N. wants to know why boardgames turn into chaos

HE wants to be able to win once in a while, and not just in forfeit when the other players have a meltdown and throw the board.
I thought i would show it step by step.
You'll have to guess the ending though, I wasn't patient enough to document that.

It always starts out so innocently. Its fun and enjoyable. N. is even smiling at this point.

Then, somehow, it gets very serious.

Then it is so unfair!!!

Look at sweet T. He is always on the lookout for how to act. I'm not sure his older siblings are the best example for him. I'm hoping once he gets even better at reading that he will be the one to keep things under control and fun while playing with the others. For now he is just the quiet supervisor.

P.S. For those curious about how Z.'s sock bun(a.k.a. doughnut hat) turned out, it didn't. Her hair is too thick and didn't dry entirely. It ended up looking like her normal waves but fuzzier. We'll try it again another time since she really liked the doughnut look:).

Dangerous Mine

With an ATM apparently.

Sparkly rocks! S.'s favorites.

Iron Pyrite. Not so light.

This one though, it makes you strong!

After lifting the iron, Philip was a little apprehensive to attempt lifting an even bigger rock.

Ahhh, not so bad!

That is what P-U-M-A-C-E spells. Light.

It's even easy to lift for T. man and its the size of his entire torso.

Daddy of course had to show off his skills, palming it.

She is so cute, it makes me laugh.

She wasn't even worried about this one, she thought the boys before her were joking. I think she may have blown a gasket trying to lift it!

Rock and Mineral show. Cool Stuff. Makes me want to go out in the desert and rock hunt!

Before and After.

Plum tree out front looks fun to climb. High.

Please don't be broken!

Falling doesn't seem to feel as fun. Miraculously only scratches.

Same plum tree. Waiting to see blossoms. No this is not revenge, the chainsaw may be though.

Buds are a good sign.

Blossoms are even better!

Beautiful!

Wondering why so few neighbors have planted tulips.

Thanks to Harley and her "SuperBark" the culprit deer only ate a dozen and left the rest. For now. That's why Daffodils are so popular, deer hate them.

Remember this hugely overgrown bush? It (and many of its hideous neighboring bushes) now no longer blocks my view of the mountains.

Chainsaw man! I regret asking him to cut it down. Not because I liked the bush but because I forgot how prompt he is with his honeydo list. I should have asked him next week, after it bloomed and looked gorgeous in the yard for a few days. Oh well, I'm just glad to have it done!

What a sweet spot to play. Reminds me of the movie version of Where the Wild Things Are. Bonfire time, I think.

What do a room full of 9 year old girls sound like?

You should have come to Z.'s birthday party to find out.
 It's surprisingly difficult to describe because excitement doesn't really have a specific sound.
 Simply stated it was LOUD and noisy and difficult to hear. That doesnt do justice though because it was a good loud.
A happy loud.

Z.'s friends wrote birthday wishes on the front windows.

Once a year loud.

I Love this girls Tenacity. I Love her Intelligence. I Love her 9 year old teeth, so imperfect but showing such promise of what will come. Still a kid but mixed with wisdom. I'm not just talking teeth, I'm talking character. I Love her!

Where is everybody?

So, Sunday afternoons aren't normally the quiet serene times we wish they were.
Probably because of the lack of technology and outdoor activities everyone is used to, during the rest of the week.
Last week it suddenly got really quiet.
Weird.
Then I noticed half of us were missing.
After checking the usual(and not so usual) places like the backyard, the garage, even the bathrooms, I was stumped.
Had they gone on a walk without telling me?
Nope.
I finally found them.

They weren't playing "assassination", they were soaking up the warmth from the spring sunshine. But on the driveway?!

Sitting on your driveway is a great way to greet the neighbors without having to move much at all.

The best part.  It was even warm enough for Bare Feet! March in Ut Valley is so much nicer than in Cache Valley, although as I type it is snowing again. I think that is just a Utah Spring thing I need to relearn every year. Spring snow.

 I am reminded constantly in this beautiful neighborhood, and valley, and state in general, of the blessing it is to be living here.
 We are blessed with safety, with beautiful seasons, beautiful scenery and many of our family members living close by.
We couldn't ask for more.

Our library may be small but the fun for kids sure isn't!

The town library likes parties and likes to cater to kids.
T. took advantage of the latest boys only party and was transformed into a pirate.
One of his great loves is pirate stuff.
Just last month he paid his hard earned cash to his big brother for 2 cool outgrown pirate books, including maps and wanted posters.
He wondered if they would call him Black beard or even Pegleg.

Holding his invitation, sporting his "hook" and yes the eyepatch is drawn on with magic marker.

They listened to pirate stories(it is a library party after all), created parrots for their shoulders and practiced pirate like things: walking the plank, sword fighting, digging for treasure.

I guess I really shouldnt complain so much about the incredibly tiny size of the library anymore, there are many advantages to living in a small city and maybe a cozy, big-hearted  library is one of them.

Someone is 12 today!!!

N. will not only be 12 years old he will be ordained a Deacon!
 How has the time passed so quickly?
 I have to apologize to him constantly for asking him 5 year old questions or treating him like a kindergartner in general.
Well, to me he is still supposed to be a little guy, not 12!

I'm not sure why he let his hair get so long, he doesn't necessarily like it long, but he asked me to cut it suddenly.

 Good.

No fights over hair length yet.

 He is going to be so handsome in his suit!

 (Just ignore the stony serious expression, he has been working on it for years and has finally got it perfected, even when he is happy he can whip it out!)

February must have been board game month

One of the larger cities nearby has an excellent service they call the PERC center.  When my oldest two  kids were small I took them there weekly to check out all kinds of puzzles, instruments, trivia games, and other sneaky ways of learning or experiencing senses while playing. When we moved close to it again I decided to use the resource once again. We have checked out some seriously fun games and some seriously challenging ones as well. Its not as easy to choose just 6 items as it used to be, we have such a variety of ages and interests now days.The best part is that you use them and don't have to store them in a closet somewhere to collect dust, you simply return them a week or 2 later. Its like a toys store for ADHD:)

 One afternoon out of the blue N. brought a board game to the room I was doing some motherly job or another in. He has always liked games but typically they're the electronic type. 

We had fun and then as I moved onto some other job or another I assumed he would do the typical and find a game that required a battery or plug.  I was wrong. Within minutes he was back with a new board game. 

This lasted the rest of the evening. So much fun. So little house work actually finished.

Another typical around the house is screaming and arguing when more than one sibling is playing with something. Philip never joins in the games, just the arguing. 

Imagine my surprise when I found 4 of them all playing nicely and enjoying themselves with puzzle blocks. 

Love it. 

What didnt surprise me was Philips phone next to his knee. It never is further away than that, even in the bathroom. Silly kid told me his USB phone charger is as essential to his survival as food and sleep. Seriously?!

Teenagers!

Its finally winterish

 Duck!!!

 The kids on A.F.V.(americas funniest videos) made it look like so much fun to stick your face in snow. The reality is not as much fun as it is painfully cold!

N. lucked out because he wanted to learn to snowboard instead of ski for his first trip to Sundance, no one else was signed up for lessons. He got a private lesson instead of the group one he signed up for.

Some Merrill Boys happy to be on the mountain.

Just because the plants outside are brown and depressing doesn't mean they have to stay that way. Although the winter has been extremely mild a little color would be nice to see. Since nature here isn't cooperating with my color request I decided to try "forcing" blooms. It works. Aren't Forsythia blossoms beautiful?! Just what the living room needed. My next attempt, when the snow melts off the tree a little more, is to try the flowering plum tree. A little purple in the house sounds nice too.