Book Club Retreat

I crocheted. I'm not very good with handicrafts, but I found this strangely therapeutic.















Here is my beautiful mentor-C.. She was a very patient teacher. I told her to pretend I was a five year old and teach me accordingly. It worked.













But it was pretty hard for me. Like I said, I'm not so good with handicrafts.















Abe and Dave and Dave. We had our book club retreat at a condo in Eden, Utah. That is located east of Ogden. Here are the boys with their computers.












Here are the little ladies.
















We had our own personal yoga and zumba instructor. I would really like C. to make a DVD because I only like her yoga instruction. I told her I would even be in it as the person doing the easiest version.












We ROCKED out on Rock Band.
















We swam. A LOT!






















The little ladies made these beautiful flower clips.
You will notice the hat Faith is wearing-- I MADE IT!













Clark and London were great pals on this trip. They hung out in the basement a lot playing Lego Star Wars, but they did emerge every now and then for meals and swimming.

We had so much fun on this trip I almost feel I've overdosed in fun. I need calm. No packing. No going anywhere.

Piano Recital

Clark and Elinor had a piano recital this evening. They both played Mozart pieces.

They both played very well. Clark didn't have any mistakes-- that I could tell.
Elinor had a very tricky song and had a few bobbles, but I was still very proud of her. I think she peaked in her practice about a week too soon and kind of lost focus a bit.

They are both making great progress. Now to get ready for Bethany's violin recital on Friday.

Our 1st Kids' Book Club-- The Hobbit

Last year I was very involved in a bi-monthly Knights of Freedom Club for Clark and a bi-monthly Liberty Girls Club for Bethany and Elinor. Both were very positive experiences for all, but this year I decided to simplify things a bit. We are doing a once a month book club for both 8-11 boys and girls.

We had our first meeting today and I dare say it was a smashing success! We read The Hobbit.

I took the structure of our meeting from my good friend Emily (www.messagesfromthemothership.blogspot.com). We are doing our discussion first, then having a snack and game having to do with the book. In this picture the kids are enjoying bacon and eggs because Bilbo was always dreaming of bacon and eggs in his hobbit hole.
We had quite a bit of rain today so we had to change one of our planned games to play it inside instead of outside. We played an inside version of "Capture the Arkenstone". We wrapped an apple in tin foil and "the hobbit" hid it somewhere in the house. The boys were the dwarves and the girls were the elves and it was a competition to see which team could find it first. Whoever found it got to be the next hobbit.





When Bethany hid it she was having such a hard time keeping it secret. It was driving her nuts. She is SO my daughter!













When the rain stopped we did go outside for "Smaug Tag". Smaug is the dragon guarding the treasure in The Hobbit. Smaug tag was a basically Candle Tag (which is similar to freeze tag). There are about 3,000 different versions of tag-- and all kids seem to know ALL of them.

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE watching kids this age play running games outside. I love to watch how they work things out-- what game to play, who is it, what are the rules, what is fair, who is on who's team, how they work our disputes. It is really quite complicated business and I think we adults could learn a lot from them on how to get along with others.
We have a really fantastic group of kids in our neighborhood and they can run and play forever and it seems like everyone has a fun time.
The greatest game we came up with was the outside "Capture the Arkenstone" we were able to play after the rain stopped.
This is how it worked. The Arkenstone was in the middle of the trampoline. 3 or 4 dwarves were guarding it. Here are the first round of dwarves (note the beards).








Then the Elves (note the ears) had to try to get on the trampoline and get a hand on the arkenstone without getting tagged by a dwarf. If they got tagged they had to go to jail until a teammate rescued them.

I just ADORE these kids! Such personalities.

Paint the Fence

Here are my little cuties helping to stain a few fence slats.

Our dog, Winston, was limping around on his left front paw. We didn't know why and we couldn't see any damage to his paw.

Then we noticed several pieces of chewed up wood laying around the backyard.

Then we discovered Winston in the act of rubbing his paw on the fence to break off pieces of it. It's not a very strong fence.

Dumb dog.

So Abe bought a few new slats and the girls were happy to help stain them.

Thoughts for the evening

I know I can't dance. I've often joked that the root of all my problems is that I never took dance lessons. But. . . there is this show. So You Think You Can Dance. I love it. LOVE IT! I think I've missed about 4 episodes total in the last five years. There. Now you know. Season 6 started tonight. Oh joy!

I was walking in my neighborhood this evening with Cannon and Faith in the stroller and our dog, Winston, on his leash. One of my little primary boys came running over to me and with a look of confusion and astonishment he said to me, "You are a Primary teacher. AND you have kids? AND you have a dog?"
As if I couldn't possibly have any more jobs than teaching in Primary. It made me smile and it made me feel like I was quite remarkable to do so many things!

Day two of school went better. Clark started a science course he is doing with an online school. He said he loved it, even though he doesn't care that much about water (topic of the first couple of lessons). He said, it was great, even though it was a little too "Go Green" for him with all the conservation fluff. Yeah, I hear you. It isn't easy being green. You blend in with so many ordinary things.

