Family Togetherness

We are a loving and close family, we love to share and give freely of ourselves, in health and in sickness apparently-- for all the kids and Barry have strep throat. So far I don't have any symptoms. I sure hope I don't share in this joy. This is one thing I really don't want to share with the kids.
This diagnosis sure did suprise me. We've been dealing with some nasty long lasting colds, you know, the cough that sounds like a lung will be expelled soon, the yucky nasal drainage, sore throats, off and on headaches and fever. If the nasal stuff and cough would not have been there I would have recognized the other sysmptoms as strep, no problem. However, combine that with the cold symptoms and, well, I missed this one. To bad too, Connor will be missing a fun cub scouting activity, a Wii party, and he's not happy one bit! Thank goodness for antibiotics--we are looking up to healtier days.

Connor Eats Potatoes!

Coming from a Scandinavian-German-English heritage, we are not sure where Connor gets his aversion to potatoes from, yet he most asuredly hates to eat potatoes. He hates all forms of potatoes, including french fries. (However, he does like potato chips and 'tato cake. )
We tease him that he will be called to serve a mission to Ireland, like his father, or Idaho, where he will most definately eat potatoes.

Today, he asked that I make fried chicken for dinner. He loves fried chicken. I agreed, as long as he eats one bite of the mashed potatoes along with it. I couldn't pass up the opportunity to finangel a bite to potatoes into his mouth.
He readily agreed to my terms. However, when the time came to actually eat the potatoes, his courage wained slightly, yet, he mustered his strength and ate one large bite of mashed potatoes.
Yes, his face distorted with distaste for the mushy vegetable, but ate it he did! We are proud of you Connor. Great Job!

Science Fun

It's science week and we are having fun. Ryan is learning the difference between speed and velocity in this expeirement and how it is important in physics. Using raw eggs, the boys let them roll down cardboard ramps together, side by side and yes...in to each other. Besides making a mess, he learned that it isn't speed that causes the eggs to crack but the velocity The damage wasn't to great, and we enjoyed making cookies with the casulties.

You can't tell in the picture, but one egg didn't do so well in this roll down the ramps.

Connor is enjoying his studies of astronomy. Pluto, the furthest planet from the sun, is also known as the coldest planet in the galaxy (if you want to classify it as a planet). Connor's project was designed to show how certain chemicals can effect freezing points. We all enjoyed his project- Ice Cream.

This experiement showed how adding salt to the ice lowered the freezing point of water from 32 degrees to 28 degrees. This was greatly noticed by the girls, who wanted to participate in the experiment by shaking the bag containing the icecream. They soon found out that gloves were a very good idea. Connor however, felt that the use of gloves challenged his image of manhood and physical toughness, he chose to suffer. Liam looked on with great anticipation, not of knowledge gained, but icecream to be shared. Liam was not about to be left in the dark on the taste test.

I've never been a big fan of science. This is changing as I homeschool my children. I enjoy learning about our world and the wonders the Lord has created right along with my kids.

Another thing I'm learning is the importance of measuring progress and work.

I've come across a quote from Pres Thomas S. Monson. In 1970 he said "When performance is measured, performance improves. When performance is measured and reported, the rate of improvement accelerates."

We have implemented a grading scale for some of our school work. We combined the traditional ABC grades along with OWLS from Harry Potter series. This is our grading scale:

A-awesome

B-better (than C)

C-close call

D-dreadful-do it again

E-exceedingly dreadful

F-fearfully dreadful!!

I'm amazed at how having a standard to acheive helps the kids want to do better. I haven't had to fuss about penmanship the past few days and the kids are trying to write paragraphs with better content.

Here's to 'standards', not only are they great as a moral compass, but they can be great for school work too.

