Home School Thoughts

I wanted to ask each girl some questions about their thoughts and feelings about doing school at home.
I hope it will help them in the future looking back at this time.

Avery

What are some things you've felt since school closed?
Stuck at home it's a little sad.  You can't like go anywhere.  You can't have play dates!  Hopefully this ends somewhere during summer break so we have lots of summer break still for play dates!

What have you liked about online learning?
Being on my computer for hours and seeing my friends.

What have you not liked about online learning?
It's boring and the teacher can mute you and make it so you can't unmute yourself.



What do you miss about going to school?
Recess, seeing my friends in person, and we didn't get to do our multiplication ice cream party or our division pizza party!

If you could, what's one thing you would change about online learning to make it better?
If the teacher reads a book she'd have to send it to the kids!  We've been reading Spider Kane and it's good!

What are you looking forward to next year when you're hopefully back at school?
Harder math.  The math in third grade is easy!


Mary

What are some things you've felt since school closed?
I kind of got stressed sometimes because at home Ethan can annoy me and at school he can't!  Sometimes happy, no homework.

What have you liked about online learning?
I at least get to see my friends again.

What have you not liked about online learning?
We have to sit at the computer for three hours.

What do you miss about going to school?
I miss recess and lunch time.  I don't really get to see my friends in person anymore.

If you could, what's one thing you would change about online learning to make it better?
We would get play dough and Miss Downs would tell us what to make and we would make it.  For two hours!

What are you looking forward to next year when you're hopefully back at school?
Meeting my new teacher, seeing my friends from class again if some of them are in my second grade class.

Logan is 1!

We have had sweet Logan in our home for one whole year now!  He has been a dream baby.  He sleeps great, he is almost always happy, he loves everything you feed him, he loves his siblings and they love him.  At the age of one Logan weighs just over 20 pounds and is 29 inches long.  He can take several steps by himself.  He has kept his blonde hair through out this first year.  He can wave hello.  Loves to play peek a boo.  And can say Mama and Dada. 

We had a dinosaur themed party to celebrate him yesterday.  There are still gathering restrictions in Wyoming so we didn't invite people over for his party.  We had dinner together and then my parents came from up the hill for cupcakes and presents.  Logan loved his cupcake, he went right in for it before the candle was even blown out!

Logan has been the best addition to our family.  He has brought so much love and happiness into our home.  I have loved watching the kids love on him and try to help teach him things.  We're so thankful to have Logan in our family!

Mary's Birthday Pictures

Mary's Birthday

Our sweet Mary turned 7 years old!  I think the highlight of her whole birthday was getting to go on her birthday date with Louis.  Louis surprised her with a day off of school and took her to the Adventure Park in Park City.  She had the best time!  Since they went during the week and when people are usually in school there were very few people there.  They got to ride the zip line something like 10 times in a row without even getting off in between.  Sadly, the mountain coaster was closed for repairs, but she did get to do a rock climbing wall and made it to the very top and rang the bell after several attempts! 

For Mary's birthday she wanted to go inside of McDonald's to play on the play place and eat, so I took her and Avery out for dinner there and they had a great time.  Mary's other request was an ice cream cake, I had never made one before so I opted to buy one instead.  We love our Mary, she is a peacemaker and likes people to be happy, she loves to read, and she loves to help with her little brothers.  We are blessed to have Mary in our home. 

Back to School

Heading into third grade, first grade, and preschool for the four oldest kids this year!  Our back to school feast was so much fun!  I did a beach theme for the decorations and food and it was a lot of fun!  I was so happy with how it turned out that it was the only thing I took a picture of! 
This year my parents were able to join us for the evening.  We ate our dinner then talked over this year's theme and what it means.  "So little children, lets you and I try to be like Him.  Try, try, try."  It is from a Primary song.  After we talked about our theme each kid got a father's blessing.  I was also able to get a blessing from my own father which was very special.  I can't remember the last time he was able to give me a blessing.  To end the evening each kid got their new school clothes which was a tradition I had growing up.

All of the kids had a great first day of school!  Ethan and Wyatt have both never gone to school outside of our home.  Ethan understood what was going to happen and went right into his classroom with excitement.  Wyatt didn't really understand what was going to happen and was a little uncertain when it came time for me to leave.  I walked him into his classroom and sat him down at the table to trace his name like they do at the beginning of every school day, and he was good!  He ended up having such a great time!  I am excited for this year and see the growth that each child has.

Wyatt's Birthday

Wyatt is 3 years old!  I love Wyatt so much, he is such a Mama's boy!  It can be hard, because he's almost always right next to me, but he's so cute!  Wyatt is still obsessed with his little brother Logan.  He kisses him, hugs him, rubs his head, and asks to hold him endlessly.  A few months ago Wyatt was evaluated by a Child Development Center and was found to be behind in a few places.  Since then we've had two ladies come to our house once a week to work with him a child development specialist and an occupational therapist.  He has grown so much in the last few months!  It's been a lot of fun to watch him play with them each week.  He'll be starting preschool at the end of the month and it will be fun to see the growth that comes from that.  Wyatt loves to sit and figure things out and see how things work.  He loves STEM toys the most.  He loves learning new things and trying to see how he can help me around the house.  Like by putting all of the clean baby blankets into the washer for me!  I think this year will be fun with Wyatt.
I wasn't planning on doing a party, just dinner and a cake because of my family being in town.  So the girls took it into their own hands and planned a party for Wyatt!  Three of my sisters were able to come up and spend the evening with us.  We ate dinner, had cake, opened presents, and played a game.  It was simple and fun!

Lehi Mini Vacation

A few weeks ago Louis and I were talking about the idea of doing some sort of local overnight vacation as a family.  We decided to go to Lehi, UT and go to the Museum of Natural Curiosity! 
We started out the day by stopping at a park and playing after a long two hours in the car.

Logan got to have his first ride in a swing and he enjoyed it!

After the park we headed to the museum, and had a quick picnic on the lawn before heading in.

We spent over three hours at the museum and I didn't take a single picture!  We were having too much fun!  I was uncertain if we should spend the money to go to the museum, I hate that parents have to pay to go in when it is a place clearly for children.  It ended up being worth it though, the kids all had so much fun!  We would definitely go back again.

This is after the museum, can you tell the kids were worn out?

After the museum we went and walked around Cabela's then got Chick-Fil-A to bring back to the hotel.  After eating we went swimming!  It was my favorite part of the whole weekend.  We had the whole pool to ourselves for an hour and it was a blast! 

At the end of the night when all of the kids were in bed Louis and I enjoyed some hot chocolate.  It's a tradition of ours to drink hot chocolate every time we stay at a hotel.

Sunday morning we decided to surprise Louis' brother's family at church.  We went to church with them and spent a few hours at their house afterwards.

This is Lydia and Logan, they are just over 2 months apart.

I think the most fun thing about the trip was that we kept everything a surprise from the kids!  In the morning we just said we were going to go to a park, they just didn't know it was going to be two hours away.  Then we told them we were going to the museum.  After we got Chick-Fil-A Louis said it was getting late so maybe we should just go to a hotel for the night.  The kids got so excited!  That night at the hotel Mary said to me "Thank you for this fun day!"