Mys-Terry

Long Time, No Post

2012-02-01T13:00:00.000-07:00

Our camera died a while ago, so the blog has been quiet. A new camera should be here soon, but in the meantime, here are some pics that were on my dad's camera. The above picture is Rebecca and her friends Tebowing after their Christmas Carol show.

Eva fell and cut her lip during our hike in to Vagabond Ranch after Christmas. She was a trooper, though, and had a good time with Grandma and Grandpa, aunts and uncles, and cousins.

Here we are, hiking to the Ranch.

I think this is Adam, or else maybe there was an ambush I was oblivious to.

Pretty, pretty.

Go Green Alligator Pandas!

2011-11-05T14:52:00.000-06:00

Eva doesn't really identify with the name that was democratically voted for by her intramural volleyball team: The Green Pandas. She wanted to be the Alligators, which happens to be the team name of her t-ball team a couple of years ago. So, to make things right, I call them The Green Alligator Pandas.

Today they played the Turquoise team. I don't know what they voted on, but I'm going to call them The Terrific Turquoise Tarantulas. The Terrific Turquoise Tarantulas won the first game. The Green Alligator Pandas won the second game, and Eva contributed to their winning score with several awesome digs that made her mother very proud. Then, the Terrific Turquoise Tarantulas won the tie-breaking third game. Darn. But kuddos to the Tarantulas.

This picture looks weird, but I just had to include it because it's a picture of one of Eva's awesome point-scoring digs.

And in this picture it looks like her arm belongs to Elastigirl, which is totally awesome. Elastigirl could be very valuable on an intramural volleyball team.

Halloween!

2011-11-03T09:04:00.001-06:00

Eva helped me make these cute, yummy little hot dog mummies. You just wrap refrigerated roll dough around the hot dogs and bake them for 15 minutes. It looks like Eva was really getting in to the Halloween spirit while she made her hot dog mummies. Frightening.

We had excellent weather for Halloween this year, the best Halloween weather I remember since I lived in Texas many, many moons ago. Halloween got caught between two snowfalls, just at the peak of warm spell between. It was almost 70 degrees during the daytime, and Eva didn't even wear a jacket while we were trick-or-treating. Of course, I carried it around and kept asking, "Are you cold enough for your jacket yet?" because I just can't imagine why a person would refuse a jacket after the sun has gone down.

Thing 1 and Thing 2 had a good time on Halloween. I don't think they caused near as much destruction as the real Thing 1 and Thing 2. Rebecca's wig recovered really well from Rocco's attack on it. He must have thought it was a bird because he tore that thing up and left little blue feathers flying all over the basement.

Unlike years past, these two put off costume design until about 5 minutes before we left for trick-or-treating. We're not exactly sure what they were supposed to be, but it doesn't seem to have mattered.

These two, on the other hand, have been planning their cowgirl Halloween costumes since springtime. Giddyup!

First Snow

2011-11-03T08:53:00.000-06:00

Our first snowfall of the year really packed a punch last week. We lost a couple dozen tree branches and had to call the power company to have them detangle some from our power lines. The city has set up a tree branch drop-off site, and we're hoping to get our branches over there this weekend because they're taking up a lot of yard space. It was an exciting way to start the snow season, but I hope our trees don't suffer too much more trauma this winter.

Denver Rescue Mission

2011-10-24T13:09:00.000-06:00

Spencer has been working on the Citizenship in the Community merit badge, and he had to volunteer 8 hours for a local charity. He dragged the bike trailer around the neighborhood and asked people for donations to the Denver Rescue Mission, which helps homeless people downtown.

Our living room filled up with donations all week. People in our neighborhood were so generous. One man went straight to his closet and just took things off the rack to donate to the Rescue Mission. One sweet old lady couldn't hear what Spencer said, which is saying something because Spencer has a loud voice, but she gave him a dollar because she could tell he was asking for something.

On Saturday, I took Spencer and his good pal downtown, and they unloaded all their donations. It's going to snow this week, and they felt good that they rounded up some coats to keep people warm. Go Scouts!

October

2011-10-18T11:37:00.000-06:00

Our lives have become a whirlwind of driving, piano lessons, driving, swim practice, driving, ballet rehearsal, driving, scouts, Activity Days, young women, firesides, driving, and driving.

Eva started playing the clarinet, and she's really taken to it. This picture was from one of her first days of practice. Since then, she's learned to keep her cheeks from puffing out like that, which is too bad because I thought the cheek-puffing was really cute.

Spencer's swim team had a big meet at this awesome pool in Thornton. He's one speedy fish.

But in the midst of all this activity, it appears that the kids still have time to goof around. Thank goodness.

Jug Dance from La Bayadere

2011-09-18T19:57:00.001-06:00

Scarf Dance from La Bayadere

2011-09-18T19:34:00.000-06:00

Eva and Rocco in the Best Dressed Dog Show

2011-09-18T19:14:00.001-06:00

Broomfield Days

2011-09-18T19:13:00.000-06:00

We didn't get any pictures of the parade this year, but here are Eva and Ava posing in front of the cars in the car show. We also watched Dock Dogs, a couple of dance performances, and listened to a cowboy tell stories.

Spencer got up early and went fishing. He caught a lovely trout, which he ate for lunch. Yum.

Fun with Sage

2011-09-08T16:44:00.000-06:00

What do you do when you have a nice, quiet morning at a sage-filled campground, but you forgot to bring balls or cards or even a book? Fun with sage!

Rocco's ready to be a bridesmaid.

Where DID you get your sage wreath?

From my stylist, darling. You should call him. He does amazing things with sage.

Last Hurrah!

