April wrap-up

Luke's first big ride

Ben and Luke went on a bike ride to the hammock park today.

This was Luke's first big (mostly uphill) ride.

Ben said he did great!

 Oops! None of us thought about sunscreen today.

Feels like Summer

We turned on our air conditioner this week. Usually we can wait until the end of May to turn on the air conditioner, but it was 85 degrees yesterday!

Life is so strange right now.

It feels like Summer because it is warm outside and the kids are home, but they still have homework and I'm still getting a zillion e-mails everyday about school assignments and locker clean outs and chrome book return schedules.

Thankfully we are enjoying the beautiful weather and each other during this strange time.

Michael and Ben going out on their daily bike ride.

 My mom brought my grandma for a visit yesterday. We sat outside and we were careful not to get too close. Even though we all feel healthy, what we understand about COVID-19 is that we could give it to someone else before we show signs of being sick. It feels strange to not be able to hug grandma or help her walk to the backyard.

 Grandma brought some 'grad' glasses and a card for Michael.

 The girls doing their homework outside on the swing.

100 days

Mary and Luke in 2014 counting out 100 chocolate chips and marshmallows for the 100th day of school.

100 days of something is worth celebrating!

127 days ago, on December 25, 2019, I started a daily streak on Duolingo studying Italian.

I started my study to refresh my language skills for our trip to Rome in February.

Now it has become a daily habit and I'm happy with my progress.

It usually takes less than 10 minutes each day.

On April 7, I started another 100 days project.

I'm trying to spend just 15 minutes each day working to assign 'keywords' to sort my digital pictures in 'Photos'. I haven't been as consecutive as I have been with Duolingo, but I'm still doing far better than I would if I didn't have the goal. I've already sorted all of 2014!

I'm also trying to write a small sentence of gratitude in my journal at the end of each day.

Again, I haven't been perfect but it's better to have something than nothing.

I'll finish this 100 days on July 16, 2020- the day after Michael enters the MTC (if he goes to the MTC). Or I guess I should say, the day after Michael starts his mission :)

Currently reading

I love to read. I could easily read the day away.

The truth is, however, I rarely take the time to read, (aside from my daily study of the Book of Mormon) especially now that our kids are doing online school at home.

That being said, I am still reading these 6 books in addition to my daily scripture study.

I started reading 'the Boys in the Boat' about a year ago but I'll return to it one day soon.

I am reading 'Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher' with Sara and Todd as part of Sara's independent reading for school.

I have been reading the 'Origami Yoda' series with Luke for over a year. We don't read every night but I love it when we make the time to read together at bedtime.

Sometimes in the evenings I have enough energy left to read from 'Saints.'

'The Book of Mormon Study guide' and 'Don't miss this' are great companions to my daily scripture study.

There you have it. My current reads.

Luke's questions of the universe

Our Luke has always been a problem solver and a deep thinker.

When he was 6 years old he wanted to become a paleontologist.

Luke's mind is always creating and discovering new things.

Luke loves to read.

 And he loves to create new inventions- like the hooded backpack.

 And sometimes his inquiries are just plain silly.

A few weeks ago I started to make a list of some of Luke's "questions of the universe";

Here are some of our favorites;

*Why is the word abbreviation so long?

*Why do noses run but feet smell?

*If humans can't see air, can fish see water?

*Why is it a building if it is already built?

*Why is the meat of a chicken called chicken but cow meat is called beef?

*Why is it called an apartment if it is built together?

*Why can you drink a drink but not food a food?

*If Cinderella's shoes fit so perfectly, why did they fall off?

*If humans take a swim do fish take a walk?

*What if Pinocchio said, "my nose will grow?"

*Why do we park on driveways but drive on parkways?

*If womb is pronounced womb and tomb is pronounced tomb, why isn't bomb pronounced boom?

*Is the 's' or the 'c' silent in scent?

*Is a hotdog a sandwich?

SIXTEEN

We had a great time celebrating Ben's sixteenth birthday.

Ben's birthday breakfast;

Chocolate chip pancakes, sausage, hash browns with eggs.

 Presents;

Clothes, mountain biking gloves and a very red helmet. (I'm thrilled that we will be able to spot him on race courses during mountain biking races).

