Spring is Here

We have traded in our beach gear for hiking boots.

These photos were taken at a waterfall in the canyon we hiked into on Saturday

The kids had a blast using the rocks as a slippery slide.

Presidents Day Hike

Ever since we moved, Shane has been itching to go to the mountains. So we took some time and spent Presidents Day up in the mountains. We had a little picnic before we went on our hike.

It was a little cold out so we took the socks from the clothes in our car kit to keep little hands warm.

We hiked a little, climbed rocks a little, drove a little, and scoped out future camping spots. We were even able to get the whole family in a photo, (thanks to this wonderful couple that offered to snap a shot for us)

The white cap trees were so beautiful, I couldn't resist getting a photo.

We had such a wonderful day making memories and reminiscing about past mountain adventures. We are so loving being near the mountains again.

I Need To Get Better At Posting

I am so far behind I have to go all the way back to Christmas? Yes, it would seem I have neglected our blog again. We had a wonderful Christmas In Florida, (Yes that was our Christmas tree, don't hate the tree we were moving) We made the kids these cute little travel bags to keep them busy on the 1700 mile trip. We were sad to be leaving our home in Florida, but were looking forward to new adventures on the horizon.

We tried to make the trip as fun as we could, and we did. We stopped in Alabama and took a tour of the USS Alabama battle ship, the kids had so much fun going back in history. They kept asking "were people really on this boat?" "Is this boat real?" Shane took the older kids on a tour of a US submarine. We also stopped in Texas and went through the Sonora Caverns. We were the only family there at that time so we were able to have a more private tour of the caves, we could go as fast or as slow as the kids needed.

My baby is growing up too fast. When our other kids were at about 18 months we would move them from the crib to a big kid bed, usually because we were expecting a baby and wanted them to get used to not being in the crib. Since we are no longer expanding our family we still wanted to stick with tradition and moved Baby "J" into his big boy bed.

I finally did it, I finally put together the rain gutter shelving in all the kids rooms. They kids are in heaven, they all love to read before they go to bed and when they wake up in the morning. I love it when it's too early to come downstairs, they can stay quiet in their room with their books. They all got to put their book on their shelves and they have arranged and rearranged them over and over again. I also love that they are so easy for them to use, they can see the cover, reach the book, and put it back easily when they are done.

We are officially homeschooling, and we are loving it. We have been studying ancient Egypt and I think I have learned more than the kids. They are very visual learners they love to do hands on activities. Once week we try to do a project about what we are learning, these pyramids we did last week. They had so much fun putting the pyramids together. I hope we have many more fun and enjoyable school days.

Addictions

I have an addiction not a bad addiction per say but an addiction none the less. I Love Books, I love to read books, I love to have books, I love to check books out, again and again. Twice a year our base library has a book sale (black Friday for the elderly) let me tell you, you have to be there early, wait in line and cram into a tiny room. But it is so worth it!! this it this years booty 26 books for $19. It was so much fun I had to go back later in the day without a toddler and get 8 more.

Playing Catch-up

Someone at our house was Baptised, Mr. Zander was so excited he didn't want to wait any longer after he turned 8 so he was baptized on his 8th Birthday. It was a wonderful day for him and our family, he is such an amazing boy I am so blessed that he is mine.

18 months and already making his fashion statement (it was Halloween so the color choice was spot on)

Can I just say we call him Rooster for a reason this boy is such a character, never a dull moment around here.

Our princess loves to create (she made this beautiful hat) She loves to draw and color we have stacks and stacks of little love notes she leaves for us around the house. Such a sweet girl.

This little boy is so patient with his siblings he just goes along enjoying all the showered attention

In Primary last month the focus was on service, my kids love to serve and this was a frequent sight at our house, they would make the beds, do each others chores, and help wherever they could. I am truly blessed to have such amazing children they are such a joy to me.

Little Dude Got A Haircut

(I love this face)

We finally broke down and gave baby "J' a haircut.

He did great through the whole process.

And yes that is a faux-hawk, every time the poor baby gets out of the bath the Princess gets a hold of him and next think you know my baby has a faux-hawk.

Boy have we been busy!

The 3 older kids all started school on August 11.

They were all so excited especially Rooster it is his first year.

Than Rooster had his 4th Birthday (I simply adore four)

He wanted a Green and blue leapster

Party time!!! We combined their birthday party this year. They choose Mad Science as their theme. Boy did mom have fun planning. We started things up by dressing up as mad scientists

All party goes had a costume

Then we had to have mad scientist hair

We decorated the laboratory

And had science names for the food (thanks Ron) we had a blast making gross slimy things, things that glow, things that explode, we even made fake snow.

The kids and their parents all had a blast.