2011-09-08T16:39:00.000-06:00

Friday night of Labor Day weekend we scrambled to throw some camping gear together, picked Rebecca up from ballet, and drove down Hwy 93 to Golden Gate Canyon. It was almost dark when we got to the parking lot, and we had to hike in to the campground. Luckily, Ben had the handy dandy super bright flashlight Grandma gave him, so we hiked in the dark to Sourdough Springs campground. It was really neat because occasionally we came to a high point in the trail where we could see the city lights poking out from between two peaks, and out on the eastern horizon we saw lightning flashes in the clouds. We set up our tent in the dark, cooked our tin foil dinners, and roasted s'mores before we went to sleep. Rocco was totally afraid of the dark. But in the morning when he could see that we weren't on an alien planet he was back to his happy floppy self, and he got all kinds of burs in his fur to prove it. It was fun to hike back and see the scenery we'd missed the night before because we were watching the stars come out and couldn't see anything beyond the trail.

Rebecca's shoes are toast, but she refuses to throw them away because they've hiked Mt. Quandary, the Great Wall of China, Mt. Huashan, and Walgreens.

Eva and Ben demonstrate their stellar backpacking skills.

Mom ran behind, trying to keep up.

Weekend

2011-08-30T16:56:00.000-06:00

Congrats, Luke and Jessica! While Ben was away at Luke & Jessica's wedding, we kept pretty busy around here. Spencer painted a fence at the Metzger Farm.

Eva painted a barn. Rebecca painted, too, and danced and babysat.

When he returned, Ben had a souvenir from the wedding: a Soviet-era gas mask! It's a little bit uncomfortable, but that didn't keep us from having a gas mask fashion show. Thanks, Papa!! I believe it's already made it to school for show and tell once, and it's only Tuesday.

Eva's Rocco Tricks

2011-08-30T16:52:00.001-06:00

Horse Show

2011-08-20T14:05:00.000-06:00

It was a week of horse highs and lows. Last Sunday, Eva's favorite horse Comanche had to be put down because he was old and sick. But she got to go to the stable several times this week, and today she participated in her first show. Here's Eva with Quincy. I'm not sure Quincy can even feel Eva on his back. She probably doesn't weigh any more than the saddle and blanket, but she does her best to let Quincy know who is boss.

Here she is waiting for the judge's feedback.

Eva, Quincy, and Becky had a successful morning. We think Becky is the best horseback riding teacher in the whole wide world.

Eva's First Horse Show

2011-08-20T13:59:00.001-06:00

Last Week of Summer

2011-08-20T13:48:00.000-06:00

It's been a long week because the kids' friends went back to school on Monday, but their school doesn't start until this coming Wednesday. So there hasn't been anybody to play with. But we managed to find a few things to do. We watched movies.

Played Legos.

Dressed dolls.

Played with the camera.

And had school uniform fashion shows. Just a few more days, and the kids will be making new friends, eating lunch at school, and learning, learning, learning.

Happy Birthday, Rebecca!

2011-08-13T23:35:00.000-06:00

Rebecca turned 14 today! She went ice skating with friends last night and went to her very first dance tonight. It's so fun to watch her grow up into such a nice, happy young lady.

Eva's Room Remodel

2011-08-13T23:32:00.002-06:00

Before:

After:

Lakeside

2011-08-13T23:31:00.000-06:00

The kids all got unlimited ride passes to Lakeside for completing the library summer reading program, so we went on Tuesday. This crazy ride (the one above) is one of those free-fall rides where you ride up a big shaft and then they drop you and you scream for like half a second before your lungs and vocal cords cease to function. Ben hurt his leg somehow. Maybe somebody from Lakeside will read this and send him a check for lots of money. Maybe.

This ride is called the Round Up. It's one of those rides that spins you until your back is glued against the green pad and you can't move except your cheeks go flapping in the wind and you worry about drooling. The kid who was running the ride meant business. He said there were 2 rules: no leaning forward and no lifting your feet off the floor. And he also said that if anybody broke even just 1 of the 2 rules he would stop the ride and everyone would have to get off. And he was serious because somebody on our ride lifted one of his feet up, and the kid stopped the ride and everyone had to get off. By the end of the evening, that kid had all the visitors to the park trained, tipping hats, and saying, "Yes, Sir!" He's just the kind of guy we need running our public schools... I also like the above photo because it shows us what Ben would look like if he had a moustache. I think a gun holster would add to the look.

This ride is called the Matterhorn. It was nice.

Swim Team Party

2011-08-13T23:23:00.000-06:00

Spencer just finished his first season on the Barracuda swim team, and there was a potluck party to celebrate. After eating way too much food and swimming for a while, the coaches got down to business and presented awards.

Coach Jonathan gave Spencer an award for being on time, for always helping with the lane lines, and for making huge improvement over the season. He's moving up to the next level next month. We're proud of our fish.

Corn

2011-08-07T21:56:00.000-06:00

My dad is so good at growing stuff. He takes after his mom. Someday I want to take after both of them. I thought my garden was looking pretty good this year--until I saw my dad's corn and tomatoes this afternoon. I don't have a single red tomato yet, and he probably has a hundred. And I don't have any corn at all. But I do have really cute caterpillars on my lettuce. That's something.

Rocco thinks that Rebecca is super cute and that her cheeks are yummy. Rebecca puts up with Rocco's affection much more tolerantly than I do.

Look what we found on the lettuce

2011-08-02T10:36:00.002-06:00

Cupcakes

2011-08-02T10:19:00.000-06:00

Eva and Marie made cupcakes for a tea party this week. It always helps to make beautiful pink cupcakes if you look beautiful and pink yourself.

Temple Field Trip

2011-08-02T10:15:00.000-06:00

The wonderful primary leaders in the Broomfield 1st ward organized a temple field trip last Monday. We got a tour of the temple grounds and spent a lovely morning there. Then we had a picnic on the field across the street.

This is new. The bride's bench area has been remodeled, and now there are these nice pillars and hanging pots behind the temple.

Look at all those good-looking, standing-up-straight-hands-at-their-sides kids.

It looks like these future missionaries have important things to discuss.

Bec's Big Trip

2011-08-01T12:44:00.000-06:00

Rebecca went home with Kaylyn after the reunion and spent some time in Forest Grove.

They made a delicious dinner with lots of fresh produce from Michelle's garden.

They visited the ocean and found lots of sand dollars.

