Marble Mania

While Aunt Jean was visiting I pulled out my box of family treasures that I collected two decades ago while helping my family clear out the Fox family home. I was trying to get Jean to take some of the treasures home with her. She took a couple of things, but resisted most of it. In the box was a bag of marbles. I took them upstairs and when Lincoln saw them he wanted to build marble runs and since we have three different marble run sets, that seemed like a great idea. The runs aren't always easy to build, so I recruited some help from their older brother and Viva came in to help, too.

It's fun to build and test and rebuild.

Impromptu Concert

The last day Aunt Jean was visiting her friend Sissy and Sissy's son Eric came over to visit with Aunt Jean. Sissy noticed the two cellos in the living room where she and Jean were visiting and asked Bentley if he would mind playing her a song on his cello. He went upstairs and came down with his cello and played a couple of songs. Lincoln and Evan played their cellos. I asked Jake if he wanted to play a trumpet number. (Sissy played the trumpet when she was younger, so she was knowledgeable about trumpet playing and was impressed with how high a note Jake could play on his trumpet and that he could play sixteenth notes.) Viva even played a song on her harp!

It is really nice to have so much musical talent in our home.

Aunt Jean's Visit

Aunt Jean came to visit her mother for a week and since we live with her mother, we got to see her, too! She was an exceptionally good sport and allowed Evan and Lincoln to give her a private concert:

and she played games with them: 

and she was the recipient of various artworks: 

Viva wouldn't sign her work on the front, but she did on the back. I'm pretty sure Lincoln and maybe Evan also gave her artwork, but I wasn't there at the time, so I didn't get a photo of their work.

Birthday Holiday

Today is Kara's birthday. To celebrate we made three cakes--enough for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. (When you're a grownup you can eat cake for all three meals!) Evan helped me make the first cake, Purple Velvet. and then I made Green Velvet and Orange Velvet.

This morning Viva put up the traditional birthday decorations. We don't always do that for adult birthdays, but Lincoln asked that it be done so he would know for sure it was his mom's birthday. After that we had cake for breakfast. Then Kara declared it a holiday from school to celebrate her birthday--a reading day!

(Where is the photo of the birthday girl? When I was taking photos she was laying on the floor busy on her computer…she might technically have been reading, but I didn't think she was reading reading, ya know? So no photo.)

The kids didn't read all day long. They went outside for a while. Then the men folk came home and we had more cake (plus pasta and barley salad). I will post photos of the birthday girl and her official birthday cake (the purple one) when I get them from  Mark.

Meanwhile here's a couple of the gifts she received. Viva make her a bouquet of paper hyacinth and also gave her some small drawings and paintings. The card is from Lincoln.  (He refused to sign it.)

Biking Weather

We still have plenty of snow, but there is finally enough dry pavement to lure the kids out with their bikes. Evan has graduated to a bike with no training wheels, but he hasn't master that skill yet so he wasn't biking today. (He will quickly learn, just as soon as we adults make the time to give him a couple of lessons!)

Cello, Cello, Cello

We have four cellos in our home. The children only currently use three of them, one of which is borrowed. Because you have to fit the instrument to the size of the student, one cello is not enough. Crazy!

Here's what ideally happens at our house every day.

Yesterday was an ideal day!

All About Lincoln

 Lincoln is a delight!  Some random thoughts in no particular order (and with no particular flow....)

He is very polite and is always saying thank you.

He's a deep thinker and I'm often surprised at some of the thoughts he comes up with.

He can be chatty but I think he has a bit of the introvert personality in him.

He loves to help.  He is the best dish cloth folder in the house, and when the big kids are doing their chores he asks me for one to do if I haven't included him (crazy kid!)

Lincoln loves Transformers, Star Wars, and Legos.  In other words - he's a typical boy in that respect.  :)

Lincoln is doing karate again - he asked to start, so he has been going a couple times a week with his sister and big brothers.

Lincoln is very conscious of rules.  Evan tries to bend them (and lead his older bro astray?!) but this offends Lincoln's sensibilities.

 I help Lincoln with his cello practice every day, and I'm always impressed with his good attitude and ability to concentrate/work hard.

Lincoln has the best smile, and a dry sense of humor to go with it.  I'm not sure if the humor is actually dry on purpose, or if he just says lots of things that come across that way.  :)

He is an avid biking fiend.  He's very excited that the driveway is dry enough to have his bike back out now!

Conclusion?  Lincoln is a fantastic little guy and a delight to be around.

Pinewood Derby 2017

This year is the first year we've been in town for the Pinewood Derby in a couple years (because we didn't go to Las Vegas for a karate tournament), so Jake had the chance to work on a car for the annual Cub Scout competition and race it himself.  He went with a cherry red finish this year! Lots of time was put in, and his car did great.  Alas, it was not the winner this year - but we have next year! :)

Everyday Life: Even More March

Snow BEAUTIFUL Snow

Viva serving hot chocolate to her brothers and their friend.

(She made it way too hot! She assured me she knew what she was doing.)

Lego Building

Bouncing...wildly!

Karate practice in the foyer as seen from above

Sword Fighting

Car Racing

School!! (?)

Minecraft with Opa

Air Hockey

Chatting with Mom

Hands-On Science

Viva loves hands-on science. She is always asking to do science experiments. We do not indulge her enough in this area. However, we now have the perfect match--little boys who want to have science fun and an older sister to enthusiastically do it with them.

They (once again) played with vinegar and baking soda.

 

Then it was on to ripping apart owl pellets. What fun! Lincoln said no thanks and stayed away. Evan watched, but would not touch.

Viva is a great hands-on science leader.

Everyday Life: More March

Minecraft

Cupcake

Traffic Jam on Race Track

More Minecraft

Chess!

Magformers

Practicing Oration Skills

Braiding

Braid

Artwork (Lincoln)

Give me steak!

How High Can You Jump?

We have had a mini-trampoline for a long time. The older children wore out the elastic cord that laces around the bed of the trampoline, so for a year or so the trampoline was out of commission. Eventually Kara ordered new cord and then a long while later Opa and I strung it on the bed. That was a few months ago. They younger boys had a great time playing with it and then we stashed it in the storage area. They recently asked for it and so it came out again.

The older children are not supposed to use it. Kara thinks they will destroy the new cord. I think they would fly off the trampoline, so I'm in agreement with her that they must not use it.