A Fun Night

It has been a busy few days. But when isn't it busy? We continue to do school each weekday. Once Daniel remarked, "We should take a snow day!" I reasoned that as long as we are at home we don't need to take a snow day. He agreed. I guess it just sounded good to him at the time.

School went really well this week and we completed all our assignments in a timely manner, even art. I don't know why I don't like doing art or science experiments. I think it is because I am a visual learner. I would rather read about it or watch someone else do it. For the most part the children do like art and the experiments so we do them and I try not to let on that I am less than enthused about it.

Leah continues to read without being formally taught. I have just been having her learn as http://www.mfwbooks.com/ suggests for preschoolers. We have the preschooler package that this company sells. It is mainly Lauri Toys, http://www.mfwbooks.com/preschool.htm with ideas of games to play with the toys by MFW. Plus she is a quick learner. That always helps, too.

Daniel, too, is doing well. This week in Singapore Math 3B he was learning pounds and ounces. He found it wasn't as easy to convert ounces to pounds and pounds to ounces as the metric system was. Too bad our country didn't adopt that system instead. At least he is learning both.

A few weeks ago Dan from SpellQuizzer contacted me on my blog. He designed a spelling software that he now sells. You can go to his website http://www.SpellQuizzer.com and check it out. He gave me a free download of his product. I will be writing a review on my blog soon. I need to have Daniel use it a bit before I write about it. I have to say that I do like it so far. Also Dan will give a free download to one of you who reads the review and comments on it. So check back about this as I plan to do it soon.

Last week we got tickets to Monster Jam in Fargo for Saturday night. On Friday Leah came down with a cold. It wasn't too bad. But on Friday night she was feverish most of the night. She and I stayed home from church. I do get a little fearful when she gets sick especially when she gets a fever as it was only a little over a year ago when she was very ill and hospitalized with pneumonia. We thought that Tim and Daniel would have to go to Monster Jam without us.

Daniel felt so bad that I wouldn't go. Tim and I talked and decided if Leah's fever didn't come back and if she seemed better we would still go. By 3:00 she was doing really well, no fever and barely any runny nose. So we all left for Fargo.

Before the show we ate at Chili's (which wasn't very good.) Brandon and his friend, Riley, went to the show with us. It was a nightmare trying to get into the Fargo Dome parking lot. It took us 1/2 hour to park! They really need to have a better system. Their parking lot wasn't cleaned out and the snow was at least 6 inches deep. We had to park way back and trudge through a lot of snow. Leah was the only one wearing boots. The rest of us got wet feet.

By the time we got into the Dome we were about 10 minutes late for the show. But it was worth the wait. I loved the sound of power from those big trucks. You could feel the vibrations. My favorite part was the racing. Two trucks would race against each other at a time. They would start on opposite sides and go around and over the track at the same time. You could see who was ahead as there was a center line. It was amazing to see the trucks flying through the air. One truck did a wheelie and tipped over. The driver didn't get hurt and was able to compete in the "Free Style." They also had motorcycles doing tricks for part of the show. We all enjoyed it and would like to go again.

This morning Daniel got out Dustin's old monster truck, The Claw. He is having fun playing with it. On this video the truck didn't make it over all the cars. But it can and does!

Snow Forts and Fun

Sometimes I feel bad that our younger kids don't have grandparents that can spend time with them like our older kids did. Or that they don't have aunts and uncles who are interested in being with them. But then I am reminded that they have a "Grand Dad" who lives in Oklahoma who tries to come up here once a year, pulls his RV, and stays right here on the farm with us, taking them fishing, shopping, and out to eat at Burger King (yuk!) where Mom hates to eat! He never turns them away no matter how many times they come out to his camper.

They have a "Great Aunt" who likes to talk to them and have them at her house. She gives them cards and presents and makes them feel special, lets them eat candy, and watch cartoons on her tv.

And they have older siblings that most children their age don't have. Older siblings who are strong and good looking and have nice sporty cars, who play with them, throw them in the air, and wrestle, who listen to them read, take them sledding, and snowmobiling, who have provided them with a nice brother-in-law who plays games with them and makes lego trucks, and who love them like only brothers and a sister can.

Then I realize how blessed they really are.

This weekend our son Brandon, 20, came home for the weekend. He lives and works in Fargo but comes home as weather permits. We love having him here as we miss him. On Sunday he fired up the old snowmobile and took Daniel and Whitney, who had stopped in, for a ride pulling them on the toboggan. It looked like fun but my back is too bad to enjoy that fun anymore. That's one time having older sibs comes in handy.

Brandon always did enjoy the snow. He started digging out a "fort" in one of the snow piles. I laughed as I watched Daniel standing on top of the pile throwing down snowballs and then hiding on the other side. Occasionally Brandon would take a break and throw some balls at Daniel. He scooped out a big cave that Daniel can stand inside. As he got to the point where he could fit inside he would pile the snow at the entry and Daniel would scoop it outside of the cave. It was good to see them working together. Not all children have someone with the energy to do this for them. Daniel and Leah have been playing in here all week.



Then Daniel dug out a smaller cave for Leah to play inside on the right of the bigger cave. He says, "She just loves it!" It's neat that he is learning from the example of his older brother to do something nice for his younger sister.


Daniel made a "window" in his cave.

Last week in our African study we learned they eat sweet potatoes and yams. For a science project we were to try to grow a sweet potato in a container. It said to get some rocks, wash them, and put them on the bottom of a container without holes. I thought, "Where am I going to get rocks this time of the year? They are all buried and frozen under the snow!" Then I remembered Walmart sold them. I thought it was worth $3 to just buy them. The potato is supposed to grow some nice vines. I hope it does.

Look how tall the potato plant grew in just a few days! Each day it would grow about 2-3 inches. Now the growth has leveled off. It doesn't look nice and bushy like a plant would that is growing outside. But it has been fun to see that it can grow inside.

This week in art the children made some nice boxes. I haven't taken pictures of them, yet, but will get to it soon.

Yesterday we went to town. I had a chiropractic appointment and got my back adjusted. It was nice to have Whitney ride along with us. Before we left town we ate at Pizza Ranch. It was a nice treat.

Tomorrow Whitney and Ryan leave for a week in Hawaii!!!! I'm so excited for them. When they got married last year they didn't have time to take a long honeymoon as calving was approaching. So they just went to Minneapolis for a few days. Ryan said they would take a real honeymoon after the fall harvest and before the new season of busy work. It's nice to see him be a "promise keeper!"

We have tickets to the Monster Jam in Fargo Saturday night. Brandon and his friend, Riley, will go with us. I hope I can stand the noise. I bought some ear plugs and stuck them in my purse. I'm sure that Leah and I will need them! I just know that Daniel, Brandon, and Tim will enjoy seeing those big trucks and all the tricks they will do. It should be a fun evening.