Catching an Intruder

It's Science Fair time again.  Enoch was ready to go and had his idea picked out almost immediately.
He has really been into spies lately and he wanted to do something with that.  He choose Forensic Science as his focus.  His project was Using Forensic Science to Catch an Intruder.
From his Science Fair board:

Using forensic science, I searched carefully for clues left behind to figure out who in my family is the intruder.

I went into my room and knew something was wrong. Someone had been in there! I was very careful not to touch anything because I didn't want to mess up the clues.

I started by checking to see if anything was missing. I remembered where I had put my things. I searched my room closely to see if everything was still there or if things had been moved around. My bank! It was gone! Now I really had to find the intruder.

I found some fingerprints on my bunk bed railing. I used some cocoa, a brush and Scotch tape to get the fingerprints off.

I brought my dog, Coal, down to help find smells. She isn't trained to find smells and all she did was eat one of my Legos. She wasn't much help, but I still love her.

Using my magnifying glass I searched around my room for anything left behind. I found some hairs on my chair. They were long and blond.

Observation:

I looked at my clues – fingerprints and long, blond hair. I fingerprinted everyone in my family (including me, to make sure they weren't my fingerprints). Then, I looked at everyone's hair.

Conclusion:

I was wrong. Gavin wasn't the intruder, it was Kate! She was excited that I figured it out and she gave me my bank back. I want to be a spy someday, so it was fun to figure out the clues. But, from now on, I'm setting my spy laser trip wire by my bedroom door to catch any intruders!

 Enoch had a fun time doing his project.  He didn't win any awards this year and he was fine with that.  He was excited to be a spy for the morning and figure out the mystery.

Great job, Enoch!

Snow

It has been a long winter.  It has been a cold winter.  It has been a snowy winter.  Sigh.  Are we done yet?
At least the kids enjoy it.  Today we has loads of fluffly, soft white snow.  It was actually very pretty (and that is taking a lot for me to admit that!).
The kids had so much fun playing.  They love to shovel the driveway and then they run around and play.

 

Snow is so fun when you are a kid!

I always have a snack waiting for the kids when they get home from school.  Today I was out of ideas.  Kate was running laps around the kitchen and family room and collasped on the floor and said, "I'm so hot!  Can I have a sno cone?"  I looked at her like she was crazy and said, "NO!  There's half a foot of snow outside, you can't have a sno cone!"  Wait a minute - why not?  Clean, fluffy, soft snow - perfect!

The kids loved it!  They would run outside, dip their cups in the snow bank, fill it up with snow and come inside to pick their flavors.  Each child probably had five sno cones!  Guard wasn't too sure about them, but he was game for a few bites.  What a great idea - thanks, Kate.  It was so much fun!

When did this happen?

Really?  When did this happen?
Apparently Gavin has been shaving for a few months now and I only found out about it!  Hmm...maybe he doesn't want his mom putting it on the blog!  Too bad.
Gavin is growing up so fast.  Literally and figuratively.  Some days it seems like he comes home from school taller.  I remember when he was little and I thought he would never outgrow the tantrums and fits (he was a difficult baby and toddler for those he didn't know him then).  I have to say Gavin hasn't thrown a fit in quite a while.  We are so blessed.  He is an amazing teenager.  When I took Enoch to the orthodontist a few days ago, he filled out a paper that had him list his favorite things.  He chose Gavin as his hero.  How many seven-year-old boys can choose their teenager brothers as their heros.  Gavin is great!

A Day Home

Since Christmas we have been running full speed.  We have also been sick.  I finally realized that it didn't matter what we missed, we had to stay home and rest.  I would never take the kids out when they were fevering or really sick, but I would drag them around with a slight cough or stuffy nose.  Today was the day that we stayed home.
It was amazing what a day home did for our spirits and health.  We had fun, we cleaned, we did projects, we took naps - it was wonderful.  I can't believe how much I got done when I didn't leave the house (lesson learned!).
Kate has been asking every five minutes, "How much longer until my birthday?"  Really, every five minutes.  We made a paper chain today so she could see and have more of a concrete answer.  To say eight days or 15 days to a four-year-old is useless.  She loves her chain and it really does help her understand.

 

We made Kate's favorite lunch - nutella and blackberry jam sandwiches.  She loves them!  As easy as they are to make, she always gives me a big hug and tells me thank you multiple times when I give her one.

I got some cleaning done while Guard took an uninterrupted nap.  That is rare for my fourth child to have a nap on time and not being woken up early to pick up a sibling or run to a activity.  We were both happy afterward.

 

It was a good day.

Guard at 7-8 months

You will notice in all these pictures, Guard is sick.  Really sick.  Hardly any smiles and a snotty nose.  I debated taking pictures today, but I reasoned that he has been sick this entire past month, so it's a good representation of his seventh month.

Oh, my poor baby (and his poor mom).  It's been a rough month at our house.

I'll admit, Guard has not been his happy self lately, and I'm not sure how much he is growing, since he has pretty much given up on his bottle, but he still is the star of the family.

