Happy Birthday Tayden!!

Saturday Tayden turned 6! I had to work Friday night, so I was asleep most of the day, but I brought home Donuts and a card and balloon for him and he opened his presents. He wanted legos this year, so he got a lot of those and a new game for the Wii. Dave took the kids out to Subway (Tayden's favorite) for lunch and to a park to play and spent a lot of time all day playing what Tayden wanted to and then in the afternoon we went to a picnic at church. I brought a big cake and we had everyone sing to Tayden. We will continue to celebrate throughout the week when I will be off work. We have Chuck E Cheese plans and we still want to have some friends over to celebrate with too.

Tayden has matured a lot over the last year. I am so proud of how well he did at school and how much he has learned. He is a good reader and a very nice boy He got all perfect marks on his report card for his social skills for the entire year. His teacher loved him and he only had to move his clothes pin (their form of warnings for behavior) four or five times throughout the year. Tayden is also very helpful and sweet to have around at home. He loves to cuddle and frequently tells me and Ady he loves us and gives us compliments. He is a peacemaker for the most part and will give up a desired toy just to keep life happy. He thinks it is his job (he decided this himself) to change the laundry from the washer to the dryer and I often will find the dryer full of wet clothes that he has moved over for me (he cant reach the start button). He also takes his job as head cereal and juice pourer very seriously and keeps all the kids in snacks. He especially enjoys this job when he has friends over and will serve everyone snacks and drinks. His best friends are triplets so when their family is over we have 8 kids here in total. By the time he has served all the kids some of the kids are done with their snack and off to play before Tayden has even had a chance to serve himself.  Tayden is also a big jokester and loves to play little tricks.  He is really good at keeping a straight face and has duped us many times.  He doesn't take advantage of this even though he could be a very convincing liar if he wanted to be.  He is an honest boy and very trustworthy.  He cares a lot about other people's feelings and always wants us all to be happy.  He adds a lot to the quality of our lives and gives all of us a lot of joy. Tayden is very generous and loving and we are so thankful to have him in our family.

Happy Birthday Tayden!!! We love you!

The Enchanted Chocolate Pot

I just finished reading an excellent book. My friend, Megan, recommended it and it was wonderful. Its called Sorcery and Cecelia, or The Enchanted Chocolate Pot. If you are a fan of Jane Austen, then this will be a book you enjoy. It is written as a book of letters between two cousins who are separated for the Summer. The setting is early 1800s in England and these two women are just coming out into society. The style of writing is similar to Jane Austen, but modernized just a touch and more readable. Since it is written as letters and not by chapters, it is extremely difficult to put it down. I am really looking forward to the next book, The Grand Tour.

I am very proud of the kids. We have been doing a summer reading porgram through the library and the kids have done a great job keeping up with it. Tayden and Kyler have to read for 15 minutes at a time and then once they finish 5 increments of 15 minutes each they get to go to the library for a prize. Ady is rad to for 10 minutes each and after 60 minutes she can get a prize. Ady loves to be read to so much that she would have all of it done in no time, so to keep her on pace with the boys, I have Tayden read to her and then they check hers off at the same time as his. For her 6th 10 minutes I count the time I have read to her at night so that she has completed the same grouping as the boys and we can go get their prizes at the same time. All this month and into July there are also crafts and other activities going on at the library to go along with the Summer reading program. On Fridays they show a movie and have Ice Cream Floats. We are headed out this afternoon to watch the IMAX Deep Sea movie. We will see how it goes. If the kids aren't sitting through it we will just leave.

Already I am seeing a lot of improvement in the boys reading and their confidence with their reading aloud. I hope that by the end of the program, Kyle will just go read on his own without needing prompting. He is a good reader, but he gets ahead of himself and then gets tired of it. Tayden is more confident of a reader adn very good at taking context clues and figuring out the words. Ady really enjoys having Tayden read to her. I have a lot of Sight word books around and beginner readers for them to read, but Kylers interests are far beyond his ability to read and he ends up choosing harder books and just reading a few chapters for his 15 minutes. Tayden prefers to read a smaller book and finish it. Thats why he is the one reading to Ady, since he picks books they are both interested in. Kyler loves to listen to books and be read to . Dave reads to him every night. Right now they are reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. He loves it. Tayden is more interested int Non Fiction for longer books and the last time we were at the library he chose a book about the the human skeletal system. Its so fun to see such a difference in their interests. Two boys so close in age and yet they are so different from each other in a lot of ways. Its good. It keeps them from being too competitive.

I have been working a lot lately due to another employee who keeps not showing up to work, so I have been having to sleep a lot during the day. I was worried about how it would go with the boys home now. Ady and I had such a nice routine when the boys were in school, although I didnt end up getting much sleep. I have been so proud of the kids and how much they take care of each other. For the most part they help each other and get along so well. Kyler is good at reaching things on high shelves and opening packages and things and helps the kids get snacks. Tayden is good at pouring things, so he gets cereal and drinks for the other two. Ady is good at making sure everyone gets along and follow the rules. She gets mad at the boys for eating on the couch (a big no no!) and for doing things that she knows they shouldn't. The boys keep her entertained and happy. I feel guilty sleeping the day away with them taking care of themselves, but with how much I have been working I really need the sleep. Its been really nice. I will be happy to return to a more normal schedule soon, though, and get to be awake and alert more days a week and working less days a week!

