Teaching Our Children Music

Stephen has been working on teaching the children music theory.  Last week, he drew some staffs on the chalk board and had them fill in notes where ever they wanted to.  Then, he would play whatever they "composed".  Zachary had so much fun, writing and re-writing that he decided to put some to paper.  Stephen played that for us, too.  Learning/teaching at home is so much fun. 

Crazy Cousins

I love that Quin has cousins on both sides of the family that are his age.  Sadly, my other three children are in the middle of groups of cousins.  They are too young to really hang out with my older brothers' children, and too old to really play with Stephen's little sisters' kids.  So, basically, they have each other.  They are good kids, though, and always find something fun to do, and are usually helpful.

I'm excited to see how crazy the two above will be as they get older.  They already have quite the personalities, and I love it.  :)

Things You Can Do On a Trampoline

Wear Daddy's t-shirts, stuffed with pillows and "sumo wrestle"!

Have story time, outside, with a soft place to sit.

Sit up on the edge to get a better view of the HUGE gopher snake in our yard.  They are harmless, but it's always best to make sure it's really a gopher snake and not a rattler before you get close to say hello.

So far, I'd say summertime is off to a great start. 

My Wee Garden

I'm so excited!  This is my first salad, eaten from our garden ON our new table that Stephen and I built.  (Anyone else feel like reciting the poem, "This is the House that Jack Built"?).

We planted (in greens, there are many other things) purple spinach, romaine, black-seeded simpson, red-leaf lettuce, and of course, green spinach.  We'll have to plant a larger garden next year if we truly intend to be self supporting and put away food for the colder months.  But, it's a start!

Date night with Chayce

Miss Chayce has been asking to climb the mountain behind our house. We are at 5061 feet, the the nearest summit is 5767 feet. The climb up was fun, down was somewhat treacherous, but in the end Chayce claimed it was our greatest adventure ever.

Resting, almost to the top

At the top. The north wall of Providence Canyon is in the background.

Rock at the top with Providence Canyon in the background.

A view of Cache Valley looking north west

Our back yard's back yard

A wild rose bush hiding behind some brush

Going back down

Building My Dream Table

Beginning...tools ready!

Stephen notched the legs for me while I played with my youngest...he needed me to hold him after having heard the scary saw and drill!

Notch, notch, notch, notch...

All those years of saxophone have paid off.  ha!

Quin wasn't really impressed with the process.

Sanding, late into the night.

Finally!  Next, I'll make benches to match. Below are pictures with the bench.

                                                      

Chalking It Up

Zac's masterpiece!

Concentrating so hard.  Where to put the pink...tsk, tsk.

It's a spaceship!  Duh.

Butterfly

He really gets into it.

Cute, cute, cute.

No explanation needed.  ;)

Love this gal!