Dentist Day - July 14, 2009

Brent's first visit to the dentist! Now that he is a Big 4 Year-old Boy, he was happy to sit in the dentist's chair and get his mouth prodded and probed. He had "only" two cavities in his front two teeth. Get brushing, Brent!!

Mark showing off his proud smile - only three cavities (Get brushing and flossing, Mark!). We're still waiting for the eye teeth next to his front top teeth to come in. He had them pulled last summer. The x-rays show they are ready to break through the gums. Mark gets to have BRACES put on his teeth this Fall!! Lucky Mark! (Our orthodentist Dr. Zahrowski is already very familiar with our family. Mark will be #3 on the orthodenture list with Jocelyn coming soon behind.)

Trust Mark to get dental work done while listening to his iPod.

Blake also scored big in the dental chair. Blake had three cavities -- get brushing, flossing, and mouthwashing!!

Jocelyn had a clean dental check-up....ZERO cavities!! Let's hear it for the girls team!!

Brush-a, Brush-a, Brush-a!

Family Home Chaos

AKA "Family Home Evening"

You know....that wonderful Monday night wrestling match you hold with your high-energy kids in which you dream of singing the hymns of Zion, studying the scriptures with reverence, and participating in uplifting, educational activities only to realize that such a calm, spiritual experience will not come until the kids are preparing for their missions (and even then, you have to wonder, given the energy level of these four!).

Why is it that as soon as we say "Family Home Evening", all chaos breaks out??? All day long I have been telling the children that tonight we would be singing a hymn, Mark would read a Wordsworth poem, and then we would write in our journals for our FHE activity. I thought they were looking forward to the evening. But as soon as I finished the dinner clean up and said, "OK, come to the piano to sing!" Blake had a melt-down and had to be put in time-out twice before he finally came downstairs and was reverent and participatory. Then Brent and Blake started chasing bugs around the house just while I was trying to get them to FOCUS and tell me what to write in their journals. At least Mark and Jocelyn are now old enough to behave well and participate in hymn singing and journal writing.

Each day this summer the children must practice the piano, read the Book of Mormon (two chapters), do their "dailies" workbooks, and write in their blogs or journals. We are not turning on the t.v. until late at night or if Wendy has to get something done and needs the kids to settle down (even then, we are trying to send them outside to the trampoline or to ride the scooters around the house). The challenge of raising young children is channeling their energy, which is limitless in the case of my kids. My revenge will come when they are teenagers and want to sleep all day but I make them get up early for sports, summer school, music lessons, and jobs!

Training-wheels Free!

Tonight Boyd challenged Big Boys Blake and Brent to learn to ride their bikes without training wheels. Blake threw a fit and refused to try, but Boyd insisted he try it 5 times and then he'd put the training wheels back on. On the 3rd try, Blake was up and going and even took the sharp turns at the end of our driveway without falling. Not to be outdone, Brent got his Daddy's tools and successfully removed his own training wheels, forcing Boyd to put Brent through the same Bike Boot Camp as Blake. Sure enough...Brent was tearing around the neighborhood in no time. What a night! (Now if we could only convince Brent that Big Boys on Bikes don't wear pull-ups we'll be even happier.)

Mark is worn out from his third football clinic. They are really working him. But he still doesn't understand how the game is played, so Boyd has to do some football training this weekend.

Centennial Farms

On Tuesday, June 23, we went to the Centennial Farms with Noah and Elise Gordon. It was a great day-outing and a very educational experience for all of us. We were alone at the farms, a unique experience, so we got to enjoy all the displays. Here the children are in front of the goat corral.

These were two Holstein cows on the farm. They were HUGE! The barn had a sign saying a good cow will produce 10 gallons of milk a day...and by the looks of these two, I'd believe it!

A beautiful clock built into the landscaping of the farms. The kids got into the act and added their own clock arms!
Square Foot Gardening - this is a new gardening technique that reportedly increases yield, eliminates weeds, and utilizes land and soil well. You sub-divide a box into compartments and then plant different fruits or vegetables in each compartment. You can grow as much food as you would in a much larger garden because you are using all available space for planting, instead of leaving furrows between plant rows.

This is tiered Square Foot Gardening. Very pretty affect...flowers on top with fruits and vegetables in the lower levels.

We went to Centennial Farms on the Orange County Fairgrounds with Noah and Elise Gordon. It was a beautiful, sunny day and we had the farms to ourselves! We really enjoyed wandering among the gardens and the animal cages, especially the large barns with the large livestock.

Brent immediately found the pumpkin patch! He was so excited to count all the green pumpkins growing in the patch!

Beautifully planted rows of vegetables and fruits line all the garden areas. I was amazed at how well labeled each growth area was, including information on how often a crop can be "turned over" and how much each crop will yield. Interestingly, cabbage can grow year-round and can be harvested every 3 months, making it the highest yielding crop on the planet! That explains why Ireland and other countries where farmers had little land relied on cabbage and vegetables as their main crops - they would grow plentifully and provide enough food for the year.

Blake in front of the popular pig barn. Talk about some BIG PIGs (the animals, not the cute kids!).

Two cute baby pigs with their curly tails. The kids loved watching the pigs eat and scratch, but when they pee'd from their behind, it looked like a bright yellow fountain. I'm impressed their are farmers willing to work with livestock day in and day out. Just keeping their pens clean must be a tremendous amount of work! After viewing all the live animals and beautiful gardens, it made us laugh that the grass on the outside of the farms was FAKE! It was artificial turf manufactured from recycled rubber tires. We laughed about the "fake grass" the rest of the day!

Summer Starts!

We're enjoying absolutely perfect weather this week....cool mornings (jacket weather!) and only in the 70's in the afternoon. We're loving it! We can only hope it lasts a few more weeks before the heat turns on.

Blake and Brent are getting along better now that they are playing together 24 hours a day. Here they are playing at the Woodbury Elementary school playground while Mark and Jocelyn are at swim team practice.
Just after Boyd spent the weekend cleaning up the patio and yard, Blake and Brent spent Sunday evening building mud houses again. If there is a square foot of mud left in our yard, these boys will not only find it, but wallow in it!! Thanks heavens we have a new washing machine because it gets lots of use.

Jocelyn is a dedicated swimmer. I am amazed at her tenacity. For being a petite 8 year-old, she has a lot of endurance and strength. Here she is swimming breaststroke.

Jocelyn always has a happy smile on her face during swim practices. She rewards herself with a long, hot shower after getting out of the pool. The Woodbury pool showers are wonderful -- heated!!

Blake, Brent and Mark riding their scooters (or "gooters" as Brent calls them) around the nice sidewalks of Woodbury. Brent can really book on his scooter and takes hair-raising turns! He has the skinned knees and elbows to prove it!

We're Expecting!

In the past few weeks, Boyd noticed that whenever he would go outside on the patio, a little bird would fly away from our patio rafters. Today he happened to look up when she flew away and discovered she had built a nest in the beams of the patio cover rafters! A closer inspection showed that it was a freshly built nest....

with FOUR baby birds soon to come! The eggs appear to be white. The children named them after themselves (Mark, Jocelyn, Blake and Brent). Of course, Mark's first comment was, "Well, what if they all turn out to be girls?" I said, "We'll go with those names anyway since I don't know how to determine whether a baby bird is a boy or a girl." So we'll be on baby-watch the next few days and weeks until we hear the cheerful squeak of little babies begging for food. (Personally, I'm just glad it's the mother bird who will be losing sleep to feed these newborns and not me!")