The "look"

We stopped at a Mexican restaurant in Elko on our way back to UT.  Tameeka flicked juice at Colin with her straw because she thought it was funny.  Colin took her drink away, and Tiff came to her defense by getting mad at Daddy.  Pretty sure she told him she wasn't going to be his friend any more or that he wasn't nice, then she turned and gave this look.  It was just so funny I had to capture it!

Story time

More herbal tea and book reading!  I think Ma is reading "My Friend Flicka." 

The Andelin's Pumpkin Patch!

If you live in Reno/Sparks, you probably know about the Andelin's pumpkin patch!  Natalie let us have a sneak-peak because it hadn't officially opened for the season yet.  They have lots of animals for the kids to look at, a dress-up and crafts area, corn seed box (like a sand box but much less messy!), pumpkin patch, and more!  The kids had a fun time.  The above pictures are two Emus (I think) eating from their bucket, which is why you can't see their heads!

Em loved their large Newfoundland dog!

This llama gives kisses, but the kids passed on that! 

Tiffy's blanket

One of Emily's subjects for home school is sewing.  She's working on a patriotic quilt that's coming along nicely!  Whenever we get the sewing stuff out, the T's want to participate.  So, I cut pieces of fabric and give them thread, and they make some neat things!  Tiffany got the tape out and made her own quilt!

Pine Cones

We found these large pinecones on a hike in Galena.  Ma and Em covered the pine cones with peanut butter and rolled them in bird seed.  They hung them from the tree, and the birds had a feast!

Picnic at Amy's

Picnic lunch at Amy's! Amy had all these fun activities and bubbles set up for the kids when we arrived at their house.  They played with them for a while, then they went inside and kind of dumped toys all over the floor.  Sorry!  Amy and I figured it took the kids a whole hour to eat lunch!  They kept talking and getting distracted, and a food fight almost broke out (well, I think Ty threw a piece of food at Kian, but luckily it didn't go any further than that!).  After all the yellow jackets started swarming our lunch, we went inside and finished.  Dessert were these little cookies, frozen yogurt squeezes, and blueberry-bran muffins.  You always have the yummiest food, Amy!

Helping out

Calvin, Devon, and Em helped Grandma and Grandpa out a few times during our visit.  Can't believe I didn't get any pictures of you with the kids!  Next time:)  They picked peaches, mowed, and edged their lawn, and had a great time!  

B-days at Ma and Pa's

We celebrated the twin's birthday again at Ma and Pa's house.  They got cute Hello-Kities, and black dolls  (request from Tameeka)!

Of course, Ty got a gift too- the movie "Rio!"

Ty lost a tooth on the way to Sparks!  He loves carrying his $1 around from the tooth fairy!

Reno Air Races

Colin took Calvin, Devon, Em, and Ty to the Reno air races.  Ty loved all the planes!  The older kids had been there in years past , but still enjoyed watching all the airplanes.  They went on Thursday, because that's the day the Thunderbirds were going to be there.  They would have already left about an hour before  the tragic accident happened on Friday (we had a doTERRA class that night they had to be back for).  Our hearts go out to all those who experienced loss that day. 

School at Ma and Pa's

A typical school morning includes some or all of the following: drawing or painting, telling time, identifying coins, learning letters and sounds, going on a walk, identifying shapes and making things with tango grams, reading "God's World" (science), and writing letters, telling what they see in different pictures, and story time. Haven't tackled math yet, but that's coming.  Each "lesson" takes about 10 min. and school is done in two hours! 

Ty's tooth

Ty lost his first tooth in Winemucca (at least I think that's where we were!)

Red Rock

We went to LV for Jordan's farewell and Jason's homecoming.  On Sat. morning the kids went and did baptisms at the temple.  Later that day, we hiked in a beautiful place called Red Rock.  

The hike got steep, so T's and I stayed down while everyone else hiked to the top.  They were pretty mad that they couldn't keep going, and it took a while before everyone was happy again. :) 

Hearts

The other night our house got toilet papered by some friends.  These friends were being a little noise, and the kids caught them red-handed, scaring them pretty good!  The next night Calvin, Dev, and Em were begging to go TPing.  I told them "no" because some people get mad about fun stunts like that.  Growing up, it was always a complement to get your house TPed, but some people don't like it I guess, like when the sprinklers come on and then there's soggy TP everywhere and it's  hard to clean up.  So, I told Colin that I'd let the kids do it if they showed up the next morning to help clean up.  He didn't think that sounded too adventurous, so we decided on Heart-Attacking, which is something I had done before as a youth leader.  So, the kids cut out some construction paper hearts, dressed in black, and set out at midnight to tape hearts on two family's doors.  They had a blast!

Yarn extensions

We did lots of activities during the 14 hours of hair!  I used yarn and braided it into the girls hair.  It looks great!  I did most of Tiffany's in one day, and left the last fourth of her hair for the next day.  Then it was Sunday, and I knew I wouldn't have time to do Tameeka's hair before church, so she had to wait another day.  She cried so much!  Eventually she got over it, and was very excited Monday morning to start the hair project!  I had Colin apply several drops of Deep Blue and Past Tense essential oil on my back because it gets pretty sore standing, bending, and twisting around.  I have an added respect for hairdressers who do this all day every day! 

Here we are eating popcorn and watching the movie "Tangled."  Pretty fitting name, don't you think?  Calvin helped out by cutting strands of yarn for me.  Boy was the room a mess when we were done, but don't the girls look beautiful with their new hair-do's?! 

We finished around 11pm, which is why the girls are looking kind of tired!

School days

Before we started school for the morning, the kids all congregated outside to watch the street paver guys.  The day before, there was a bit of excitement when the machine broke and was spurting black mud everywhere!  Everything went smoothly this time though. 

Sometimes we do "stations." The kids pair up and do 10 minute activities then rotate.  Em and Ty had fun in the building station.

Dev and Tameeka made some soup.  The soup got added to every time someone was in this station.  We all had a sampling party when stations were done.  It was fabulous soup! 

This is the story station.

Chocolate

Ty, Tiffany, and Tameeka wanted to help make zucchini muffins.  So, I gave them the funnest job: chopping chocolate chunks to put into the batter!  Yeah for chocolate!