The Haka

CATCHING UP!!!

I found this in our iphoto and had to include it!  I love this memory of Jonas.

On Jonas' pioneer trek this past summer they learned the traditional Haka for Maori warriors.  Jonas and some of the boys were quite creative at our ward Christmas party and performed "Once there was a snowman" Haka-style.  It was great.

Apparently it made quite an impression on little Gideon...

Book Reports

Last week we had some fun book reports.

Micah reported that "Calvin and Hobbes" comic books are great!

He really got into the presentation.

Troy read Janitors and part of Janitors #2.  They are "awesome".

Owen taught us about Greek and Roman gods and 

really loves the Percy Jackson series and the Lost Hero series (so far!)

Not to be left out, Evelyn reported that the Barbie book was fantastic and she does read this a lot!

Reuben loves to read too!

(Jonas and Leslie had an extra week to pull off their reports on Utopia and The Hiding Place)

A Warm Spell

Wow... two days both with temperatures in the 70s!  

We celebrated with time at the park and McDonald vanilla ice cream cones.  

When the rains came in the afternoon, we enjoyed some new library books.  

Posing, as usual...

Lots of action!

Check out Gideon's fearful expression!

Even big kids love the park!

A little bit of wandering and leaves...

Smile, we love swinging!

Hot Spot for Tot

On this cold winter day, after a morning of snow play, 

my 3 year old found the best spot...

the heating vent!

Happy napping!

1...

2...

3...

AWWWWW!

"Like"

This week my family is trying to eliminate the word "like" from our vocabulary.  The
word-that-must-not-be-said has been wrongly used in place of "said" and has been overused by all people in the house (with the exception of Reuben and Gideon).  In an effort to change this bad habit, we are striking that word.  In so doing, we also have to use different words that mean "enjoy" since there would be too many arguments if someone said it with a different meaning.  What a fun experiment!  HaHA!

We are increasing our vocabulary...

Like/Comparing:
As
Compared to
Similar to
Same as

Like/Enjoy:
Fond of
Enjoy
Favorite
Love
Prefer
Wish
Desire
Choose

Like/Said:
Answered
Asked
Told
Yelled
Cried
Shouted
...



If we do say it, we have to immediately do 10 push-ups.  We are getting smarter and stronger!
(Jonas and I are dying since today in p90X was our push-up/pull-up day, and Bob isn't enjoying the fact that he needed to do 260 push ups before noon at work!)


*UPDATE*
5 sit-ups today if we say it!
We're tired of push-ups!

Happy J.R.R.Tolkien Day!

We found a website that has some fun celebration days....
http://www.brownielocks.com/b3bcalendar.html?201301


We've had a fun time today celebrating the life of this man who gave us the Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit (and more).  You'll have to use your imagination like we did to actually "see" the creations...

A lego hobbit hole...

Helm's Deep

Hobbit Doors

And lots and lots of reading today!

2013

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

We celebrated at home with lots of fruit-themed games (fruit basket, balance an apple on top of your head, fruit ninja, peeling the clementines the fastest, etc).  We also watched the movie 2012 about the end of the world.  Thank goodness the New Year came!

In the morning we tried a new activity... ice skating!  The kids had a fun falling and learning how to skate.  Leslie didn't enjoy it much, so she held Gideon after his first time around (in a baby carrier).  Evelyn and Reuben held onto Mom and Dad (what a workout!) and Jonas, Owen, Troy, and Micah were amazing skaters!  When they fell, they just laughed it off and kept trying.  It was impressive, and a good reminder of how to live our lives:
Do your best and keep trying!

Tired kids...