And then Bec flew back home to us after when we couldn't spare her any longer. Thanks, Adam & Michelle!

Idaho

2011-08-01T12:39:00.000-06:00

The Terry reunion in McCall, Idaho, was lot of fun. We stayed in this cute little cabin by a lake. We saw not-too-shy deer running through the campground and were initiated by those horrible No-See-Em bugs. Ew.

Then we moved over to these posh digs next to the Payette River. Laptops for everyone!

How many kids can you fit in a barrel hot tub? I think there were at least 8 or 9 at one point. Did anyone take an official count?

This is my favorite picture from the week. The house had a bar, and the girls just loved playing "restaurant" in there. Looks like a good time.

Epic Terry Weekend

2011-07-07T15:44:00.001-06:00

This last weekend was epic. On Friday night we went bowling and to Applebee's for dessert because the kids had gotten passes and coupons from the library summer reading program. On Saturday morning we went to a friend's baptism, and while all the ward members were milling around eating cookies in the cultural hall afterward, we picked up tips. Backpacking tips. Then I went to Sprouts to get dried fruit and nuts and to King Soopers to get Sterno and Vienna sausages. Then we went to Roosevelt National Forest and went BACKPACKING. The kids did great. The hiking was great. The water was great (even after the iodine treatment). The scenery was great. The trail was muddy because there's still a lot of snow melting up there. The only thing that was decidedly not great was SLEEPING. Or rather NOT SLEEPING. Before we go backpacking again, we're going to have to take a long, hard look at sleeping equipment. We got home around lunchtime on Monday, got cleaned up, took naps, and got up in time to go to the Broomfield Commons and pet goats, dance to the concert, and watch fireworks. As you can see, the girls did not have a hard time sleeping on the backpacking trip. But you won't see any pictures of me dancing.

Eva's Arm

2011-06-23T17:28:00.000-06:00

Eva's holding her right arm up in both of these pictures. I'll tell you why in a minute. The above picture is from the Hammond Candy Factory. We had so much fun there in May that we took the cousins to see it this morning. Candy canes for everyone!
Yesterday afternoon, a dog bit Eva's arm and she had to get two stitches. She was so brave. The doctor told her she was braver than 90% of the adults who have to get stitches. It hurts, but what's worse is that she couldn't go swimming with the cousins this afternoon. So to make up for it, Eva and I went to Hobby Lobby and bought supplies for making fancy hair clips.

See the fancy hair clip? Brooke was wearing one, too, but she didn't have it on when we took this picture. Three Junes ago, Eva broke that very arm. I wonder what will happen to that arm in June 2014. Hopefully, the curse will be broken by then.

Nelsons are Here!

2011-06-22T11:47:00.000-06:00

The Nelsons arrived on Saturday, and we've been having a good time. Yesterday we hiked up to the first Boulder Flatiron. Here, the hikers take a little breather.

It was hard to keep up with Brooke and Eva. They crossed this boulder field in no time flat.

The boys make victory signs at the base of the first Flatiron.

Aaron and Molly's Wedding

2011-06-20T22:13:00.000-06:00

Aaron and Molly got married this last weekend. Grandma Tolman stayed with our kids while we jetted off to Seattle. We got there in the very wee hours of Friday morning. The wedding was at 10:00 that morning, and the reception was in the evening. We left on Saturday around lunchtime and got home on Saturday night. It was a smile-filled whirlwind, so fun to see everybody.

They're so proud of their handiwork. Good going, Gang.

Dancing at Aaron and Molly's reception.

Oh, baby!

There they go, off on their grand adventure.

David and Linda found this great old house in Port Orchard where the rest of us hung out until we had to head back home.

Bec on the Tracks

2011-06-14T13:50:00.000-06:00

Poor Rebecca. Her mother forgot to pick her up from ballet and she had to walk all the way home by herself on the train tracks with blisters on her feet and a tear in her eye. Luckily, someone was around to catch the sad moment on camera.

Eva's Friday

2011-06-10T16:19:00.000-06:00

Eva loves doing Around-the-World. It's like being in the circus.

This horse is Comanche, who has been too under the weather to ride lately. But Eva still likes to visit him.

Eva started tennis on Tuesday. Yesterday practice was rained out, but she got to play again today.

Close Call for Naked Penelope

2011-06-07T17:41:00.001-06:00

I sincerely hope the title of this post doesn't result in a bunch of perverts visiting the old family blog. Perverts, you will find nothing of interest here.

But if you are interested in the fate of Penelope the Hermit Crab, hold on to your hats: you're in for a wild ride. Penelope, if you remember, switched shells on April 29, 2011. Her old shell is the green one to her right in the picture. Anyway, this morning, Penelope didn't look quite right. Her eyes were all skiddywompus. Then, this afternoon, she appeared to have kicked the bucket. She wouldn't move, and her body was halfway out of her shell.

Eva was sad because not only is Penelope her favorite hermit crab, but today is Eva's actual birthday, despite already having had two birthday parties. She put Penelope is a plastic container and set her out in the backyard so we could have a memorial service after everyone was home.

Imagine my surprise when I looked into the container and saw something move. And not only that, but I saw two hermit crabs, and neither one was in the shell! Gasp! What's going on?? I asked around to see if anyone had put another hermit crab in the to-be-buried hermit crab container, but nobody had. Some people didn't even want to look in the container to find out what was going on. After some investigation (in the container and on the Internet), we realized that Penelope wasn't dead. She was molting! We welcomed her back to the land of the living, sprayed her with some treated water, and put her back in her home. That was several hours ago, and Penelope is still naked. She refuses to put her shell on. She looks really cute, all pink in her new skin.

But all this excitement does cause one to wonder: Was William the Hermit Crab actually dead when we buried him a couple of weeks ago? I think that from now on, if we bury a hermit crab, we need to install a little bell in the coffin like they did with plague victims during the middle ages, just in case it was a case of molting and not a trip to hermit crab heaven.

Eva's Birthday Party #2

2011-06-07T17:22:00.000-06:00

Birthday Party #2 was on Monday. Eva wanted a water party, and the weather cooperated nicely. First we played games in the grass.

