Little Piano Man

Alex's rendition of "I'm So Glad When Daddy Comes Home."

He plays this several times a day. It's usually a little longer, but he was too excited about the camera to continue the performance.

A Big Zero

When Esther was a little older than four I started teaching her how to write her letters and sound out basic words. She's progressed nicely. William won't be four until tomorrow, and is much more interested in climbing, jumping, running, and imagining than "learning", so I haven't really tried to formally teach him anything. A year ago he showed me that he knows all his letters and what sounds they make. A few months ago he figured out how to sound out basic words (with a little help from a computer game). He's still not shown any interest in learning to write, but yesterday after Esther finished her spelling, Will wanted to play with the white board. He wrote a Z and said to himself, "Z...Z...ZERO!" And a minute later, without any help on my part, he came up with this:

I am amazed at how much his brain has absorbed without ever being "taught."

Merry Christmas!

There is a beautiful Christmas song that we, in the Grange household, have no idea how to sing. We know the general tune, and we grew up singing the first two lines as, "Oh Christmas Tree, oh Christmas Tree, How lovely are thy branches." But that's as far as we can go. Esther came to me today with her own version of the rest of the song, and it actually sounds pretty good. After looking up the "real" lyrics (yes, I know it's not in English, but I can't read German), we found out that her made up version isn't so far off. So her is Esther's debut of her semi-original song.

Works in Progress

Check out the new decor! Who needs a decorator when your homeschool is project oriented? As projects achieve completion, and others are begun, the motif changes regularly, but here is what's beautifying our home right now...

Various types of seeds growing in the window - beans, pine seeds from a pine cone we dissected, and an "amazing sensitive plant."

Clay bowls drying - they'll be painted like Ancient Chinese bowls tomorrow.

Bricks made from mud in our backyard drying out. A couple of weeks ago we made ours similar to the way they made some of theirs back in the Indus Valley. In the summer they would only take two weeks to dry, but since it's autumn, it's taking a little longer.

Clay amulets drying. They'll be painted gold and bejeweled next week, or the week after, then buried with the mummy.

And of course - our chicken mummy is still sitting in its salt. We've changed the salt several times, and we think it'll be ready for wrapping in 2 more weeks.

Halloween

We did just about everything for Halloween this year - except, that is, actually go out ON Halloween to trick-or-treat.

First there was family night at the YMCA. This was Alex's first time in a bouncy house, and our first child who didn't cry his first time in the bouncy house. Alex is the spider, William is the alligator, and Esther is the princess riding a pegasus unicorn. Alex won the costume contest that night.

Next came the party at the Lincoln Children's Museum. Union Bank sponsored an awesome party and invited many of its clients' families. All the residents at LMEP were invited, and we jumped at the chance. Free dinner, free admission to an awesome museum, and lots of free goodies. The kids even each got their own piggie bank.

Lastly, the day before Halloween was the ward trunk-or-treat. So much candy in just one parking lot! Alex was really excited to find out that all he had to do was walk up to people, say, "ti o tee" and they'd put candy in his bucket. He wouldn't let go of that bucket for quite a while afterward.

TV Star

The residents take turns talking about health issues on the local news. Today was Cameron's turn. This is what all the Lincolnites were treated to on the Noon News today.

Skills

Esther can now do something that neither of her parents can do.

p.s. In the background you can hear Alex first say, "Hula Hoop," then later as he is looking at our decorations in the window, "Halloween?!"

It's Apple Picking Time

Wednesday William's Joy School went on a field trip to Martin's Orchard. Here are the pics. It was Alex's first time picking apples! Last year he was just a little too little.

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Home'sCool

I haven't been posting much lately because one month ago today we started school and we've been BUSY! Here are a few things we've been up to.

This free scrapbooking design created with Smilebox

Besides reading, writing, math, and history we also are sure to have art several times a week, Latin, Etiquette, sewing, and other life skills, Old Testament study, and some lapbooking. Our kids also have the coolest science teacher around - their dad. That means they get experiments and projects weekly. This past month after learning about cells, they got to help make slides of Cameron's blood and look at the cells in the microscope. They wanted to see their own cells too, until they saw Daddy draw his own blood. Then they were content to just look at his.

