Random's

As you can see, reading in our family is an activity enjoyed by all. Aside from our couple times a week trips to the library we also make a trip to our favorite store, Borders, every pay check and each person gets to pick one book. this is one of the highlights of our days.
So, what are we picking?
Matt- Michael Crichton, Timeline (we are reading this for a bookclub)
Karl Marx, The Communist Manifesto
Jen-The vaccine book, Dr. Sears
The Summer of 1787: The men who invented the constitution by David O. Stewart
Seri- Twilight (read for a bookclub)
New Moon
Michael- Stink books 3 and 4
Isaac- Spongebob books (although he is having a hard time moving from choosing workbooks to books with actual words now that he can read).
Sariah- That's not my Dinosaur - Usborn
That's not my snowman
Posting this also makes me realize how many bookclubs we belong to. Serenitie has a teen one at the local library, although she often reads and participates in some of our book clubs and the boys bookclub.
The boys do a book club with other members of the Coop;
Matt and I belong to a classics bookclub with other parents using the Thomas Jefferson Education model, and we belong to the Relief Society enrichment book club, yes, Matt has infiltrated, or in his words he is the Priesthood representative.
It is so satisfying to see all the members of my family are such avid readers. As you can see, Tristan at three months is becoming more animated. He smiles, coos, and recognizes faces now. He had a weight check the other day and is still coming in at 10.02. Just can't seem to get that boy to fatten up at all. Oh well, he is doing fine.

Princess, Riah

Back to the Pacific Science Center

I have to admit that the children are finally starting to exhibit that "been there, done that" attitude when it comes to the PSC. However, it is so brand new and exciting for me because Sariah is big enough to enjoy it and while the others have seen all these things millions of times, for her it is like the first time ever. It is so much fun to expereince this with her and see it from a fresh perspective.

Sariah kept trying to reach out and take this Madagascar hissing cockroach. Just another exhibit of her lack of fear.
She was truly enchanted by the butterfly house. We literally could have stayed in there for hours if she had her way.
Notice the monkey, one of our most favorite investments. Now that I have Tristan I am not as hands free and of course she is at the running everywhere stage, so we purchased this at Walmart (love that place). She calls it "Bear" and insists on wearing it everytime we leave the house. If you drop the leash part she will pick it up and hand it to you. Hey, I'm not complaining.

Shakespear in the park

We heard through a coop friend that there was a company hosting a Shakespear in the park event. Free Shakespear? We are sooooo there!!!!!!
They did a fantastic job! We first went to see "A midsummer Night's Dream". It was interesting because they changed the setting to a Vegas showplace.
Then, two nights later we went to see "Romeo and Juliet". The children were well behaved and were actually following along very well.
As we were walking to the van Michael mentioned that the play was great and his favorite part was when Juliet told the nurse "How can you say you are out of breath when you are using your own breath to tell me you have no breath?". Too funny.
I was very surprised at how well they grasped the language and were able to follow along. When making this remark to a friend she said that she had heard that children who are accustomed to reading scripture often have no difficulty with Shakesperian language. Interesting. Guesse Scripture study has more bonuses than we thought.
The outdoor environment did make me miss El Paso though. Every summer they used to do Shakespear on the rocks in the canyon and it was always a huge production. Man, did we love that. "look ma, no hands!"

Camping

For three days we skipped out on reality and took to the woods. Our coop planned a trip to Nisqually and we were so excited to go. We had not been camping as a whole family since I was newly pregnant with Isaac in Germany.
Of course my children think that tent poles are really swords in disguise! Tristan is keeping a close watch to make sure we are setting the tent up correctly.

Marshmallows taste better with dirt stuck to them. The next moment consisted of us all ducking as she wielded the stick in a circle near our heads.
The best thing about camping is always the campfire. Our van still smells like it and I am reluctant to get it washed and vaccumed.
The property is run by church missionaries and they were kind enough to let us play mud ball. they soaked the field just for us, resulting in about three inches of pure mud in the outfield and around second base.

You can see our outfielders were more interested in playing in the mud than in playing the game.
Michael is in the black pants, just coming to second base.

Of course to wash off the mud, you have to have a giant slip-and-slide! And yes, Isaac is in his underwear.

