Genius Hour

In school the boys have something called Genius Hour. Their teacher let them research anything they want, then they have to do a power point and present it for the class. They have loved this and done a lot of topics. Beck is slightly obsessed with "IT" the movie/book. He isn't allowed to read the book but saw they old movie. He choose to do a GH on Stephen King and play the new "IT" trailer. Last week Cam Beck and a friend all did one on dogs. They do all like dogs, but mainly they just wanted to bring the dogs into class. Monday Brad went and watched and took them in, which the boys loved. The speech got a little long, so this is only about half of it, but they did a really good job. 

Remember a few weeks ago Camden was a little nervous to sleep at a friends? Well this past weekend it was Beck's turn. They both were at a friends house and called to stay the night. They wanted some things at home and came home to get them. We asked where they were staying and Camden wanted to stay home but Beck didn't, so we told Beck if he wants then just go but Camden doesn't want to go. A fun side note is they were semi grounded from games. Instead of having their normal time they were only allowed 20 min a day due to not following rules. This had a little pull in Cam's decision, but he also didn't want to be away from home. Beck went and we started to watch movies at home. About 45 min later Beck came home, he said it was weird and he didn't really like not having Camden there. The joys of twins and them really never separating from each other. 

Water and Bikes

We did a lot of yard work last week, just before all of the rain this week. The rain was helpful since we did lay some seed down. While we were cleaning up we put a little water on the grass. It's been so long since they were able to swim so they played in the sprinklers. Jacks was trying to spray Beck and ended up shooting Brad and I in the face instead. 

 The other night Jacks must not have been tired at all because he was up for a long time in his room. If he's quiet we don't mind to a certain time. He came out and said he had a present for us. It was candy in an egg in a glove in a hat. He was still up and so I went and checked on him and he was making a note for everyone. He said he wanted to be nice and give everyone a surprise. 

 He wrote a note to everyone,  it just said to --- from Jacks and left them a quarter. Jacks was excited to be able to do this for everyone.  He is a very sweet boy. It did backfire a little because later in the week we went to Michael's and he saw something he liked but I told him he had to save his money to get it. He said he tired but he gave his money to everyone... oops. 

The older three kids have bikes and ride them around a lot. We had a smaller one but it broke, so Jacks didn't have one. Every time we would look outside the kids would be riding and he'd try to run along or just be sitting at the basketball hoop. It was a pretty sad site to see. We went one day and sized out bikes to get him one for his bday and he fell in love with a motorcycle one and has been asking for it since. Little did he know we bought it but were waiting, but  every time we went to Walmart this would happen....

Since the weather has been a little better we decided to give it to him early. He was pretty excited to get out and ride it once it really sunk in he now has a bike. 

 He still has a little practice to do, but so far he has loved it. 

More Recorders

The boys had a small recorder concert at school last week. They did really well, and Camden was even in the master group, meaning he passes off all of the songs he was given. 

I'm not going to lie, I''m glad they are done and we have a little bit before Emery does it too. 

Easter Weekend

We had a big Barnes party last weekend. It was Grandma and Grandpa's 50th wedding anniversary party and the Easter Party. The egg hut has gotten smaller and smaller in the years since the boys started, but the kids still love doing them. 

 Almost all of the family was in town so we did family pictures. This is just all the grand-kids! 

Emery was in a bad mood before we left so I may or may not have threatened them if they don't smile and listen they will go to bed early for a few days. Jacks really took this to heart and had this look on his face literally the whole time. He didn't move once he was set. He did do what I asked at least.  

Cute Kids

The kids had class pictures this week and this is what Jacks picked out to wear. He's like his dad who wore kind of the same thing, but Brad took it a strep farther and had a briefcase as well.

 Last week they took their clothes setting out a step farther. I should mention they did this while they were supposed to be in bed sleeping. To make up for it both their signs say that we are the best mom and dad. 

