Our yard

These are the rosebushes that I cleaned up. Don't they look pretty?!

Aaron mowed the lawn on Saturday, so now I felt like I could take pictures. This is the backyard. They took out our apricot tree that was on the right side of the covered patio and trimmed some branches that were above the house.

They also took out some ugly bush/trees in our front yard. For those that haven't been to our house, or can't remember the trees, here's a picture of the same kind of tree, but these are on the side of the house. One of the brothers wanted to get rid of these too, but the other one didn't. So our property management guy told the workers to trim these, make them look bad, and maybe the brother will agree that they need to go. What do you think? I think they are ugly and it would take a lot of work to get them looking nice again.

Our second garden :)

I took pictures of our garden a few months ago, but now all that is gone and our second garden is here. We planted peppers from seed because I didn't know I was supposed to start back in January and then transplant. Since I bought seeds in May I decided I would do an experiment and see if anything grows. Look I have some peppers. We planted two different kinds and I'm not sure what these are. We did some green peppers and then some that will turn colors. I'm just glad to see that something has grown!

We planted watermelon! I was hoping for big ones like our neighbor's, but I think we planted a smaller variety. This one is our biggest. We've had problems with little kids walking all over the mounds (not intentionally of course) or else a bug that is attacking our plants. The kids are betting on the bug, but if it is, I think it is about three and a half years old and has red curly hair! Oh well!

Our pumpkins are doing really well. If you want to plant something that makes it look like you are a great garndener, I would choose pumpkins/squash/zuccini because they take over a lot of space in no time at all! We have several pumpkins growing and I hope they will still be there for Halloween.

Earlier we had corn, radishes, onions, and peas.

Aaron's pump

Aaron has working on a double acting hand pump for the last few months. My parents have a well and wanted a pump that they could use when the electricity went out. Aaron has always wanted to make a pump, so he jumped at the oportunity. Here's a picture of the pump so far. This portion fits down the current well casing. He hasn't finished the top part that you would pump to get the water out, however he did try it out the other day, and it WORKED!! We were so excited. He just lifted the metal rod up and down. It took a few pumps to get it primed on the way up, but it moved water out on the way down and up, and it was a lot of water. His calculations say it should be moving about 1 gallon of water for a full cycle (up and down), and it seems to be pretty efficient. We didn't get to measure the water but it emptied a 5 gallon bucket pretty quick. If you really want details, or if you have questions, you should ask Aaron because I'm not sure on all the technical stuff. I just know that Aaron can do/fix ANYTHING!

Preschool

Calista is really enjoying learning at home. I got to have one day with just my two girls last week, and then their friend Mya came over for a few days. I decided that I could still do preschool and just copied off more papers for Mya too! We were learning the number 2 this day, and the letter Bb.

I'm impressed with how well Calista colors. She doesn't stay totally in the lines, but I think she does pretty good!

If you look closely you can see that she has traced all the number 2s. (That is if this picture will enlarge. Sorry if it won't!) Its hard to see because she doesn't write too dark, but she did a good job tracing.

She's also getting the hang of writing her name in a straight line, and in the right order. I'm so proud of how well she's doing, and I think she really likes the one on one attention.

Ellen usually gets a paper to color on too, but most of the time she's emptying the crayon box!

I love having a printer that copies! I encourage anyone who is going to do their own preschool to spend the extra money and buy a printer with a copier. I bought two preschool books for Samuel, one for numbers and one for letters. I tore them all out of the book and put them in protective sheets and then into a binder. Then when we want to learn a letter, I take it out, make copies and put the original back in the binder. I've been able to use the same books for Samuel, Jacque and Calista now instead of having to buy a new set each year!!

Ellen riding a bike

Ellen came up to me the other day with Jacque's helmet, so I put it on her. Then she walked over and wanted on Calista's bike. Her feet could touch the pedals, but she couldn't move them. It probably didn't help that the tires are flat! I thought it was a cute picture though. She can't wait to be a big girl and ride a bike like everyone else. When her brother and sister go out riding bikes she usually has to settle for this "bike" :

Our Yard!

If you come to my house, you'll probably notice something has changed (that is only if you've been to my house before!) A few weeks ago the owner of our rental came by to look at the trees in front of our house and some of them in our backyard. They came and left without talking to me, and I wondered what they had decided. When I paid my rent last time, the rental agency said that the owners planned on taking out a few bushes/trees in my front yard, the apricot tree in the back, and trimming our big climbing tree branches that hang over the house. Aaron was hoping that this would give him another project of taking out trees, but last Saturday, a couple guys came did all the work. They filled this truck with the brush and branches, and also a little trailer with all the wood that would be good for firewood. (Can you say that ten times fast?)

