shari lewis has nothing on me

may she rest in peace. Does anyone even know who Shari Lewis is? Megan used to watch Shari and Lambchop when she was little. Looking back I don't know how either of us could stand to watch the show - Meg was too young and was probably just happy that there was movement in front of her face and I was a new mom just pleased as punch that I could have a half hour of peace while Meg watched the show. I'm not sure I could tolerate Shari and her puppet if I was forced to watch it now but that's not the point of this post.

Nathan had his final economy day last week and so we had to come up with yet another "what's the best product to sell" idea. The cinnamon rolls and bag o' fun went over pretty well and we wanted to keep up the streak. Nate decided he wanted to sell sock puppets. Great idea but he wanted us to make all the puppets, umm no! I told him I thought sock puppet kits might be better - the kids would think it was fun to make their own and it would be a great craft activity for the summer. He agreed so we went with it.

Each kit contained...

• 1 sock


• 2 buttons


• 2 google eyes


• 1 pompom


• yarn


• red felt


• small container of glue


• pair if scissors

We packaged them up in cellophane bags with a ribbon and called it good. I realized looking at all the packages that the kids might not be super thrilled with the contents unless they could see what they would actually get to make so we made a puppet using all the supplies so that Nate could display it. So here is Fred, Fred? Is it Fred? Is that what Nate named him? I can't remember now but here he is...

Oh, I forgot to mention - Nathan sold out! I see a little entrepreneur being shaped.

i should be mad

but I'm not. It is summer after all and it's just ink that will wash right out. I'm getting soft in my old age!

it's a bird, it's a plane, it's....

CAPTAIN SUMMER!

We decided to have dinner outside on the last day of school. After a gourmet meal of hot dogs (at least they were Hebrew National) Luke ran upstairs and then returned to the yard as super hero boy. His outfit was da' bomb - how outdated is that terminology?!?! He decided who among us was villains, super heroes, and side kicks and then he played happily for quite a while. Thanks for ushering in the new season Captain Summer!

update? no, life got away from me

So my good intentions of updating the blog have gone to the wayside. The plan was to update the blog over the last couple of days but you do the math...

• 4 kids
• last week of school
• 3-4 award ceremonies, appreciation brunches, pizza parties, swim parties, teachers gifts, choir concerts, final school projects per child

So I'm going to try to get through today (last day of school) and get my house clean because book club is at my house tonight and then maybe, just maybe, I'll get back to blogging about the family. Until then you can always enjoy more "Snape, Snape, Severus Snape, Dumbledore..."

this isn't what i meant when i said i was going to catch up on posts

I realize that I have yet to post anything about the family during this catch up phase of blogging but...I'm loving the videos. This video makes our family laugh and since the first time we have seen it we can't get the catchy little tune out of our head. Let that be a warning to you...if you do not wanting to singing this little ditty for the next few days step away from the computer now. My other disclaimer...no puppets were harmed in the making of this video.

Unbelievable!

I saw this and cried - really, I did. I thought to myself it has to be a hoax but I've searched the internet and it seems to be for real. Grab the tissues and watch this video.

i'm so behind

I hate when I visit blogs and they haven't been updated for awhile - I find it to be a big let down. I don't think there are people dying to hear updates about us but I still hate how behind I am with posting. I am going to try and take a bit of time today and tomorrow to get this blog up to speed on what is going with our little Baker bunch.

My mind doesn't work as well as it once did, although I'm not sure it ever worked very well so I am not going to worry about the order in which events took place. This is all about recording what has happened in our lives and not about the date things happened - unless I do happen to know the date. I'm beginning to ramble - on to the posts!

a day late

I realize Father's Day was yesterday but we never got on the computer. I wanted to wish a Happy Father's Day to the best daddy and husband ever...Derek. The kids and I are blessed to have him.

We love you Derek!

trying to blog

I have been trying for the last 20 minutes or so to get some posts on the blog but blogger is not letting me post pictures - frustrating! I need to get back to my morning routine so I'll have to try again later. Don't cry, I'll be back soon to share our tales of adventure.

if you're in provo...

take your kids to the Provo Library for storytime and say hi to my little sister Lauren. Lauren is one of the storytellers there. I'm not sure what days and times she reads but if you are there with your kids see if you can find her and say hi for me

lots to do

We are still busy with home improvements as we ready the house for Nathan's baptism - sorry for the lack of posts. We finally finished up the bathroom downstairs - we do need something to hang on the bare walls but other then that it is done. Now we have moved on to the fun tasks of cleaning baseboards, walls and doors. Does everyone with kids have gross doors or is that just us? The fingerprints are unbelievable!