I am only slightly OCD

I have a problem, everything has to match especially hangers (mine are all Burgundy, Shane's are all Dark blue, Alex's are all Light Blue, and the younger three have all White until they get older and they will get there own color) Everything has to be symmetrical, the same on both sides. When I fold my towels they have to be put away, White, Blue, White, blue, White, Blue..... The kids have to have their own color of towels, and they have to be put away in order, Alex-Blue, Emily-Purple, Andrew- green, Jayden-Turquoise (from oldest to youngest)(Yes, I know I am very very strange,and no I haven't gone through therapy yet ;) I have to clean from one end of the house to the other I can't start in the middle. My books have to go from biggest to smallest until the middle of the shelf, than they have to go from smallest to biggest. I hang up our clothes in order dresses -girls suits-boys, skirts-girls, pants, dress shirts, t-shirts, workout clothes and once they are in that order they go from darkest to lightest within each type. I have a few other quirks =). That being said I showed you all my new chore chart, which didn't match our discipline/reward chart (Something had to be done about this) Well some friends of ours had shared their discipline/reward system on facebook and I loved it, so I decided to do an overhaul on our system.

THE SYSTEM (By Ben & Alicia Rich)

A lot of people have been asking me about our behavior system lately so I thought I'd just post a note. I tagged a bunch of parents a few other people I thought might be interested but I'd like to hear anyone's opinion on it! It's kind of complicated but it's happened in a rather organic way, addressing issues as they came up. Let me see if I can explain it all...

CLIPS

1. When you do a chore you get a clip which you can save up and use to "buy" items off the clip shelf. The clip shelf is stocked with things we know the kids want and have varying values, for example: Lego sets, bubbles, a video game, a new shirt, little toys, etc. Each clip is worth approximately 50 cents. They’ve saved up to buy items as cheap as 2 clips and as expensive as 100 clips or even more.

2. When you get "caught doing something good", like being nice or helping without being asked, you can earn a sticker, 10 stickers = 1 clip.

STICKS

3. Everyone starts the week with 12 red sticks. The red sticks each represent 15 min. of Nintendo time. (The time increments go up from 10 to 15 min in the summer time.) They lose red sticks for making bad choices like hitting, teasing, disobeying, etc. Whatever red sticks are left on Friday can be used to play Nintendo.

4. Everyone also starts the week with 2 blue sticks. They are each worth 30 min. of computer time and can be used any day of the week (mon-sat) with permission. Once they’re gone, there is no computer time available.

5. If a child does an exceptional job on a chore, he or she can earn a green stick. An exceptional job means they do the chore cheerfully, quickly, start without delay, and need no reminders to finish. This doesn’t happen very often. A green stick is worth 15 min of computer time and can be used just like blue sticks.

6. If a child loses all of his or her red sticks, an additional loss of privileges is added on top of zero Nintendo time. For the older boys, this means they can’t go to Friday Night Magic (a card game event at the local comic book store) with Daddy.

ADDITIONAL NOTES

7. The clip system works well for everyone down to the 4-yr-old. We use it to teach them about work, commerce, and supply/demand. Sometimes we discount an item no one seems to want to buy. Sometimes an item costs less for the little kids, just to make it more attainable for them. If more than one child wants a single item, whoever earns the clips first gets to buy it. They often team up to buy more expensive items together, like a video game or a movie. At rare times they’ve even asked for addition chores!

8. The red sticks only work really well for the older boys (ages 10 and 8). It’s been working well for them since they were pretty young. The problem is, Nintendo just doesn’t motivate my daughter in the same way. She likes to play but she’ll get bored with it on her own after a short time. So we’ve tried to use the red sticks to represent time to do something she likes but we still haven’t come up with a good consistent alternative. It’s a work in progress. It doesn’t really work for the 4-yr-old yet, but we think it will when he’s older.

9. Sometimes we use the system to address specific concerns. For instance, if one child is teasing a lot, we’ll really crack down on pulling red sticks each and every time he teases. Then when the problem diminishes, we ease up a little. It’s usually times like this they’ll lose all their red sticks in a week.

10. Occasionally we’ll offer additional Nintendo time during the week to offer incentive to solve a particular problem. For example, one son was having behavior problems at school so we offered him the chance to play 15 min of Nintendo after school if he didn’t get in any trouble that day. It worked really well and eventually we phased out the reward.

Ok, that’s it. Sometimes I think our system is too restrictive and eventually (when they get older) the kids will need more freedom with screens, but for now it’s a great behavior modifier

OUR SYSTEM

Each Child has their own color magnetic board

10 Magnetic ribbon cards (orange), 12 Wii cards(red) and 2 Computer cards (Blue) they also have 15 min Extra computer cards(green) And a bank for their clips (Small Plastic Paper Clips)

The Cards up close