The kids had a fun time watching them cut up the trees. It took at least three hours. We were sad to see the apricot tree taken down. We have two apricot trees. One that produces and one that doesn't. They took the one that produces down. I'm guessing that they chose that one because it was up next to the house. I am glad they left the other one because it is a good shade tree.

I'm glad they took the bushes/trees out of our front yard. They were supposed to be the pretty bushes/trees that are shaped really pretty, but no ones taken care of them for several years, so they were really scraggly and ugly. It will be much nicer to mow the lawn too. Maybe I'll take a picture of the yard sometime :)

First Day of School!

Jacque is our new school girl! Yesterday was her first day of Kindergarten. She gets to have the same teacher that Samuel had, Miss Kinkead. She is very excited and eager to learn! She came home from school with the report that two kids got their star taken down(for bad behavior), but she wasn't one of them!

Samuel started the First Grade last Friday! He loves his teacher Miss Williams, and came home saying that his teacher is going to buy a caterpillar and they get to watch it build a cacoon and at the end of the school year it will turn into a butterfly!

Oregon Trail computer game

Do any of you remember playing the Oregon Trail computer game? We were at a friend's house yesterday for dinner, and after we were done eating, she showed me this youtube video. I thought it was great so I'll pass it on. It sure brings back memories of playing the game, and how sometimes I felt like "Matt." Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJaN_F4tCrs

New Pictures

We went to Baker this last weekend and mom took some cute pictures of my kids. We actually remembered to take the pictures before church!

More SHOTS!

Since school is starting it is time for more shots for the kids. Samuel just needed one, Jacque two, Calista three, and Ellen got four. I mentioned the day before we were to go that we needed updated on our shots. Samuel was excited and wanted to go right then. Jacque didn't show much emotion. Calista on the hand freaked out. She started running around the house screaming that she didn't want shots, falling down, kicking her legs (the usual tantrum). I tried to reason with her that we get shots to keep us healthy. I would rather get a shot than to get really sick and maybe die. That didn't work, but it helped knowing that we weren't going that day.

Morning came and Samuel asked when we got to go. I told him we'd have to wait until after naps. Nap time came and went, and so then we got ready to go. I decided to make this experience the best it could be, so we went to McDonalds for lunch, and then to the doctor. Calista has behaved much better today, but frequently reminds me that she does NOT want to get a shot.

We got to the pediatrician's office and they got to play with the toys for about 20 minutes. (I like the pediatrician's office because they have two nurses that will come in and give the shots together so it only feels like1 instead of 2.) They called us all back and put us in a large room where we got to wait for the nurses to get all of the shots ready. While we are waiting, Samuel starts to get a little nervous. They come in and I decide to have Samuel go first in hopes that Calista will see him get a shot and not cry. He does excellent. He lays on the table, folds his arms, and takes a breath when they poke him.

Next was Jacque's turn. She's been pretty quiet this whole time, so I don't expect much. However, she must've been getting nervous because now she's saying, "No. I don't want it to be me next. It's Calista's turn." and so on and so forth. I get her layed down and they tell her the same thing as Samuel as far as taking a breath. She takes a breath, opens her mouth to cry, but at that moment they say she's done, and she decides it was all okay. No crying!!

Calista now knows it is her turn. She starts crying, and I pick her up. She wraps her arms and legs around me, tightly, and starts crying/screaming that she doesn't want shots. I have to pry her legs off of me to get her to lay on the table. I bend down to kind of lay on her chest and hold her arms, putting my cheek next to hers in hopes of comforting. She tries to curl into a little ball, so the nurses have to scoot her down and hold her legs down. They poke her, she screams more, and then she's done!! Yeah. This whole time Jacque is laughing at her.

Ellen has been walking freely around the room, not really paying attention to what's going on. I go to get her and she points at the door and says, "Go?!" I say no and pick her up and put her on the table. She lays there like a good girl but she's not sure what's going on so she doesn't move much. I hold her hands, and they poke her. She opens her little mouth and starts to cry and then they have to poke again since she was getting four shots. As soon as they get the band-aids on her, I pick her up. She cries for a few seconds, points at the door and says, "GO! GO!" She wanted out of that place. One nurse distracted her with stickers while the other nurse filled out their immunization cards.

Now Jacque and Samuel are all done with their shots and Calista and Ellen are done until they go to school. It will be nice to have a break, but I have a feeling that 2 years is not long enough to erase this experience from Calista's mind.