What? We did school this week?!?

First a little humor....Bree had decided to emulate Scar from "the Lion King."  Apparently chocolate chips work well as face paint. 

 We actually DID school this week.  It was awesome!!!!  All was well until Friday (today) when Audrey got sick.  Luckily everyone else has had it. 
We have been studying rocks in science.  My parents, unknowingly, provided us with a perfect science experiment for our current unit.  They gave the kids a crystal growing kit for Christmas.  So we grew our crystals this week and this was the result.  The crystals grew on rocks provided in the kits.  Trent's, the yellow on the left, lost most of it's crystals from the rock while extracting it from the container.  Luckily we had some stuck to the bottom of the rock!!!  Marissa's, the blue in the center, worked the best.  It has crystals all over it!  Audrey's, the green on the right, grew a few crystals on the rock, but the whole bottom of the container got covered with crystals that came out with the rock.  It made a whole sheet of crystal.  Pretty cool.

 In history we learned about George Washington's young years.  So of course we learned about the story (true or no, it's still a good story) of the Cherry Tree.  Here are my kids with their trees. 

We also did our other subjects that aren't so fun to take pictures of.  Math, English, Reading, Geography, ect.  All in all it was a good week. 

2013 is off to a.........start

I would love to regale you with all the wonderful things we have been up to over the last couple of weeks.  Unfortunately, we have done diddly-squat.  We have been battling illness in our house now for over a month!!!! 
First Bree got RSV on December 17th.  She ended up being hospitalized for it, and over Christmas to boot!  While Bree was in the hospital Ben, Trent, and I all picked up a cold (I assume it was RSV).  The cold wreaked havoc on my asthma. 
We were just getting over the colds when we got ANOTHER bug.  This time a flu-type bug.  I was the first to get it, followed by Marissa and Trent. 
Needless to say we have been hacking, and sniffling, and shivering something fierce over here for weeks on end.  My asthma got so bad I had to break out the nebulizer, only to realize it was broken!  This was at 10:30 at night.  Luckily for me I have friends with nebulizers that generously shared with me so that I did not have to make a trip to the ER with no insurance!!!! 
So, here's to hoping this madness finally ends and we can become productive and resume normal life once again. 

Back to Reality

After such a crazy Christmas, including our 18 month old spending it at Primary Children's Medical Center, things are slowing down.  Our New Year's celebration was fun, spending the night at our friend's and playing games for hours.  I am now ready to get back into the normal swing of things though. 
Monday will mark our first day back into reality. 
Ben will be going back to full time work and night school 4 nights a week.  It makes for a crazy week for mom, but luckily I have some sanity savers to help until Ben is done with schooling. 

The kids will be hopping back into full time schooling.

I will be trying to use my spare time more productively.  Our goal is to have no media (unless it is a school assignment) until after dinner every day.  I am not cutting it completely out, because with Ben at school most nights, being able to sit and watch TV or play the computer in the evening is helping me keep my sanity. 

Here's to a new year and the improvements that will (hopefully) come with it!!!!

My New Year's resolutions:
Teach Bree and Trent to be more obedient by being consistent.
Build a better relationship with Marissa to inspire honesty and confidences from her.
Teach Audrey to sew.
Use my free time more productively.
Attend the Temple at least 4 times.

What are your goals for the coming year?