The Toe

If you know me well, you know I HATE feet. They are so nasty and sweaty and smelly... ugh just the worst. A week ago Cam came limping into the house and said someone close the door on his foot. He had his tennis shoes on, so we weren't sure what to expect. When he took his shoe off this is what we saw. 

I'm not sure how hard someone closed the door to do this but it was pretty nasty. He was freaking out and didn't want it touched. We wrapped it in hopes that the nail may go down, but by bed it didn't. After a lot of convincing we were finally able to gt him distracted and Brad pushed it back down. Even the pictures make my stomach turn. 

Lessons Learned

The kids went to Grandma and Grandpa Arrington's to watch a session of conference and play BINGO. They do every time it's on and they love it and look forward to it every time. This time Cam won some cookies that he can make at home. A goal I have for the year is to let them learn to cook and to try and be patient enough to let them do it. I told Cam to go ahead and read and make it himself and to ask if he had questions. He came to me a while later and said he things he did something wrong. Instead of 1 tablespoon he added 1 CUP of milk. We tired to add lots of powered sugar to thicken it up, but it didn't work out too well. It just made a lot and it was too sugary. To make it even better he put them in the oven just as Emery and I started dinner and we forgot about them and they were nice and brown by the time we remembered them. 

Jackson is doing really well with reading lately and it's fun to see him sound things out. He brings home these little books to read for homework each week. The other day he had one that had backpack in it. He saw the picture then looked at the work and was confused. He told me, "it's packpack but there's a B." Since he says the word wrong, reading it didn't make sense to him. I had to explain to him it's actually called Backpack and he just said it different. All of the kids have had moments like these when they start reading more. 

This year I also have been trying to take a more relaxed approach to piano. Being the teacher and mom makes it hard to not listen to them practice and get annoyed when I know they aren't doing what I told them to do. I am there if they need help, but try and stay away when they practice. It has been a LOT nicer and I think the kids have done so much better this year. Emery is doing well and finally starting to play 'real' songs, song she knows. I have a classical book for her to play from and I gave her the song "Hallelujah" by Handel. It took her a second to figure the word and when she did saw was really excited and thought I have her a song by Panic at the Disco. Not sure they are in classical books just yet. She was a little disappointed once she found that out. 

A while ago we had an interesting night with Camden. The boys have usually had all the same friends and gone everywhere together. Most parents know they're twins and are fine having them both over if they ever go places. Camden had a friend call who asked if he could stay the night. If they don't mention the other one, we don't just assume that they mean both, and this was the first sleepover that either had been invited to ALONE. Cam was excited right at first then once he realized it was just him he slowly got more and more nervous. We told him to go and have fun and not worry about  home. Well at about 9 ish we got a call saying he wanted to come home. He didn't like the idea of being without Beck all night. I can't say I blame him, I hated sleepovers when I was under about 12 or so, so I got his nerves. I explained to the mom it was his first try at a sleepover without his twin. She didn't know he was a twin and understood. However a few weeks later he had a fun night with Uncle Paul and Beck was sick, so again he had to go alone. It did help that it was a family's house and he's been there before. I have a feeling next year will be interesting in parts. They have both signed up for different electives (yes they get elective classes next year) and will start having different friends too. Soon they won't just be a package deal for everything. It's exciting and scary and bitter sweet all at the same time. Why do they get old so fast?!

Emery's Restaurant

One of Emery's favorite thing to do is play restaurant. She wanted to on Saturday but we didn't have time to, so we made a plan and did it Sunday for dinner. Emery chose the whole menu, with a little help and made the menus as well. She called is spageti o's (spaghetti is spelled that way so it fits)

Jacks' had his own kids menu with game to play while he waits for his food. 

 She was a big help in making the food as well. 

The kids loved it, especially Emersyn. It left a messy kitchen but it was worth it. I'm not sure if the milk chocolate was bad or what happened but those ones we not good. At least we did a few white chocolate strawberries that made a good dessert.  It was a LOT of work to get everything out and ready. Maybe next time we'll do an easier menu.