 Ben had California rolls and a Crumbl cookie (from his friend) for lunch.

 Ben's friends drove by our house to sing and honk while maintaining social distancing.

It's so fun that they remember and support each other during this quarantine time.

I'm grateful that our kids have good friends.

Ben asked for homemade mac and cheese in a bread bowl for his birthday dinner.

I couldn't find bread bowls, so I put the mac and cheese in a hollowed out sourdough loaf.

It was delicious!

I made my second ever chocolate mousse cake for Ben's birthday and it turned out even better than the first one. This may become a new birthday tradition.

 We also made Disneyland's Pineapple Dole Whip recipe.

Delicious!

Ben is compassionate, smart, funny, spiritual, nurturing, a great leader, and so full of energy.

Happy 16th Birthday Ben!

We love and appreciate you!

TWELVE

We had a great day on Luke's 12th birthday.

It was so fun to celebrate Luke. He brings so much joy to our family.

Luke's birthday breakfast;

Hash browns, chocolate chip pancakes, sausage and apples.

Chocolate milk and orange juice to drink.

 Luke was excited to receive mountain biking gear for his birthday.

 He loves to go riding with his big brothers.

 His Nerf target and Legos were a favorite by everyone too.

 Luke asked for cheeseburgers for dinner.

We enjoyed the lovely weather outside.

 Happy 12th Birthday Luke!

We are so grateful for Luke's good heart, his desire to do the right thing and his incredible sense of humor!

We love you Luke!

School work at home

Nana and I will be so sad when the kids go back to school one day.

Nana pretty much always has a companion these days.

 Here is Sara's school journal entry from April 23, 2020.

I just noticed that she wrote March 23 instead of April 23.

The days are all running together!

I don't know how good I am at checking homework if I miss that detail!

Mary is studying for the U.S. citizenship test. I loved listening to her brothers help her study.

It's so nice when they can help each other!

Nana resting on Mary while she does school work.

 Michael on a Zoom call for student government. I forgot to ask him why he was wearing the sunglasses :)

 I don't love the kids having their noses in their computers all the time. Luckily the weather is beautiful and we take lots of breaks outside.

BYU bound

Michael made the decision this week to attend BYU after his mission.

We're thrilled for him!

Always hungry

I'm amazed at the amount of groceries our family goes through now that most of us are home all day.

I love having teenagers! They seem to always be hungry. They usually start asking me what is for dinner around 2:00pm.

I love it when they experiment and try new things (especially when they do their own dishes).

Michael made frosted orange juice, and Ben had a banana and Nutella for a snack.

 Mary found a recipe for a Wendy's frosty on Pinterest. It wasn't very good. However, the recipe Michael found for brownies in a mug was a keeper.

I start a new grocery list the same day I get home from the grocery store.

I love being the mom of 5 kids!

SBO VP

 Student body officer elections were last week at Bingham High.

Ben was one of 15 students running for 6 VP positions for the 2020-2021 school year.

The candidates election videos were posted last Monday and voting was open to the student body until 2:30 on Friday.

Election results were sent via e-mail at 3:00 on Friday.

It was difficult to concentrate on homework or anything else on Friday.

Ben sat in front of the computer at 2:45 waiting to receive his election results e-mail.

It was a difficult race and none of us knew what to expect.

We knew that he had done the best video and poster he could and Ben had a good attitude about either outcome, but we were still nervous.

 At 30 seconds past 3:00, Ben opened this e-mail;

 He won! It was so fun to hear how excited he was when he told Michael.

 We celebrated for a few minutes and then he got on a call to find out who the other SBO's are and to have their first meeting.

He is so excited to work with these kids next year.

The VP's will find out their positions soon but Ben says he will be happy with whatever he is asked to do.

Dance homework

Mary is enrolled in a dance class at school this semester.

For her school work at home last week, she had to e-mail her teacher a high, medium and low dance pose.

Here is her high dance pose;

 Her medium dance pose;

And her low dance pose;

 Mary is so talented.

I was the photographer for this assignment. I was impressed with Mary's determination to get this assignment right.

Love this girl!