tis the season for PIE!

Wow. It's been a really long time since I've blogged! And I was doing so well too. Oh well. The reason I haven't blogged in sooooo long, is because we've literally been spending every spare moment working on our new website. Which, by the way is now live, and looks fabulous. You can go see it here! Although it's been pretty hectic around these parts the last few weeks, we are having so much fun! Brian and I are both in our element being creative.

We are excited for our long lost friends the McCammons to come visit us this week. Yea. And, I'm trying to get motivated to make all the Thanksgiving fixings, except the pies, I don't need any motivation to make pies. I love pies. All kinds of pies, pretty much. Yum. Brian's parents and Misty are coming for Thanksgiving. It will be a fabulous feast!

Crazy Week

This week school took a back seat because we just partnered in a business with some friends. It's an online clothing store called Impel Clothing. We've been working like crazy to get the new website designed and the copy written, along with ordering product, creating a marketing plan, learning how social media works, entering thousands of previous customer email addresses into the computer, etc, etc. We have a November 18 deadline! Ahhh! It's so fun though. Brian and I love this stuff! I'll let everyone know when the site goes up. It looks so great.

I did make homemade pizza for the first time and it turned out awesome! Brian says it tastes just like Round Table. I love watching his face when he eats something he likes. It's hillarious how he savors every bite.

Rivers and Waterfalls

This week we learned about the Nile River valley and we built a working model of it. We flooded our river to water the seeds we planted. Then the water receded, leaving behind rich soil. The first of our "crops" (sunflower seeds) are already sprouting.

Brian has been busy working some construction jobs while we are still searching for a design position. He's been gone a lot, and we are all in shock since we are so used to him being around all the time. He took me on a date last night to D.I. to hunt for books. We sat there for a long time, running our fingers down the spines, looking carefully for treasures and classics. We found some good ones. Brian was also pleased to find some stylish retro shirts so now he says he looks "cool like Rick." I was able to grab a "new" pair of jeans, a cute black skirt with white polka dots, and my prize of the day... a dark gray Ann Taylor dress for $6! Yea!

Friday night, we celebrated Dad coming home from work with a family camp out. We made popcorn, watched "The Burbs" and then told ghost stories. Then we all slept in the living room. Well, at least until Brian and I thought we would be more comfortable in our own bed (wink).

Saturday morning, we woke up and got ready for our Autumn color tour and family picnic. We drove to Provo canyon and took some family pictures. Then, we walked to Bridal Veil Falls and sketched the falls in our nature journals with our hot cocoa for company. Afterwards, we drove out of the canyon to find a park to have lunch. We ended up across from the Timpanogos Temple with warm autumn stew and rolls, and the best part...yummy Carmel Apple Bars! Everyone has to make them they are SOOOOOOOO good!

Rooftop Concert

Last night we took the kids to see the Rooftop Concert in Provo Town Square. It was so awesome! It was on the top deck of the parking terrace. We got seats in the third row, brought some yummy treats and enjoyed the music and the beautiful evening. We loved all of the singers, including Cherie Call, Mindy Gledhill, and Libbe Linton. They, and other LDS artists, got together to form a band called "The Lower Lights," to do a hymn revival project. You can listen to the songs here:
http://thelowerlights.bandcamp.com/
http://www.myspace.com/libbielinton

My Hero

I attended this event with Brian on Thursday evening. I learned of Stephanie Nielson a few months ago when I saw her Mormon Message. I now follow her blog and reading it and getting to know her and the way she looks at her life, despite her trials, has changed the way I look at my own. She inspires me and I want to be like her in every way. The event was recorded and will be rebroadcast online. I will post a link here when it becomes available. Please visit Stephanie Nielson's blog. I know you will find a great treasure.
http://nieniedialogues.blogspot.com/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHDvxPjsm8E

Puppet Mania!

The kids have been having fun learning how to make puppets and do puppet shows. They all helped build and paint their own puppet theater. It turned out great.

Surprise for Brian

A few weeks ago, I surprised Brian by taking him to meet his mentor and hero, Elder F. Enzio Busche. An emeritus general authority, Elder Busche was responsible for much of the growth of the Church in Germany. Brian listens to his words on a BYU devotional each morning as he began his day and also reads his book "Yearning for the Living God" often. I found out that Elder Busche lives in Bountiful, Utah, googled his address, and wrote him a letter requesting a meeting. He graciously allowed us to come to his home and spend an hour with him in counsel. It was a wonderful experience.