Then we ate hot dogs.

Then there was a big water fight!

And then peppermint cheesecake. Eva has been saving the candy canes for this cheesecake since Christmas. She's very, very good at saving things. She tortures the rest of us with the way she can save candy that is off-limits to us not-so-good-at-delayed-gratification family members.

Dad became a prime target during the water fight.

Eva's Birthday Party #1

2011-06-07T17:16:00.000-06:00

Eva, lucky girl that she is, got TWO birthday parties this year. Her first birthday party was at Grandma & Grandpa's house on Sunday evening after church. There were balloons and streamers, games, and presents. We played musical chairs and Hitty Pinchy Flatty Cutty Cow and ate lots of yum yummy food.

Eva and Grandma slug it out for first place on musical chairs.

Pinocchio

2011-06-05T15:04:00.002-06:00

Rebecca had her Pinocchio show this weekend. I didn't get any pictures of the show, but I'm sure they'll show up on Facebook soon. Here she is with Grandma after the show. It was a wonderful show.

Memorial Day Projects

2011-05-31T09:33:00.000-06:00

Inspired by the sweet smells of spring, Eva and her friend Maddie picked mint leaves and snowball blossoms and various other nice smelling flora and decided to make perfume. They have jars and jars of perfume now, so if anyone wants to smell like springtime, come on over.

While the girls made perfume, the boys dug a 4-foot hole in the back yard. I know it was 4 feet because they kept coming inside to report how deep it was. Two feet three and half inches! Two feet six inches! Etc.

The reason for the hole takes us back in time about 16 years to when I was on folk dance tour in Drummondville, Canada, and I bought a hammock from some nice gentlemen from El Salvadaor. The Salvadorian hammock has been sitting in linen closets for 15 years, and Spencer decided it was high time we got it out and used it.

So he used his iron will to make sure that hammock got properly strung. And it did.

See?

Pas de Quatre

2011-05-28T22:16:00.002-06:00

Underwater Scene from Pinocchio

2011-05-28T21:07:00.002-06:00

Boulder Creek Festival

2011-05-28T20:46:00.000-06:00

Danse Etoile did a beautiful job at the Boulder Creek Festival despite the technical difficulties with their music. It's always fun to see the fruits of the kids' labor, and it was a good warm-up for their Pinocchio show, which is next weekend.

Eva showed off a few dance moves by the creek as well.

This talented fellow drew quite a crowd by wading out into the fast-moving creek and balancing stones on top of each other. I'm not sure what I'm more impressed by: the unusual idea (it would never have crossed my mind to do such a thing) or his ability to withstand the cold (snow runoff! And it was chilly outside).

Eva got a crocheting lesson from grandma in the van on the way home. They're yarn buddies.

Miscellaneous

2011-05-28T09:18:00.000-06:00

School's out! At least that's the word on the street. I just got a couple of textbooks in the mail this week (evil cackle). The weather has led us all to believe that it's not quite summer vacation yet, but we're hopeful. We're going to the Boulder Creek Festival this afternoon where Bec will be performing, so I'll post those later.

Spencer started taking piano lessons last week, and he's zipping along in his book because he gets 15 minutes of computer time every time he passes off a song (2 times through with no mistakes). Well, he got ambitious and started teaching his friend Killian to play, too.

Eva and Ava got their pictures taken in the photo booth at the mall last Saturday. They also went to the Disney Store and the indoor playground.

Spencer and Eva like eating outside.

The dollhouse got rearranged.

But the sad news of the week is that we had to have a memorial service for William the Hermit Crab. Besides the grave in the backyard, Eva also made a little memorial to put in the hermit crab cage so the other hermit crabs won't forget William either.

Rebecca's Piano Piece

2011-05-14T16:55:00.001-06:00

Eva's Piano Piece

2011-05-14T16:37:00.000-06:00

Piano

2011-05-14T16:27:00.000-06:00

It's just not enough to have a swim meet, a campout, a soccer game, ballet rehearsal, and an Elder's Quorum activity this weekend. We needed a piano recital, too. How many more weeks are there in May?

Camping

2011-05-14T16:22:00.000-06:00

Ben and Spencer went to the stake father & son campout last night. I wasn't there, and they're not around to tell me about the pictures. So I'll have to use my imagination on the captions. In the above picture, most of the boys are gaping in awed reverence at the sight of a beautiful doe leaping through the forest, but all little Johnny (in front) can think of is about how his mom forgot to pack his dinner.

I thought it was a paint ball gun!

Spencer and Cade decided to put their Minecraft skills to use and build a REAL building. Not bad for a morning's work. See, video games can be useful.

Yummy Mummy's Day

2011-05-09T07:29:00.000-06:00

Happy Mother's Day, Mom, Nanee, Grandma Ashe, Grandma Bowen, Reiko, and all the other mothers I love! At our house, Mother's Day is all about the food. We had waffles, bacon, fruit bread, and apples for breakfast, lots of good food at church, fish sandwiches for dinner, and then Ben and Eva had a donut fry at the end of the day. All the neighbor kids could smell them, so we didn't have a single leftover donut hole by the end. It was a delicious and relaxing day. Thanks, My Love!

Out and About in Boulder

2011-05-06T13:22:00.000-06:00

For our weekly field trip today we went to Boulder Ice Cream and took a tour. It's a small operation with just 9 employees, but they have free samples. You may be beginning to see a motivation behind our field trips (free candy, free ice cream). Boulder Ice Cream is in an industrial area, and next door is a shop that welds metal stuff. They made this cool snowboard bench.

But even cooler than the snowboard bench and much more exciting to us is this picnic bench on wheels! We usually walk to church on Sundays. It takes us 30-35 minutes to get there. So when we had 9:00 church we often discussed our plans to make a motorized picnic table that would allow us to eat our cereal on the way to church. I just can't believe somebody else had the same idea and actually executed it. Of course, this one doesn't have a motor; it has bicycle pedals. But bicycle pedals are good, too. Only one person would have to eat breakfast before leaving, and it should be a big breakfast because it would be hard to pedal 5 people and a picnic table up Kohl St., especially since everyone would have their scriptures and various other church things to carry.