We have had a lot going on here - end of the school year activities, fun family outings, etc. I will get back to posting after this weekend to update y'all (mission slip) on the latest happenings.

Thought I'd post this picture...I love it! It happens to be taken at one of my favorite places. Any ideas?

craziness

Our life seems a bit hectic. Nathan's baptism is in a week and we have been working hard to get the house ready for visitors. We have cleaned out our garage, gotten the yard spruced up, painted, installed crown moulding, organized, etc. but as I sit on the sofa typing this & I look around the house - it's somewhat of a mess - why is that? Why do big projects always make the house messy?

Derek has been amazing with all the house prep. He comes home every night after work and starts in on a project and then does even more on the weekends. He worked on the crown moulding into the wee hours last night. How thankful I am for him and how nice it is to be getting some of our projects done that we have wanted to do for awhile.

we've always loved public transportation

Don't miss this bus ride!

we're saving our pennies

I think I have just found our family vacation for 2009.

yes, i love the girls

Let me just say that I love all my children, the boys just seem to be around more when I need a subject to photograph.

Here is my latest homework assignment for photography. The assignment was lighting. I tried natural light and studio lighting but liked the natural light photos way better.

memorial day, a little late

We met with Derek's family, Monday morning, at the cemetery where Papa Baker is buried. It has become a tradition to meet together there every Memorial Day. Followed by waffles at Uncle Dave's house.

Janae & Sam, Lissa & Severin were here visiting from Utah - it was nice having them join us.

It is fun to have everyone together sharing stories about Papa. There is always laughter and some tears as we remember him and what he has meant to each of us.This scene caught my eye while we were at the cemetery. This angel statue stands at the top of a hill overlooking the children's section. For some reason the flowers that someone carefully placed in the angels hands stirred some emotions in me.

them thar be scary pirates

We spent Saturday afternoon with my family going to see Pirates of the Caribbean. Those darn pirates proved to be a bit to scary for some of our landlubber kids so after talking to the theatre manager I took some of the kids to another theatre to see Shrek. I wish I could give you a great review of the movie but I slept through a lot of it and if truth be told - I'm not a huge Shrek fan.

After the movie my family came back to the house where we hung out and had dinner. We celebrated Meg's birthday (a little early) with some strawberry shortcake.

We also had to get a group shot of all of us sporting our pirate garb. My mom hit the 99 cent store and outfitted us all in the latest pirate fashion.

inappropriate?

So these are the shots I really love but they all seemed not the right choice for a baptism invitation. I love the third picture the best but something about his face just doesn't convey the feeling of reverence, does it? I'm beginning to wonder about my taste in photos...is it wrong that I like the shots of my kids pulling faces instead of the sweet, angelic shots? These pictures just seem to capture Nate better then the others.

In case you're wondering, which you're proabably not, I cropped the photos this way so that I could put the wording for the invite of to the right of Nate - that's why these all look the same.

baptism photo shoot

I forced poor Nathan to suffer through a photo shoot so that I could get some shots of him for his baptism invitation. Here is some of what we ended up with...
I think we will use one of these for the invites although I'm still not sure. I actually have some other shots that I love but thought it would be best not use them since this is a baptism invitation after all. Check out the next post to see my favorites.

field trip

On Tuesday I took a field trip with my photography class to Laguna Beach. The assignment was to photograph the sunset but with such horrible weather that day we all took to shooting other things. The gray weather was not very inspiring and out of the 300+ shots I took I don't like very many of them. Here are a few that I liked ok but I'm not really in love with any of them. The pictures above and below are of my friend Rona. She and I are taking the photo class together. The foot picture is probably my favorite of the whole shoot.
I found it funny that this sign was on the beach serving no purpose. I think I would have liked this shot better if the sign had kids climbing on it. That is one of the things I learned from this field trip - I am not a landscape photographer - I like people in my shots.
This was my first attempt at night/motion photography together. I think the results are kinda cool but the shot is still not pulling any emotion from me. Even though I don't love any of the shots, I enjoyed messing around with some new techniques and am anxious to head back down to Laguna (with family this time) to try out more shots.

