Look mom, I wrote a song

Less than 24 hours ago, Rychen was taught for the first time to read music. Now this morning he says "Look Mom, I wrote a song." Holy Crap!

A prize for anyone who can tell what song this is. (no, he didn't make it up. It's a well-known tune. He just played it by ear and figured out how to write the notes.)

One more great photo

This is simply my favorite. Ahhhh, a mother's joy :)

When my mom was here, she taught Rychen P. the Roman numerals. here are his doodles from sacrament meeting :)

Update from Marv & Reggie (I mean Rychen)

With Rychen's permission, I am forwarding today's email out to Logan (missionary brother) and yes, big announcement is the first matter of business!

(*NOTE: I'm pretty proud of this email :)   )

(Marv Albert): Greetings! and welcome to this week's email, coming to you from the friendly confines of the computer room in Rychen's house. Reggie, the last few emails have been typed on an Ipad, a considerable challenge given its limitations, it must be nice to be back on a regular keyboard.

(Reggie Miller): You're absolutely correct, Marv, its always a thrill to be back home where you're most comfortable.

(Marv): We're ready to get things started here this afternoon. Let's take a look at the starting five for the home team.

First, the new house. Its been a slow couple of weeks trying to buy the new house but that's to be expected. The inspection went fine and all of the paperwork is in but now its all work being done behind the scenes. Really, a frustrating process at times because you're no longer in control of how quickly things can happen.

(Reggie): It really is. Having to wait on the IRS to file your taxes, and the bank to schedule an appraisal and the underwriter to prepare all of the loan documents can be excruciating, especially when you're ready to get things done and move forward. The Jones Family has shown a good deal of patience through all of this, but if they aren't given a closing date in the next few days I'd start to wonder what the hold up is.

(Marv): Indeed. Next we have baby Taylor, making remarkable progress in his 6 1/2 short weeks of life.

(Reggie): Taylor's really the one to watch in all of this. This last week has really been a big week for him, as he's started to interact with his dad and started smiling more frequently. (see picture attached now). He's starting to fill out his baby frame a little bit more and is more alert every day. He's settled into a good sleep schedule and continues to be the most mellow personality on the team, so that bodes well going forward.

(Marv): What about Rychen's running, Reggie? He had a pretty significant setback a few weeks ago when he tried to play basketball for the first time in two years, suffering a painful sprained left ankle and sprained right big toe. What can we expect from him?

(Reggie): There's nothing more frustrating than being injured. You want to get out there and do what you do, but you just can't. Whether he liked it or not, I think the two weeks without running will help him in the long-term, but I know it's frustrating for him right now. He got his first few runs in this week and didn't seem to have any major pain during or afterwards, so I think he'll be fine. If he was going to be injured, though, now is the time of year to do it. His first marathon isn't until the end of June, and after that he'll be in Pocatello over the Labor Day weekend and then in Denver in September, all gearing up for another run at 50 miles at the end of October. Mix in a few triathlons of increasing distance and he's going to have a busy summer. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say taking two weeks off in January might be the best thing for him.

(Marv): Perhaps some extra motivation is that he just found out that his college roommate Trevor Weed ran a 2:47 marathon a few years ago.

(Reggie): Amazing. Simply amazing.

(Marv): Rounding out the starting five, there's a new broker in the office. He's an older gentleman with a huge book of clients and its really increased Rychen's workload the last few weeks. Also, the Blazers continue to flounder and are now a pedestrian 15-13 after losing yet ANOTHER close game last night in double overtime to Dallas. 

(Reggie): Its difficult to be a Blazer fan. You never know which team is going to show up. One thing you do know, though, is that their starting backcourt will be awful. Also, you can bet on the fact that Coach Nate will never make a big move and change anything. Tough times in Rip City for sure.

(Marv): On the other side of things, we have Elder Jones. When we last saw him he was anticipating a transfer while trying to avoid any potential altercations with his companion. You played your entire career in Indiana, but what can a change of scenery do for someone like him?

