What we are Playing At Our House
Saturday, March 29, 2008
The adults and kids can play and neither gets bored.
Anyone else played it? Any other good recommendations for fun family games?
A Hit!
Can I just say the trampoline has been a hit with our kids. Nothing like telling them to go burn off some energy outside before dinner. I can't wait for summer!
Amanda's back . . . and she's discovered candy
Thursday, March 27, 2008
We are happy to report that Amanda has almost fully recovered from some complications of pneumonia that prevented our Spring Break trip to California. Thanks to everyone for their prayers and help with meals and watching the big kids while we spent most of last week at the doctor's office, x-ray lab, and hospital.
Of course, Amanda doesn't realize what she has been through. But on Easter morning, she made a wonderful discovery. She learned that the colorful plastic eggs hidden throughout the house can be opened with a good squeeze. And then she learned what CANDY is and where to put it (straight into her mouth). She became quite the scavenger over the next couple of days, finding lost jelly beans and an occasional missed Easter egg. We are so glad to have our happy and busy little girl back!
Happy Easter, everyone!
Backyard Progress
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
We finally finished the planters for our garden. Now we just need to set them in the ground and fill them with good planting soil. 
The kids already have stuff picked out to plant...Broccoli, corn, pears, apples, and bananas. Lisa and I hope for tomatoes, broccoli, peppers, carrots, and lettuce. Maybe we'll just tell the kids the seed is a from a banana ...but something weird happened so it came out as a tomato.
The Science Project
Since we couldn't go to California, I thought I would post a few quick pictures of things we've done over the past several weeks.
This one is of Natalie's Science Project. She did a great job!
Just a quick, funny story. She did all the typing in MS Word and of course there were a few misspellings. At one point, she asked me what the green squiggly line underneath many of the words meant. I told her it was a grammar error. I then started explaining that the red line meant a spelling error, but she quickly stopped me by saying with a smile "oh, I already knew that!" She also figured out that if she forgot to capitalize a word after a period, the computer would do if for her. Pretty soon she just started letting the computer do all the capitalizations.
Dr. Pope Would be Proud
The Rock Score:
Natalie: 5 buckets
Brendan: 1 bucket
The kids raced outside this morning in the pouring rain and each filled a bucket. When the rain stopped, Natalie went back out with a vengeance and was still working when I came home. She even had another bucket that was almost full, but she was too tired and hungry to finish it.
Some interesting observations...
1) Brendan started fast and furious but petered out quickly. I don't think he really understands the value of a dollar yet. He doesn't really have a toy that he is drooling over (or should I say he just wants every toy?), so he really isn't yet motivated by a few extra green papers in his wallet.
2) Natalie was thinking about all the money she was earning the entire time. When I came home from work and asked her about what she was going to buy, she said a CD player, a Hanna Montana CD, and stuff for my room. So she must realize that with money you can buy cool stuff and that to get money all it takes is a little work. One of the neatest things to see was that Lisa didn't have to bug Natalie to do the work....she just went out and did it.
3) The kids quickly learned that if you used the rake, you could fill the bucket much faster. They apparently also learned that if extra leaves and dirt were put into the bucket, the bucket filled up even faster. We weren't sticklers on the amount of dirt and leaves in the bucket, but the kids found a flaw in the payment process and took advantage of it. Good for them! But next time I'm going to set a stricter rule.
Just so you know, we don't pay the kids for every job they do. They have a very long list of regular chores that have to be done or they can't do certain activities. We only pay for money jobs that are above and beyond the normal call of duty...or Lisa and I just don't want to do them.
Either way, I'm very proud of Natalie. She did a great job and worked very hard. Now if I can just find the right incentive for Brendan... Any suggestions about what works with boys?
BTW: Dr. Pope was my Econ 110 Professor...I loved that guy.
Lava Rocks and the Value of a Buck
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Much to our chagrin, the previous owners of our house filled the flower beds up with lava rocks. Of course the rocks are grenades, lawn mower missiles, and flower killers so they had to go. Unfortunately, quite a few still hide in the bushes and in the mud.
Anyone remember Econ 110? I loved it because I think all people are motivated by self interest--even irrational 5 and 7 year olds. So I ran an experiment (don't tell the social workers) using my ki..., I mean guinea pigs.
On Monday, I offered $2.50 per bucket of rocks that the kids found. It worked pretty well. Brendan was the first to fill a bucket and then Natalie persisted and filled two buckets. Of course, we heaped the praises on them and gave them the money as soon as possible.
Now I know for a fact that there are still quite a few rocks out there...so I offered them this.
It is supposed to rain tomorrow but Thursday and Friday we have other plans... I guess we'll see how much Natalie wants that Hanna Montana CD and how much Brendan wants another transformer.
I'll post their earnings tomorrow.
Our Backyard Fun
Sunday, March 23, 2008
We followed everyone's advice and picked up the trampoline. Ezra is totally bummed that his nice, new, green grass is covered. Of course it was a family project to put the whole thing together. This is just a quick video of us putting it together.
The rules are strict:
1) Your parents have to agree before you jump
2) Only 2 people of similar age at a time
3) No toys or flips on the tramp
4) No fighting, pushing, or wrestling (at least no wrestling without dad)
There are a whole bunch more. What rules do you use?
It's a . . . . . . . girl?
Sunday, March 9, 2008
Our long-awaited ultrasound was Friday. I think I was more on-the-edge-of-my-seat excited with this one than I was with Natalie or Brendan (we chose to be surprised with Amanda). I was POSITIVE it was a boy. Ezra didn't have feelings one way or the other. We left only knowing one thing for sure-- baby #4 is very modest. He/she kept his/her legs crossed almost the entire time. We were able to get a brief glimpse and the ultrasound tech gave her opinion that it was "probably" a girl. So, yea, another girl!!! We think. We'll let you know in July. ;-)
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