What we've been doing

Gardening

It's been so long since I've updated. I can't believe Aaron will be 2 months old tomorrow. It goes by so quickly. I'm enjoying him and trying to catch him with a smile on. He doesn't give them to me real often and I haven't had a camera ready at the right times. I'm sure I'll catch it sometime and send it on to everyone. He's doing really well and is cuter than ever.

We bought a truck yesterday. Yes, now I really feel like a "Highland Hick". There are just so many times we have wished we'd have one so we just decided to get one. It's huge! I'm going to have to get used to being up so high again. It's been a while since I've driven a suburban. It will be nice to be able to haul things though. The kids love it. Robert thinks this means we can get 4 wheelers now. Not sure on that one yet. I'm thinking landscaping bricks and playhouse for the kids.

I've been working a lot on our yard lately. It's starting to look better. We planted a couple of trees in the front and have a plum, pear, apple and peach tree in the back as well as a couple of planter boxes filled with vegetables. Not much is growing yet, but I'm hoping some good warm weather will start them growing soon. I've had some pretty amazing lessons. We've got some great gardeners in our neighborhood. Here's what I got from my Perennials lesson:

Bloom times:
March - Crocus, Daffodil
April - Daffodil, Tulip, Aubretia, Arabis
May - Tulip, Aubretia, Arabis, Potentilla, Iris, Rose, Gernium, Poppy, Salvia
June - Potentilla, Iris, Rose, Gernanium, Salvia, Sage, Campanula, Daylily
July - Potentilla, Rose, Geranium, Sage, Campanula, Daylily, Chrysanthemum
August - Rose, Salvia, Sage, Campannula, Daylily, Aster, Chrysanthemum
September - Rose, Salvia, Campanula, Daylily, Aster, Chrysanthemum

Tulip - "Darwin" or "Emperor" recommended. They seem to be the longest blooming and best repeat over the years (red, pink and yellow)
Aubretia - pink or purple ground cover. Spreads but not too invasive.
Arabis - pink, white or purple ground cover. Spreads but not too invasive
Potentilla - small shrub - 2-3 ft. Blooms May-August. Yellow single flowers. Gold Star is the best
Rose - "Knockout Red Blooms" Other varieties of Knockout aren't quite as good
Salvia - "May Night" is the best abt. 2 ft Purple-blue. May-June; recurs if you shear it
Geranium, perennial - blue 18-inch mound
California Poppy - many colors. Big and bushy, but they die back so you can see other plants
Russian Sage - shrub 2-4 feet. Purple.
Campanula carpatica - different colors "Blue Clips" is the best ground cover.
Daylily - many colors, but the yellow "Stella D'Oro is the best for reblooming.
Chrysanthemum - has big flowers the first year, smaller in subsequent years.
Aster - Many colors, sizes. Check size carefully, some are quite tall

She also suggested keeping a photo journal of the garden. She had all sorts of spreadsheets and pictures on the computer of different varieties so she could keep track of what worked and what didn't. She also said when things get overgrown to dig it up and separate the clumps and replant. She also recommended pruning after the plant has flowered unless it will bloom in the fall, then you should prune in the spring.

The best book for gardeners is "The Western Garden Book". Another resource is the University of Connecticut Plant Database. You can google this. In Provo, there is a gardeners resource in the basement of the County building next to the 4-H office. It's called the University of Utah Extension and there are all sorts of pamphlets and booklets about this area in particular. They also have a website where you can get a lot of information. Just google University of Utah extension gardening.

Well, if you can't tell, I'm really enjoying being in a home that we can do something about. It's fun to get everyone outside working together too. Kyle actually likes pulling weeds for the time being. In fact, all the boys don't mind it. Ashlee hates me, she says, but oh well. I'm sure it will only get worse for a little while.

1 week old

Here are some recent pictures of Monkey number 5. I had fun taking pictures on Sunday. He is now out of the bilirubin lights and is keeping me up at night. Thank heavens it won't last forever, although it feels like it sometimes.

I've been reading a book over the last week that I finally threw out last night when I couldn't take it anymore. It's called "What is the What". It's about the Sudanese revolution and I finally couldn't stomach it anymore. Why is there so much suffereing in the world? Why am I so lucky? What can we do to help more?

Aaron Michael

Arrival: Sunday, March 15, 2009
Time: 1:11pm
Weight: 7 pounds 9 ounces
Length: 20 inches
Consensus: Gorgeous!

Here are a few pics.





He's not wasting any time working on his summer tan. The portable tanning bed is rented straight from the hospital. Hopefully, we'll have it gone by tomorrow. Unfortunately his bilirubin is on the rise, and the doctor felt we should put him under the ultra-violet lights to get his liver working a little better.

For Kicks

I just wanted to post some pictures of what my kids do for fun around our house. I hope they don't break anything (the deck, bones, etc.). We've had a few scraped behinds, but other than that, it's been great to have them being more creative in their play. They've also been making forts at the neighbor's houses and pulling each other with the rope on their scooters.



I also wanted to post pictures of Ethan's District Science Fair. He received an Honorable Mention and was thrilled with his medal.

Chores, chores, chores

This is my updated chore chart. Our old one was getting a little thrashed, so I laminated this one. It seems to be working pretty well. Ammon was miffed that I didn't give him extra chores, but the other kids were happy to "share" their chores with him, so now he has a few which he faithfully does several times a day. My first chart, similar to this, I made about 2-3 years ago, and it has been the most successful of any of my other chore charts.