Cannon did have one good night's sleep when we got home from Spokane, but last night he was just a wee bit clingy and was happiest sleeping right on top of me. This goes against my sleeping motto: "We all sleep better when we don't sleep together".

Good night. I must sleep.

Sleep, My Little One

Why must my three year old resist sleep?
This is how I found her asleep on her bed tonight after being "put to bed" an hour and a half earlier.

She started in pajamas, but a leotard is so much more fun to sleep in.

There are still a few books on the bookshelf, so I guess she didn't quite get ALL the books out to look out.

Even in her last waking moments, I don't think she had any intention of going to sleep-- ever. From her position, I think it just sort of happened. She just sort of happened to accidentally fall asleep.

More of Spokane

I could eat these little cuties up! Faith was so thrilled to have so many little girl cousins to play with.















For a man with seven sons-- he does pretty well with all these grand- daughters.














Cannon and his "twin" cousin Claire. They were born on the same day, although Claire is a few hours older.














Here are the kiddos with Grandma and Grandpa just before leaving. The kids always cry as we drive down the hill after saying goodbye.

We discovered that Cannon is quite the homeboy! That is to say, he likes to be home and LOATHES being anywhere else! I'm sorry to say it, but he was a super grouch and slept HORRIBLE on this trip. I thought maybe it was just because he was getting a cold, but when we got home at 11:30 last night he was all smiles and slept completely through the night. And today he's back to his happy chappy self. Little stinker!

Over the River and Through the Woods

To Grandmother's (and Grandfather's) house we go!
We have made our annual pilgrimage to Spokane to visit Grandma and Grandpa Fox. In our 12+ years of marriage we have driven to Spokane many times and know the drive well. This was perhaps our most pleasant drive yet. Who'd have guessed that a minivan completely full of children and parents for 11 hours could be peaceful! Miracles never cease!

It helped that we got a very early start and by the time we got to Idaho Falls the kids thought we were only in Ogden. I packed up lots of snack foods and real food and books on tape and movies for the DVD player and we were good to go. Cannon makes or breaks the trip, depending on how much he screams (sad screaming or happy screaming) and he was a pretty happy chappy this time around.

We had a very relaxing evening after we arrived in the late afternoon. You couldn't pick a more child, family-friendly location anywhere than Grandma and Grandpa Fox's house. This is a beautiful log home up on top of a small mountain with everything outdoors and indoors for children to enjoy. We just wish it were a little bit closer to us!
Yesterday, Abe and Grandma Fox planned out a full morning of stops and visits. And if you know these two, you know that they take their planning very seriously. So we had a schedule and we stuck to it.
First stop Uncle Chuck and Aunt Merleen's house; which use to be Grandma Edra and Grandpa Bill's house (Abe's paternal grandparents); which was right across a field from the home Abe grew up in.












Next stop--to visit Mike and Marjorie and see their backyard chickens. The kids had fun chasing the chickens around the yard and catching them--or trying to catch them.











SUCCESS!!!
















Next stop-- a visit to the Pines cemetery where two generations of Fox Grandparents are buried.















Faith seemed to instinctively understand that when in Pine's Cemetery, you must gather all the pine cones you can find.













Next stop-- yes, another stop-- and this is all before lunch! Next stop- a visit to the office where Grandpa and several of Abe's brothers work.














Here is Elinor with Grandpa. I LOVE this moment because it captures something amazing. Jim and Kathleen have 45 grandchildren and #46 is almost here. Yet here is Elinor with Grandpa and he knows HER. He loves HER. He cheered for HER when she played her piano song. She knows he loves her. It doesn't matter how many grandchildren there are. And if the kids feel so important to Grandpa, you can imagine how they feel about Grandma Fox.



Last official stop was Taco-Time for lunch where we saw cousin Lani working. Clark was happier than he looked in the picture (I hope)!
What a treat for us to get to spend so much time with Grandma and Grandpa. We always feel very welcome and loved when we come to visit.









When all the morning visits were done we headed back up the "The Hill" for a few hours of rest for the little ones and serious playtime for the older ones. Clark and Abe went on a hike, but forgot to take their bright orange vests Grandma got for them to avoid getting shot with an arrow during the bow hunt. Fortunately they came back unscathed.







And then they discovered the 4-wheelers! Oh joy! Bethany came running inside to say, "Clark is SO COOL! He is such a good driver!"
Later on Clark chivalrously gave Bethany the helmet to wear.













Cousin Sarah is a lifeguard at the pool Abe swam in as a kid. So the in-town Fox families spent the evening at the pool. That is Sarah's little brother, Hyrum, in the picture.












Cannon and cousin Joseph. We enjoyed a tasty dinner at the Call family home last night. These two little guys are two of the eight Fox babies born within a year of each other.











Abe and Elinor took an early 4-wheeler ride together this morning all over the hill. Elinor was so delighted to find this "exquisite" wild turkey feather. What a find!