Esther's Musings

Conversations with Esther while grocery shopping today.

"I think in a kitty's tomb the Ancient Egyptians would put toys shaped like mice, dead mice to eat, and some string to play with in the afterlife."

and a few minutes later...

Me: "One sad day, hopefully far from now, you'll say, 'Mom, would you please stop calling me princess.'"
Esther: "Yeah! And then you'll have to call me QUEEN!"

Watch Esther Grow

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6 Years!

I have now been a parent for six years! Oh wait, this post is supposed to be about the birthday girl.

ESTHER IS SIX! HAPPY BIRTHDAY BIG GIRL!

Esther's birthday was a bit more reasonable than last year - which sort of reminded us of "The Berenstain Bears and Too Much Birthday."

To celebrate this special day Esther picked out her favorite cereal from the hoard in the basement - Fruity Pebbles. She opened presents and watched movies. We took a trip to the library for a little fun, and each child was able to pick 2 videos rather than the regular allotted 1. FedEx brought a package while we were gone, and everyone was excited to see what was inside. Thanks Grammy and Grandpa!

After some mac and cheese, the afternoon brought some more R&R and a little bit of prep before the party. The best part was that Cameron got off EARLY! And even though he was on call that night, he only received one page during Esther's party.

And speaking of party - here is what Esther came up with - which the rest of us thought was a great idea!

Esther's Birthday Carnival

First a maze.

Next the dart and balloon game.

Knocking over the "milk"peanut butter bottles with a "base"tennisball.

Dress the Clown.

And Balloon animals.

Okay, so these are pictures of the party guests hitting balloons around before we started. I forgot to take pics of the actual balloon animals.

And it all wrapped up nicely with presents, pizza, and cake.

Afterward Esther was super excited to stay up all the way to 8:00pm, a full half hour past her previous bedtime.

Esther says "THANKS" for all the presents, cards, phone calls, and well wishes!

PS - Esther designed her new birthday skirt all by herself using scraps and this easy pattern. She even helped a little with putting it together.

Vacation Week

One perk of employment is vacation time. Cameron's first randomly scheduled vacation happened just one month after he started work. Here is a little of what we did.

We started off Friday night (August 6th) with a Lincoln Saltdogs game, courtesy of a physical therapy clinic that wanted to get to know the residents. Going to a baseball game was LOTS of fun, but it made for a very late night, and we ended up going home before the game was over due to very tired children.

On the way out Esther and William spotted the Saltdog and had to go say "hi."

We had some pretty neat seats, right under the scoreboard back there. It was especially exciting when the outfielders were catching the long hits right in front of us. There were free soda and hotdogs, and we were right next to a playground for when the kids were a little too restless to watch the game.

Wednesday the 11th we visited the County Fair. Here are the highlights.

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We wanted to go camping for the weekend (Esther had swimming lessons M-Th mornings), and we were planning to go about 20 miles away so we could have more fun and less driving. But when the heat index got up to 120 degrees earlier that week, we decided to head north. We ended up in De Smet, SD, and the Ingalls Homestead. Through our many long car rides this past year we've listened to all the Laura Ingalls Wilder books - which we highly recommend. We were all very excited to see and camp on one of the real places in those books.

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Though some trees Charles Ingalls planted were still there, none of the Ingalls' buildings were still standing. The house and barn were built and placed according Laura Ingalls Wilder's descriptions. Other period buildings were recreated on the property, and some historic buildings (such as the old school house of a neighboring town) were relocated to the Ingalls Homestead.

We had a wonderful time camping, and thoroughly enjoyed our vacation.

Pioneer Week

We had so many ideas for Pioneer Day this year, that we made it into a Pioneer Week.

Here is the rundown of last week.

Monday: Made paper covered wagons.

Cameron supplied origami oxen.

Tuesday: Traced the route of the pioneers on our markable map (I love that map!)

Wednesday: Learned the song, "Little Pioneer Children" and drew pictures to go along with the words. (I can't find those right now, which stinks because Esther and William drew some great pictures).

Thursday: Before Cameron had to go to work we drove to Omaha and visited the Mormon Trail Visitors Center at Winter Quarters.

