The New Plan

My children always want kittens. They like the cats when they are grown and not so cute, but then they crave kittens. So we got a girl kitten last summer and decided to let her have babies with a firm decree that we will give all of the babies away. Then we would let her have more babies and give all of those away too. Then we would let her have more babies...you get the picture. As of Sunday, our cat has had her first litter of kittens, and we are beginning our first experiment on having a bunch of kittens temporarily. The kittens are just so adorable. Still we are going to give every kitten away. If I do not have to deal with too many emotional outbursts, our new plan for having just kittens will continue, if I have a lot of emotional outburst, I may rethink things. Today, we are all happy with our 5 little prizes and our good mommy cat.

I Wish I Brought a Camera

Today was the first field trip of summer vacation. (We do 2 field trips a week every week of the summer.) So today, I took them to Cottonwood Canyon to a kid friendly hike to see the Doughnut Falls. When we got there, the road was blocked off. We parked on the road, set up our picnic by the rushing river and talked about what to do. We decided we would hike the mile up to the trail head since we were there anyway, even though Rachel did not wear shoes. (Do I really have to inspect every kid every time we leave the house????) So we ate in the sun by the river in the beautiful mountains, put the food back into the car and began the walk. This was just like hiking in the mountains, expcept that the trail is paved. As we hiked further up, the road/paved trail began to be more and more snowy-- not good for Rachel so I let her ride on my shoulders. After some banks of trodden down snow we left the pavement and made it into this beautiful fairy land. With a very twisting river and a lot of rocks and logs to hop along with a few small water falls. Still we pressed forward to the trail head. We really wanted to play at the falls. We went up about 20 feet at which point the snow deepened to about a foot and a half. The little kids fell every minute or two, and I knew there was no way we could make it to the falls. We walked back down to the fairy land and the kids played. They ran through the river, explored the woods, tossed rocks into the river, collected rocks, took some clothes off to get wet, threw snow balls. And oh, how I regretted not bringing a camera!!!

Sometimes...

Sometimes, I think I am a genius. Most of the time I know I am not. Recently, I have had a genius idea and I mean GENIUS!!! I am impressed with myself.  You see, Ruth is in Young Women's and is doing Personal Progress. I am also doing Personal Progress along with Ruth. Kate is an Achievement Day Girl and is working on her Faith in God. Johnny is in Cub Scouts has his scout stuff to do, and is also working on Faith in God. If I do not stay on top of my kids, they do not complete their stuff. This is rather a big responsibility to remember which kids need to do what by when etc. After a couple of years of floundering and having  a very sad cub scout, I finally came up with a genius idea. Every Monday night we have Family Home Evening without fail. John is very strict on that. Now, at the beginning of every family home evening, the kids and I go over what they have completed. I then assign them their goal for the next week. As the next Monday approaches, my kids know they are suppose to have their goals done and they do them. Then on Monday I sign them off and reassign for the next week. We are getting the stuff done quickly and smoothly and happily. Yes, sometimes, I am a genius :-D!!!

Nervous

School has ended. That I am really glad about. I have a full summer planned with a lot of fun things and very scheduled days for the kids and I. I enjoy the free time I have with my kids. But with the end of school this year comes an end to an era of our lives. We will not be sending our kids back to public schools. We will be home schooling/mixed with online school beginning in August. Now that it is closer, it seems more real and I feel nervous about the whole thing. I have always done some home schooling during summer vacations to keep my kids up on their math, reading, and typing. I am wondering how they will feel about that now that their school will be in our home. I am wondering about my loss of nap time, and how I will deal with losing my only real free time.  I am wondering about my kids making friends. This is a big change and I am nervous about it.

On a side note, Johnny's teacher said that she thought what we were doing was right for him. She said that he got all of the questions right on the state testing (I think that still puts you in the 99th percentile-- one percent of children can do that.) She also said once more that Johnny doesn't belong in a regular classroom because he needs more than what public schools offer. It is nice to be validated by a school teacher.

Now begins a new era in our lives and the lives of our children. This is taking faith on my part. I keep second guessing this decision, even though I know it is the right one.

2 graduations!

 On Friday, Kate graduated from the 6th grade, and Adam graduated from kindergarten. I went to both graduation programs, and ate snacks at both and took pictures of each child with their teachers. Then I helped John with his thing, took all of the kids to This is the Place State Park, then all of the kids to the mall, then all of the kids to get ice cream, and finally home for a spaghetti dinner around 8pm. Our summer vacation is officially started, and I think we started with a bit of a bang. By the way, Johnny finished 3rd grade and Ruth finished 7th grade, but they don't get graduation programs or pictures with their teachers. 

Ruth

As she gets older, she is not so sure, but I think I have a beautiful daughter.

2 Cuties

My mom bought Rachel and Anya these dresses. They just love them and wear them as soon as they are cleaned. (Notice the crayon on the fence...such is my life.)