Family History- Remembering Emmy

Emmy joined our family in June of 1993. At that time we were stationed in Texas, at Fort Hood. For my birthday, We decided that we would get a pup. After looking in the papers we found some that were to be given away for free.
In looking at the pup litter, Emmy was the only one that took on the Red Heeler look. If you don't know what a Red Heeler is, it is a cow dog. They are cattle herders. They are colored like English Setters or Blue Heelers, but red or brown spots on white. In a word, she was ugly. All of her siblings were black and looked like Labs. We figured that no one would take her. We took her to be sure that she got a home.
Emmy's favorite actives were running around our back yard, and barking. These interest were usually combined to entertain Emmy and annoy us. But, she was a good watch dog and earned her keep. She also was very good tempered.
When Emmy was about one or two she had her first encounter with Fire Ants. If you have never lived in the deep south, most likely you have never had the experience of meeting these aggressive, bad tempered, and well armed creatures. Fire ants have been known to kill cattle before, if you believe Texas lore. Having been bitten often by these pest, I happen to believe it. These little guys live in colonies. They have painful bites that produce a pus pocket and itch like mad. Where ever one of two are gathered together, bad times await you.
Back to Emmy, I guess that she fell asleep near a colony. Somehow they really got her around her muzzle and eyes. She had the look of a amature boxer on the wrong end of Mike Tyson. Her eyes were all but swollen shut, her muzzle was twice its normal size. She was very unhappy.
I took her to the Vet to get her some relief. Up until this time I have never known her to snap or act out towards other animals. Even cats were usually safe around her. Enter.... the ankle biter.
As we got to the animal hospital we came in contact with a hair ball with a bark. You know the type. As I remember it the little dog was in sometype of basket or blanket, being carried by a over protective owner.
The little dog lit into Emmy with gusto. Firing on all cylinders, it was giving Emmy every thing it had. That day I saw another side of Emmy. This side was the " I've had a very bad day and I'm not going to take it anymore." Her counter attack both surprized and amazed me. She really took the dog to task and reminded it that little ankle biters are not exactly at the top of the food chain. That day Emmy rose a notch or two in my respect.
Another thing about Emmy, she absolutely hated the UPS man. I am not sure just exactly how this came to be. Maybe her packages didn't arrive on time, or maybe they over charged her. But regardless,nothing perked up her day like the arrival of the unfortuante UPS man. When UPS showed up Emmy had something to do. She came alive and barked and strained to get at him. Her barking reached new levels of being loud and aggressive.
Her greatest claim to fame was the story our neighbor told us about the day she chased the UPS man across the yard and into his truck. There is no doubt in my mind that she smiled about that for a week or more. The altimate reward was the guarded look in the eyes of every wary UPS man that came into the area.
Emmy was a wanderer. After we came back from Texas we had to keep her tied all of the time. I very much regret this. But for Emmy it came as a means of keeping her out of trouble and out of the pound. Here in Pulaski we have a leash law. I guess that Emmy still had enough of the Texas plains spirit in her to want to strike out on her own.
I use to get so angry with her when she would slip her leash and go on a walk. If I saw her in time I could usually call to her and get her attention. She would give me a casual backwards glance, pause for the effect of letting me know that she heard me, then go loping off, secure in the knowledge that I could not catch her.
Another fun activity Emmy loved was dumpster diving. Well, actually, it was more like begging. There was a drive in- resturant down below our house that she would frequent most every day. In this way she could make that" ugly look "work for her. Setting there looking lost and forgotten earned her many dinner scraps that a pretty dog most likely could not get. Emmy was no dummy.
Emmy was a tough dog. I have never seen a dog like her who seemed to sneer at the use of a dog house. I could never understand her adversion to using her house when it was raining. But there she would be, laying out there in the downpour like she was soaking up the sun. It amazed me the stamine that she displayed up until the end of her life. I found that I could learn alot from her about just having a "do it" attitude.
Emmy past away on the 19th January. She had several medical problems that were causing her to be in constant pain. She could no longer walk without great effort. Her back hips were giving out on her. Her bladder was something she could not control anymore.
After much thought and some prayer, I came to the conclusion that I had to let her retain her pride and dignity. I just could not watch her from day to day suffering like she was. I have no doubt that I owed her more then this.
On the 19th I took her to the vet. With her head in my hands, I bid her farewell. I am not sure just what standing that dogs have with there creator. I feel that if the Lord took the time to create dogs spiritually and physically, he has a purpose for them in the after life. I look forward to calling to Emmy, seeing her turn and look at me, and go loping off on her own walk.