He is full of slobles (slobber and bubbles).  The kids think it is so funny and I constantly feel covered in snot and slobber.  Oh, the joys of holding a baby all day long.

His favorite sound to make is ma ma ma.  I completely believe he is saying mama, but Greg isn't convinced.  It makes sense because he is experiencing complete separation anxiety.  I can't set him down, let along leave the room without him screaming so much he throws up.  Perhaps a side effect of being sick for so long, but it also goes along with the age.

Guard's favorites currently include books, Coal (he likes to chew on her nose and she lets him.  It's quite disgusting, but I love that they are so comfortable with each other), and his left hand.  He consistently favors his left hand and I wouldn't be surprised if he is left-handed.  He also loves table food.  He refuses to eat baby food.  Guard also hates his bottle and it is getting harder and harder to fight him while feeding him.  He arches his back, pushes the nipple out of his mouth, turns his head and screams.  Every feeding.  I'm not sure how much longer we are going to do this whole bottle and formula thing.

Guard is almost crawling.  He is the cranky, frustrated stage right before the crawling happens.  He does roll a lot and is still doing his head scoot.  It looks funny, but it gets him where he wants to go.

Mid-cough!  Poor Guard.

 

 I wish he really did know how to blow his nose!

 

Love you, Guard!

"It Came Out!"

When you ask Enoch to list his friends, he includes his dentist.  Yep, I think Enoch has spent more time with Dr. Lambert than his friends the last few months.  Poor kid; he has teeth issues - cavities, too many teeth and teeth that are too big for his mouth.  He's a trooper about it though.
When something goes right with his teeth, we really celebrate it at our house.  He has had very few teeth fall out, mostly they have been pulled out to make space for the new teeth coming in behind.  Tonight, a tooth fell out - sort of.

Do you see how ready that tooth is to come out?  It has been hanging on for a few days.  He was complaining that it hurt, that he couldn't chew on that side.  It really needed to come out.
Enoch, being Enoch, couldn't just pull it out.  Oh no, he had to do something crazy.
He tied some floss to his tooth and the other end of the floss to his remote control car.

 

It worked wonderfully!  Enoch started his car, it slightly pulled on his tooth and it popped out.  He yelled, "It came out!"  We had to search  all over for it before we found it across the room.

And, for all that work, the Tooth Fairy brought Enoch one dollar.

Wireless

Gavin has been counting down to this day for 18 months.
Today was the day Gavin got his braces off.  He was so excited!  He was really lucky that he only had braces on for 18 months.  His teeth were quite straight to start with, just a few slight twists and some bite issues.  He did have some pain on adjustment days, but it seemed that he had a pretty easy time of it.
After getting his braces off, his orthodontist office, Swenson Orthodontics, gave him a caramel apple and a teeth whitening kit.  He said the caramel apple was really good! 
He got his braces off in the morning.  After picking him up, I asked him where he wanted to go for lunch.  He wanted a Roxberry smoothie!  Really, a smoothie?  I thought that's what you ate after you got your braces on, not off.  Come on, Gavin, you can have anything you want now!  Truthfully, I don't think Gavin followed the recommendations very closely when it came to what foods he should avoid.  He ate how he did before braces.
Before:

 

After:

 

Doesn't he look so old and handsome?  I can't believe that is my little boy (okay, not so little now that he is six-foot).

Congratulations, Gavin.  Don't forget to wear your retainer!

Guard's New Game

I was just finishing up the dishes tonight when Enoch and Kate were getting pretty excited about something going on in the family room.  I knew they were playing with Guard and I wondered what could be so fun to warrant the laughing and screaming.
They had discovered a new game that Guard really liked and was good at playing.  They would cover Guard's eyes, hide a ball under one of the cups and Guard would find it (you know, like at the fair or circus).  The crazy thing was, Guard was getting it right every time.  Now, there is a small hole on the top of the cup that you could see the ball through, but we were pretty impressed that a baby could get it right every time.

Even more impressive was that all three were playing together without arguing, crying, whining or fighting!

Scattered Thoughts

1.  Enoch is so excited to attend his friend's baptism today.  Jordan is a very good friend and Enoch can't wait to see him baptized.  Last night at dinner, Enoch said the prayer.  He blessed that when Jordan received the Holy Ghost, the Holy Ghost would be healthy.  Hmmm.....It must be flu season when everyone is praying to stay or get healthy.

2.  Kate overheard me telling Greg that I had some odd dreams last night.  She looked at me and said, "Mom, have you been watching Dr. Who again before bed?"  Yep, I'm a wimp.  Greg and Gavin love Dr. Who and it gives me bad dreams.

3.  When I dropped the kids off at school yesterday Enoch gasped.  He pointed at the electronic marquee and yelled, "It's three degrees!"  It has been so cold here lately.  Really cold!

4.  Last night Kate was having a difficult time falling asleep.  Maybe it had something to do with the fact that she wouldn't stay in bed (or maybe she has been watching Dr. Who as well?).  Enoch told her that when he can't fall asleep he lays in bed and starts dreaming.  I would believe that Enoch can truly dream while still awake.  Kate said she would try it and she must have fallen asleep because I didn't see her again.