Random Fun & Happiness

Morgan was chosen to advance to the District level of the Science Fair! Her project was "Does Color Affect Memory?" Here is a pic of Morgan with her display at the District Science Fair:

 A month ago we went to a BYU basketball game with the Farmers. Grandpa Ross was in town that weekend, so he also got to join us. Our seats were literally in the back two rows of the stadium! I have never sat that far up before! The nice thing is that there was lots of room to spread out and stretch our legs. I took several pictures, but from the looks of them you'd think we were watching a chess tournament. Seriously - check out how excited everyone looks in these pictures; and don't forget to look in the background too. (Kudos to Drew and Cayden for trying to liven things up in the last pic!) :)

On a totally unrelated topic, look at my beautiful Brynne!!

 This next picture is our new family chore chart - I LOVE IT!!!! I was getting so frustrated trying to get our kids more involved in cleaning and taking care of our house, so I finally posted a request for ideas on my neighborhood facebook page. I got lots of great ideas about what various families have their children do, along with how and when they have them do the things. One of my biggest problems is remembering what it is I want/need the kids to do each day, so I needed a visual to help me with whatever I decided to do. I considered all the great ideas and then opted to copy the chore chart one of my neighbor's (Angela Jenkins) uses for her kids. The tasks/chores the kids have to accomplish are a bit different, but the chart is very similar. I was very happy that one of the awesome ladies I visit teach had a bright pink poster board she was willing to give me. (Thank you, Karin!!!!!) My friend Denise came over one morning and helped me get the chart put together. Here is the final result:

I was prepared for a fight, since kids always put up a fight when something new is introduced. Sure enough, the kids complained straight through the first day. I was quite please, though, because at least they were working through the complaining - I had prepared myself for an all-out revolt!! By day four I watched with my jaw half way to the floor as both girls actually got started on their things before they even left for school! I seriously consider this a miracle. This chart has taken a lot of stress off my shoulders. Our house has been a lot cleaner, and I finally feel like my kids are learning the things they need to know to function when life takes them outside of our home. I am a happy Momma!!! :)

Bean Museum with the Farmer Cousins & Brynne's New Talent

My sister Alyson came to visit with her five boys on Wednesday. Her kids had Spring Break, and decided to spend a night with us. Amazingly, the boys all found something in our "girl-laden" playroom to play with while Aly and I relaxed and visited for a little while. Then we loaded everyone up and headed to the Bean Museum on the BYU campus.

Adam and I didn't make this picture, but here's everyone else: Isaac, Aly, Brynne, Alex, Cayden, Drew, and Morgan:
Brynne wanted me to take her picture with the cute "Lady Bugs." If you enlarge the picture, you can tell that those cute lady bugs are clearly marked as "Japanese Beetles". :)

Here are Aly's youngest twins -- Adam and Isaac -- standing by the elephant. These boys are very, very cute; but they're also very fast! (Good news, though, the worst thing that happened was that the antelope almost got knocked over; and it turns out the alarm in the elevator works great!) :)

After looking around at all the exhibits, the older cousins plopped down on a bench to watch a movie about dolphins. Although they look less than thrilled in this picture, they did have a good time. They especially liked getting to see the tarantula and getting to touch the live snake.

We got home just in time to put on a movie for the kids while we hurried to make dinner. Then we went to the swimming pool in Provo. The kids had tons of fun swimming, and Brynne discovered that she can actually swim! Prior to this visit, she would sometimes put her face in for a few seconds and could "doggie paddle" for about 8-10 feet; but this time she put on the goggles, got on her tummy, put her face in the water, and actually kicked and paddled her arms a few times. Oh the joys! :)

Amazingly, we had the kids all asleep within 45 minutes of arriving back at our house. Can you guess what Aly and I did with our free time before we needed to go to bed ourselves? We sat on the couch and read!! Oh yes, you know you're close with your sister when you can just sit down and pull out some good books without having to feel guilty about not visiting. Life is good! :)