60 days and counting...

So, book 7 is quickly approaching and we have started to plan our Harry Potter book release bash. Megan and I have spent far too much time on the internet looking for ideas but it sure has been fun. I have a great idea for the outside of the house but I'm keeping it under wraps at the moment.

We can always use some good ideas. If you have any ideas that would work for a Hogwarts celebration please send them our way. At the moment we are planning to have the great hall complete with floating candles, a potions classroom, and possibly a divination classroom. We will be serving a meal and playing games before we head over to Borders to pick up our golden book.

I need to get working on costumes as well. Megan wants to be Luna Lovegood. Emily isn't sure but I think her plan is to be a Ravenclaw student. I think I want to be Prof. Trewlaney or Bellatrix. Prof. T would be the easier costume to make.

We are getting way excited for the book but I'm also excited to be planning a party. I haven't planned a big party in a long time and I miss it. I'm sure Derek is thrilled to see "party money" flying out of our bank account.

he's home!

Derek is back from his work trip to Las Vegas - yippee! We all hate when he is away but we try to make the most of it. The kids and I had a weekend long slumber party in the family room. We watched movies and ate pizza and candy. We spent some time in San Diego (already mentioned the piano recital), we visited Uncle Jeff in San Clemente. We did some laundry - that always makes for a fun weekend. Of course there is still more laundry to be done today - why is it never ending?

where's the scissors?

I'm thinking that pony tails are a sure sign that it's time for the boys to get their hair cut. I wanted the boys to get a haircut this weekend but with Derek out of town it wasn't going to happen. This picture was my insurance shot...I knew when Derek got home and saw this picture he would pull out the scissors immediately. Luckily, I didn't have to use it...Derek got home yesterday afternoon and before the day was through he had the boys looking cleaned up and sporting nice new do's. There was no denying it, both boys looked like little rag-a-muffins. On that note...what is a rag-a-muffin? My grandparents used to call me that.

the sound of music

Saturday was Megan's piano recital in San Diego. It's a long drive for her 5 minutes of fame but we made the most of it and had fun. Derek was out of town all weekend so the kids and I headed out of here at 9am and enjoyed the parking lot that we here in California call the freeway. I'd like to say that traffic coming home was better but of course it wasn't. Why does it seem like everyone in California is always going to the same place, at the same time? Come on people... take public transportation so I can drive on the freeways at 65 miles per hour :)

Megan did a great job with her recital pieces with just a note or two sounding a little off. She just grins and laughs it off - she has such an easy going personality and can usually just roll with whatever is thrown at her.

After the recital I took the kids to lunch at Chevy's and we had a great time. The kids were really good and well behaved so we laughed when the hostess sat a couple next to us and we could see the lady "discreetly" pointing to us asking to be moved. I chalked it up to some adults not really enjoying kids and let it go. However, a few minutes later a family of 4 was seated in the same spot - before they even sat down they moved themselves to another table. What is going on?!? I really mean this when I say the kids were not being loud or obnoxious - I'm not even wearing my rose colored glasses right now. I would have sat by us - a nice, quiet family enjoying a meal together.

for derek

yes, another school project or should we say our child is brilliant

I remember when Megan was younger we thought everything she did was brilliant. As a baby she'd coo "she's talking so young" we'd say. Her first steps would bring such joy for us knowing that she was so advanced for her age. The wonderment continued with the other kids but just not as much, since we had experienced the milestones before, but we we still had our proud moments....Emily learning to swim made us burst our buttons - "I bet she'll go the Olympics" we'd exclaim, Nathan going on a roller coaster at a young age made him the bravest kid ever in our eyes. But Luke, poor Luke...when you are the fourth kid to come along mom and dad have pretty much seen it all. Well, hold on a minute...Luke has surprised us and we are sure once again that we have brilliant kids and that Luke will be the next world famous artist.

Luke had a mammal project due for school this week. He chose to report on a lion and look what he did....

