the day, and then we began a science experiment: making homemade yogurt. Once that was incubating (sittin...

Last night we had our 2nd Annual Savory Ponds Ward Pinewood Derby. We have been working hard over the last three months to prepare for this exciting event. The oldest four (Steven, Myself, Hannah and John) each made our own car. If you like these cars, tell Steven! Email him at steven.hiatt@gmail.com Steven: Last year Steven's masterpiece was a dragon. It looked fantastic! How could he improve on a dragon? Well, last year, his dragon was so awesome that there was no place to put any weights in, so it was severely underweight (2.3 oz)  and couldn't reach the end of the track. So... This year he figured out a way to add weight. The story is this: Dragons like gold. Dragons like to guard gold. His dragon decided to eat gold to keep it safe... and died of gold poisoning (and maybe starvation since Steven never fed it anything.) This year's car is a dragon skeleton with gold weights inside. Steven was the only one of us who injured himself enough in the making of his ...

Usually our schedule in the morning goes something like this: 6:00 Alarm goes off 6:15 Steven gets up and takes a shower 6:35 Steven gets out of shower, I get up and take a shower while Steven wakes up the kids. 6:55 I get out of the shower, we gather the kids(supposedly dressed by now) for family prayer and scripture reading 7:10 Breakfast time (usually  cereal, store bought muffins or bagels.) 7:20 Steven leaves for work, I help kids finish packing lunches, getting shoes on, gathering homework, etc. 7:30 We head out to the car for school. I don't know if the alarm wasn't set, or if Steven turned it off in his sleep. For whatever reason we didn't hear it go off. Here is our schedule this morning: 6:50 Steven woke up and got in the shower. I woke up the kids, packed lunches and got breakfast on the table. 7:00 I got in the shower. 7:10 We had family prayer and ate breakfast. We decided we'll do scripture reading at FHE tonight. 7:20 Steven left for work. I...

After the Spring activity, Hannah had fun playing with the bunny accessories. She made herself a bunny tail and teeth out of toilet paper.

This morning we had our Spring Primary Activity. It was a lot of fun. It started with a breakfast for the teachers. We had eggitos (egg and sausage filled breakfast burritos), muffins and orange juice. After an hour of good food and adult chatter (supposedly sharing ideas and discussing primary related topics), the children arrived for the games and fun. They started by dressing up their teachers in toilet paper, bunny ears, noses and ties, and then made them race. I'm so glad that all of our teachers are really good sports. Then the kids and teachers were divided into groups to go to different stations. At one station they frosted and ate egg shaped cookies. (Yummy! Below is Joshua frosting his cookie.) At another station they carried eggs on spoons, and then pushed them across the finish line with their noses. (Hannah had a hard time getting her egg to roll straight, and kept pushing it into her opponent!) At another station they attached a cup to their foot, filled it with popc...

My first bulb of spring has sprung! I love it! I look forward to when my daffodils come out. (They are my favorite flower.)

I posted this video on Facebook last night, but I'm having some trouble posting it here. I think it will work now if you click on the link to where the video is on my Picassa web album. It's cute! From Family Photos 2010

Today report cards were sent home for the second trimester. Hannah managed to get on the honor roll again with all As, and this time I actually remembered to bring my camera to get pictures of her receiving her certificate! After the ceremony I had about 45 minutes until school let out and I didn't feel like going all the way home and back again so I accompanied Hannah to her classroom, and Peter and I took seats in the back to watch. Her teacher, Mr Wrzos (pronounced "Ross") had children read aloud stories that they wrote recently, and then the listeners gave feedback on things that they liked. During one of the stories, Peter decided to burp. Really loud. Several of the children broke out in giggles and I worried that Mr Wrzos would kick us out. Hannah read her story last, and I was impressed by both her story and the appreciation that the other children in the class showed for her writing. About 15 minutes before school let out, Peter told me he needed to use the bath...