And then we went to Pearl St. to see all the pretty flowers and the Art Deco court building and to listen to the dreadlock guitarists, who were actually quite good.

Do you like Rebecca's superhero hair?

School is Winding Down

2011-05-05T12:41:00.000-06:00

Here's what lunch looks like when Rebecca gets creative:

Yesterday I finished up marking off all the kids' lessons on the Online School. When I clicked on the last "Submit," I squealed with delight. One of the kids heard the sound I made and asked, "Did Rocco fall down the stairs?" I can't tell you how exciting this is. I calculated that I've spent over 90 hours marking off kids' lessons this school year alone (that doesn't include any teaching time--it's purely administrative). Boy, do I have plans for the time I won't be spending marking off lessons.

Today is Rocco's birthday, so the girls are making special dog treats just for him. They found a dog cookie recipe that contains meaty baby food. I think this is one cookie I'll be able to resist.

Tenaglias' Baptism

2011-05-01T18:12:00.000-06:00

Aw, look at 'em.

Happy, happy, happy! Julie and Olivia were baptized yesterday. Never one to give people a break, I asked Julie if she'd help me teach in Relief Society today. She did such a wonderful job, I think I'll ask her to speak every time it's my turn to teach. She was a natural.

Candy Friday

2011-04-29T15:45:00.000-06:00

Stop the press! Penelope the hermit crab has moved into a new shell! It looks a little big for her, but she looks ravishing in this little green and brown number.

To ease end-of-year burnout, we're taking one field trip a week now. Today we visited the Hammonds candy factory in Denver. I imagine that their tour traffic has increased since the Jolly Rancher factory closed down.

The cool thing about this factory is that all of their equipment is really old, which makes their candy look very old-fashioned. Their fudge table was built in 1919, and they still use it for all their fudge. All of their other equipment is from the 20s, 30s, and 40s. They say it breaks down less often than the modern machinery. That's depressing, isn't it?

I wore my paper hat all the way home. I like it. It feels nice on my head.

Spencer's First Swim Meet

2011-04-23T19:43:00.000-06:00

Spencer joined the Barracuda swim team in March, and he's been working hard. He had his first swim meet yesterday and competed in 4 events: 100m Freestyle, 50m Backstroke, 50 Breaststroke, and 50 Freestyle. He won his 50m Freestyle race! It was funny to see some of the kids drawing sharks and mustaches on themselves with Sharpees before the race. They talk smack with those markers. I saw several kids with "Eat my bubbles!" written on their backs. I'd never seen such a thing.

You can see a "tattoo" on Spencer's left wrist. This is how the kids keep track of their events, heats, and lanes. It looks like a fancy little graph on their arms, but it really does help with the organization.

Spencer's Winning 50m Freestyle

2011-04-23T19:35:00.002-06:00

Engineering

2011-04-23T18:48:00.000-06:00

Eva looks down at all the engineering students at CU. The seniors were all displaying their senior projects.

This project was a ferris wheel ice cream dispenser, which actually dispensed ice cream, maraschino cherries, chocolate chips, and M&Ms. My kind of engineering project.

This is a device that allows wheelchair-bound people to use the Wii fitness pad. Ben is downhill skiing as he sits on that wobbly chair.

Spencer enjoyed this project that allows people to virtually navigate around a 16th century Roman city in Switzerland. They worked with the University of Switzerland on the project.

Science Fair

2011-04-21T21:08:00.000-06:00

Grandma met us at the Wildlife Experience in Parker for the COVA Science Fair. Eva's project is on the right (light blue), and Spencer's on the left (green). After the judging was over, we got to go explore the museum. My favorite part was the frogs. They were awesome. I love their tiny round sticky blue fingers up against the glass. But enough about the frogs.

Eva studied the durability of vegetable dyes and found red cabbage to be the most durable when given the laundry and sun-bleaching tests.

Spencer studied how well Lego buildings withstood earthquakes (aka the shake table at CU).

Rebecca studied the viability of using distilled salt water for irrigating crops, and she won third place in the 6th-8th grade division.

Here's Eva charming one of the judges.

Shake it again.

2011-04-17T22:47:00.002-06:00

Shake it, Baby!

2011-04-17T22:07:00.001-06:00

Another Science Fair Project

2011-04-17T21:55:00.000-06:00

The science fair isn't until Thursday, but we've gotten some pretty good mileage out of it so far. Spencer decided to investigate how different structures hold up during earthquakes. So he made a bunch of Lego buildings (and I think Eva helped build at least one), and then he took all of his buildings to a lab at CU that has a shake table. It's fun to build things with Legos, but it's even more fun to velcro said structures and shake them until they fly across the lab in a million pieces. Well, maybe that's an exaggeration, but you get the picture.

And speaking of the science fair, next year the kids won't be participating in the COVA science fair. They'll be participating in The Academy science fair. The kids all got into a charter school we've been hoping for, so come August, they'll be packing their lunches and carrying their backpacks out the door. And Spencer and Eva will have to wear UNIFORMS. And tuck in their shirts. And wear belts. And march in straight lines. Like the children Von Trapp. Liesl! Friedrich! Marta!

Look how nice and neat their feet look all lined up like that.

But back to the science fair. Rebecca actually did her project almost a year ago, so all she had to do was pull it out of the crawl space, dust it off, and spiff up the graphs. She investigated whether or not distilled salt water could be used to irrigate crops.

Happy Day!

2011-04-17T21:42:00.000-06:00

It wasn't a very exciting day for Rocco.....

but it was a very exciting day for the rest of us. Our good friend Ava was baptized today. It was her 9th birthday, and she decided that what she wanted for her birthday was to be baptized. She looks stunning here in her white jumpsuit. She said it was very comfortable. Eva was nervous because she hadn't said the prayer at a baptism with so many adults there before, but she did a great job.

