MaeLyn's Musings

A week or so ago, we went to the local library to discover to discover that they had eggs in an incubator just inside the main entrance. It was announced that on Thursday afternoon, they would allow the public to touch the newly hatched chicks before they were returned to the farm. Peter was excited to see the baby chicks, so yesterday afternoon he and John and I went to the library to see them. When we arrived at the library, we found the room where the chicks were being shown, and discovered that a line extended half way around the large room. There were tables set up where the kids could do crafts, and make chicks out of pom poms, googly eyes, and foam triangles, so the boys made some crafts while they waited for the line to go down. After a little while, the line did shorten and so we joined it, and before too long, the boys were able to softly pet a one day old chick named Sherlock. He was very, very soft. It was amazing to think that he hatched from an egg only a day or two bef...

 Yesterday I finished crocheting this penguin. He turned out pretty cute, and a couple of the kids have been arguing over who has him. Yesterday my first Spring flower bloomed. I'm looking forward to having more bright daffodils and tulips around the yard. On Monday, as part of FHE, the family went to Lowe's and picked out some seeds and stuff for our garden. We've got a month or two before we can plant things outside, but we can start some seeds inside now and transplant them when it is warmer outside. I enjoy having growing things around. The kids have been keeping busy this week with various activities. LEGOs are always a hit, and we've got several cars, houses, and other creations floating around the house along with a ton of loose LEGOs that aren't attached to anything right now. When they aren't playing with LEGOs, the computer seems to be another favorite. All the kids have enjoyed playing "Escape from Monkey Island" at least once this w...

What could you make with pom poms, pipe cleaners, foam sheets, googly eyes, glue, scissors, and a little creativity? Yesterday, the kids and I found out! John and Joshua, hard at work. Joshua made elemental creatures. blue: water, red: fire, brown: earth, white: air John's frog and lion Hannah's pygmy puffs Peter's skinny man My caterpillar and bear

Last October, I crocheted a unicorn as a prop for Hannah's Halloween costume (She was Agnes from "Despicable Me"). It turned out pretty cute. Since then, I've made a couple more crocheted creatures. These last two are from a book on amigurumi that I checked out from the library. I had each of the kids choose one creature that they would like for me to make. I think Hannah chose the elephant and Josh chose the robot. I have two more that I plan to make - a penguin that John chose and a super monkey that Peter selected.  

The six members of the Hiatt family each arrived home, got a snack, and did a different activity. Can you figure out what order they arrived, what each person ate and what activity each person did? 1. Hannah came home some time before the person who had bread for a snack. 2. The person who played outside came home immediately after the person who had a cutie. 3. Steven was the last person home. 4. MaeLyn came home immediately before the person who ate the ham sandwich. 5. Between MaeLyn and the person who drew a picture, one ate a cutie and the other came home 3rd. 6. The person who drew a picture came home sometime after the person who ate Craisins, but before Joshua. 7. Peter came home sometimes after the person who used the computer, but before the person who ate a granola bar. 8. Joshua did not eat the granola bar. 9. The person who read a book came home immediately before John, who used the computer. 10. Joshua is neither t...

Kandinski's Squares with Concentric Circles In school, Joshua studied the artist Wassili Kandinski . Joshua learned that he is a Russian artist, who was inspired by Monet's Haystacks . Wassily was dazzled by colors as a child, and when he was older, he went to an academy of art in Munich, Germany. He painted things that no one else would have painted, and expressed things in strange ways. He was the first abstract painter. In Josh's art class, he got to try to recreate one of Kandinski's paintings. He chose a painting called Squares with Concentric Circles . Joshua's recreation.

If alarm clocks go off at 5:00am, I pretend I don't hear them. They aren't for me. Steven, showered and dressed, wakes me at 5:30am and I roll out of bed and grab my fluffy robe as I stumble out to the living room for family scripture reading. We read for ten or fifteen minutes before Steven and Hannah grab their jackets and head out the door for seminary, and work, and school. The boys and I roll back into bed and are quickly asleep. Around 6:30, a cat jumps on the bed and I glance at the clock and then close my eyes again and pretend that I don't have to get up yet. Ten minutes later, I'm standing in the shower letting the hot water massage my back as I rub the night's crust from my eyes and try to wake up completely. By 7am, I am out of the shower, dressed and on my way to wake the boys. John jumps up and retreats to his closet to get dressed almost instantly. Josh and Peter groan and stir and pull the blankets over their heads. I make sure Peter knows where hi...

