Scattered Thoughts

We love our Mindful Heart time! It is the best curriculum! Today we learned about the parts of government. Guard had a wonderful making the government building.

Guards new favorite place to read is the couch in the 'homeschool hall'. It's his spot. And the lamp is always on.  Awesome! Anywhere he wants to read is good with me. Luckily he's a great reader and loves it. And he's fast! Often I question him on what he read and he can summarize well. Right now his favorite books are Adventurers Wanted and Virginia Mysteries.

We have been buying lettuce from Snuck Farms in Pleasant Grove for a few years now. We love it, but the cost was getting to be a bit much with crazy inflation, plus we were having a difficult time keeping up with it. We always had 3-4 bags in our garage fridge. 

I had the crazy idea of growing our own lettuce in our basement. Greg is always so wonderful to indulge my nutty ideas. We researched shelves and grow lights on Amazon, bought seeds from a company in Salt Lake, and we were good to go. Enoch built my shelf and installed the lights. Greg helped plant the seeds. We watered them well and left in the basement under their lights.

A week later, we had lettuce and spinach sprouts! They are tiny, but they are there! Can't wait to see what happens with these teeny plants. In a few months, we will get our seeds going for our garden. Hopefully I can develop a green thumb and put this indoor garden to good use!

The Name of Colors

While Kate was showing off her awesome fingerless gloves, Greg asked her if they were peach.  This is the conversation that followed:

Kate: No, they are kind of coral.

Greg: Huh? What is coral?

Tresa: Coral is between pink and peach.

Gavin: What are you talking about??!! Are they pink or peach?

Tresa: Coral...a color that is not quite pink and not quite peach.

Greg: So, what is that color called?

Kate: Coral

Greg: But, you said it's not quite coral. So what color is it?

Kate: I don't know! Almost coral.

Gavin: We need a name...what is this color's name?

Kate: I don't know!

Guard (speaking from the other side of room): Dmitri

(Everyone looks at Guard.)

Guard: That color's name should be Dmitri.

After crazy laughing, we all agreed that the color is now Dmitri.

Playing a Sunday afternoon game of Hues and Cues (one of Kate's favorite game).

Kate, the Crocheter

A few months ago, Kate really took off with her crocheting. She started with long chains, practiced making squares and circles and graduated to scrunchies for herself and friends. She has become quite proficient with her skills.

Yesterday, she spend all day hunched over her project, the hook constantly moving. At the end of the day, she had finished another project - fingerless gloves! Wow! I was so impressed. Even more impressed when she told me she didn't use a pattern, but figured it out as she went.

What a gift she has! I can't wait to see what is next!

Front Yard Bridges

 I've always loved dry creeks in landscaping. Of Course, by the time I had the opportunity I had to actually put one in my yard, they became the lastest craze and everyone was doing it. Oh well, I still wanted one and thankfully Greg was on board.

Our awesome landscapter, David with SK3 Landscaping, did a fantastic job designing and installing our creek bed a few years ago. I can't wait to get flowers and shrubs around it (yep, we are taking the yard slowly). For the last few years, we have had a pallet over the rocky creek acting as a bridge. It worked fine, but definitely not a permament feature.

At the beginning of winter, we made a list of all the projects we could complete during the colder months. Bridges for the front yard was close to the top of the list. Enoch designed the bridges with his beloved graph paper, made a cut list, and got it apporved by Greg. After a trip to Home Depot, the boys spent a few hours over the last two weeks building the bridge base. Today, they cut and assembled the Trex boards on top.

They were a great team! After a few adjustments on the base, the top went together quickly and easily. The bridge looks wonderful over the creek (it still need to be buried in the spring). One more bridge to go and we can check off that project. Progress being made on the yard!

Kate & Autumn

Good grief, this girl loves her cat! I've got more pictures of Autumn on my phone than any other member of our family. She's a sweet cat and we are so thankful for her. She loves tuna, curling up in blankets, sleeping on the back of the chair in the family room, teasing Coal, and giving Kate kisses on her nose.

Guard, the author

I was so excited for our latest Mindful Heart storybook to come in the mail. Guard opened the white, mailer box and immediately pulled out the game, as usual.  I was anxious to flip through the storybook. I already knew what was in there and I was excited to Guard to see it.

I told him there was a surprise for him in the storybook. He hurriedly flipped through the book and said, "I don't see anything." With a chuckle, I told him to look for the story, The Winter Rescue. After searching the Table of Contents, he turned to the first story. Again, he leafed through the pages and didn't find anything interesting. "Back up, " I said. Look at the first page and read from the top.

"The Winter Rescue by Tresa and Guard Fowler," he read absentmindedly.  "Wait, what! Guard Fowler?" he yelled. 

Yep! Guard is a published author!

I was asked to write a story about mammals. I casually asked Guard what I should write about and he picked the animals, named them, listed their characteristics, and gave me a brief outline of the story. With all he did, I felt like he deserved half the credit. The story turned out great and Guard was so excited to see his name in print!

Enoch, the Scholar

 

Enoch is on the Honor Roll at Snow College! He has worked so hard on his classes, improved his writing and is doing great scheduling his time. We apprecite the opportunity he has to take college classes through My Tech High. It's been a bit bumpy at times, but Enoch has been flexible and has been willing to work with many rule changes since he started. We are so proud of him!