Week of Projects

One thing I love to do is to re-do the decor. I like moving furniture around, painting and doing "Pinterest" protects. We haven't ever really liked the first blue we did in our house and have slowly been changing it. Since we both had a few days off for spring break we decided to tackle a few projects and I jumped on painting. The pictures are hard to see but the before blue is lighter and more like blue jeans. 

 After is still blue, but a darker one that allows our bed frame to pop. Now my next project in here is to make a quilt. 

After I finished our room Brad liked the color and said we should paint the kitchen... again... 3rd time... I did it with the stipulation that I get to paint over the mountain thing on the stairs. (I've never really liked it)

 Once we re-do the cabinets the blue will look really good. ( and the stairs look a lot better.) Eventually we will also paint the planter shelf to tie it all in. 

We moved all the kids downstairs and Cam is in Jacks' old room. Since Cam isn't into Mario we told him we'd paint this room. We let him pick the color...

 Apparently he likes glowing colors. The last color he picked was a bright green. I like this blue better and it makes the room bright. ( and apparently blue is the families favorite color.)

When we moved the big bed into Emery's room she no longer needed the end table, which gave me another project! It now matched the bench at the end of our bed. 

 I had towles in our bathroom on this shelf as decoration and didn't like it, so a cheap small project is just what we needed in here. 

 We were both sick of balls all over the garage so we made a holder for the balls. The kids have been doing a good job at keeping them in here and it is so much nicer in the garage. We started to make a bike rack and after the plans we had not working out, and the drill breaking we gave up on that idea, maybe we'll just purchase one. 

One side of the deck has a step, but the other didn't. It was a simple project but really finished it up. Maybe next summer we will re-stain it, but for now this works. 

 Jacks tried to get Luna to be the first to try it out. Luna didn't go along with that plan. 

This is an old project that I never put up and Brad let me know all the time that I didn't, so here it is. When we moved the kids room I was tired of the way the dresser was (I forgot a before picture). It was an easy fix and looks a lot better. 

 Brad cut out Star Wars pictures and made a collage on the top. Beck really likes it. A fun thing we are learning with the rooms how they are now is Beck is the messy twin. We always thought it was Camden because his area was kind of messy and Beck let us believe that. Turns out Camden just didn't have space to put his things but he is a lot better at keeping his room neat and clean. 

I'm ready for some more projects, time to look on Pinterest for ideas. 

Spring Break

It is Spring Break and the kids are so happy. With all of the snow days  it doesn't seem like they have been in school long enough for it to be a break. 

We went and saw "Beauty and the Beast" which we all loved. 

Fun times happened when Emery got sick in the middle of it and started the stomach flu for Emery. She went to bed fine and a few hours later Beck got sick all down the hall and all around the toilet before he took a bath. (How does a kid miss so BAD) The next day wasn't much more fun but then we got to go swimming with Grandma Arrington. She helped Cam and Beck figure swimming out a little bit. We just need to get a pass and go more often.

After swimming they had a sleepover at Grandma and Grandpa Arrington. They had dinner, ate snacks, played games and watched movies. I love how excited they get for time with all of their grandparents.

In the morning she put them to work deep cleaning her kitchen. All of the kids are working hard to save money for Disneyland, so this was a fun thing for them to do. 

Beck got told the same thing my mom told me ( and I tell him all the time too) to open the rag up all the way to clean better. Having it in a ball doesn't work. He was surprised my mom told him the same thing I do, I guess now he knows where I heard it from.

Emery and I finished spring break off watching Women's Conference with Grandma Barnes and all the Barnes girls in Twin. I remember watching them when I was younger with my mom, so it's fun to start that tradition with Emersyn. 

It was a good spring break and now they are back in school for the last few weeks of school. This year has gone by so fast!