Friday Afternoon Frolics

2011-04-17T21:28:00.000-06:00

Eva lives for Fridays, and not just because she likes Rebecca Black's song. Eva loves Fridays because that's when she gets to go horseback riding. Here she is with her excellent teacher Becky, and the horse is Quincy. Eva loves horses like crazy, but she always takes a shower as soon as she gets home because she doesn't like smelling like horses.

Three Signs that it's April

2011-04-14T08:10:00.000-06:00

The pencils are all worn out!

Science fair projects are in their finishing stages.

Aw, man!

New Toy

2011-04-05T12:36:00.000-06:00

The kids got up at 5AM this morning so they could have their jobs finished when the sun came up. Why?

Because this was waiting for them all night while they slept. Our friends Jerry and Lois were looking for a new home for this scooter, and they asked if the kids would like it. Would they ever!

Grandpa Tolman, look what Eva did during conference this weekend.

Eva: Crabmaster and Fashion Designer

2011-04-03T13:03:00.000-06:00

With her very own money, Eva bought two hermit crabs. Here she is at the mall kiosk, learning all about how to take care of hermit crabs. She didn't get this particular hermit crab. It was a very big crab. Uncle Jon Tolman, if you have any words of wisdom regarding hermit crabs, we're all ears.

She also experimented with different materials for designing fashions. The above Barbie is dressed in rope.

This Barbie's outfit is made of paper and masking tape.

This Barbie is wearing pens and pencils and a big fat yellow marker. The only problem with this outfit is that the Barbie can't sit, stand, and walk.

Warming Up for Spring Break

2011-03-20T17:32:00.000-06:00

Today is the first day of Spring, and it actually feels like Spring. Spring Break is this coming week, and we're looking forward to some lovely outside downtime. The above pictures is from a science lesson about simple machines.

Silly sisters.

Eva and her friend Marie had fun being fairies on Saturday.

Ava, Marie, and Eva make their way back home after their fairy picnic in the park.

Ben has made two batches of cinnamon rolls this weekend. They're delicious, and now we're completely out of yeast. I better get some fast before the baking bug wears off.

The fairy picnic

The boys found a nasty smelling tennis ball, a yellow dog toy, and lots of old pop bottles at the pond. Treasure.

CSAP and the Living Room Outlaw

2011-03-09T22:02:00.000-07:00

This week the kids have been taking the dreaded CSAP test, which turns out to have not been worth all that dread. "It was easy," was the most common response I got when I picked them up each day. The silver lining of having to take the dreaded CSAP test is that there is air hockey and foosball at the DeVry University Student Commons (where they had to take their tests).

On Saturday we went to the ARC thrift store right when it opened for the very best deals. I found these cool little bread pans. Aren't they cute? The girls found fabric for their fashion designs. Spencer found a book on how to build computers. Ben didn't find anything, but he got to eat the cute banana bread.

Rocco's week has been a bit of a downer. His big mistake was peeing on Ben's laptop bag. Now he's not allowed in the living room any more. Here you see him peering over a dining room chair designed to keep him out of the living room. Tonight Ben installed a baby gate to keep him out of the main floor. Rocco's a little bit sad, but Ben is a lot happy.

Sneak Preview of "Dinosaur Destruction"

2011-02-28T21:33:00.003-07:00

Lego Movies

2011-02-28T21:19:00.000-07:00

Spencer and his pals have been creating Lego movies. Lego movies are great because you don't have to hire temperamental actors. You just use those little Lego guys, and they do all their own stunts. I like to see science lessons finding their way into Lego movies. Apparently, the end of the Mesozoic Era left an impression.

New York City

2011-02-28T21:08:00.000-07:00

My good friend Melani and I held our second annual homeschool convention in New York City this year. Our wonderful husbands graciously took over all home duties, which is no small thing. While in New York, we didn't eat much because there just wasn't time. During our 4 days there, we saw Times Square, the observation deck of the Empire State Building, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, the American Museum of Natural History (Night at the Museum!), the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, Ground Zero, Trinity Church, St. Patrick's Cathedral, Central Park (twice), Rockefeller Center, the Cloisters, the NY Public Library, a New York Philharmonic concert at the Lincoln Center, the Guggenheim, Little Italy, Chinatown, and the Brooklyn Bridge. Thanks to Melani's incomparable navigating skills, we became pros at using the subway and bus systems.

Here are my Chinatown dumplings posing in front of the Brooklyn Bridge.

Alexander Hamilton is buried here at Trinity Church.

The view from our nosebleed seats at the Lincoln Center.

I took this picture for Rebecca and Eva who are currently very in to fashion design. Those weird chandelier-type things at the top of the window display are made out of balloons.

Feeling off-balance at the Guggenheim. That Frank Lloyd Wright sure was creative.

One of my favorites! Three Musicians.

Melani on the ferry to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.

Valentine's Day

2011-02-28T20:52:00.000-07:00

One night when we were out running errands, Ben asked if we could stop by Hobby Lobby. Hobby Lobby? Unusual. He hid the items he bought. I found out later that he bought candy molds to make the delicious candy you see in this picture. It was so delicious that it was gone in 2 days. Well, maybe 18 hours.

Winter Occupations

2011-02-08T09:52:00.001-07:00

Eva is the proud parent of Henry the Snowman. He has gained height and weight over the last few days. This is what he looked like shortly before his growth spurt. You can see that he's holding the snow shovel. That's a bit of wishful thinking.

Rebecca and Eva have become businesswomen. They both have Etsy stores. Rebecca is selling these cute earrings online. Eva is selling refrigerator magnets.

Here's Rebecca's Store

and

Here's Eva's

Ben made this very cool contraption. I don't think I'm allowed to say what it does, but Mary Shelley wrote a book that may give you some clues.

Jungle Quest: Spencer's Birthday

2011-02-08T09:32:00.001-07:00

Happy Birthday, Spencer!

2011-02-08T09:23:00.001-07:00

Eva's favorite working spot is right on top of the heating vent.