The Hale's Freeze Over

Its Sunday...what a great day to work on family history. So, what are we doing at this time in our lives? Anything to stay WARM!! We are having (along with the rest of the country) a very cold dip in temperatures. We have brought in the kerosene heaters, oil filled space heaters, more blankets and closed off much of the house with curtians in doorways. I love our large old farm house, but it is very hard to keep warm. We had the elder's over for dinner and they asked if we were training the kids to be street bums, as they were all huddled around the kerosene heater warming their hands before they ran off to play again in their rooms. I was tempted to call the cops and make 'em move on; no loitering here! They keep giving their address as this one. What do ya do?
The cold has even effected all the animals. Emmy our 16 year old cow dog is down with her hips. We have had to bring her stinky goat smelling body into the house, good for her, bad for our sinuses. Pete the Sheppard continually beats on the window whining to join Emmy. Not that there is much chance of that happening.
The woes continue with a couple of our appliances; somehow the washing machine has decided that it is too cold to wash. It flashes that it's water hoses are frozen. Not so sure how this has happened since it went through half of a cycle before this "code" started to flash and the machine is inside and all the water everywhere else in the house is fine. Oh, well the water line that goes to the refrigerator also took a spell of not working. I think its back on line now. We wouldn't mind the cold if only it would snow!

Sleeping in the hoody

Last night as Vicki and I were getting ready for bed, I had a surprise awaiting me on the bed. I had gotten for Christmas a UVA hooded sweatshirt. I had earlier left in laying on the bed. I now found that it had an occupant. Delaney was curled up in it. But not like you would usually picture it. Her feet were sticking out the sleaves, with her body snugged down into the rest of it. Appearently she was quite warm and comfortable, and sound asleep.

Back in the Swing of Things

Ahhh the joy and peacful quiet of the holdiay season is over and now it is time to 'hit the books' once again. I was worried that the kids would have a difficult time getting back into the normal routine of devotionals and school work. Thankgoodness I was wrong. They all jumped 'back into the swing of things' 'with out a hitch.' (Are you loving all these cliche's?)
Anyway, we are busy finishing up our history study of the American Revolutionary War. Ryan's excited to move on because he wants to study the Civil War. Cailin is excited to finish with the history segment because she'd much rather be working on science. For the next few months she will be studying animals and will write her own book. We have the book mapped out; she will be researching and writing about a different animal every day and she's 'chomping at the bit' to get going. She loves to write.
As for Connor, he chose to keep doing math during the Christmas break. If he keeps this up he should finish with his second math book for this school year in April or May sometime. He loves to study math and science, (astronomy and Newton's laws of motion are his favorite).
Delaney loves to go to 'preschool' at the Mattson's. (Another home schooling family) She wants to learn to read. We recently purchased a large print Book of Mormon for her and are helping her identify sight words. She has most letters and sounds down and loves to "do school work" like her big brothers and sister.
And so our quest for learning continues.
Ryan is busy working on a project for history. He is researching George Washington and will present to the family and our history group a power point presentation this coming Friday.

Cailin is working on learning to write in cursive.

Delaney loves to play with the felt dolls.

Connor hard at work on his new math book, Math U See's Espsilon level

It snowed!!

Oh how exciting it was to wake this morning to snow falling down and our yard covered in the beautiful white stuff.
Of course, the kids were very excited. They dressed and were playing outside before they ate breakfast.
Liam could sense the excitement and was eager to join the fun outside. At first he seemed a bit perplexed, unsure of the snow falling in his face. That didn't last long as he quickly discovered the fun of walking in the snow and then made a quick dash for the road. (He loves to walk in the road. I'm not sure why, maybe it's just to see us chase him and he thinks that is a fun game.)


Connor pelted me with a snowball as I walked out the door, that little turkey! Of course I should have been expecting it. He has talked often of how he wants to throw snowballs once we get some snow....he had his chance and the fear of 'time out' :) didn't stop him.
He and Cailin also built a little snowman. Delaney enjoyed walking around trying to catch snowflakes.
All of this fun before 8am.

Connor tried to get Ryan to wake up and join in the fun, but his teenage desire for sleep overcame him and snow just wasn't enticing enough for him to climb out of his warm bed.
(He also wasn't feeling well, he's dealing with a yucky cold.)

Delaney helps Liam walk around in the snow.

Cailin posing with her snowman....Liam very interested in the carrot nose. He plucked it off just after the picture was taken.

After some breakfast, chores and a bit of school work I realized that this snow wasn't going to last very long. I made a quick phone call to our friends the Mattson's asking if we could come and go sleding down the hill in their backyard. "Of course, please come" was the reply and off we went. It was a good thing, by the time we got there (around 11 am) the snow was starting melt.