Here is an easy one: Each of our four cats went outside a different number of times this morning. Can you figure out what each cat looks like (one is orange with no white at all), how many times (between 1 and 4) each cat went out and what each cat did to let me know he wanted to go out? Lala went outside fewer times than the cat that waited for someone else to go out. The cat who sat by the door when he wanted to go out did not go out 3 times. The black cat went outside two more times than the cat who stared at me until I opened the door. Ishmael went out more times than Momo, but fewer times than the cat who sat by the door. The orange cat with the white nose went outside more times than the cat who scratched the couch when he wanted to go out. The four cats are the orange cat with the white belly, Abish, the cat that waited until another cat wanted to go out, and the cat that went out 3 times. A chart is available here.

Have you ever arrived at a class late, and never felt like you entirely caught on to what was going on? That was me this morning. Usually an older lady who lives down the street from me gives me rides to institute on Tuesday mornings. This morning she called me to let me know that she wasn't going to make it. So I called another lady in our ward who lives nearby and usually goes to institute, and she told me she could give me a ride. She picked me up, and then dropped her young daughter off at her sister's home, but got caught up talking with her sister for a little while and we ended up arriving at class about fifteen minutes late. (*Please note, I'm not complaining. I'm grateful that I was able to attend institute at all.) When we arrived, someone was reading a quote about how materialism is the opposite of spirituality, and how pride is forgetting that everything we have comes from God, or something like that. I figured out that they were in the last chapters of ...

This past weekend was crazy busy. Here are some of the highlights! John with his teacher, Mr. Lee What could possibly be more fun than answering math questions? For me, several things come to mind, but John seems to enjoy it. Saturday morning, John attended the Colorado State MathCounts Competition, which was held at the Colorado School of Mines, about half an hour drive away from home. John was there from about 8:30am until about 2:00pm. He didn't finish in the top four, and so won't be going on to the national competition but he had a lot of fun and this was a great experience for him. While Steven drove John to and from the MathCounts competition, and did the grocery shopping, the rest of the kids and I cleaned the house, and Hannah baked and decorated a couple cakes for the evening activity. Girl's Camp is one of the most fun things that the young women in our ward look forward to every year, but it isn't cheap! Every couple years, the young women in our ...

Northglenn High School Fine Arts Department proudly presents: Thoroughly Modern Millie March 13th, 14th, & 15th at 6:30pm Last night, Steven and the boys and I attended the performance of Thoroughly Modern Millie, performed at Northglenn High School, in which Hannah participated.  I have to say right off that I enjoyed the play more than I did the movie - and it wasn't just because my daughter was on the stage. The songs were fun, the acting was fantastic, the plot twists at the end were intriguing. Even the boys were captivated.  Scenes and Musical Numbers (click to see larger) I enjoyed watching the Chinese boys, Ching Ho and Bun Foo as they danced and sang - in Chinese. Not understanding Chinese myself, I appreciated the translations projected on a screen, but I appreciated the efforts they expended learning their lines and practicing the pronunciation. It sounded Chinese to me. Cast List Another song that I thoroughly enjoyed was the "Spe...

Another attempt at a Clue based Logic Puzzle, this one is more like a normal logic problem: Mr. Body was found murdered! Can you figure out where each of the suspects were, what he or she was doing at the time of the murder, and what the suspect was holding? (One suspect is Mrs. White, and one room was the ballroom.) 1. The suspect in the kitchen had the candlestick, but the suspect in the dining room did not have the revolver. 2. Colonel Mustard was exercising, but not in the kitchen. 3. Mr. Green, the suspect with the rope, the suspect who was exercising, Miss Scarlet, the suspect who was painting, and the suspect in the library were all different people. 4. Of the suspect with the wrench and the suspect who was rehearsing, one was Mrs. Peacock and the other was in the dining room. 5. Colonel Mustard had a weapon that preceded that of Mr. Green’s alphabetically. 6. The suspect with the knife was painting, and the suspect with the wrench was not re...

Joshua invented a time traveling machine with five controls which do different things, but don't always work. Can you figure out what each control does, what color it is, and what Josh has to do to make it work? 1. Of the button and the control that stabilizes the machine, one is orange, and the other must be talked into working. 2. Of the blue control and the one that requires a snap of the fingers, one control opens the doors and the other is the lever. 3. The knob is either yellow or the control that sends Josh traveling through time. 4. Either the switch or the control for traveling through time must be bumped in order to work. 5. The red dial is either the control that must be sung to in order to operate, or the one that opens the doors. 6. Neither the switch nor the control that causes travel through space is the control that must be sung to. 7. The five controls are the switch, the purple control, the control that must be tapped, the control that provides a snack, an...

Someone in the Joel Hills Johnson Descendants Group on Facebook posted a link to a page that told the story of the writing of the song High on the Mountain Top yesterday. The link is http://www.boap.org/LDS/Early-Saints/Joel-J.-High-on-mout-top.html I'm not going to copy the story here... You can click on the link to read it. (Hopefully the link will stay around for a while.) Anyway, I think it is cool to be descended from a man who had such a great love for the gospel and the land where he lived. Joel Hills Johnson is my great, great grandfather.  He is my mother (Rebecca Asay)'s  father (Seth Asay)'s  mother (Susan Johnson)'s  father (Seth Johnson)'s  father.  I remember once when I was visiting with my grandparents at their home in St. George, Utah, I played the song, High on the Mountain Top on my grandparents' piano. My grandfather was in the room and heard me play, and afterwards, he told me how much he loved that song which his ...

