May 23rd - May 29th: Tie Dye and Gingerbread and Lego

This is a tiny part of the Legos we own.

We are having fun sorting them out. 

The giant bins of mixed Legos are in the attic,

we pour out part of a bin each time we sort.

Saturday was lots of family time. We did get out of the house in the late afternoon for a fun drive. Many of the families with graduating seniors from church had set up tables 10-15 feet apart along one family's yard. We were able to stop at each table and visit through the open window/doors with each family.

Sunday was a quiet day with church at home as usual for quarantine. We sang, prayed, had the sacrament, and then did a fun jeopardy-style scripture game. It had these categories:

1.  People
2. Visions and Dreams
3. Who Said That?
4. Doctrines and Principles
5. Anything Goes!

 In the afternoon we worked on sorting more Legos for our big project. It is slow going, we have only finished two of the five giant tubs of Lego we have. 

In the evening we chose the two tie dye styles we each wanted to do. Then we labeled bags with each person's name and the style, and rubber banded shirts. Between the twelve of us that was 24 shirts! We also bagged the 24 playsilk blanks I bought from Dharma Trading Co and labeled which color or colors we planned to dye each one. 

Monday morning after breakfast and chores we headed outside to tie dye. It is quite a production to work through 48 items. It took 2 1/2 hours from beginning to end. We did run out of a few colors by the time we got to our playsilks, but we just picked different color combinations for those few. Now we wait until tomorrow morning to rinse out each item. That should be interesting! 

Tuesday there was a lot of rinsing and washing shirts and silks. The shirts all turned out great and now everyone has two new shirts for their summer wardrobe. A few of the kids were willing to model shirts today.

The kids decided to watch Inspector Gadget the movie and got a lot of laughs out of it. We've watched all the cartoons before, and it was fun to see it made into a live action movie.

Emma and I baked gingerbread cookies and added cream cheese frosting today. It was a new recipe, we've never really made gingerbread cookies before and I wasn't sure if any of the kids would like them. Surprisingly, most of them loved the cookies!

Wednesday morning my mom came to watch the kids and my sister picked up Makayla to take her to work at the farm, while Mason and I headed to his yearly check up with his eye surgeon. Everything looks good and he ordered new glasses. We came home, and then I ran to pick Makayla up from the farm. We spent the afternoon and evening just playing and doing family things. Oliver lost a tooth. I think that is the 6th or 7th tooth a kid has lost in the last three months. In the evening my three youth had a fireside online.

A peek at all the playsilks we dyed.

It has been probably 10 years since we made playsilks.

The middle and younger kids are thrilled.

Thursday kicked off with Emma's orthodontist appointment. They finally removed the appliance that has been in the roof of her mouth for 17 months. Depending on how the rest of braces treatment goes, she will get her braces off around January of next year. 

I baked chocolate chip banana muffins for lunch, but dumped the batter into a couple of bread pans instead of muffin tins. It was yummy, but doesn't slice well. Next time I'll use the muffin tins. While everyone was eating I watched Julie Bogart's live reveal of the 2020-2021 book picks for the Dart, Arrow, and Boomerang programs. Each month you read a book and have activities, discussion questions, grammar, spelling, and mechanics practice, dictation, literary devices to learn about - everything centered around the book of the month. I'm considering many of the Boomerang titles for my middle and high schoolers. 

Friday morning is here. Kids have been working on their summer charts. I thought I would explain how summers work here, in case anyone is looking for ideas. We try to keep a bit of a routine going, even in summer. For this year we print a one page chart out for each child each week. They have tasks to do each day, including a chore that changes every few weeks, daily reading, math practice twice a week, and writing once a week. They are free to play a lot, and they do. One thing I've loved about quarantine is that their play has become even more creative. 

Rebekah watched my braid Makayla's hair this morning as she prepared to head to the farm to work. She usually refuses anything beyond brushing her hair, but today she wanted braids like her big sister. She still has really thin hair, and wiggles a lot, but here is a peek at the final braids. 

The kids are calling me to come read a chapter of Trapped to them, so that's all for this week!