Super Cancer Fighters!

Our friend, Lindsay Clay, has breast cancer.  She has been treated and was supposedly in remission until a couple of months ago when they found cancer in her spine and was given a 3 year time frame to live :/.  Lindsay has been through so much and is an awesome lady.  She fights hard, hangs in there and has a great attitude.  Our friends Brittanie and Emily put together a surprise party for Lindsay to celebrate her and help lift her up for the struggles ahead!

 

I was glad I got to go hang out with these ladies, even though we moved away from our Fort Worth friends a year and a half ago.  It was great to be there for Lindsay and bond with her again too!  I miss the days of hanging out and doing our Primary stuff together!

 

We each made a fun mask and made up a super hero name.  Then there was a photo booth set up for us to take fun pictures in.  Here are a sample of the photos!

 

Here is Sandy, Lindsay and me ;)

 

 
 Me and Sarah

 
The whole strong group of super hero ladies!

 
Emily, Lindsay, Brittanie, and me :)

 
When we were in primary together Lindsay would draw people on my toes... and I would do it to her and such.  We had a great time.  I figured she needed some super hero toes to help kick cancer's butt for good! 

 
Close up!

 

Brittanie has a hedgehog for a pet... I just couldn't resist getting a picture with her... HedgelinaJolie :)

With a prognosis of 3 years at the most to live we hope that miracles can happen and Lindsay gets to spend lots of years here with us and her sweet family!

Recess Time!

Recess is easily my favorite part of our homeschool day!  It could be because I don't have to teach anything, grade anything, or correct what the child is learning (in general).  Or maybe it's because I get to go outside, ride my bike, shoot hoops, kick the soccer ball and even throw a football... but it's so much more than that!  I love recess because I get to enjoy my kids being kids!  They love riding their bikes these days and it's so great to have so much space for them to ride and get energy out in the middle of our day.  It is great to see the kids interact and love being friends with each other!  

Really though, I love recess because I am spending such great time with my kids!  I love that I am involved outside with them!  I am usually kicking a soccer ball and throwing a football at the same time to different children!  Even riding my bike is fun because they are all out riding their bikes too.  I think just knowing how fast they are growing and will be gone really makes me appreciate this time together.  I know that I don't make myself go out and play with the kids so recess time is great for me!  

One of my favorite activities is throwing the football.  Talmage will bring the football out and start throwing with me.  I'm sure one day it won't be cool to throw a football with your mom, but until then I will keep throwing and doing running plays with him.  Grant usually joins in after not too long and that is always great!  I love that I can hang with my boys!  If Jeff makes it outside he usually joins in too :).  It is great to be part of these memories with our kids!

Mhari

Clark!

Sandra

Grant... too fast for my phone camera!

Lorna... taking care of the basketballs :)

Mhari riding

Talmage

Yay for Recess!

Time to make the Donuts!

I have this memory of being little and my parents making homemade donuts.  Now, I don't have a good memory and only certain things seem to stick from growing up, and this was one of those memories.  I don't remember if we did it often or not, but the idea of making our own homemade donuts was amazing to me!  Plus they tasted really good! 

I have seen a recipe in my handy cook book for many years, but never had enough nerve to try it... until last Sunday!  I looked it over and decided that I could do it!  I knew it might all turn out very badly because it was my first time, but if I never tried I would never learn how to do it better, right?  

After making the dough and letting it cool in the fridge for 2 hours (probably the hardest part) I was ready to go!  

I rolled out the dough and used my biscuit cutter to cut out my donut circles.  To make the donut holes I used a water bottle cap for a cutter.  It worked pretty well.  I can not say that they were not the most visually attractive donuts I have ever seen... but what really matters is whether they taste good or not!

It was then time to put the donuts in the hot oil and fry them.  Talmage saw how I was cooking them and made a very good realization:  Donuts really are not good for you!  
He just thought everyone said they weren't good because they were sweet, but now he also knows they are fried in oil... maybe not helping the donut on it's healthy points ;).  

After they cooled for a few minutes I dunked the tops of them in a glaze sauce and let it rest on the cooling racks again.  the glaze then dripped down covering most of the donut ;).  

Let the tasting begin!  
Chica

Clark

Bug

Grant

Some of the first ones were a little doughy in the middle so I cooked the rest longer.  They really did turn out well!  They were best fresh off the cooling rack, but still tasted good the next day.  Jeff ate some and liked them.  He said that we should make these more often!  That must mean they were good!!!  Looks like it will be "time to make the donuts" more often around here :)

Creating a Comet!

At Co-op this year Jeff's brother, Nathan, is teaching a science experiments class.  Last week they learned about comets and then they made one.  Afterward co-op their family usually comes over and hangs out at our house for the rest of the afternoon.  This week Nathan brought enough stuff to recreate the experiment for all of our kids, since not all of our kids are in his class.  

He set up on the back of the pickup tail gate.  The kids were all required to wear safety glasses :)

Close of up the learners :)

Adding the different ingredients to the comet

Dry ice time!

The kids really liked the dry ice.  Hard to blame them ;)

The finished comet.  We just needed to be able to launch it to get the whole effect ;)

While Nathan was doing the experiment, Jeff took a short break from working and watched from the front balcony.  That's one of those benefits from having a home office ;). 

It's fun to have some great learning activities!  I think the kids love it even more that they get to do it with their cousins!!!

Tickle Time!

As a family we love to cuddle, climb, and wrestle with each other.... OK, so maybe that's what the kids like to do :).  They are bigger these days so Jeff doesn't do some of the crazy things he used to do - like be a bull.  It doesn't really stop the kids though.  Sandra is almost always the one to start it.  She is a great little koala when riding on the back of Jeff.  I don't blame her for still trying to hang on to the days of riding on her daddy's back ;).  It usually just turns into a big tickle fest.  That's really the best part anyway!

Here they are all ganging  up on Daddy!  Mhari, Grant, Sandra and Clark

Daddy ticking the girls 

Talmage had found a book and was nearby, but not participating...

Until his brothers got involved ;)

I was enjoying being the photographer.  It just happened that Daddy decided I needed in on the fun and sent the little ones to attack me ... 

I'm in there somewhere ;)

The only picture you can see me is blurry... but it's proof I was surviving the tickle war!

More Daddy Time!

The older boys 

It's sometimes the little things like this that end up being the best memories ;)