He drew this himself. Now be honest - isn't it the most amazing lion drawing you've ever seen from a 5 year old? You know it is! Derek and I were both rather surprised by his artistic ability. He used the cover of a lion book to copy and I think he did great. He added torn paper for the mane and the final project was amazing. We have our fourth genius! Man, Derek and I are good parents! :)

beating the heat, part dos

Last week, to escape the hot house, we decided to have a picnic dinner at the park. It seems a lot of others had the same idea since the park was full of people. We enjoyed our meal except for a run in with some rotten carrots - you don't really want to know. Let's just say that Derek and Em thought they were flavored carrots. When I convinced them they weren't there was some gagging going on. The surprising thing!?!...Luke ate a bunch of them before we discovered they were bad and never said a thing. I would say that is pretty gross but on the bright side he and his stomach will be ready for a foreign mission.

Derek watching the kids play frisbee

Luke loves this park because of all the rocks. We have already determined in previous posts that I tend to be a bit paranoid so I spend a lot of my time at this park trying to keep Luke from falling in to the duck and turtle infested waters.

It was nice to sit by the water and just enjoy one anothers company. We also started a walk around the lake but never made it all the way around. Their are exercise stations placed throughout the park and the kids wanted to stop at everyone they saw - it made for a long walk so we had to cut the walk short. No worries though...the exercise was good for all of us and we learned a few things about me and Nate - we can't jump to save our lives. A few of the exercises required jumping - just forget it, Nate and I caught no air. Any dreams Derek may have had of seeing Nate play basketball were shattered I'm sure.

beating the heat

Last week, or was it the week before (?) we had some way HOT weather. We were pushing close to 100 degrees for a few days. The kids spent an afternoon cooling off in the sprinklers and had a blast. The community pool would have been their first choice but with too much needing done at home the best I could pull off was the sprinklers.

treasure hunting

When Luke and I walk to school he likes to look for treasures. His "treasures" usually consist of various rocks and flowers which I always end up holding so his hands can be free to find even more treasures.

Last week as we were walking to school Luke found this little beauty - a lizard tail. Do I even need to tell you what my reaction was? We were still a ways from school and there was no way, let me repeat - no way, that I was going to carry his treasure all the way to school and then back home. He agreed to finding a hiding place for it so that HE could pick it up after school and bring it home.

So now I have a lovely lizard tail in a glad container decorating my kitchen counter. Oh the joy of boys!

fathers and sons

It's time to play catch up with posts - we got behind a bit.

Last Friday was our Fathers and Sons campout with church. Every year the men take their boys camping over night at a local campground. Nathan and Luke love going and always come home filthy and happy. I spend the whole night worrying that the dads aren't watching their boys well enough and I am always sure that boys will be lost and never found. It doesn't help when Derek says to me, as we are packing them up, "make sure the boys each have a flashlight and then one for me so I'll be able to find them when it gets dark" What?

We never get any pictures from the actual camping trip so I took a "before" of the boys as they loaded up the car.
This shot is of Luke before leaving on the campout. See how excited he is to be going camping?
This is the after! Nothing like coming home after playing in the dirt for hours and getting no sleep. Luke came home so dirty and so tired. It made for a fun Saturday.

I wouldn't trade it though. The boys love their yearly adventure with dad, especially since I am not there hovering. If I was there, there would be no chance of them getting lost but where is the fun in that? I know they love just being with Dad.

photography 2

I started my photography 2 class a few weeks ago. We are working on portraits and lighting. Each week we turn in one photo for our homework assignment - the one of Nate is what I turned in last night. I'm learning a lot but am still finding it hard to convey in the photo what I'm picturing in my mind. I'm trying to observe more and to be aware of light, distractions, etc. when shooting but sometimes it all seems like a lot to remember. I am enjoying myself though and it is nice to have a hobby, especially one that allows me to create.

feeling blue (& pink)

We mentioned earlier in our blog the Coble Family. The funeral for their children was Saturday. The community is still mourning the loss of these 3 precious children and fundraisers are happening all over town. While out grocery shopping today I had to pull out my camera and take a few pictures of just a few of the hundreds of ribbons that are tied on trees, posts, bushes, bridges, etc throughout the area. Wherever you look you see 2 pink ribbons and 1 blue ribbon tied together. Whenever I drive through town and see these ribbons I cry. I just can't imagine. It is nice though to see the outpouring of love and I hope that it brings at least a little bit of comfort to the Coble family.

we're still here

No, we have not dropped off the face of the earth we just seem to be overly busy at the moment. The regularly scheduled blogging will resume - eventually!