Zeya turns 4!

Zeya turned 4 years old, woohoo!  Zui, now the Seminary teacher, had been teaching about Isaiah all week long.  We surprised the class with a guest appearance!  Zeya got to share his bday with the whole class, and donuts to celebrate :)  

Zeya loves his sword, more on "Knights" later...

 I got this crazy idea to throw Zeya a bday party.  For the other kids we waited til 5.  But Zeya has all these little friends his age from his preschool co-op so I really wanted to do it.  It was fun, but...hard.  I decided 4 year olds are just too young...it's too hard on them to have all the attention be on one person!  Lots of tears, one girl cried the whole time, no joke.  Zeya had a melt-down when he didn't win Musical Chairs.  Oh well...

 We ate Zeya's favorite: Mac n cheese, watermelon, and Danimals!

 Played a few simple games: everyone loved the waterballoon slide bowling.

 At night we had a little party with just our family.  Zui has been so excited to give him Beyblades.  The kids have been wanting them for years now... we finally bought them with some giftcard money to Toys r Us.  They sure love it!!

His other present was "Drill Design" where you drill in all these different colored screws to make pictures.  A few bucks at a gsale, he loves it.  Zeya says some pretty funny things right now.  Yesterday he was mad that I was making him take a nap and he said, "MOM, when I'm 61 I am not going to take a nap again.  EVER!"  hehe, that just might change ;)  Happy Birthday big boy!  We sure love you!

Cutieboy at 3 months

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My life is getting better.  Ezekiel is starting to sleep through the night, hooray!  He smiles soo much and laughing, too.  It is such a joy. 

Home school 2013

The Kim Ohana homeschool team has begun!  We started the first week of August.  So far it is going pretty well.  We are part of the Myron B. Thompson Academy, so the kids go see their teacher twice a month.  It helps to be accountable to someone else.  The charter school gives us $1500/yr per child to use towards extracurricular activities and curriculum.  They also gave us an ipad for the year to borrow.  It's been a great motivator for the kids to get their work done.  There are tons of educational apps out there!

Zion is in Kindergarten and doing awesome.  His handwriting has improved dramatically just in the last month (he used to hold his pencil with two hands).  He is working out of a First grade mathbook and can read simple books.

Zion is also taking piano lessons!  He had his first recital last week, so cute!

  Anjuli (1st Grade) is doing great at school, too.  She is working out of a 2nd grade mathbook, and reads at a 4th grade level.  She is ALWAYS reading!  We often have to take away books as punishment :)

 

I made these charts for the kids to keep track of what they have to do each day.  It has really helped keep them organized and visually see what they have left to do.  Most subjects we do every day, but we rotate History and Science.

Science is both kids favorite subject :)

Homeschooling has been an adventure for us.  There is so much I love about it: Not following the school schedule, no homework, going to the beach or waterpark when it's empty, watching my kids learn, family time...  I have to remind myself of all the reasons why I love homeschool because it is HARD!  With 5 kids in the house it is pretty crazy.  A typical day will have moments like this: Anjuli yells "Mom can you come check my Math?" while Zion is practicing piano "MOM did you HEAR THAT?!" and Zeya yelling from the bathroom "MOOOOOM I NEED YOU!". Jasmine is probably making millions of bubbles from my kitchen sink or pulling out all the diaper wipes.  And Ezekiel either needs to be fed, diapered, or put to sleep.  It is overwhelming and I have to admit I am happy when I get to leave for a few hours to teach piano in an air-conditioned room and talk to other adults and students that respect me.  That being said we will most likely homeschool until the 4th grade.  With teaching 43 students a week I am gone every afternoon, so I feel homeschooling is a must so I can see my kids more than a few minutes each day.

My Muscle Man

 
This kid works out everyday so that he can "be stronger than daddy"... just look at what he's been up to!

I think it's paying off, check out these muscles!

Bishop Museum

 We went to the Bishop museum on Monday.  They have a special dinosaur exhibit right now, so cool!

The kids learned about volcanoes, too.  They have a  huge volcano with a lava tube slide that Jasmine loved.

 Of course the kids loved it when it erupted!

I love our Jones family reunion shirts!  We ironed on the kids names, it makes it easy to keep track of them on field trip days :)

Typical dad...giving baby a taste of icecream.  Zui's shirt says "BYU DAD". My shirt says "BUSY"...we were getting creative with the iron-on letters we had left :)

Preschool co-op

Several gals from church and I have started doing preschool for our kids every Tuesday. It was my turn first. I was nervous about it, but surprised at how fun it was! We did circle time with songs, weather, calendar, and finger play. Snack time was a must, then free play. A lesson on kindness, library, rest time, service, then arts and crafts. It was busy but fun! So fun, in fact, that I've since incorporated circle time into our home school day, it has been a great addition.

Homemade laundry detergent

I'm feeling a little bit Amish now, but loving it. I've been making my own laundry detergent for a few months...I'm amazed at how easy it is and cheap! And yes, it works awesome-gets out some seriously dirty stuff. Here's the recipe: grate 1 bar of Fels-naptha soap, add 1 cup Borax and 1 cup Washing soda. Mix in blender or stir by hand. Voila! You use 1tbsp for medium loads, 2 tbsp for large loads. Crazy how little you use but I swear it really works. Comes down to about 1 cent a load, and takes all of 5 minutes to make- can't beat that!

More baby pics

Ezekiel is sleeping better now, only wakes up once a night! That plus smiling more has helped me be a happy mama.  Life is getting the slightest bit easier and it feels great.