Minnesota

It seems to have become a tradition now to spend the 4th of July in Minnesota with Joseph's family. We usually have a BBQ at Lora and Jeff's house complete with firework displays in the driveway and even Jeff's home made variety. We follow that up with the official fireworks near their home in Jordan. We pile in the vans and find a good spot to set up camp in the crowds. While waiting, we enjoy snacks and sparklers along with good old-fashioned conversation and laughs. The fireworks are always a highlight for the kids and it is fun to create such memories each year on the 4th of July.




The day after the 4th, we gathered at a park in Apple Valley for a fun day of family activities and play. The kids made patriotic hats, played in the sand and swam in the lake.







We had lots of good food and games--relays, balloon tossing, and races.

And a family picture.

We spent a day enjoying the Kraft family and their home out in Minnetrista. What a great bunch of kids: 9 girls and 2 boys almost all perfectly aligned in terms of age.

On our final day in Minnesota, we spent a perfect Midwest summer evening outside. Ella and Jane became fast friends during our stay at Jennifer's house. They spent a long time walking Daisy and Duke.

Xander, not pictured here, had fun with Adam climbing around the boulders. Abigail and Maggie, along with Lora's girls, found their way to the garden where they picked berries for dessert.

Crazy California

It hardly seems like another year in Singapore is over and we are heading home for the summer home leave allowed to us each year. I dread the flight as a necessary evil to carry us home to see family. And, like every previous flight home, I commit to never subject myself and children to such torture ever again. But we made it to Grandma and Grandpa Larsen's house and we quickly forget all of it amid the excitement of family, flowers, tire swings, waterfalls, trees to climb, cats to chase, and so on. Xander sure enjoys playing with some other boys in the waterfall.

Abigail and Maggie find a rare Southern California summer storm rainbow.

Juliet enjoys a bath in Grandma's new farm sink in the kitchen

Walking to the horses is always a favorite way to spend an afternoon.

The Jones Family Farm in downtown San Juan Capistrano is also a favorite with the children. There is a rabbit and guinea pig cage with dozens of animals the kids can feed, pet and hold. Abigail, being particularly fond of animals, could spend hours just holding and petting them. Because we don't have any pets, I like to take her to places like this so she can satisfy her pet cravings. Ella was a little bit of a hazard around the pets so I ended up spending most of my time with her at the swingset.

For Xander's 5th birthday, we went down to the USS Midway in San Diego to enjoy exploring a battleship. Then up on the flight deck, we had fun watching Xander's excitement as he ran around looking at all the fighter jets and helicopters. It was a fun way to celebrate with our favorite little guy. The day ended with a big chocolate (he takes after his dad) birthday cake and presents with siblings, cousins, and grandparents.

Following Xander's birthday, we packed up our suitcases again and moved just a few miles away to beach row for the family reunion. Everyone came from across the US, and we were a huge group of 40 in 3 beach houses. Some of the fun memories include:

SD+PA+BB=ATSWTFYG/WU+RC and hats

Formula 1 Racing CampfiresUkuleles No Empty Chairs at our Table

Sand and Sun

Recording Studio

Digging for Treasure

Relays

Roasting Marshmallows

Food, food, and more food

Dancing with the Wii

Triplets

Kites and Kayaks

Sand Forts and Rock sculptures

Cousins (25 of them)

And family pictures . . .

End of the school year

The end of the school year is a very busy time. We have school concerts, conferences, and parties galore. And being expats only compounds the issue because everyone leaves for the summer so there are so many loose ends to tie up at home and at church as well. So this month has been busy with not only school events, but church parties and activities; and on the home front holidays (Mother's day, our anniversary, my birthday,) doctor's appointments, getting organized to lock the door for 7 weeks, and so on. So the calender is about ready to burst. And we missed pictures of most of it, unfortunately. I don't know if it is laziness or craziness.

Maggie had a musical concert at school that was really fun along with a walk-a-thon recently where the 2nd graders walked or ran laps to raise money for several local charities. Maggie has a very philonthropically oriented mind and is always wanting to give things to people (starting at home with her siblings.) She ran 8 laps and walked 8 laps in the 1 hour they had allotted. She tied with one other 2nd grader for the most laps. When she puts her mind to something, she has a surprising amount of endurance. She has also surprised Joseph recently when she has gone running with him. Maggie is wrapping up a fantastic year and has grown a lot. She will say goodbye to "Ms. Fabulous"--that is really what Maggie calls her teacher Ms. Farris, which I concur wholeheartedly.

At the end of the year we go to student-led conferences at the school. This is a chance for the students to lead their parents through their year by sharing a portfolio they put together which represents the year, along with various displays and such in their classroom. We sat down with Abigail at Maggie at their desks and listened to them as they talked to us about their math, reading and writing. Abigail and Maggie also led us around the campus to their "specials" which means art, PE, music, Chinese, and science lab. We visited the art show featuring their art. We played badminton with the girls in the gym, conversed with Abigail in Chinese, listened to Maggie play the gamelon (Indonesian instrument,) and watched Maggie show us how to balance a bird on her nose in the science lab. It really is a highlight for the kids and a chance for them to show us how much they have learned and what they have enjoyed throughout the year.

Abigail had a swim-a-thon event as well and had 15 minutes to swim as many laps as she could to raise money for the 4th grade charitable event. She is not too fond of swimming but she did a great job swimming 14 laps. She also has had a productive year with Mr. Roach, an incredibly energetic and dedicated teacher, who has helped her learn to work hard, challenge herself in reading, research, write with a strong voice, and work independently. I think she was a little intimidated by him and she has worked on overcoming her hesitant nature in approaching others and working in groups.

