June Happenings

 June is the magical month where the kids do not have school. Sarah was quite busy between Girl's Camp, Youth Conference, appointments and time with her friends. Megan, Matthew and Me did a bunch of science projects.

Growing crystals

Baking soda crystals on charcoal (with food coloring)

Salt crystals

Sugar crystals (aka rock candy)

Matthew and Megan built the astronomy tower.

Sunshine was very interested in the Kindle. It definitely looked like she wanted to read.

We did a number of puzzles that a couple in the ward loaned us.

Old McDonald's Farm

San Diego

Independence Hall

Atlantis

Salt Lake City

Megan and Matthew playing Twister. U trained them to be quite aggressive in their moves.

We build a compass by making a nail magnetic and then floating it in a bowl of water. We did lots of other activities with magnets and with electricity.

Megan, Matthew and Me made a trip to the Science Center.

Megan and Matthew playing with bubbles.

What a big bubble!

See the red bead? It represents the sun amidst all the known stars and possible earth-like planets. Megan patiently spun it around until she found the red sun. 

Matthew perfectly balanced in the swivel chair.

Matthew and Megan having a wheelchair race.

One of the many weird reading positions of Matthew.

We visited the dentist a lot this month. All of us had check ups. Sarah had two additional trips for tooth repairs (one missing filling, one new cavity). However, it was Matthew who had the most interesting story: He had a filling come out and so needed it to be replaced. Once they got him numbed up and were getting ready to fix the tooth, the tooth came out. So instead of a filling, Matthew got a visit from the tooth fairy.

Matthew with his tooth.

See where the filling used to be?

See where the tooth came from?

The set up for the tooth fairy. Megan helped him with the food. They put extra food in the pantry. Megan and Matthew even sewed blankets and pillows for the tooth fairy.

Matthew's note. He was happy to learn that the tooth fairy did take a nap on the bed.

U signed up for a cookie decorating class through work. Matthew and Megan joined him in decorating the cookies.

Matthew and Megan with the suns they decorated.

Happy saguaro.

All the cookies.

Sarah holding a snake they found at youth conference.

Megan, Matthew, U and Me went to the Lego Discovery Center while Sarah was at Youth Conference. We went on Kingdom Quest, watched some 4D movies and rode Merlin's Apprentice Ride multiple times. Here are some of the pictures from Merlin's:

Megan and Matthew loved the Lego City Play Zone. They spent around 3-3.5 hours running around playing with each other and some other kids.

U made this bird.

Matthew celebrated his half birthday. He was happy to receive a Hexbug Spider.

Megan loves to read!

Couple quotes:

At the pool, Megan befriended a girl who had the same swimsuit she did.

Dad: Do you know your friend's name?

Megan: Well, she is acting like a dog so I just call her "flower."

Matthew met us with this news as we came in from our morning walk:

Matthew: When I was putting the maple syrup away, it spilled. On my head.

July/August 2020

Matthew created this robot costume.

Playing with Tegu blocks and dominoes.

Matthew helping at AZCEND.

Megan helping at AZCEND.

Blue tongue. That's not normal....

Nice hat, mom.

We dissected an owl pellet that we found in our yard. Pretty cool stuff!

Megan with our completed Arizona puzzle.

Matthew rigged up a rope course in our yard.

Sarah's new skateboard.

We made gak (a type of slime) one Science Saturday.

Megan stretches the gak.

Megan loved playing with the gak. Not shown: She decided to make a sculpture of intestines with it. The sculpture did look like intestines.

Gak bubble

Megan lost two teeth in one day. The first one she lost had been loose for awhile so it wasn't surprising when it came out one evening. She then noticed that the tooth next to it was a little loose. She prayed that it would come out soon and then worked on the tooth, pulling it out later that night.

Megan with the food she prepared for the tooth fairy.

The missing teeth

Nice set up for the tooth fairy with a place to rest. There is some food and water on the left and the teeth on the right. 

This shows Megan's letter to the tooth fairy as well. Her hope was that she would be able to fly. Unfortunately, the tooth fairy wasn't able to grant that request but she did give her something to take before bed so that she would dream she was flying.

Matthew with his chicken sundae dinner. He tends to set his plate up as a battle field, with the Great Wall of China (aka the pineapple) delineating the two sides.

U has made Matthew some fancy lunches.

Turtles in a tree.

Ants in a hill

The reality of online learning at times.

Me's artwork.

Carrot cookies. Megan and Matthew wrapped cookie dough around carrots. They were interesting.

Matthew with his utility belt. It includes a sword, 2 Pez dispensers (whips), a harmonica, a train, a whistle, bandaids, a football, a dart gun, a crossbow, a flashlight, and lots of hangers.

U with a pile of snow. We enjoyed having a snowball fight.

Matthew and his crazy hair.

Sarah: I lived without cheese for 2 days!

Me: I lives without cheese for 2 and a half years.

Background: Sarah decided to try a vegan diet for a couple of days. She really likes cheese and was proud she went without it for 2 days. Me didn't eat dairy while nursing Matthew due to his dairy allergy.

Matthew: I am the defender of mommy!

Megan told us that she was half legs, so we measured her. Turns out, she's more than right. Her legs are 30 inches while the rest of her body is 27 inches. Matthew, on the other hand, has a leg length of 25 inches while the rest of his body is 26 inches. Sarah's legs are approximately the same length as Megan's. (Leg measurements were taken from the ground to the top of the legs.)