Friday, November 21, 2008

Entrepeneur Ethan

Ethan started his own business a few weeks ago. His business is called Chores-R-US. He wants to earn some spending money for a Wii.

We made business cards and put a little magnet on the back and then put them on neighborhood doors. He got a call the first day! Went to work the next day raking and bagging leaves. He underbid the job by a toooooonnnnnnnn. He bid the job at $5. It was a huge front yard with a ton of leaves and an even bigger back yard. It took both us us 5 solid hours and 16 huge garbage bags to get it finished. Luckily he got paid $30, still not enough for that much work though!

The next job he bid much better. It took Ethan and a friend of his 1.5 hours to rake up a small front yard and only 3 bags of leaves for $15.

He now has a job playing with a dog 6 days a week (Sundays off) for an hour each day to help exercise the dog for $5 a day. He really likes this one! He even has a friend come play with the dog occassionally, too!

When it starts snowing he hopes to get some shoveling jobs.

Friday, November 14, 2008

Halloween

Funny but Halloween just sort of snuck up on us this year. We didn't even get around to carving the one pumpkin we managed to grow. We just stuck it on the front porch.


The kids enjoyed dressing up as Sierra-Cinderella, Sam-Dinosaur, Ethan-Darth Vader. It was the warmest Halloween here in decades. Felt like California's Halloweens.

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Ocean Beach, SF

Playing at the beach! A true highlight of our trip.....

Ethan's seaweed & kelp trophy

Sam says, "You can't catch me, wave"

Sierra got caught and tumbled by a wave

California Bay Area Vacation

Jenn and the kids are in the San Francisco Bay Area of California from Sept 30 - Oct 15, visiting Jenn's mom or Nana. Mike got to come for a few days off work but is now back in UT. Here's some of our fun so far.
Muir Woods National Monument famous for its HUGE Redwood Trees and abundant beauty.
Family photo in front of the Oakland, CA LDS Temple
Families can be together forever!

Monday, September 15, 2008

Sunday, September 14th, 2008
Happy Birthday to you!
Happy Birthday to you!
Happy Birthday dear Michael,
Happy Birthday to you!



Mike's birthday is September 18th!

We started celebrating this weekend by having a family dinner with Thai food & chicken nuggets (for those that don't quite like all that spice and flavor).
Mike was treated to (his absolute favorite) Spumoni ice cream by his sister Andi and her family.
AND he was also treated to a made-from-scratch "Spice Cake with Buttermilk Frosting" with Bryers natural vanilla ice cream. The recipe is from Jenn's childhood, my mom used to make it for us. This is one of our very favorite cakes! Careful it's hard to stop eating it, once you start.
He can't wait to use his new digital camera. How'd you guys know?
THANKS SHARON, ERIC & KERRY!!!!!

Zoo Day

Thursday, September 11th, 2008
Remembering Patriots Day

We celebrated our freedom and honored those that have sacrified for our great country, The United States of America, by enjoying a field trip to the Salt Lake City Hogle Zoo. https://www.hoglezoo.org/


This was our first trip to the zoo this year! We loved the new conservation carousel.


And you'll never guess they actually read the placards about the animals and studied the displays this time! Usually they just run from one animal to the next. The zoo was uncrowded and that made it much more condusive to learning.
Thanks Washington On-line and K-12 for this fun field trip!
http://www.k12.com/
http://k8edu.washk12.org/

Monet to Picasso Field Trip

Friday, August 29th, 2008
We were fortunate to join some other homeschooling families for this rare occasion.

The Utah Museum of Fine Arts is hosting a special exhibit, "Monet to Picasso" from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Hurry it's only there until September 21, 2008. Masterworks by such renowned artists as Renoir, Degas, Monet, van Gogh, DalĂ­, Picasso and Matisse grace the walls of the museum for this limited time. Monet to Picasso will allow you the rare opportunity to see an extraordinary gathering of work up close by some of the most important European modern masters of the last two centuries.

Ethan and Sam both enjoyed this excursion to the fine art museum. (Sierra was tired about half way through.) The museum had audio sets that we could punch a number into and then listen to a description or history of the artist or artwork, some geared towards families. It really helped make this more informative and interesting. I think we sparked some new interests in art!


Celebrating Back to School the Homeschooling Way

Monday, August 25th, 2008
We started a tradition last year.....
When all the other children are going back to public school, we take advantage of the less crowded venues in Salt Lake City.

This year we went to the water fountains at the Olympic Circle at the Gateway shopping plaza. It was in the low 90's and high 80's, so a perfect day for a little water romping. What we learned and experienced:

  • Compassion & Sharing - The kids saw another boy who hadn't brought a towel, but needed one when it turned cold and stormy for about 30 minutes. They shared their towels and gave one to him to use.
  • Large Motor Skills - Running, jumping, dodging water, and looking out for other children.
  • Economics & Nutrition - Bring your own snacks (grapes, granola bars, cheese & crackers) and water (refillable sports bottle) to eat healthier, energize, and save money.
  • Music Appreciation & Obedience- Every 30 minutes the water fountains are synchronized with wonderful music! The signs and announcer ask that everyone remain out of the water fountain area, during the music, as the water blasts are very strong. The kids didn't heed the warnings or come when I called - however, they quickly learned with a painful blast of water in the face and up the nose, that they should heed the warnings given and obey even if they don't fully understand why.
  • Chemistry - A water check is performed every few hours to ensure that the PH and bacteria are at acceptable levels.
Ethan and Sam also exchanged their reading reward certificates for a candy bar each, from the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory that they earned by reading books and taking quick quizes on http://www.bookadventure.com/

Fun for all. Life is GREAT!





Getting Started


So, here we go.....I've wanted to start a blog for a few months now! So many friends have sent links to their blogs and I just love reading them and sharing the stories and pictures with my kiddies! I hope this blog will help us keep in better touch with friends and family.