Kid's Songs

Here are some videos of the kids singing. They love performing for the camera.

My Little Chemist

When we lived in Rexburg, Talmage (2yrs at the time) used to beg us to let him go in the big water treatment container on the hill. Of course we refused. Aaron even explained that it had chemicals in it and that they would hurt him. So then he used to cry "but I like chemicals". We would try to divert his attention from it every time we drove past it but he knew better and would throw fits about liking the chemicals. So fast forward 2 years and here he is in the backyard.


Luckily this is just water and washable paint mixed with sand and grass and whatever organic materials he found outside. We hope we have scared him away from chemicals for a long time so that he doesn't start mixing household cleaners but food is fair game to him. The other day I came down stairs to find Talmage had helped Anya get the butter out of the fridge and mix some globs of it into her bowl of cold cereal. The worst part was she was eating it and liking it. At lunch that same day I was helping Anya use the bathroom and Talmage wanted to see what would happen if he mixed some spaghetti sauce into Anya's strawberry yogurt. It was nasty looking and I didn't even let Anya taste it. Now that I think about it I should have had Talmage taste it.

Speed Typer...

Ok, so I've seen the speed typers out there... get this:

299 words

Speed test

Who'd believe it? I actually got this fast... here's a full screenshot of my results page:

Ok... so not only did I get 299 words per minute... I ran out of words halfway through (I was at 34 seconds left, but it took me a couple of seconds to grab the screen shot):

Does anyone dare challenge my record or the validity of it?

I'm a Tuba

Anya found me in the Laundry room today to tell me that she is a tuba. What I funny girl. I had her repeat it for the camera. Her red tuba is really a pop-out tunnel.

Molasses Bread

Here is the recipe Kara asked for. We loved it when my Mom made it as kids. Especially when we came home from school and she had just pulled it out of the oven. My kids love it too. Enjoy

Molasses Bread

1 1/2 c. Boiling Water
1 c. Oats
3/4 C. Molasses
3 T. Butter
2 t. Salt
1T. Yeast
2 C. Lukewarm Water
8 C. White Flour

Directions
Mix boiling water with oats and let stand for 30 min.
Add molasses, butter, salt
Dissolve yeast in lukewarm water and add
Beat in enough flour to make soft dough.
Knead bread (10 min.)
Let rise for 1 hour or till doubled
Knead again
Divide into 2 Large loaves (I use two mediums and 3 small because that's what I have) and place in well-oiled pan
Cover and let rise for about 45 minutes until double
Bake at 350 for 45 min. or until knock sounds hollow.

Painting Outside

I wanted to clean the kitchen and needed to keep the kids busy so they weren't bringing more toys into the kitchen (they insist on playing at my feet while I'm trying to work or cook-- I know I'll think of it fondly someday) . So I put them outside with some paints and and box. They had so much fun. They got very creative and even pulled the hose out to make more paint. After the paint was used they mixed all the colors together and the old paint water and shoes in the box to make something special. It's too bad I then had to clean outside and give the kids a bath. But they enjoyed themselves and learned about mixing colors (mostly that all the colors together make brown).

Tomatoes and Peppers

Our Tomato and pepper plants are doing well. Here's what they looked like on Friday. Pretty good for only being April. The kids also have sunflowers that are nearly a foot tall. We'll take pictures as they get bigger.

Monkeying Around

My two little monkeys.

Talmage loves climbing, swinging, and hanging from the swing set in our backyard. He also reminds me often how much better he'd like it if it had monkey bars (he still can't reach the ones at the park).

Anya loves bananas and would eat several a day if I let her. I love how the humidity curls her hair.

Greening Spring

We've had the heat for a few months and now finally the moisture has come. Now everything is blooming and growing. The leaves on our tree finally came in and they are growing in fast -- shade is on it's way. The grass is green and growing. Wildflowers abound along roadsides and in unkempt yards. We even have one green tomato the size of my thumb and a tinny little green bell pepper. The kids planted sunflowers that have really shot up in the past two weeks and I planted a cantaloupe seed out a store bought melon to see what it would do. I was surprised when it sprouted in less than a week. I wonder if we'll get any melons.

Here's our front yard. Aaron just mowed the yard for the first time this spring. (The grass turns yellow and dormant in the winter here)

These plants got too big for the pots they were in so we planted them in the yard. The red flower in front of Anya is Elmo. We planted him in his pot last November-- he survived the winter and it thriving. Anya ripped up Cozmo and then we had a frost that did him in. So Talmage got this new Cozmo (still pink) in January.

Below is a picture of the kids in November shortly after we planted there flowers. Talmage is behind the old Cozmo. You can see how much Elmo and the kids have grown.

P.S. In the in the above picture the kids aren't cold. They are wearing warm clothes because it was cloudy but it was still in the 70's outside with the air conditioning running inside.