This is a typical bunk for the seafaring pioneers. Each family would get two beds total - that's some pretty tight sleeping.

Friday we planned to read pioneer stories from the current Friend Magazine, but we forgot

Saturday we attended our stake's "This is the Place" party. There were crafts, games and food. Good times were had by all.

Sunday (today) we watched Legacy to wrap up our Pioneer Week. We've had a lot of fun, and we all have a better understanding of what our predecessors went through for what they believed.

And So It Begins

About a year and a half ago Esther decided she wanted piano lessons. We tried a couple of times until it became apparent that what she really wanted was to push random keys and sing "beautiful songs." I gave up trying to really teach her and just let her do what she wanted until she was a little older. Today she again requested piano lessons, and this time the results were quite different.

Gypsy

Here is our seven week old Gypsy, the newest member of our family.

Happy Fathers Day

We've really loved having Cameron home with us this past month or so since he finished school. He starts his residency in one week, and we'll sure miss him. So for our Fathers Day Tribute here some things that only happen when Daddy is home.

10. Science experiments all the time.

9. Housework takes half as long.

8. Kids get to play with real tools.

7. Light bulbs are replaced quickly after they burn out.

6. Coat hangers and blankets become hang-gliders for animal rescuers.

5. The trash is at the curb every Tuesday morning.

4. Every time is story time.

3. Mommy gets to sleep in.

2. Scrap wood and spare rope become tree swings.

and the best thing about when Daddy his home:

1. The rest of us get to be with him!

Happy Fathers Day!

Coming of Age

William was in sore need of a summer buzz cut today, so we figured while the clippers were out we should give Alex his first haircut.

This video we took this morning will work as his "before" picture. He was showing off his new way of shooting darts without the complications of using a dart gun.

Alex watched Will get his buzz, then seemed a little bit excited for his own turn. He didn't cry or try to grab the clippers. About three minutes (and a bath) later he looked like this. Goodbye baby hair, hello little boy!

Home Sweet Home

Everything is unpacked! We're ready to live here now. The kids get back from their week at Grammy and Grandpa's house tomorrow, so we thought we should take a few snapshots while everything is in it's place. Tomorrow the kid tornado will roll through, and our new home won't be quite so picturesque.

So without further ado, here are a few pics.

The front of our house.


The backyard, complete with bunnies, quail, squirrels, and a nest full of baby robins.


The front room (with a little of the hallway and dining room visible)


Basement highlights - Cameron gets a workshop and the kiddos get a schoolroom. We actually just got those school desks at a garage sale here in Lincoln for $3. I have a feeling we'll get along with Lincoln pretty well.

We still have a few things to get done before we can consider ourselves settled. Eg. we're not planning on using Alex's towel for our bathroom curtain permanently; we do have bathroom curtains on their way. Also, Mt. St. Box erupted in the garage, and the disaster recovery crew needs to work on cleaning up the aftermath.

If you just can't get enough of our new house - we put a video tour on You Tube. It didn't seem like a good idea to post a detailed tour of our valuables, along with means of entrance and quick exits for all to see on the internet, so if you want the video tour you're going to have to ask us for an invitation. Feel free to do so, as long as you're not a criminal.

PS If you want to see the video tour you'll have to give me your youtube ID.

oops

I was just gearing up to post a plethora of pictures and videos from this past week, but alas, I just realized that I packed the camera cable. You'll all have to wait until we're settled in Nebraska before you see our pictures and hear from us again. Ta Ta For Now.

Last Week in Michigan

We're down to our last week in Michigan. Next Monday we'll load up the truck, and Tuesday we'll be off to Nebraska. We've got quite a week scheduled. Here's what we did today:

This morning after we finished school we headed off to Greenfield Village. We've been going to The Henry Ford or Greenfield Village at least once a month for the past year, but sadly our annual pass expired in April. Thanks to our wonderful friend Hallie, we were able to go today as guests on her family's pass for one last trip.

We spent most of last week packing and cleaning. This week we hope to finish everything up. On today's to-do list was packing and cleaning the play room and the dining room. Here are the finished products.

On tomorrow's agenda: the zoo and the basement. Wish us luck.