 Every weekday morning and afternoon of the past week has held a mystery. What changes will have happened at the park down the street when we walk past today? Last Wednesday, a bright yellow digger and bulldozer sat on the sidewalk within the enclosure. On Thursday, a man was using a ditch witch to carve a ditch around all the edges of the area in the park where work is to be done. The ditch was then filled with what appears to be a roll of straw, which had been staked down. There were also bright orange barriers erected in various parts of the park. On Sunday, Steven and I were enjoying the warm sunshine and took a stroll through the park. To my surprise, even though it was Sunday there were people working. While we didn't get a close look, it appeared that they had taken out a tree and were grinding down the stump. Monday morning, bright and early, the digger was at work on the hill, gobbling up huge chunks of earth and depositing them in a pile where the bul...

A long time ago, a God had a people who he loved very much. He gave them a good land to live in with good soil for their crops. He made the sun shine down on them and blessed them with rain so their crops would grow and they would have plenty of food to eat. He showed them where they could find pasture land for their herds and precious metals to shape into beautiful things. He helped them in battle when their enemies rose up against them, and they won their battles, even when they were outnumbered. And the people had peace and were happy. But in their happiness and peacefulness, the people forgot about their God. They forgot that it was their God who had given them the good soil and the rain and the food, and they did not share their food with those who were hungry. They forgot that their God had protected their herds and given them metals and made them rich, and they did not use their riches to help those who were in need. They forgot that their God had helped them win their battles...

I really enjoy playing Clue. The other day I had an idea that it might be fun to make a logic problem based on a clue game. I experimented with it over the weekend and came up with this: Can you figure out which cards each player has, as well as the solution? Each player was dealt three cards. No one received more than one suspect card, or one weapon card, and no more than two room cards. Guess 1: Miss Scarlet, knife, ballroom - Joshua and Steven had nothing, Hannah did. Guess 2: Mr. Green, wrench, billiard room - Steven and Hannah had nothing, Peter did. Guess 3: Prof. Plum, rope, dining room - Hannah and Peter had nothing, John did. Guess 4: Mrs. Peacock, candlestick, lounge - Peter and John had nothing, MaeLyn did. Guess 5: Col Mustard, lead pipe, library - John and MaeLyn had nothing, Joshua did. Guess 6: Prof Plum, revolver, hall - MaeLyn and Joshua had nothing, Steven did. Guess 7: Prof Plum, rope, study - Joshua and Steven had nothing, Hannah did. Guess 8: Col Mustard...

(I created this puzzle on Friday but didn't have time to post it before I had to pick up the kids from school.) The Hiatt family gathered in a circle for Family Home Evening to play a game, each holding a different stuffed animal, after which each family member ate a different number of cookies for dessert. The person who ate three cookies sat across the circle from the person with the unicorn. Between the person in position 4 and the person with the bear, one had one cookie and the other was John MaeLyn sat two seats away from the person who ate 5 cookies. The person with the monkey ate three cookies more than the person in seat 5. Steven was the person in seat 6. Hannah sat in a higher number seat than Joshua, who had neither a frog nor a robot. The person with the robot ate one more cookie than the person in seat 2. The person with the frog ate 4 cookies. The person with the cow sat between the person who ate 2 cookies and Peter. The person in seat 6 ate 3 c...

Yesterday was a bit of an interesting day for John. As he was preparing to help pass the sacrament, he got a bloody nose, and ended up needing to let someone else take his place. It took a while before the bleeding stopped, but this is a common enough occurrence that he knew exactly what he needed to do to stop the bleeding. More importantly, after church yesterday John was set apart as president of his Deacon's Quorum. I have confidence that he will do a fantabulous job!

Yesterday I taught Relief Society again. This week the lesson was Chapter 4 of Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Fielding Smith, entitled Strengthening and Preserving the Family . Early on, as I studied the lesson and began thinking about how I wanted to teach it, I realized that this would be a difficult lesson to teach. There are few things so sensitive as talk about the family. To begin with, every family is different, and what might be considered ideal and perfect for me, would not be so ideal for someone else. There might be someone in the class who had come out of a bad divorce and was striving to build a happy life without an eternal spouse, and for whom talk about happy eternal marriage could be painful. I decided almost from the beginning that I didn't want to be doing a lot of talking during this lesson. I started out the lesson trying to give them a feel for what kind of family man President Smith was. I started by reading the words of Ethel, President Sm...