In other news. Ethan won 1st place in his class for his Science Fair project on acids and bases. It was a fascinating project, and we both learned a lot. He'll be competing at the district competition in the next couple of weeks.

Ashlee's birthday party at the roller skating rink was great fun too. It was probably the easiest party I've ever done and the kids were all having a great time. Alas, I was unable to skate. I've kind of lost my balance in the last couple of months.

Baby is doing well and growing. We're having trouble coming up with names for this little boy. Any suggestions?

What's up!

It's about time I guess that I update everyone on what we've been up to. Robert's new job at Dyno Nobel is sometimes a little "explosive" but he hasn't blown up yet, so I guess things are going well. He's learning a ton and has just started studying for the CFA exam. He has about 2,000 pages of material to study before the first part of the test in July, so wish him luck. There will be another 2 tests each a year apart. He's learning it for the sake of learning for his job though, and the studying has actually be very helpful for him on the job. He does a lot of forcasting for the company and budgeting and general management.

Ethan is playing basketball and seems to be getting better. He's pretty quick. I wish he would hang around the basket a little longer to get the rebounds though. Someone tosses the ball up to the basket and before it's swooshed or not, he's down at the other end of the court. He's doing really well in school and still loves math. I've started having him work on a website I found called coolmath4kids when he doesn't have other homework. He's been going through all the Algebra lessons and really enjoys learning about it. The only thing at school he's not really motivated for is writing, so we're trying to work on that a little too. He enjoys Scouts. There are a lot of boys his age in the neighborhood and lots of Merit Badge classes available in the area, so he's been working some on that. He and Ashlee also have been working hard on a snowfort in the backyard. Although, with the rain the last couple of days, I think they'll have to start over again when it snows again.

Ashlee is combing her hair!!!! That has got to be some sort of accomplishment. She actually asked me to put her hair in a pony tail this morning and didn't complain too much. I'm so glad my little girl finally wants to be a princess. Speaking of, she's been working on that too. She bought a book about Princesses and has been trying to act more the part lately. She's doing really well in violin. We've been practicing a lot. I need to find her a bigger violin though because she's really outgrown the one she's on. She loves Activity Days and playing with friends. She's been very motivated lately to get up early and get her chores done before school starts. I told the kids if they had everything done before 8:00 every morning, I'd double their allowance. So far, it's only working for Ashlee. She's turning out to be quite the early riser. She's also doing Ballet and will hopefully start a Jazz class soon. I've also started teaching the kids piano formally in the last couple of weeks instead of the sometimes lessons I was doing before, so they're actually starting to progress.

Kyle is learning to control his behavior under the influence of sugar. We had a little mishap last week at school after I had let him take some hard candy to school in his lunch, and we decided sugar probably wasn't a good idea for him. Well, after a week of abstinance, I finally let him bring a few oreos yesterday, and he told me this morning that yesterday after lunch, he sat really still in his desk and folded his arms the whole afternoon. I think it did the trick, but we're still going to watch the sugar intake, because it does make a difference for him. He's also been trying to walk a little faster to and from school, instead of lingering and picking up snowballs on the way. It was a little frustrating for Ethan and Ashlee to wait for him all the time. I guess I could have told them it was payback, but they shouldn't expect payback for another 15 years or more. All in all, I think Kyle is making progress. He's also becoming quite the math wiz. He keeps telling his teacher to give him harder math to do. He is really into sports. He's been playing basketball this month and wants to start Spring soccer as well. I'm glad he's so motivated.

Ammon is finally potty-training! I'm expecting this process to last for the next 4 months or more, but I'm hoping by the time the baby comes, he'll be doing pretty well. For a while I thought I'd just wait until he was ready and just trained himself. Well, not going to happen. The first Sunday of the year, when he was sitting in a Sunbeam class, I thought. This is really embarrassing to send a Sunbeam to church in diapers, so I decided it was time. You'd think I'd have the whole potty-training thing figured out by now, after doing it 3 times, but I guess, it's my toddler trial, I still need to figure out. The soft stools haven't made it very easy either. Speaking of, After the endoscopy, the doctor's found nothing. It was somewhat of a relief, but still, I'm wondering what is causing the soft stools. Maybe he'll just grow out of it? The doctor said to treat him with Immodium, which works sometimes. Oh well. Other than that, we're having a fun time hanging out with eachother during the day. He likes to have me play with him, which I do for a little while, but he also plays pretty well independently too. He's really funny, so I laugh everyday. I love 2 and 3 year-olds.

My calling in the church is currently Jr. Primary Chorister. It's been really fun. Not at first. I have to admit, I wasn't thrilled with the call, but I decided to pretend to really like it, and it worked. Now, I look forward to coming up with new ways to teach the songs. I volunteer at the school a little and always have a project or two going on. I have to have several projects because I lose interest so easily. I wish I could just finish a project and moving on, but I like to jump from one thing to the next. It's so much more exciting that way.

So, I guess this blog was more of an informative blog. I hope it didn't bore anyone. I ran into a friend from high school at Costco yesterday. That was weird. She actually recognized me and remembered my name. Her name is Minette. We figured it has been 18 years since we've seen eachother. I feel so old!!! I can't believe I'm going to be 35 this year. Life keeps marching on. Love you all. I'm a little nostalgic thinking today about all the friends that have touched my life or my kid's lives. I hope you know that I think about you all often.