Spencer's 11! He turned 11 on Thursday, and the 11-year-old scouts had a klondike camping trip on Friday. Unfortunately, the camera didn't make it into the bags going to the campout, so we don't have any footage, but Ben and Spencer both said it was a great time. Spencer got his very own mummy bag for his birthday.

The birthday party gang at Jungle Quest. Jungle Quest has zip lines and rock climbing.

Cubs Perform at Broomfield 1st Ward Talent Show

2011-02-01T11:41:00.001-07:00

Too Cold for School?

2011-02-01T11:39:00.000-07:00

A precedent has been set. I've lived in Colorado for many years, and I don't recall ever hearing that school was cancelled because the weather was "too cold." Until now. Schools all over the Denver metro area are closed today, not because there's too much snow (we have maybe an inch and a half on the ground) but because it's too cold. Last time I checked, it was -4. While I agree that -4 is cold, I think any temperature differences below 20 degrees are academic. Can you really feel the difference if your ears are already numb?

School's not the only event that's cancelled today. Cub Scouts is cancelled. Young Women in Excellence is cancelled. But I will bet money that ballet will not be cancelled. I can hear it now. "Girls, if you're cold, put on more legwarmers and jump higher!"

I drove Ben to the bus stop this morning because he left his bike at school. There weren't many cars out. I think the cars were on strike. When I revved up the car in our carport, it made this horrible whining sound. If I understood car language, I bet I would have heard, "Aw, c'mon. Seriously? None of the other cars hafta go out. Geez."

On the way to the bus stop I got to see those awesome sidewalk plows. Spencer and I are big fans of the sidewalk plows. They look so cool zipping along where the cars aren't allowed to travel. In fact, I think I'll write a letter to Epcot and suggest that they build a sidewalk snowplow ride. It would be a hit.

Broomfield 1st Ward Talent Show

2011-02-01T11:21:00.001-07:00

Arrow of Light

2011-01-30T15:31:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday night Spencer received his Arrow of Light award. We're very proud of him for all of his hard work. Here he is showing the cool arrow that Brother Larsen made for him. It's now hanging on his bedroom wall.

In the Kitchen

2011-01-25T10:58:00.000-07:00

Spencer and his good pal Killian made a delicious apple caramel cake yesterday. Here's what I heard coming from the kitchen. "If you keep having tastes, we'll have to keep getting new spoons." "Yeah, but have you smelled this stuff? Smell it. It smells good." "I know, but you you can't keep tasting it." "Why not?" "Germs." "Oh, yeah." "Have you smelled this stuff?"

Ice Cream Boogie

2011-01-22T11:50:00.002-07:00

Happy Birthday, Ben!

2011-01-22T11:37:00.002-07:00

We tried a new restaurant I'd heard good things about. It's called La Casita de Durango. They brought us a dish of melted cheese. You can see it dripping from Ben's chip. There's nothing like a big platter of melted cheese. Spencer adored his grilled cheese sandwich. It's all about cheese. And ice cream, which leads us to the rest of the pictures.

Spencer did two math assignments yesterday. He got 95% on one, and 96% on the other. He looks happy, doesn't he?

Ben got a new ice cream maker for his birthday and a Ben & Jerry's cookbook. Last night Ben and Eva made maple walnut ice cream from the Ben & Jerry's cookbook. I didn't realize when I buying all that heavy whipping cream that I was sabotaging the birthday cake I made him (traditional mint ice cream pie). I hate to say it, but it was hard to eat that mint ice cream pie after just a spoonful of homemade maple walnut ice cream. How are we going to get rid of all that mint ice cream pie? I never thought I would say such a thing.

This is what happens when I try to take a picture without using the flash. It's called photo airbrushing. Now you can't see if he even has eyeballs, but the candles look totally awesome.

Should have just stuck a candle in a bowl of maple walnut.

More Show Pictures

2011-01-17T21:18:00.000-07:00

I just discovered a bunch of pictures from Rebecca's show on Facebook. If you Facebookers are interested, look up Danse Etoile Ballet.

The Big Thaw

2011-01-16T22:06:00.000-07:00

It was soooo so so cold here last week. There were several days when the high temperature was around 10 degrees. So when the sun came out and melted the snow on Thursday, we just couldn't stay inside. Spencer and Eva both had soaking wet shoes after assisting the gutter in breaking up ice chunks. They weren't the only ones either. I saw several old ladies breaking up ice chunks in the gutter that afternoon. It's actually quite fun. I highly recommend it.

The warmer weather also got us back to walking to church. We love walking to church. There are many benefits and only one drawback to walking to church. First, the benefits: everyone sits very still during Sacrament Meeting because their legs are tired. Sunday afternoons are less rambunctious because everyone has exercised. We get lots of chances to talk because it takes about 30 minutes each way. So what is the drawback? Everyone in our ward stops and asks us if we need a ride. Sometimes we walk in to church and people say things like, "Do you guys even have a car?" Today, someone just slowed down, rolled down the window, and cheered for us. It's a little bit embarrassing. And yet, it's good to be loved.

Nightmare Before Christmas Eve

2011-01-15T16:33:00.000-07:00

Bec's dance teacher emailed this pic today. The girl with the Santa hat is playing Jack the Pumpkin King.

Chinese Jackets

2011-01-13T14:18:00.000-07:00

Yumeng's parents sent these gorgeous silk jackets to the kids for Christmas, so we just had to get a portrait done. Linda, do you remember when Bec bought those red shoes at the Muslim Market? Good thing she chose red.

Flowers Inside, Snowflakes Outside

2011-01-09T15:36:00.000-07:00

Nothing gets by Spencer. Nothing.

Our walks through the park have become a bit more entertaining since the creek froze over.

My friend Janice gave me an amaryllis for Christmas, and it's been fun to watch it. Here's what it looked like Saturday morning.

And here's Sunday morning. And although it looks like springtime inside the house, Ben can tell you that outside does not look like springtime.

Pure Joy in the Tower of Happyness

2010-12-30T18:35:00.000-07:00

This is the first real snow of the year! Unheard of! We usually get snow in October, and here it is, just a few days before January and we finally have reason to break out the boots.