That didn't stop the kids from sledding anyway. They had a great time! After the fun of sleding wore off, they played tag and played on the swing set. (picture above: the Hale, Mattson and Coiner clan.)

Here is Cailin...."I can't wait for my turn with the sled. I want to go down now!" She decided to sled on her tummy down the hill.

By the time we got to the Mattson's much of the snow had melted so they helped push each other down the hill.

After all that fun, they were hungry. They all enjoyed peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and apples. Yummy!

This may not be like the snow fall of 17-20" in one night alone that my family has received in Spokane, but we enjoyed what snow we got and had a wonderful afternoon...and after we got back home from our frosty adventures we still had time to finish up with the school work!

And yes, we are hoping for more snow!

Liam, my little drama king

Barry and Ryan were in the family room the other night and watched as Liam came storming into the room. Obviously he was upset about something, but what made the moment so funny was that he then swung both hands above his head and flung his whole body onto the sofa and cried, wailed and thrashed about, lifting his body in this fashion over and over again.
Ryan and Barry just looked at each other, wondering what had him so upset then Ryan commented drily "That's what Delaney does when she's mad." This occured during his melt down time, when I'm making dinner. I'm sure I upset him by not giving him his dinner right then and there!
I think I have another 'drama king' on my hands.
I sure do love watching my children's personality emege.

Showing off Cailin's room

In our home we have 3 large bedrooms and one small room that is a throughway between two other rooms. It's great for a play room, craft room, library--any type of room that doesn't require some privacy. When Elizabeth lived here with me while Barry was in Iraq, she had this room as her bedroom. She graciously allowed everyone to come and go through her room as they wished. As a newborn, Liam, stayed with me in my bedroom. Once Barry came home and Elizabeth left we tried to turn this same room into Liam's bedroom.

This didn't work out so well. Because of all the traffic and the location of this room being central in the house he never slept well. He needed more sleep than he was getting.
So...I moved him into the girls room and all their toys were moved into this central room. I thought this was great. The girls could play while Liam slept peacefully in the far away room of the girls.

One night we were drawing family names for Christmas gifts and she drew Liam's. She became very upset andtold us she refused to buy or make him anything. We wondered why? Where did all this anger come from?This wasn't like her, she is normally a very easy going happy go lucky girl. She's also very helpful and tender with Liam. Barry took her aside and had a wonderful heart to heart moment with her. He came back to me and reported that she didn't like sharing her room with Liam. Her biggest complaint was that she couldn't read late at night and she loves to have her own quiet pondering spot. This was lost with Liam's arrival in the room. (there were other complaints, but alas, they were just a part of being in a large family and having siblings.) Well after pondering and contemplation...and a broken down door falling, I had an "ah-ha" thought and took that door propped it up with the desk, added a curtian and viola, the open central room is now closed off and a very small bedroom with a small walkway/hallway to go between the two rooms.
She moved in and is loving her own very special bedroom....a perfect little girls retreat. I often find her there reading books, playing with her guinea pigs (more on that later) or sitting at her desk writing one of her many books.
Lucky for us, Delaney is delighted to share a room with Liam!

A walking/bking afternoon

I'm sure many of you out west are tired of the snow and cold. I thought I could share some warm weather with you via these picture.

Secretly, I'm wishing for a portion of your snow, but, we are enjoying this mild, spring like weather (today it was in the 60's).

We had a great afternoon walking and biking along the New River Trail yesterday.

Delaney was a bit nervous about riding her bike and chose to "ride her horse" instead, so she galloped along the trail while I pushed Liam in the stroller.

And off they go....

Liam is thrilled to be out of the stroller...he wouldn't stop and let me take a picture of him.

Such a handsome fellow!

Such a beautiful little girl.

Wow! I can't believe it, Connor actually let me take a picture of him while he smiled. He later told me that he only did it so I would stop taking pictures of him.

How wonderful she is!

Let me out of here....I want to walk around.

We missed Daddy at home, (he was working midnights and need to sleep), but many more afternoons are just around the corner.....

Here we go....

We'll, I'm not the most computer savvy, but I thought this would be a great way to keep up with family and friends. So, here we go at blogging. I think I may have found a great way at keeping in touch with all of you....especially Grandma and Grandpa!