I also had the privilege to attend Abigail's music concert featuring gamelan instruments from Indonesia. Both girls have a chance to spend part of their music instruction in this room and it is always a highlight. Abigail's 4th grade class did a great job performing traditional Indonesian music.

Shower Curtain Innovation and such

Innovation with a shower curtain . . . and another good reason to turn the TV off (only we don't really have TV anyway.) I had to make a puppet theatre for my activity day girls that I work with at church. They practiced scripture puppet shows for their activity on Wednesday night and performed them for the nursery kids and sunbeams at church on Sunday. It is especially fun to work with the girls at church when 2 of the 16 are mine. Maggie was thrilled to turn 8 and get to come with Abigail and I to the activities.

All throughout the weekend the kids were busy putting on puppet shows here at home. Ella was the targeted audience; however she prefers more interactive shows where she can touch the puppets and go up to talk to them. It turns out that I was the most dependable and desired audience and had the privilege of watching many puppet shows these last few days with Juliet sitting contentedly on my lap. What great imaginative fun.

It is hard to see, but Abigail and Maggie have on little finger puppets and made food displays for their rendition of The Very Hungry Caterpillar.

We have several setbacks this month (May) with flu's and fevers. It started with a really bad flu virus running rampant in SAS and wiping our entire classrooms of kids. My children all got that one, keeping Abigail and Maggie out of school for an entire week. Then a few weeks later, we had a strange fever starting with Xander, going down the line and hitting a home run with Juliet by the end of a week. And if that weren't enough already, Abigail is now sick with another fever and respiratory ailment. And I can't forget the mysterious "polka dot disease" that began one Monday afternoon with Abigail and quickly spread to her siblings within a matter of 15 minutes. This one was truly baffling. Luckily, it only lasted through the evening and disappeared as mysteriously as it had come.

Ella is quite an active character and loves to literally follow in my footsteps.

And we just don't take enough pictures of Juliet. She is so cute and easy going. It has got to be tough sometimes surviving the noise and chaos of 4 older siblings. Just the other day, I rescued her from a peanut butter and honey sandwich that Ella was so generously sharing by trying to shove it down her throat. Dangerous on 3 accounts.

Busy Day

I had quite the day yesterday. It started early with Xander's surgery to get his tonsils out. After 3 bouts of tonsillitis in the first 4 months of this year alone, not to mention previous years, 105 degree fevers and copious amounts of antibiotics, we decided it was time to have them removed. However, no matter how minor the surgery, it is still a scary prospect to be an accomplice to putting your child to sleep in the OR and then waiting outside while they take something sharp to his throat. The part where he is waking up out of the anesthesia certainly isn't my favorite either, holding him and trying to calm his thrashing about; avoiding looking into his bloody throat while he cries, "no more surgery," as he attempts to jump up and run. I can't speak from experience, but Joseph says that is the worst part of it all: waking up. All said and done, it went well and he came home several hours later to ice cream and his big surprise.

Xander waiting to go into the OR.

And I came home to a surprise as well. A pit viper had crossed through our yard and Marifi spotted another curled up on a leaf in the neighbor's banana tree that used to partially hang over the fence into our yard. Another brown snake was seen in the same tree and most of my afternoon was spent figuring out what kind of snakes they might be and what to do about it. After reading and researching online, and based on the description (green with distinct white bands,) we are convinced it was a viper. I called the pest control company and by the time he finally made his way out here, the snakes were gone, scared away no doubt by the noise and confusion. I was quite disappointed on two accounts: I wanted the reassurance of knowing at least one of our slithering friends was permanently gone; and the pest control man finding the viper and killing it promised to be an exciting show from my front row seat in the kitchen looking out the window. After he left, Marifi quickly cut all the banana leaves that hung over toward us and we will be constantly vigilant from here on out, that's for sure.

This is a photo of the Pit Viper I pulled off the Internet on a site with info on snakes in Southeast Asia, including Singapore.

Headbands

None of my kids have grown hair very quickly, with Ella being the slowest to date. Her hair is growing in curly though and it is rather cute, so I am being patient. I did pull out these headbands that my sisters gave me for Juliet. I thought I might try one on Ella and see how it looked. She loves anything "princessy" now so all you have to do is call it a princess dress or hat to make her more than willing to wear it. Putting one on Juliet first did the trick (Ella adores Juliet) and she was excited for hers. I also love her blue eyes--like her dad's and Grandma Gordhamer's. They are fun girls

Easter

We had a nice Easter weekend, beginning on Saturday when we got together with friends in the ward to enjoy brunch followed by egg decorating and hunting activities. Xander is busy dying Easter eggs and Maggie found a big, albeit melted, chocolate Easter bunny.

This year we participated in another Easter activity, collecting change to donate to Heifer International, a global non-profit organization that provides animals to families in 3rd world countries. All the children gathered for an Easter lesson on the resurrection and a presentation about people in these less developed countries and how the animals can make a difference in their lives. With the money collected, as a group we were able to purchase a pig, goats, and some flocks. It provided another meaningful aspect to our Easter festivities. (Abigail's 3rd grade class last year did a project working with this organization and it was pretty neat. Here is a link if you want to check it out.)

http://www.heifer.org/site/c.edJRKQNiFiG/b.183217/#

I tried to coordinate the kids for Easter Sunday and of course I wanted some pictures. It is always interesting trying to get the kids to gather and hold still, let alone position them for a picture. It usually starts out with something like this:

Then we get some faces like this.


And if we are lucky, we might even get everyone looking and the majority smiling. Still not a perfect picture but cute enough.