So I turned in my coupon for One Day of Pure Joy at the Tower of Happyness, and I got a hand massage up in the reading loft. Plus, I went upstairs and Eva was sweeping the kitchen and had set the table so beautifully, and she also made mashed potatoes! I'm feeling pure joy right now. I wish all of you could visit Eva's Tower of Happyness.

Mystery Present

2010-12-29T19:08:00.000-07:00

Eva gave me a coupon book for Christmas. I'm going to redeem my first coupon tomorrow. In case you can't read it too well from the picture it says, "One day of pure joy at the tower of happyness." I can't wait to see what happens!

15th Anniversary!

2010-12-29T19:06:00.000-07:00

Our 15th anniversary was December 27th. Fifteen years! Ben surprised me with a trip into Denver. He arranged for the kids to stay with some friends and made reservations at the Capitol Hill Mansion Bed & Breakfast. For dinner, we had an appetizer at the Hard Rock Cafe, main course at Bistro Vendome, and dessert at Chili's. It was fun to wander in and out of restaurants along the 16th Street Mall and Larimer Square.

Thank you, Ben, for a wonderful anniversary and for 15 magical years.

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-27T13:23:00.000-07:00

Eva and her doll Julie are all ready for cooking in their new aprons.

Spencer's wearing the gorgeous silk jacket Yumeng's parents sent him for Christmas.

Last year it took Spencer several weeks to put together his new Lego set. This year he was done by lunchtime.

Emily's rockin' the Christmas spirit in that crazy hat.

For Christmas dinner at Grandma and Grandpa's house we had a crepe bar with all kinds of good fillings. Yum.

Danse Etoile's Little Match Girl Production

2010-12-23T16:09:00.000-07:00

Amanda, Rebecca, and Keira pose with their wonderful ballet teacher, Marie Payanet. This was at the end of the first show.

Here are the girls in their Match Girl costumes. I sure enjoyed their folk dance mazurka scene.

Curtain call. Rebecca did a beautiful job. This was her first big production, and she worked very hard on it. Rehearsals began in September. Now she's not sure of what to do with herself with a couple of weeks off from ballet.

Last Day of School

2010-12-23T16:01:00.000-07:00

Last year when we went ice skating to celebrate Christmas Vacation, Eva had to hang on to the wall in order to keep herself upright. Well look at her now! She didn't need to hold on to a single thing. In fact, holding on to her hand just slowed her down.

Here she is with her pal Madeline.

Sunday Evening

2010-12-23T15:59:00.000-07:00

Sorry we opened part of your present early, Aaron, but it sure came in handy when making BYU doughnuts. Yum.

Our friends the Shannons came over to help us act out the Nativity and play musical chairs. We've never put those two activities together before, but it turned out just fine.

Dream Chaser

2010-12-14T17:50:00.001-07:00

Have I mentioned what a gorgeous day it was here today? Sixty-seven degrees Farenheit. There were people out everywhere, walking their dogs, slappin' high fives, driving with the windows down and Bob Marley blaring as if it were the last day of school.

So we took a field trip. We went to CU to see the Dream Chaser (see below). We didn't get to see as much of it as we'd hoped because some well-heeled NASA professionals were there to inspect it, and they didn't want a bunch of homeschoolers running around making noise (we assumed). But we did get to peek in, and then we went to the ITLL to hang out and see the Big Factory of Small Balls. I didn't take a picture of it this time, though. We've taken too many pictures of it already.

See? I wasn't kidding about the weather. This joyous sunbeam even bestowed a special blessing on this bench. Lucky bench.

This is the Dream Chaser. I don't know who this happy fellow is, but he sure looks like a Proud Papa to me. This is a prototype. The real one doesn't look so fancy yet. It doesn't have a glossy finish or anything, and there aren't any cool disco lights in the real lab. If you want to read about the Dream Chaser, you can click right here.

Vocational Classes

2010-12-13T20:23:00.000-07:00

In addition to Reading, Writing, and 'Rithmatic, we've added a vocational program of study to our homeschool curriculum. Here you see the kids participating in a course entitled "Tile."

Spencer carefully collected all the scraps he could find for a backyard clubhouse project. Unfortunately for Spencer, the above specimen is not a scrap.

We forgot to feed the kids lunch before the Tile class took place, but Eva discovered that the vanilla-flavored tile wasn't bad at all.

And King Herod Died

2010-12-13T20:20:00.000-07:00

Eva and Spencer performed in the Nativity at the ward Christmas party on Saturday evening. Unfortunately, I didn't get Spencer's death scene on video (he was King Herod). It was quite dramatic and left an impression on everyone in the crowd. He was carried off over someone's shoulder. Several people told me afterwards that Spencer might have a career in acting ahead of him. I had no idea. A star is born. Watch out, Bad Guys.

Eva was an innkeeper in the Nativity. Here she is with her good pal Ava.

Train Track Garland

2010-12-05T18:07:00.002-07:00

Friends and Cones

2010-12-05T18:05:00.000-07:00

Spencer's Advice: Make sure the dog is outside when your friends come over. Otherwise, something bad could happen. Rocco looks pretty serious.

Here's what happens when you run out of ice cream.

Turkey Balloon Launch

2010-11-26T22:55:00.000-07:00

Souveniers

2010-11-22T09:59:00.002-07:00

Dad brought souveniers back from Canada. It was like early Christmas.

Cousins in Town!

2010-11-22T09:57:00.002-07:00

Rebecca could hardly speak through her giggles while we played Balderdash Sunday night.

Sam and Eva played "doggies" for hours on end.

Baby Nora kept score.

Volleyball Champs

2010-11-22T09:54:00.000-07:00

The Broomfield 1st Ward YW won the regional volleyball tournament this weekend. Rebecca couldn't participate as much this year because her ballet rehearsals often conflicted with practices and games, but she got to be there on Saturday morning. And she had fun.

Check out those crazy socks.

The pep talk worked!