During Christmas break, Krista made a short movie with the Boivie cousins in Texas. So our kids were excited to make one with her when she came to visit over the MLK long weekend. It is just a fun little movie that she shot in short clips using her iPad and then edited together. This will take you to the video on Krista's blog. Personally, my favorite parts are Seth's mind control and then during the final celebration Seth saying over and over "Anybody want cake?"
She also made a really great gift for the 2 boys. Krista and Scott wrote a superhero story with Rand and Seth as the main characters. Then one of Krista's students did the illustrations. This will take you to the comic book on Krista's other blog. This was a very thoughtful creative gift that we have really enjoyed reading.
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Friday, January 27, 2012
4 year old
Sometimes with my boys it has felt like they have the "Terrible 4-5s" and were really pleasant as 2 year olds. Seth is challenging me right now. He can still be lots of fun and silly and happy (like when we went on a walk and played at the park the other day) but he is also getting bigger and gets upset and frustrated (we went on that walk because we had to leave the grocery store with him crying about not getting a car cart). My goal this week was to take a day at a time and try to do good with him (and my other kids and other activities) and be more happy and positive and patient. And it mostly worked. Though I could probably go for a nap right now. So here are a few pictures of Seth...
On another note, we have started giving our kids allowance again. Sometimes I am finding things tricky balancing the different ages of my kids and what they need. Like allowance. We are trying to teach them about tithing and saving, so part of the money we ask them to put there. And then they have some to keep to spend when they want. Well the trick I am finding is that Rhianna and Rand are at school and so just keep their money. But Seth comes with me shopping and so wants to spend all his...cars, candy, etc. But last week was funny. He really wanted a King Size Kit-Kat and I said yes he could buy it with his money. When we got home though I pointed out that it was really big and maybe he should save some for later. He thought that was a great idea...and this is how he ate some and saved the rest...
On another note, we have started giving our kids allowance again. Sometimes I am finding things tricky balancing the different ages of my kids and what they need. Like allowance. We are trying to teach them about tithing and saving, so part of the money we ask them to put there. And then they have some to keep to spend when they want. Well the trick I am finding is that Rhianna and Rand are at school and so just keep their money. But Seth comes with me shopping and so wants to spend all his...cars, candy, etc. But last week was funny. He really wanted a King Size Kit-Kat and I said yes he could buy it with his money. When we got home though I pointed out that it was really big and maybe he should save some for later. He thought that was a great idea...and this is how he ate some and saved the rest...
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
New Years
Grandma and Grandpa were here for New Year's too. Bob was sick this year, but we still did get a little time with our friends. Corine came over with Amelia and Grace to play games for a few hours. Seth fell asleep pretty soon after they left. Then Grandma and Grandpa were off to bed. Rhianna and Rand wanted to stay up so we played Sounds Like a Plan for a while. Then we did our annual musings of 2011 (remembering some our favorite things and events of the year) over Skype with the Neumillers until midnight. Kind of low key, but a fun night...and this is what the kids looked like as 2012 began...
Created by Kids
Rhianna and Rand made us wonderful gifts at school. Rand's teacher had the kids draw a family picture with crayon and then use water colors to paint the paper. They then turned it into a calendar for us to use this year.
Rhianna's teacher is an artist and taught the kids how to do a portrait. She took pictures of them and then they use the photo to do a drawing. Rhianna worked on this a long time and did great at all the shading and detail.
We are happy to have both of these displayed in our house!
Rhianna's teacher is an artist and taught the kids how to do a portrait. She took pictures of them and then they use the photo to do a drawing. Rhianna worked on this a long time and did great at all the shading and detail.
We are happy to have both of these displayed in our house!