The kids thought that one of the moms was not quite dirty enough.
As you can see, they all got just a little dirtier.
Some more than others. The adults really got into at the end. It was hillarious to watch them throw mudballs and chase eachother around the field trying to knock one another down. Who says we have to grow up?


At first Seri and her friends were just sitting there talking, next thing I know they are burying her. Pretty sure it was her idea.

Sariah and one of her friends were having a great time.
All snuggled up in the tent. Seri, being a "tween" decided to sleep in her own tent. They didn't actually all sleep in our bed.

Kidnapped!!!

Last Saturday at the unholy hour of 7:00 Serenitie and one of her friends who was staying the night were awaken by six other girls yelling at them.
They were then kidnapped in their pajamas without having time to freshen up or brush their hair and were taken to breakfast at IHOP. Mom's came with a change of clothes and then we were off to the building to do some gardening work that was desperatly needed.
I was so proud of the girls for performing this service without rumbling or complaints. It was hard work and it took forever but the girls really did a great job.

Out of hibernation

It seems that we have been in hibernation mode since I was about eight months pregnant. At the time I was too tired to do much and then once Tristan was born time was spent trying to figure out the logistics of adding another child.
The children finally started to notice and requested the opportunity to go out in the world again.
Since then we have hit it with a vengance, got to make up time I guess.
The Parks and Recreation Center of Auburn is so great!!!!! The White River Museum has a program geared towards kids every weds. for free. The theme this week was "A Day at the Farm". The kids making butter, after lots of shaking they finally started hearing solid thump sounds. They were so proud.
Isaac is desperately trying to spin some wool. On a side note, I got information about a spinners guild. I have always wanted to spin, but have never tried to go much further than just having the desire. Getting the information is the next step, right? Now, next year I may actually get around to contacting them :)
After the museum we hit the library, and then went to the park where they were offering free lunches. Well, free depending on your point of view. Nice to see our tax dollars at work.
After lunch it was off to the spray and splash park. I noticed the other day that in comparison I have a lot more pictures of Riah then of the other kids. Then it dawned on me that the others are usually of running around while I follow her around.

Another day at the lake. Ser is on the bench watching a friend play PSP while another friend holds baby Tristan. Tristan is so comical and freaky at the same time. He has the same habit that some of the other children had, that of sleeping with his eyes open. I assure you he is sound asleep in this picture.

When I went to take another one he closed his eyes on account of the flash, but this shows his other strange sleep feature. When he sleeps, he gets pretty pale and truly looks as if he has died, it really tends to freak people out when they see me carrying him around like this.

Of course we had to hit the Seattle fountain again. I was excited because this is the first time we have gone when Sariah has been old enough to play in it. Seri took her in.....
and this is where she stayed for the remainder of the time we were there.




We also headed back to the Pacific Science Center. They have a new display on about speed. In this pic on the right is a race track and they have four cars at the far end that race towards the other end and then the cars are drawn back again.

Sariah had a blast walking to the start line and waiting for the cars to go and then running to the other end after the cars. She would get to the end and then jump and clap.

She has a leash now, but as you can see in the pic, Nana was getting tired of following her from one end to the other and so she let it go.

In this pic you can see that she has recruited a few other friends to play in the game.

Grand Assembly

I had the privelege of accompanying Seri and six other girls to Grand Assembly in Yakima this past weekend.
The first day Serenitie competed on a six man team in ritual and they came in third place, woohoo. For the rest of the day we hung around the pool. The girls spent a great deal of time playing this game where they all hang off the edge of the pool and dunk themselves while holding their breath to see who can stay under the longest.
All the vehicles in our caravan got decorated. I wish I had pictures of our van (they did it up good).
At the North Bend McDonalds while everyone was still excited.
Out of order, of course, but when I came out of the house with the last load this is where I found Riah, she apparently wasn't about to let us leave without her.

As you can see, Tristan was in heaven being held all weekend by a ton of girls.

The theme was "Life Is A Highway" and we got these flag waving things. Tristan had a death grip on his. This is where he lived for a good portion of the weekend. One of the best carriers we have found, and believe me, we have been through a ton of them!
Seri got this hat at one of her lunches and her hair was so full of static! Reminds me of when she would go through the McDonald's tubes as a little girl.

This pic was just too cute not to add. Here's my little "failure to thrive" baby.

Notice in alot of the pictures this is the girl who has Tristan. She is so smitten with him. In the Installation blog there is another pic of her holding him.