We broke out the bikes a few days ago and went on a nice ride. We rode to the library to get the kids rewards, then to a friends house to say hello and then across town to Darilicious to get a treat and play at the park there. Ady and Tayden opted to ride in the bike trailer (we couldn't have ridden as far had they ridden their own bikes) and Kyler rode right along. He is a good rider and is pretty cautious and careful with the roads and watching for cars. If it weren't for him having younger siblings who I can not allow to ride alone, I would probably let him ride in the neighborhood more freely. Its so nice to see that he is learnign and following the rules and doing his best. He has matured a lot in the last year or so. I hope we can get Tayden off of his training wheels this summer, then he will be a lot more confident and be able to ride further. All the kids graduated up to bigger bikes last month when we got a new bike for Kyler. Tayden definitely needed a bigger bike and Kyler was close so we talked to Tayden about it and he was fine to take Kylers old one and let Kyler get a new one. We were going to get one for Ady, but she was fie with Tayden's old one if we let her get a new helmet and a basket for his old bike. I couldnt believe it. As soon as We lowered the seat and Ady hoped on that bike she was pedaling away! She never would pedal before on a trike or her little bike. I just wish we didnt have a gravel alley and driveway so they could practice more freely without me needing to watch them so close in the front sidewalk.

Enough rambling on! Have a great weekend!!!

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I know I haven't been here in forever and you are all tired of the earthquake post (especially Kate ;) )

So I am posting a quicky to get things moving again (maybe)

I ordered some books from Barnes and Noble and I needed a filler to get up to the dollar amount for free shipping. I ended up ordering the new They Might Be Giants album for kids Here Come the 123's It came with a bonus DVD and it is fabulous!!! The kids LOVE it and want to watch it all the time. Ady and Tayden have all the songs memorized and Ady sings it all day long! Dave and I love it too. The songs are so fun and clever and the videos are funny. We are big TMBG fans, but fan or no fan this is a great kids album. If you are going to get the album definitely look for the bonus pack with the DVD. The DVD is the best part!

Some books I have been reading (and loving)

Spookie series by Angie Sage (I read them first and then Dave read them to Kyler. He loved them.)

Septimus Heap series by Angie Sage. Our library does not have the 4th book, but I wanted to read it so badly that I just ordered it (from Barnes and Noble - thats what I was ordering when I threw in TMBG 123's) The 4th book, Queste, is the best so far. (Does anyone know if she is writing more books in this series?) They are in the Juvinile Fiction section, but they are great for adults too. I actually like them a bit better than the Harry Potter books because her style stays consistent throughout the series. (and age appropriate)

Ever, by Gail Carson Levine - I just love this author, but I would not recommend this book unless you are a fan. I loved the book, but there are a lot of theological issues. Its not for everyone, but is well written and enjoyable, especially if you are a fan of Fantasy books or mythology. Most of the other books by Levine are fairy tale. If you like Fairy tales you should check out some of her other books, especially Ella Enchanted, Fairest, and The Two Princesses of Bamarre

Cat's Eye Corner, by Terry Griggs is a very cleverly written book with a 10 year old boy as the main character. He is a very smart boy and the book is so well written. There are lots of clever plays on words and puns. It is very good. I am about to start the next book in the series.

What are you all reading? Please share :)

Shaking and shaking and shaking!

This morning I was in the middle of a muddled, strange dream when suddenly I am awake and the whole house is rumbling. At first I wasn't sure if I was awake or not. I looked around and everything is shaking and I am a bit bewildered. It just sounded like a long, low rumble and the house is shaking. I thought it was later than it was (it was only about 5:40) because Dave wasn't in bed anymore, so I got up to find him. Ady had started to stir a bit too, so I tucked her back in and she went back to sleep. I looked out the windows and everything seemed peaceful and normal outside. My only conclusion is that it was an earthquake. But it was so weird. After I got up, Dave heard me and he said "I have to think that was an earthquake." He had gone in to the boys bed to sleep, because over the night ours had been filled up by children and he ran out of room. At first he thought I was in there shaking the metal bunk bed he was in as a joke, then he realized it was more than just the bed shaking.

I went downstairs to check the news and usgs.gov and Dave tried to get Kyler back to sleep (unsuccessfully). On the news they were just bewildered as well. The news anchors were saying the same things we were. "We just experienced what must have been an earthquake." USGS didnt have anything posted yet, so I went back to the news and Dave and Kyler came downstairs and finally official reports started coming that it was, in fact, an earthquake and it was a magnitude 5.4. I went on to USGS again and they have it recorded now. I noticed a place to record your own experience with the quake, so I figured I would since no one else from our area had. After I filled out a little survey about it, the site said that what I had experienced was level IV effects, compared to people closer to the epicenter who experienced level V, VI, or even VII. Since our house is really old and we were on the second floor, it might have felt more dramatic to us. I will be interested to see if others from our zip code report in and what it says for them. You can look at statistics from the earthquake listed by zipcode here. Its pretty amazing how far away the effects were felt.

When Tayden woke up we asked him if he felt it and he hadn't, but he had lots of questions about it. After the boys left for school Ady woke up and I asked her about it and she asked me if it was lots of "shaking and shaking and shaking?!?" So I guess she did feel something.

I know most of you had similar experiences this morning, so this is not "news", but I wanted to make sure I captured our family's memory of it here. It sure was exciting and something we won't forget. I am glad it was minor and no one was hurt. It does make you think, though, when something like this happens.