I've been so busy lately! I thought I ought to check in real quick and update everyone on how we are doing.
Easter: The children really enjoyed Easter this year. I hope to post pictures soon. They got to do an Easter Egg Hunt at church. In their baskets I tried to have less candy and more useful things so I put in matching spring jammies- even one for Lilly, jump ropes which they've been happily jumping with ever since, clay dough, and some homemade Sunday journals they can write or draw a picture in once a week about their lives with some fun pens to write in them with.
Piano: I've finally been able to start giving the boys piano lessons- something I've been wanting to do for them for a long time. Right now I'm only giving the boys lessons and won't require lessons for Katie until she reaches her 1st grade year. I found a piano book I really like- John Thompson's Easiest Piano Course. I'll have to post some videos of them playing soon. Even Jon has been using the course to teach himself. I went between having someone else give them lessons and doing it myself but after finding out how much piano lessons cost today (eek!) I decided that I would rather use the money to have them learn something I can't teach them and with a group. My plan at the moment is to require two years and after that they can choose to continue or do another instrument or both.
Homeschooling: Homeschooling Katie has been a very interesting learning experience for me. Her first love is math right now. She asks to do it first every day and usually wants to do a couple of sections at a time. Reading seems to be her least favorite for the moment, though I have hope that she'll grow to love it as it becomes easier for her. We play games to make learning more fun. During April I would hide the words we were working on in Easter Eggs around the house and have her go on a hunt and find them and read them to me. Some of the eggs would have m&m's or other little treats in them. I got her a Hello Kitty notebook (her favorite at the moment) and we are working on making a story book of sentences she can read and then illustrate. She's so funny because when we get to a word that is hard for her or she is feeling lazy she always, always reads it as "tad" after sounding the letters out correctly. Even though her reading seems very slow most of the time, she has been making steady progress and that's what is important.
Church: I just got called to be the Activity Days leader in our ward. I'm really excited to work with the girls in our ward twice a month and get to know them better. I have vague memories of Merrie Miss and how much fun it was. I can even remember my leader's name- Sister Smith. I had my first activity day last week and it was so weird to be out of the house that long without any children and a nice little break.
Lilly turned 6 months this last month. She keeps on getting bigger and more beautiful. I finally got a picture of her sucking her thumb. She is not huge into binkies, though she does use them when she is tired to get to sleep, so she's developed this habit of sucking on her thumb. She is the only one of my kids to do so. She's generally a very happy and patient baby and a joy to us all. She loves playing with toys and being with people. She's sitting up very well and can roll over.
A couple of weeks ago BYU had their annual Astrofest where families can come and learn a little about physics. There were demonstrations, tours of the labs, and planetarium shows. By far the favorite for us was making our own rockets and having them launched. Each of the kids worked so hard to make the best rocket they could and were so excited to watch them launch high into the air and then come back down to earth.
Jon and the kids had a bee adventure this last Saturday. When a beehive gets too big it splits and the one half goes looking for a new home. This homeless half ended up in our neighbors front yard in their search and they had to call a bee keeper to come and take the bees away to a home where they would be more appreciated. What an incredible sight!
