Monday - the rest of the day

 When we got back from the lake, the kids changed clothes and got to work on their homework. Jayson was on fire and finished the rest of his homework for the week. The trip to the lake put him over the top in P.E. for exercise. Lilly was aided by Opa and I sat with Caleb to help him finish his lesson.

When I asked Jayson if I should make a Shepard's Pie for supper, he said, "Sure, but we won't like it." That had me laughing and I asked what he wanted me to make. He said German pancakes. I didn't know what that was, so I looked it up. It is mostly eggs and is baked at a high heat for a little over 20 minutes.

This is the recipe we used: German Pancakes

The kids all went with me to get ingredients from the little store at the gas station. Prices were high like at 7-11 but we got what we needed. 

Strawberries saved for dinner

I thought this was odd looking. I was assured it is always different

Blueberries and raspberries to add to the strawberries!

Real maple syrup and powdered sugar tops them off

We really had a great time because the kids were so well behaved and eager to learn new things. It was decided that the next time we get together we are going to make light sabers out of pool noodles. It looks fun!

Monday Morning Adventures

 This half in-school and half home study is really awesome. Early Monday morning as we left the house, we passed a neighbor getting on to the bus to go to school. We were all on our way to Whiskeytown lake. 

At the top by the Ranger Station

Early morning quiet on the lake

The sun was just breaking over the horizon

Explorations

It was inevitable that they would all get wet. Water, kids, a quiet lake - recipe for kids getting wet. Lilly was actually the first to just step into the water to get where she wanted to go and the boys promptly got right in too.

Opa checking out the knee that was injured - no blood no fuss

Jayson found the 2 inch dead fish

Dead fish on a shoe

Going Home

We had such a delightful morning! On the way back we checked the strawberry stand one more time - It was opened!!! I actually didn't even get a picture of the first box of strawberries - it was gone so fast.

But we left one other box for after supper.

Tradition - Ice-cream Sunday

 Nate and Kelsi Adams family have a Sunday tradition of eating ice-cream and then discussing their scripture stories and ideas. We had ice-cream after lunch and Opa decided it was important to have some after supper to keep up the tradition. We are not spoiling them, just keeping up with traditions. They did get lots of scripture stories about Jesus Christ in the Bible videos.

Sweet Sunday

 Because we had prepared on Saturday night with showers, baths, and lining up all the Sunday clothes, getting ready for church was a snap.

The only caveat we had was Caleb's Sunday pants. We looked through every load of wash and finished them and folded all of the clothes in the house that we could find. The kids were busy running clothes back to their room - of course when I went back and found some on the floor - oops - bad news. But they got all their clothes in the drawers and baskets - BUT - still could not find Caleb's pants. Both of the boys took flashlights and looked next to the bed and under it and all through their closet. We didn't find them and so Caleb set another pair of pants out to be used on Sunday.

Everyone at church was friendly and nice and included us because we were Nate's parents. The kids seem to enjoy Primary and we came home and changed clothes.

It was really a peaceful beautiful Sabbath. Jeffrey played a few chess games with Jayson but he showed lots of video stories of Jesus Christ life which brought a really nice feeling or spirit into the home.

We had the tacos that Kelsi had left for us to make and the kids enjoyed the English Garden that I have from Jacquie Lawson site. They really enjoyed planting the herbs and playing the games. It is a fun computer game.

Every night the children hear a scripture story, each pick a song to sing, and then they say prayers. When Jeffrey takes the boys to bed they want a story, and when I take Lilly to bed, she wants a story. All my stories this week came from Africa. I just told her about some of the people I met and some of the animals I saw.

That night when I was going by Lilly room, I could hear that she was not dreaming well. I laid on the queen size bed in her room. A few minutes later she bolted up running out of her room until she heard me tell her to come back and sleep by me on the big bed. She really enjoyed that and wanted to do it again the next night - but I had to go home on Monday. So I told her another time.

A Great Saturday

 Jayson went to a Stake Activity Day and when he got back he had some serious chess games with his Opa. Caleb got into the game a little bit, but it was Jayson trying very hard to win.

Lilly and I have this agreement. Every time she sees me she brings her stuffed animals and blankets that need repair. On some vacation somewhere I mended an animal and now she saves them up for me to fix when we get together.

Repair jobs

Serious chess moves with Star Wars characters

Even Caleb gets in on the chess action

Meanwhile.....Caleb and Lilly are making rolls - the old fashion way

Nice and gooey

After the preserve walk we had gone to our favorite strawberry shack hoping to get some strawberries. We were disappointed to find a closed sign on the gate and the doors all shut up tight. Sad. We had been looking forward to that juicy fruit.

The day was really good. We listened to the kids imaginations and enjoyed one another. Jayson was inspired and got most of his week's homework done. He had 80 minutes of the 100 minutes needed for P.E. done because of the hike. The kids were good at breaking up their play into different segments and took naps, quiet time and ran around the house at appropriate times. 

Jeffrey decided to treat the kids to Pizza and they really enjoyed that too. Then it was of course, ice-cream time again! It was decided that you can't have too much ice-cream but you can have too little.

Clover Creek Preserve

 On Saturday morning we went early to the preserve to have a walk around. It was determined that Jayson's bike was three inches too long to get into our trunk. Lilly brought her bike and Caleb and Jayson traded off with the scooter. It was cool in the morning for a great walk. Beautiful blue skies.

Long lines of geese honking

They found lots of acorns!

Opa's idea

 On the way back from school, Opa decided that since it was Friday there should be "Friday after school" celebration, so he picked up some ice-cream. That was a big hit.

The strict schedule that Kelsi keeps with her children was a great benefit to us. Naps and quiet times were easy and executed without fanfare and the children liked the plans Opa had of going to the reservoir the next morning. 

The kids had to have a few more rounds of 'drag around the house' and Jayson and Opa had some chess games.

End of the school day

 Kelsi and Nate have an anniversary get-away this weekend that has been planned for months. Usually they go in October as that is the end of Nate's fiscal year and work is lighter. But this year Kelsi will be heavier with her little one due, so they decided to go earlier. The irony is this is Debbie and Matt's anniversary weekend - maybe another time.

Jeffrey and I went out to get Jayson from school with Caleb and Lilly. Caleb was a great help as he knew which way to go to find Jayson once we got on the college campus. For some reason the elementary school has a series of pods being used as classrooms on the college campus while the elementary school gets built.

After we successfully picked up Jayson, Opa felt we needed to get ice-cream because it was Friday. All the kids were in agreement!