fisherman drew.

drew is ALWAYS asking to go fishing.
it's all he ever asks for.
fishing is in our blood.  my father and both of our grandfathers were fishermen.

there is a man at church who is a grand fisherman.

i have mentioned to him on more than one occasion that drew would be the perfect "fisherman's helper."
at the beginning of the week he spoke with todd and told him this was a great week for salmon fishing.
(technically it is a special kind of salmon, maybe rockport? it's a mix between salmon and bass, i think.)
the rivers were high from recent flooding and the weather was pretty warm.
todd took drew out of school on thursday around noon and they drove to a private section of river...

drew caught three, todd caught one and our friend caught one as they were about to leave.
well, technically each person is only allowed to catch two fish- so drew and todd both caught two.
my freezer is full of fish and i'm pretty impressed.
(they got home 30 minutes before jakob's party... i was not too excited about the whole house SMELLING like fish...)

i LOVE that my boys get opportunities like this!

mmm.  fish for dinner anyone?

Thursdays at McDonald's.

we have a new family tradition.
my husband teaches a class on Tuesday and Thursday morning and so i drop the kids off at school around 8am and then my little girls and i head to the farm.
(old McDonald's farm)
sometimes we kidnap a friend to take with us.

it's a long drive to the farm with a slide- so we sing Old McDonald and we listen to Scripture Scouts!
(we LOVE scriptures scouts!)
Leah always asks if i took a short cut this time.

McDonald's on Thursday morning is dreamy.
my favorite part is when we first get there.
the main lobby is filled with darling old men.
there are some couples, but mostly men.
i jokingly asked if this was the "grumpy old men's club"?
they said, "Well young lady, take off that first word and you've got it just about right."

i love these men.
they are so cute with my little girls.
they always tell me i need some boys.
when i tell them i have seven children they hoot and say "good for you, we just don't see big families these days."
i love their hard working hands and their eyes wrinkled into permanent smiles.

we usually have play land all to ourselves.
it is magical.

you know how it says parents can climb too?
well, i always do.
following my adventurous baby.
it's good exercise (for them and me.)

lily is very timid.
she always begins afraid and barely crawling up the stairs.
she gets scared on the net tubes and has a hard time climbing the big drop steps.
by the end of our morning adventure she is yelling-- "See mom, i can stand up the whole way!"
every Thursday is a victory day for lily!

the girls have a club in the purple part.
(they always beg me to let them eat in there... but the sign says "no food".)
they take their socks off (gasp) and climb UP the slides (gasp).

and, we talk to our friend Alisha who cleans "mr play structure" while we play.
she is great at daring rescues of children stuck on a stair.
she is great at knocking when she is under them causing a tornado of dancing and laughing.
she loves to sing Selina Gomez songs while she cleans that make me smile.
i love that girl.
McDonald's is great for hiring her!

we usually order 99 cent sausage mcmuffins
and water with a straw.

sister is just learning to drink from a straw.
(see those two cute teeth?  two teeth is my FAVORITE age ever!)

and, on the way home we have to get ice cream.
even though it's still morning.
because, well, it's McDonald's.
(they will give the kids FREE baby comes- i'm definitely doing that next time.)

and, sometimes i grab a treat to go, and drop it off at a school on my way home.
just as a little surprise for another one of my kids that might need a special "i'm thinking about you" today.

last week anna was sad because ellie's teacher always gives them parties and special rewards.
her teacher is more strict.
she said, "i see her class in the hallway, they are loud and bad.  And he always gives them rewards.  We are good and our teacher is always yelling at us.  And, ellie gets a whole bag of M&M's just because she knows what 40 x 3 is.  It's not fair."
that next Thursday i picked up a bag of M&Ms and dropped them off in anna's classroom with a little note "you're so blessed to have a great teacher!  only eat this treat if you know what 40 x 3 is!"
being a mom is SO FUN!
we love McDonald's on Thursday morning!

and, actually, the professor and i have a date this morning...
BiMart is having a sale!!
i think i might take him to the farm with us afterwards.
hmmm.  McDonald's on Wednesday??  I wonder what it's like?!

have a great day!!

Journals and Family Report Cards.

our family journals-- can you tell what song we were learning that night?

1.  i LOVE family journals.

as the new year started, i invested in new journals for everyone in my family.

we have a morning devotional, most mornings, and it needed some PEP!

new journals were just the thing.

(don't you love office supplies?!)

actually, i bought some new paper, sticky notes, and a bunch of fun colored gel pens.

we take turns giving a spiritual thought and we try to print out something that the kids can tape into their journals.

i LOVE that the little girls are busy coloring in their journals while the big kids are taking notes.

journals have not only added some fun to our morning devotionals, it has also helped a lot with personalizing it.

i love that the kids have a place to write down scriptures they like or quotes they want to remember.

we keep our journals in a small box near our scriptures.

i don't let them take them to their rooms or write in them whenever they want... because i know they will get lost or ruined.

