First Day of Homeschool

Today was our first day of Homeschool and the day that I fall off the radar :) I am excited about the program that Jeff and I designed, though. I really want to focus on self-motivation and independence. This year we're centered a lot on setting goals and having the kids chart their own progress. Then it's all tied together with some healthy competition. I hope it works :)

Here are some random pictures that have nothing to do with homeschool :)

Congratulations to my baby brother David and sweet new bride Megan.

Omaha Trip

We went to Omaha for the weekend. Carter made, um, friends I guess you could say, with this goat at the zoo. Carter was having fun and looking eye to eye with his buddy. But I'm not so sure the goat was messing around. When the goat lowered his head and stared back at Carter I quickly stopped taking pictures and yelled for Carter to give him some space. :) I think Carter may have been seeing stars if he hadn't backed away from their little showdown! One purpose of our Omaha trip was the Mid-America Music Festival. Lauryn and Grant had prepared two pieces on the piano and played them in front of a judge for a score. It was a great experience for the two of them. Their hard work paid off-they both scored at least a 95% and earned a trophy. This is a picture with their teacher who traveled up to support her students.

Here we are listening at the door to Lauryn's pieces. Nobody is allowed in. It's just the child and the judge.

We also got to go to the Winter Quarter's Temple. It's such a beautiful site, and has a lot of history. I have some pioneer ancestors who stopped there on their way out to Utah with the wagon and handcart companies. It's amazing what kind of strength and conviction they showed to walk all the way to Salt Lake. Wow!

The kids decided to sell soda during our neighborhood garage sale. They made $14. What good little entrepreneurs!

Hodge Podge of Fun at the Klein's

To my delight, our berry patch totally took off this year. We had tons of blackberries every day for almost a month. It was so fun to let the kids just pick and eat as many as they could.

This is just one day's worth of berries. Can you say blackberry jam?

Elise definitely enjoyed the blackberry pie we made.

Introducing our new play house! I am so excited because this was the thing I looked forward to most with the basement being finished. It turned out exactly like the picture I drew for Jeff when he asked me what I had in mind. What a handy guy:) The ceiling goes up a little higher above the castle so Carter and Lauryn can actually stand all the way up, though its hard to tell from here.

Elise and Lauryn playing the Wii! :)

Gotta love bubble baths!

Lauryn and Elise were snuggling and Lauryn was reading stories. Elise was not too happy with me disturbing their moment so she was being camera shy. :)

Grant's had his first tennis match. Since this, he played some other matches and two other tournaments. He got to the finals in one and the semi's in the other. It was great experience and lots of fun. We love our new family sport :)

Carter got put into a time out and Elise, who adores him, couldn't let him sit in the corner alone:)

Killer Leg Series

Okay, here is a great leg series. If you do this right, your thighs and especially your inner thighs will really feel it, (not to mention your tush). I had several ladies in my class comment on how sore they were, and I keep getting requests to do it again:

The series is basically a 1.set of plie squats on tiptoes followed by a 2.set of basic squats combined with a "foot brush" repeated 3 times with different foot placements.

PLIE SQUATS-Feet Hip distance

Step 1: you are going to stand with your feet hip distance apart-toes pointed OUT. Next, come up onto your tiptoes and do 10 plie' squats-SLOWLY. (I hold onto a 8 to 12 pound weight or weighted ball.) * A Plie' squat means that you do not stick your tush out. You bend your knees and straighten while keeping your back and tush in a straight line, imagine your body is an elevator.

BASIC SQUAT to FOOT BRUSH

Step 2: Basic Squats: Bring your feet back to parallel about hip distance apart and do ten squats (Slowly) Below is a side view of basic squats. As you stand up, do step 3-Step 3: As you stand up from the squat, brush your pointed foot across the floor and end up like the picture below. Make sure that your inner thigh is pointed to the ceiling and you can see your ankle bone pointed up. Bring your leg up as high as you can.

Step 4: PLIE SQUATS-Legs wide, toes pointed out, up on your tiptoes.

Repeat step 1 but with your feet wide apart. Don't forget to squeeze your glutes and inner thighs together on the way up-like you're trying to glue your legs together.

Remember: Keep your back straight and Abs pulled in-Butt tucked under :)

Step 5: BASIC SQUATS with FOOT BRUSH- repeat steps 2 and 3

Step 6: PLIE SQUATS-feet close together-heels touching and toes out.

BTW- my legs are not really as short as they look in this picture- My pants are coming down JUST a bit! LOL :)

Step 7: BASIC SQUATS-repeat steps 2 and 3

Okay, now finish up with an final set of 10 basic squats combined with foot brush. Do the final set of basic squats with legs close together if you want.

Final tips:

1. Do everything slowly-we tend to rush when it gets hard-but the results are better if you slow down!

2. Squeeze those inner thighs and glutes together every time you raise up.

3. Pull in your abs and keep your shoulders back and down.

4. If you have any knee discomfort, modify by making sure you knees do not come past your toes, and then focus more on the up motion.

Let me know if you try this. The whole series takes about 8-10 minutes but it really works, and best of all you can do it in front of the t.v. :)

Odds and Ends

Grant decided to dress up like a kid from the 80's. He looks a lot like my old elementary school classmates :) Its funny how things have changed.


Carter's Birthday Party-swimming and ice cream cones (Carter's allergic to cake:)

His new speed racer helmet.

Lauryn at her dance recital

Carter putting on a fashion show for us with Elise's clothes.

Where did this kid come from :)?

Please Scroll Down-

I somehow posted my new entry AFTER the one about Framma Frudy. Its not worth describing how, but please scroll down past it to the new San Francisco Trip post. :)

Framma Frudy

Our Sweet Grandma Trudy passed away last month after being sick for some time. We will really miss her. She was always so sweet and generous and showed so much love to our kiddos. It makes me smile to think of her with her sweetheart again, though. We love you Grandma!

We went out to San Francisco for her funeral and spent some time with the family there. Funerals are so sad, but the one blessing that comes from them getting to see family members that you are far away from.

Grandma's three grandchildren. Jeff and his brother John with their cousin Stephen.

Grant and Carter with their cousin Trenton

Lauryn and Elise with John's girls Hannah and Sydney.

Lauryn, Hannah, and Melissa

Seven of the nine great-grandkids in front of our hotel and over-looking the San Francisco Bay.