the trampoline!

Oh boy has this been a project! We were following this tutorial but found it lacking on some details. First off her materials list was way cheap compared to the actual cost as we priced it out. Luckily we got our sheet metal off of Craig's list to make it more affordable. Second, we must have used a different gauge metal because our metal did not - and would not fold like that!

Thanks to our good buddy Spencer's help we redirected our pipe.


Then we added the 2x4's and sheet metal. I will leave it at that so as not to become a swearing woman :)


We back filled the middle along the edges and John covered it with weed block and added big rocks to hold it down while I worked on back filling the sides.

The boys were so helpful shoveling dirt and handing us screws.


They also put all of the springs back into place for us.



Caleb was carrying springs hooked to his pocket and Davis made a chain in order to carry more! Efficient boys.

Then we played!!!

We still need to cover the sheet metal edge because its sharp and we also need to finish back filling the hole. I will post a final picture soon!

Preschool Graduation #1

Davis graduated from preschool last Tuesday. He can go to Kindergarten next year but we decided based on everything that has happened this last year to hold him. We have wrestled with the decision for a while now but we feel more peace when we think of having him wait one more year before growing up. I'm glad I have one more year with him here at home.

He loved Mrs Morris and Mrs Sherry! (No really, he did. He was a little angry that he had to leave the waterside for a picture)

He loved all of the science and he learned so much! He was given the award of "Best Shapes Knowledge" and had proved it earlier in the presentation. They were reviewing all of the things they had learned and when it came to shapes all of the kids got stumped on one shape and it was quiet for a few seconds before Davis yelled out "Rhombus!" It was so cute. Of course the battery on the camera was dead and it just so happened I had the little flip video camera which had dead batteries too! I was so sad...


He has been looking forward to the water slide party for weeks!


And he enjoyed it...

On his bum

Sideways

Forwards

Backwards

Bouncing

and leaping!

He had so much fun!

Love you Davis!

You can be so serious one moment and so goofy the next!

Great job this year!

In Memorial

If there is one thing my Mama taught me it was a deep love for this country we live in and those who have fought for it. I don't think I ever saw my Mom sing the national anthem without becoming emotional, a happy pride so strong that moved her to tears and made her want to burst. It embarrassed me as a child but now when the national anthem is played I find myself doing the same thing. She was so proud to be an American, as am I.

I love America!

I love the people of this country. Not the politicians, the people. I think politicians might be some of the most unpatriotic people around. It seems they have forgotten what this country is really about, a promise for something better if you work hard. The American Dream.

Today I want to say thank you to the Men and Women who work each day to keep us safe. Maybe sometimes too safe that we become complacent about our way of life and our gratitude wanes. Today and tomorrow I will teach my boys about real superheros.

I also want to honor the military wives and families. The nights they spend lying awake at night worrying about their loved ones while my family sleeps safely and soundly... it takes my breath away.
Thank you!


To the Coast Guard, the Navy, the Air Force, the Marines, and the Army...from our home today we honor you.
May God continue to bless you!
We love you!

Up the nose!

Ive heard the stories about kids sticking things up their noses and should have known it was only a matter of time before Beckham tried it.Thankfully he tried it with a soggy Cheerio!

He was nice enough to tell me he put cereal in his nose and sure enough when I looked inside it was way up there! I plugged the other nostril and told him to blow. It took a few blows before a soggy, buggie covered cheerio flew out and hit me on the arm.

Life is so glamorous these days!

Davis' Magic trick

A couple of weeks ago Davis told me he wanted to show me a magic trick. He said he needed the droppers so I got the droppers from our science kit. But he didn't want those ones he wanted the other droppers that went like this (upside pinching motion). I could not figure out what he was talking about so I asked him to draw me a picture of what he was talking about (mostly to distract him). I was amazed what he came back with.
I knew immediately that he meant food coloring. I was amazed at his ability to remember the colors of the droppers and to express it so well in pictures. I will be using this technique more often when I am having a hard time understanding what he is talking about.

He got a couple glasses of water and told me he needed the red and blue colors. I asked him where he had seen the magic trick and he said in Primary - which had been 3 days earlier. Davis' mind and attention to detail amaze me each day.

Ta- da! Purple!
(which I was to busy clapping to get a picture of)

I then proceeded to show him all the magic we could make with food coloring!



He loved it. He preformed another magic show for the rest of the family that night and amazed with his magic abilities. The best part was after we had orange, green, and purple the boys were so excited to see what each of them tasted like. After each taste they would exclaim - "it tastes like orange water. Oh this one tastes like green water!"

Phase 2

A big hole.


Which led to phase 3 - redirect landscaping pipe.


