Show and Tell

friendship bracelets

Photo 1: Friendship Bracelets made by…?

We have a show-and-tell session at our house about once a week. Here are some things we are proud of this week. How well do you know us? Can you guess who made/caught each of these things?

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Photo 2: Baby lizards caught by…?

Wall-E

Photo 3: Lego Wall-E designed by…?

This little Wall-E has a movable door to compact trash, hands that can attach to one another and wheel tracks that move.

bread

(I made this bread… I’m just putting in a photo to separate the answers from the photos.)

Answers: (1) Paige (2) Timothy (3) Daniel

Flashlight tutorial

This is what we did on Wednesday afternoon at our house. It was so neat we had to share it. I got the idea from a Cub Scout Roundtable meeting.

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You will need this stuff plus some newspaper and electrical tape.

The tiny bulb is a flashlight bulb. Look in the camping aisle at your local camping store/Wal-Mart.

We used a C battery, but you could try another size. It’s science, so have fun.

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Cut a piece of electrical wire about 4 1/2 inches long.

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Strip each end of the wire.

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It will look like this.

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Using scissors or a drill, make a hole in the lid of the bottle. Be careful not to make it too big. You want the bulb to fit through it snugly.

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It doesn’t have to be perfect.

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Slide the bulb through the hole.

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Wrap wire around the positive side of the battery. Actually, any end will do, but this seemed to be easier for us.

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Tape into place.

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Wrap the other end of the wire around the end of the flashlight bulb.

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Tape into place, keeping the end contact of the bulb exposed.

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Your assembly will look like this.

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Place enough newspaper in the bottom of the pill container so the battery will touch the bulb when assembled.

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Insert battery & wire into the container. Screw the lid on (upside down).

Once you touch the bulb to the battery, it should light up. If not, check your connections.

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Go in a dark place and be amazed. You just made a flashlight!

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Slugger

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Daniel played his last baseball game last night and got two hits. One was a triple which brought 3 guys home. During warm-up, he completely destroyed this ball when he hit it. He played shortstop most of the time during the tournament because he is a quick thinker and knows where to get the ball to make the play.

Richard has worked hard with Daniel this season, taking him to the batting cages, practices, and games. It’s been a busy few months for these guys.

Today I will take the folding chairs out of the trunk of the van where they have been living for the past 3 months and we’ll have some more “home” time in the evenings, which is a good thing.

Kid Town



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I held a lot of nieces and nephews this past weekend. This is Alex, daughter of Russ and Nancy.
  • I went up to Provo for half a day so I could hold Baby Charlotte on her blessing day.
  • I held Ammon and enjoyed his cheery face in church. The little Deacon boy passing the sacrament tried to be serious, but couldn’t help but smile back at Ammon’s little round face. 
  • Solomon would only give me a high-five, but showed me his gum about 100 times.
  • Ruby did the actions with me as I sang Wise Man and Foolish Man in her ear during church.
  • Kaitlyn played with me when I pulled out my Strawberry Shortcake dolls.
  • Anna-who-smiles wore a bright green dress and let me hold her right away.
  • Isaac-and-Spencer still aren’t fans of old Angie, so I gave them a toy hamster in a ball to help in that relationship.
  • I met the spouses of a niece and nephew, too, on this trip, Josh and Andrea.
  • I learned that my nephew Richard is a great runner; that Rachel enjoys singing, and loved seeing Leslie’s beautiful hair and grown-up look.
 

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Timothy lost his second front tooth. Here he is posing with Grandpa Ross.
 

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My sons the engineers. Daniel packed his plastic thread so he could make a suspension bridge when he got to Grandma Ross’s house.
 

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Grandma’s house is a place where Mark becomes an entertainer.

Tough stuff



When my children were babies, I did everything I could to protect them. As they get older, I see that my need to protect must also be balanced with their need for experience. This means I am learning to allow things like bb guns & baseball injuries into the equation. I’m still here with the bandaids and a hug. And I’ve given a lot of these this week.

Daniel had two days of Cub Day Camp and I got to go with the scouts on the first day. We were up on Mt Lemmon and the pines were as rejuvenating as the scouts were exhausting. I loved being up there and watching the boys learn to work with knives and shoot and try their hands at leather craft. Daniel is a good kid. I couldn’t be more proud of him for his conduct at camp. And yes, Daniel, you earned your whittling chip and can own a pocketknife now!

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Timothy wasn’t hurt in this t-ball collision, but it looks spectacular, doesn’t it?

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See, he’s fine.

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And so am I.

Memorial Day Music Recital



We held our annual Memorial Day music recital at a care center instead of our living room this year. We had a lovely audience of residents from La Posada. The performers dressed in patriotic colors and many patriotic songs were played and sung. Our kids played their compositions; Paige played the National Anthem and a sonatina. Daniel rocked the house with several songs, ending with a great arrangement he made of Chopsticks! Someone commented that the residents really liked that one and were tapping their feet. Janice Gay took this photo after the recital.

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Ballerina



Paige’s ballet recitals were yesterday. She danced in five numbers. She is a gorgeous dancer. Photos don’t do it justice, but here are a few shots:

Isn’t that interesting what the camera did with this shot of Paige and Brittney midair?

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Speaking of crazy camera antics, here is what the red light, no flash, and fog on the stage made Paige look like in her Batman number, Aggressive Expansion. Very modern, just like the choreography.

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And here is one where she just looks poised and beautiful.

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And here is Paige in her Princess Diaries number, complete with tiara and long gloves and pointe shoes. Lovely!

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Umbrellas and Marshmallows



We’ve been having some showers in the late afternoons. It almost feels like the monsoon season is here.

Yesterday I found Timothy outside looking for ants to spray during a rain storm and he looked just like Christopher Robin.

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Tonight we had our Cub Scout Pack Meeting outdoors with a campfire. We sang songs and had s’mores. Daniel is the scout with his face covered and roasting six marshmallows at once.

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