{the family night before i gave the kids their new journals i said we're going to play a Memory game-- i gave half the kids a piece of paper and a pencil, and half nothing.  then i told them to remember the items i was going to say... i started listing random things apple, cat, happy, love, school, coke, etc.  i think i listed about 20 things.  then i asked who could remember what i had said.  the kids who had taken notes of my list could recall all 20 and the other kids didn't think that was fair.  i smiled and asked what they could learn from that example?  then, i asked how that game relates to writing journals.  the kids responded PERFECTLY and i didn't even need to teach them the lesson-- they taught it for me!}

2.  i LOVE family report cards.
for family night i pulled out my famous white board and i asked the kids to name some of the different areas of our life.

we came up with a list that included, scripture time, being kind, doing chores, mornings, bedtime, straightening up, doing fun things, exercise, watching screens, etc.

then i asked them how they thought we had done the past week 1-10, 1 being bad, 10 being good.
i asked the kids to look at the numbers and make some conclusions...
like "we had scripture time each day and were kind to each other.  we watched a lot of tv and didn't do very well with our chores."
we circled the areas where we were the lowest and set two family goals for the week.
i think they are do jobs happily in the morning and no screens after school but do exercise daily... or something like that.
then, i had the kids rate themselves individually 1-10.
they circled their low spots and set a couple personal goals. 

oh how i LOVED hearing them set goals for themselves instead of me encouraging them to be better.

it was SO good. 

give it a try!

grandpa.

when i was growing up i was blessed to live near five of my grandparents.
even though my mom's parents were divorced, we still managed to see both grandparents most holidays.
my grandfather is great.
in his younger days he reminded me of Ken-- the dark haired ken.
today i love his gray haired pony tail and small diamond earring.
grandpa taught me how to socialize in a group.
he is happy and outgoing and i never feel uncomfortable sitting down and visiting even after months apart.
i have many fond memories of him plucking his ukulele and singing fun songs with us.
somehow, whenever we get together for the holidays i have to gather everyone for songs!

my grandfather just emailed me this link to a song he used to sing-- Casey Jones.
This song, along with "I've been working on the railroad" sure bring me back to the past...
love it.

thanks gramps!!

tebow love.

my sister told me about this.
made me laugh.

(even though i don't think tim needs to take it down a notch- he's great.)
keep in mind, it isn't church-- it is saturday night live.
AND, the best part is the end!?!!
it IS all true.

fall crafts with kids.

it's getting cold outside...

i can feel the change of the seasons in the rythem of my life.

we aren't picking and canning and exploring.

we are home, creating and reading.

one of my favorite things i have been doing lately is putting my kids to bed at different times.

the littlest girls go to bed first, and then i take some time with my middle girls, and then i take some time with my boys.

while the professor is reading to the younger girls, i have time to spend with anna and ellie (age 9 and 10).

they learned to knit in a church activity, and have been excited to work on their projects each night.

i taught ellie to crochet-- after an unfortunate accident with her knitting needles (being thrown across the room).

ellie fits better with crochet.

especially because anna is knitting.

the life of a 16 month younger sister.

drew wanted a project of his own... and he's taking off.

if i tell the truth, both jakob and drew sit cuddling with us while I read scriptures- from the Old Testament children's scripture books, and then chapters from The Little House on the Prairie. 

(i'm just reading a quick scripture story because i sometimes worry that my middle kids MISSED the stories because we study more in-depth with the big boys these days... i love those little story books to show us the whole picture.)

it's DELIGHTFUL.

and, such a calm way to end our busy days.

when the kids say, "Just one more chapter mom."  I want to read them one.  because I'm enjoying myself.

Can you believe I said that? 

I'm beginning to ENJOY BEDTIME.

This, has been a LONG, LONG, LONG, LONG awaited victory.

(bedtimes have NEVER been my favorite time of day.)

The only problem... all their crafting has made me YEARN to feel that yarn in my fingers.

It's calling me.

The whole time I read yesterday I was contemplating finding "The Little House" books on cd so my hands would be free.

But, oh how i love holding those books at night.

We'll see...

Ellie has always talked a lot about her day.
as in, everything her friends may or may not say about/to her.
she asked them if they think crochet is for grannies.
the ones she doesn't like said YES.
the ones she does like said NO.

she's speeding through her crotchet because her list of friends to crotchet orange and black Beaver scarves for is growing daily.

her first finished project is for leah, because red is her favorite color.

but, i really want that scarf. 

i LOVE it. 

I love every stitch of the fact that it is her FIRST EVER finished crochet project.

someday, i will find it and stash it away forever to show her daughters when i'm teaching them to knit scarves for their little sisters.

i love that girl.

I helped a friend with the wall hanging..

Her son just got home from a mission and she wanted to send a gift to Peru for the Mission President's wife.

i wish i got a better picture.  The back is striped.  It's darling.

i love this cat.  it came home from school with anna.  it's cute huh?!!

 i can't get enough of little kid art.  i love it.  i found these after one play date.

  my kids think "Cake Boss" every time the play-doh comes out.

 jakob went to his friend's house and came back with a hand painted t-shirt.
cute, huh?!

 love, love, love these guys!!

Have a great day!