Nomads and the Titanic

This week in home school we learned about nomads and the kids made cave paintings on paper grocery bags. They turned out awesome.

Megan is also very interested in the Titanic right now. She checked out a bunch of books on it at the library and can't stop reading about it.

I got all of my books organized today. Now I know where to find everything. Yea. I also cleaned Riley's room and bathed the kids. They smell great!

Party Weekend

Riley's New Baseball Stuff!



Well, I have officially survived 2 birthday parties this weekend! Megan celebrated her 10th birthday with a sleepover, and Riley threw a shark party for his friends. Both parties went really well. I've almost finished recovering from the aftermath.

Goldfish

The other day Megan was looking through old magazines for pictures for a poster she was making, and came across an article that said that if you keep a goldfish in a dark room it will eventually turn white. We all thought that was very interesting. About two hours later, Megan came out of the bathroom and bellowed, "Summer! It meant REAL goldfish, not goldfish crackers!" She had come across Summer's experiment of placing goldfish crackers in the dark bathroom. We all had a good laugh. That's my girl!

Nature Journaling

Meg's Nature Journal

Summer's Nature Journal

Riley's Nature Journal

My Nature Journal

After breakfast this morning and kids and I headed down to a nearby meadow to begin our nature journals. They were super excited because we were supposed to start them yesterday, but we got so into decorating our journal covers that we ran out of time. We plopped down in the tall grass with our newly-decorated journals, and our Spiderman pouch full of colored pencils and started drawing the amazing discoveries we made. The best part of the morning was watching the kids scatter all over the meadow looking for interesting things to draw, and then running back to show me their pictures. We stayed for an hour and I had to drag them back to the house. We saw wildflowers and honeybees and animal tracks and grasshoppers and seedpods. Later on, we even got to rescue a praying mantis from our garage.

We all miss Dad. He is in Boston. He had a job interview this morning. It's hard to imagine moving so far away. He is taking lots of video and pictures to show us our maybe new home. He will be home tomorrow night. Hurry tomorrow night!

Starting Home School

Last Wednesday we officially kicked off our first real year of home schooling. The kick off was very nice. I spent all day preparing a family feast. We made it really fancy with a table cloth and even glasses! (My family thought this was a big deal because I never bring cups to the table. They know they're all on there own for drinks). I decorated the table with the childrens' prized possessions: horses and batmans and dinosaurs and books and such. Brian and I made a paper crown for each of them with magazine cut-outs that describe them. It was so fun to see how different they all came out. I told them how our home school will be different than other schools. This, for all the people that wonder why I am so crazy to attempt such a thing, (and yes, I agree), is what no school or teacher, no matter how great the experience, the curriculum, or the funding, is what I can give my children. I know that they were each sent here to me, to our family, at this moment in time for a special purpose. They will be given the opportunity to seek out that special purpose, to develop their unique gifts and abilities at my side, to guide and mentor them and provide them with the things they need to do so. This is the vision that I see, and I know that if every mother could see it, would want the same thing. I made plaques for each of them as well, with an antique key and the scripture to "seek learning." We talked about how learning is the key to everything. All kinds of learning. After dinner Brian gave each of the kids fathers' blessings. And me. It was a wonderful evening.
Even though the vision sounds glorious and ideal, I know the implementation will be messy and inconsistent. The kids fight through devotional and don't want to do their chores. Summer doesn't want to read. We're waiting for most of our books to get here. They play when they are supposed to be listening. Brian and I spent 4 hours on Saturday building a puppet theater that they still haven't played with. Its the one-day-at-a-time, unplanned teaching moments. Its establishing relationships of love and trust. It's sharing my testimony of the gospel. It's improving myself so my children will look up to me. It's the steady drip, drip, drip of repetition, of family meals, scripture study, chores, reading time, family nights, etc., that lead to the final tapestry. So, for those who keep asking me how home schooling is going...

Ask me when its over :)

Danielson Family Reunion 2010--Big Basin

We did a game show theme this year and it was absolutely the funnest time we have ever had as a family. Here is the breakdown: Emily & Brian-"Survivor", Mom & Dad-"Jeopardy", Mike & Christen-"Family Fued" and "Good or Gross", Jake and Amber-"Deal or No Deal", The Girls-"The Newlywed Game", and Jenny & Rick-"Minute to Win It". So fun.