Our Holidays
We were lucky this year to have family visit us again. It made Christmas feel like it kept on going. We had people to play with and talk with for a long time. Grandma and Grandpa Boivie were here the longest, Scott came for the Christmas weekend, Valerie was here for a few days over Christmas, and then Krista came this last weekend. So I guess now we should be fully back to normal and I should get some posts done. So here is a little of what we did together:
Christmas Eve - dinner with homemade mac&cheese, ham, cranberry sauce - Nativity acted out - PJs
Christmas Day - stockings - eggs and biscuits - church - presents - snacks and leftovers - games - naps
Pima Air & Space Museum - especially great for Rich to see a B-29 like his dad Carl (who Rand is named after) flew
Breakfast - Grandpa took us to Millie's Pancake House for lots of yummy food
Walks, movies, talking, games, puzzles, snowflakes, eating, family history, reading, shopping...We realized that even though we are so far away from all our family, we have been really lucky to be able to see our family quite a lot. And some of that is because they come to us even in the desert. We are glad we had Scott here for a few days and the boys still really love the superhero toys. Valerie was here a few more days and even found snow pants in Tucson - wow! And once we got enough layers to combat the cold air in the air mattress Grandma and Grandpa had a good stay. It was fun to watch the kids to different things and enjoy the time with family.
Christmas Eve - dinner with homemade mac&cheese, ham, cranberry sauce - Nativity acted out - PJs
Christmas Day - stockings - eggs and biscuits - church - presents - snacks and leftovers - games - naps
Pima Air & Space Museum - especially great for Rich to see a B-29 like his dad Carl (who Rand is named after) flew
Breakfast - Grandpa took us to Millie's Pancake House for lots of yummy food
Walks, movies, talking, games, puzzles, snowflakes, eating, family history, reading, shopping...We realized that even though we are so far away from all our family, we have been really lucky to be able to see our family quite a lot. And some of that is because they come to us even in the desert. We are glad we had Scott here for a few days and the boys still really love the superhero toys. Valerie was here a few more days and even found snow pants in Tucson - wow! And once we got enough layers to combat the cold air in the air mattress Grandma and Grandpa had a good stay. It was fun to watch the kids to different things and enjoy the time with family.
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Christmas Letter 2011
2011 has been a wonderful year for our family. We have
experienced many joys as new people have joined our family through births and
marriages. We have had the pleasure of visiting and seeing our family as well
as visiting incredible India. We have also experienced loss as Grandpa Clyde
passed away this year.
Overall we are so blessed for all of the great things in our
lives. To all of our friends and family, we love you. We wish we could see you
more, but we are grateful that we have the Internet that helps us keep up with
your lives and allows us to stay informed and connected.
Monday, December 5, 2011
U of A Percussion Group
Steve and I had a really fun date on Saturday. After going out to dinner, we went to the U of A Percussion Group Performance. These were very skilled musicians and I really enjoyed watching them. A few of the songs felt a little more "normal" to me, in that they had drums and cymbals and things that I had seen before even though there were always a few people playing together very well. But a few stood out and were really unique.
One was called Musique de Table. Yes that is music on a table. 3 people sat at a table and played the music with their hands. It made different sounds depending on if they were slapping, tapping, scratching, flicking, pounding or using different fingers. It was fascinating to watch and just really cool. It made me want to see the music and learn a routine like this.
Another piece was played by 3 people on the marimba. A marimba is like a xylophone with pipes underneath the keys they strike. This was called Afta-Stuba! and was a very playful piece. The 3 of them played together, but would also move around, switch places, play on the sides or the front and it made it fun to watch.
There were a few other pieces that I also really enjoyed and was just amazed at how fast they could work, often with 2 mallets, and how accurate and great the music was. And this was just for $5 a person for almost a 2 hour performance. It was a great different thing to do together and made me think again that we should take better advantage of all that goes on at the University.
One was called Musique de Table. Yes that is music on a table. 3 people sat at a table and played the music with their hands. It made different sounds depending on if they were slapping, tapping, scratching, flicking, pounding or using different fingers. It was fascinating to watch and just really cool. It made me want to see the music and learn a routine like this.
Another piece was played by 3 people on the marimba. A marimba is like a xylophone with pipes underneath the keys they strike. This was called Afta-Stuba! and was a very playful piece. The 3 of them played together, but would also move around, switch places, play on the sides or the front and it made it fun to watch.
There were a few other pieces that I also really enjoyed and was just amazed at how fast they could work, often with 2 mallets, and how accurate and great the music was. And this was just for $5 a person for almost a 2 hour performance. It was a great different thing to do together and made me think again that we should take better advantage of all that goes on at the University.
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