That will very soon be the home for our trampoline :)

Southern Utah sense of style

Beckham was running around and decided he wanted to go outside. It was raining and had gotten cold so I told him it was too cold to go outside. He left the kitchen, I assumed to go play. Then I heard "I'm weddy to go owside" and when I turned around I found him like this:


Because flip flops and a beanie are apparently the perfect cold weather accessories :) For some reason Mom still wasn't happy and he was forced to just watch the rain despite getting all dressed for the weather!

A kids sense of time...

A few days ago in the car Caleb asked me who invented numbers and this conversation ensued:

Mom: I'm not sure, I don't know how old numbers are.
Caleb: Does Dad know?
Mom: I don't know, maybe you could ask your teacher?
Caleb: I know! What about Grandma and Grandpa Henderson?
Mom: I don't know if they will know.
Caleb: But why? They are really old!
Mom: Well, I'm pretty sure that numbers have been around longer than Grandma and Grandpa :)




We are so lucky to have Grandpa and Grandma Henderson for all the tough questions in life!

Phase one - Build Wall

There are simply no words to describe the joy I feel when I see this:


Who knew a wall could bring such joy to John and I...and so much sorrow for others. Caleb walked in the house yesterday, threw himself on the couch and proceeded to break into tears. I asked him what was wrong (imagining a devastating tale from school) but instead he looked up at me with honest tears in his eyes and said, "its just this wall that I don't like." Apparently having to walk around our house is cramping his style. Then again I love the wall because now friends have to go through me before just showing up...I guess if I were him I would be crying too :)

(insert evil laugh)
Bwahahaha

Just look at the wind protection for our trees and garden. We live in a town called HURRICANE...wind protection is very important to us!


There is more being done too...cant wait for the big reveal next week!



Still a lot to do but its coming together!

What do we do in the Summertime???

Every summer I have great intentions of doing tons of cool and fun things with my boys... before I ever get organized the summer is almost over. This year I decided to make a jar of 50 things we can do for fun during the summer. Some require my attention others are more simple and just remind them of something cool they can do on their own.

I cut all 50 ideas out, folded them, and put them into a jar I had. I glued a little piece of leftover fabric on the top and then made a little tag and modge podged it onto the jar. It took me all of 10 minutes to put together.


Each night I'm going to have them take turns pulling an idea out of the jar for the next day. Here is our list of 50 for this year:

1. Organize a bike Parade
2. Paint rocks
3. Water balloon fight
4. Nature scavenger hunt
5. Make art for an evening art show
6. Wash the car
7. Build a fort
8. Play dough
9. Squirt bottle water fight
10. Jump on the trampoline with ice cubes
11. 'Stained Glass Windows' - Cover the sticky side of contact paper with several colors of tissue paper, make sure to leave about an inch edge all the way around so it will stick to the window
12. Flashlight tag
13. Write a letter to cousins/grandparents
14. Backwards Day - Have dinner for breakfast and breakfast for dinner, eat dessert before lunch
15. Paint a picture with lemon juice on white paper and hang it in a sunny window and see what happens in a few days
16. Hold a bike wash
17. Make a map of your bedroom, house, or neighborhood
18. Plan an imaginary trip around the world, where would you want to go?
19. Practice your soccer skills
20. Create a mosaic
21. Sponge Tag - get 2 or 3 large car sponges and several buckets of water. Whoever is "it" grabs a sponge and gets it wet. If you are hit with the sponge, you are it.
22. Do a hidden picture from the highlights website
23. Organize a game of Dodge Ball
24. Make up a code and then write a letter
25. Create a sand art picture
26. Tic Tac Toe
27. Use binoculars
28. Play catch
29. Plan and create a picnic for your stuffed animals
30. Learn magic tricks, plan a magic show
31. Make bookmarks
32. Build something fun with legos - our house, our town, Disneyland, Sea World, Space ships, the Temple....
33. Math games
34. Visit a farm
35. Decorate a shoe box for all your summer treasures
36. Cut open old record covers from good will and make a card to mail to a loved one
37. Make cookies and visit a Grandma in the neighborhood
38. Plan a lemonade stand or bake sale and donate the money to a good cause
39. Make a collage from magazines
40. Create a Hot Wheels obstacle course
41. Visit the fire station
42. Invent your own board game
43. Letterboxing
44. Tie-dye some t-shirts
45. Have a paper airplane contest
46. Freezer Baggie Ice Cream
47. Plan dinner and help cook
48. Re-decorate your room
49. Design your own roller coaster with kinex
50. Draw a mural on the wall in chalk

Have a FUN summer!

Garden Start 2011

We planted later this year than last year and in a couple weeks the plants have grown more than they did in a whole month last year. I don't think I will ever plant before May 1st again!