(Reggie): It's different for everyone, Marv. It'll be interesting to see how he's dealt with the adversity. I think with a new area, a new companion and beginning his second year will come together to produce good things. It's all up to him, though, we'll just have to wait and see.

(Marv): For more on Elder Jones, let's toss it to the third member of our team, Craig Sager. Craig, what can you tell us?

--
www.mindoverbodymarathon.com

Rychen has a special way with Taylor... Tay will smile for Rychen and not for me!! Rychen does a cute "wee wee wee" thing and pulls down on his chin to get him to smile. Today in sunday school, I was holding Taylor as he looked over at his dad, just watching him and smiling at him. Even when Rychen got up to say the prayer, Taylor's eyes followed him, just beaming at his daddo and smiling at him during the prayer. So precious!

Melan & Ethan visit

This was a few weeks ago but I'm just now going through the photos. Melan (my brother's wife) and Ethan drove up from the Reno area to spend a few days with us. The three big kids got along together just wonderfully !  We love cousins. It's always a treat when we get to see them since they live far away. and Melan was such a big help to take care of things (thank you!)

More school stuff

Things around here tend to be chaotic. School time is scattered, about half together and half independently. Rychen p. gets a to do list every day ( as do I) and gets incentives for finishing, usually video games or a treat. Some basic things are daily, like reading to me, reading his Book of Mormon, handwriting, piano, chores, math workbook, and exercise...most of which he does independently, albeit with repeated reminders! Other things change and are flexible, like geography, science, etc. ( if questions lead us to something unplanned, we might just call it good!)

So lately we've been really into geography, thanks to our globe and U.S. map. The kids have taught themselves the states ( another cool thing...sibling cooperation and discovering together, etc) Also Rychen and I finished our first chapter book together! We have started many but this is the first time we kept at it. Finally I can read aloud without getting winded! I read him Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher, which was one of my favorites as a kid:) The end made us both emotional. (I am hormonal, but what's his excuse? Hehe..it's cute to see him emotionally involved in a story!) Now he is listening to Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing on CD. After fudge books I want to read him Wayside School books. Fun fun!

Elisabeth is very much into letters and words. She is reading now and does so on her own, even asking me what something spells when she doesn't recognize a word! she writes things too, asking me how to spell it. this girl is 3-1/2!! Very charming. she knows a handful of state names, but her favorite school activity is singing songs. she asks to sing Scripture Power every time without fail! also her favorite books are Gingerbread Man and Old Woman who Swallowed a Fly, which she practically memorizes.

Excuse my capitalization etc. again, on the iPad with one hand....in fact just remember that from now on! :) I rarely get 2 free arms lately.

Is Pluto a planet?

This blog is going to shift to more homeschool topics ( still a bit of family happenings and my own free writing too) ... When we learn new things or do innovative activities, I get excited and want to "talk" abou it. Also it would be a good avenue to share ideas with my homeschool friends. So let's get started!

Rychen p. is very much interested in geography and space. He has noticed that some books refer to Pluto as a planet and others don't, so he has asked several times if Pluto is planet. So finally we sat down to research it. ( about ten minutes in, he got distracted and asked if there are going to be more than 50 states, so while he got out the globe, I kept reading about Pluto!)

This is a cool website to explain Pluto...http://curious.astro.cornell.edu/question.php?number=624

Then I continued to follow Rychen's lead and talk about states. He drove a matchbox car around the equator while I explained the difference between states and territories. I showed him how various islands have parenthesis and a country's name, showing who owns it.

Then he wanted to name all his states ( he knows about 40) so I got out some worksheets where you fill in the name of each state...and voila, we get handwriting practice.

I love times like this where I just follow his lead, getting materials out and answering questions. It really fills me with joy. In a busy household where my children often annoy each other and myself, it's so refreshing to do some educational activities and develop these common interests to bind us and give undivided attention :)

P.s. this could have been formatted better, but I am relaxing on the couch with my sweet baby, using my iPad!