Dad Does Homeschool with the Kids

Shantel went with her sisters on a "Sisters Trip" to celebrate Melissa's 30th birthday. I took the week off of work to be with the kids. As part of that it means that I was also in charge of homeschool this week. 

I loved the chance to do homeschool with the kids. It was a really great way to connect with them. It also gave me extra insight into the challenges that Shantel faces every day. I tried to stick to the normal schedule with the kids and so we were definitely busy doing family economy, going to co-op and doing language arts, math and science. 

It is hard to talk about all the things I loved, but here are a few. Not a lot of pictures from the week because I was obviously trying to get through all the school stuff, keep the house clean and make dinner. 

I can't remember what Caleb was saying right here, but he had come over to make a very important point to me and I loved just these little interactions all day. 

Caleb was still sick on Monday. (I took all the other kids to the co-op and sat with him in the van while he was throwing up). Then on Tuesday Lucy ended up sick as well. One night she came up to bed all on her own and laid down and went to sleep all on her own. 

Below Austin was working on doing some watercolor in his language arts book. For one of Caleb's lessons it had a little thing about apples, so I cut up an apple and after he finished each section he got to eat an apple. I loved watching them learn. 

Caleb and I also practiced some words by having him jump to each thing and say the word written on the paper. May favorite thing is not pictured. Austin and I practiced spelling numbers by shooting a basketball and every time we made it we had to write that number and race to make ten baskets. Then the next day Lydia and I raced making baskets and doing her spelling words. 

On Thursday we broke the schedule and did a movie afternoon to celebrate our hard work and had a great time together. Then that night it was time to go pick up Shantel and her sisters. 

I am really grateful for all the work Shantel does each week. She shows patience with our children and is loving and kind and works extremely hard. I loved being able to connect with each one of the kids. I had some good chances to just snuggle and talk to Lucy. I had a lot of Caleb one on one time I don't really ever get and I loved working with Lydia and Austin. We have such great kids and I love them. 

October General Conference

General Conference was a little bit different this October. Shantel and her sisters trip to Cancun was scheduled over General Conference, so it was just the kids and I. However, we wanted to keep up our tradition of visiting the Saratoga Springs temple and checking its progress, so we went the weekend before conference. The outside is completed and they are just finishing the inside. It looks beautiful and we had fun walking around the temple. Shantel also took the chance to do baptism pictures for Austin. 

After stopped at the temple we went to our normal spot that we get to see the progress of the temple. It looks so tiny in the pictures but is really quite beautiful standing there in person. 

On Friday night Shantel was packing and I got all of our conference bags ready. Then I took Shantel and her sisters to the airport on Saturday morning. (It was so early that we told Lydia we would just be leaving all the kids asleep and that if anyone woke up, she could watch them until I got back. They were all still asleep when I got home. 

First thing before conference the kids were excited to each make their own fort. Austin and Caleb ended up building a fort and then Lydia and Lucy built a soft pile. 

We had a great time watching conference together. Unfortunately Caleb got sick on Saturday afternoon and did not feel good Saturday or Sunday. 

Jenna brought cinnamon rolls for us, so we baked those on Sunday morning and had a delicious breakfast. The picture of Lydia is during Elder Holland's talk, so you can see that she loves listening to him as much as Shantel and I. 

Sunday we did some new forts. One of my favorite things was that Lydia had a conference notebook and was taking really good notes during multiple of the talks. 

I'm so grateful that we have a prophet and apostles to lead and guide us in our day. Normally I include some of my favorite things from conference here - but I did not have a lot of notes this time since I was also taking care of all 4 kids I just tried to listen and take really good care of them. I'm going to be re-reading conference talks over the next couple of months and I'll try to come back and update this post or add a new post on some of my favorite things. 

September Wrap Up

This month on Friday night before Stake baptisms Lydia asked Shantel if she could wake up early and go to stake baptisms with Shantel. Shantel woke up early and got Lydia and went to stake baptisms. Lydia spent the day as the President's assistant. Lydia came back after with such a wonderful glow and was so happy. It is neat she could spend that time with Shantel and be able to feel the spirit as she saw so many kids getting baptized. 

That night there was an activity at the church for a Mommy & son activity. Boys went with Shantel and had such a great time with dinner and a magic show. 

While they were gone I took Lydia and Lucy on a date and went and got pizza and went to the park. We had a lot of fun playing together at the park. 

Lydia and Austin are practicing for a special musical number as part of the primary program. They are singing a mini-solo part where they the kids each take turn singing one line along (Lydia and Austin are singing together). 

After the magic show the boys came home and Shantel showed them (and Lydia) some fun magic show videos which inspired Lydia. Here she is doing a magic show for them. When I got home from work she was so excited to show me the trick. 

Shantel has been taking the kids to visit my parents most Wednesdays since school started. I love that my kids get to spend time with them and am so grateful for Shantel doing so much to show my parents that we love them. 

Lydia and Lucy have been so cute lately. They call each other "favorite sister" all the time. One day they decided to dress up as twins. It is so cute.