26 Days

When we have a child that turns 7, we give them (and ourselves) a challenge to read the entire Book of Mormon before they are baptized. We did this with Jaya and I truly felt like it came at the exact right moment in our lives, it was difficult and tedious but the day of her baptism we completed it!

With Baylie we thought we are going to be smarter about this, we will start earlier, and NEVER get to the 10 pages a day that happens if you procrastinate. Well...here we are, the count down has begun and we are on page 370 and there are 531 pages total we have 26 days to complete this goal. We just figured out that if we read 10 pages a day then it will take us about 16 days.

Why all this stress? Why listen to the whining we may hear when we tell Baylie "Pull out your Book of Mormon and start reading while I make dinner"? Why endure the countless nights of laying on the couch taking turns reading and maybe even dozing off while it's not your turn? Why you ask?? It's because of the feeling that I get everytime I open the pages of that book and start reading, the tangible feeling of peace, emotion, and love that I feel reading it, for those moments that I feel something whispering to my soul that these words were written just for me. But of course, the main reason for all of this is not for me, it's for Baylie, that maybe she feels all of this too.

Scones...I mean sopapillas

In geography we are studying Mexico. We decided to make sopapillas, I am not sure these are really from Mexico, but I really don't care, my kids will grow up thinking they do and that's okay! Baylie realized that it's the same thing we have had before and have called them scones so she refused to call them sopapillas even despite my attempts at telling her it's for school credit if she calls them that, I eventually gave up.
We ate them warm with honey, oh yum!

This is Jaya sneaking away from our project. This is hands down the hardest thing about homeschooling is keeping them present and on task.

I know this is a bad picture but it shows Eden eating our project which is so her. Anything Darrin or I decide to bake she is constantly taking bites.

Sudsy Sunday

We are fortunate to have a big jetted tub in our new house, but I have been too frugal to fill it up as often as the kids request. So I made a deal with them that they can bathe in the tub on Sundays.
Well this Sunday we added bubbles. At first it looked normal, and then once we turned on the jets, the bubbles began to grow, and grow, and grow. Soon Kale just became little eyeballs, above the suds. I called Jaya and Darrin down to see the amazing power of the tub + bubbles. Jaya couldn't resist and jumped in with the rest of the kids.

Costume Party

If you have lived near us around Halloween time most likely you know that we love to dress up, eat good food, and challenge ourselves to being the most creative Halloween costume out there. I must say we haven't won a year yet, but we still have a great time. This year Darrin and I went as 50 Shades of Grey, no I haven't read the book we just thought it would be funny. Here are some pics from the party.

Photo Playdate

I don't have time for much lately, I have made the drastic decision to homeschool...Yes you heard that right I have started homeschooling Jaya and Baylie, AT HOME!! I am saying this out loud as I type and it still seems shocking, and the words sound foreign as they come out of my mouth.

Friends keep asking how it's going and I keep thinking, I don't know how to answer that question very well yet. For one I don't think I have done it long enough to really tell and I am still working out some major quirks. None the less it's an adventure and we are all still in one piece!

So because of this decision and my apparent attempt for social suicide my friend Lisa decided to have an intervention of sorts and planned a photo shoot with her kids and mine. We made a tent in my backyard and let the kids run in and out while we snapped away. I remembered how much I love photography. There were no clients and no pressure, it was just pure creation, so fun.