A couple of videos to enjoy

This video reminded me of my parents dog, Charlie.  When he could see the little dust particles in the air he would try to get them with his mouth.  Wendy saw some on Wednesday and called them bugs and tried to get them.  I thought she was a cutie.

Here are Hyrum and I playing the piano.  All my kids have liked to pound on the keys, but Hyrum really likes it.  He will climb up there and play, turning pages and entertaining himself quite nicely.

Sprinklers

What do you do at the end of September, well in Mississippi we play in the sprinklers.  The kids had a great time last week.  Eric and Zachary pretended the water was poison for a little while and they could not be touched by it or they lost one of their lives.  Wendy and Hyrum ran through the big sprinkler, but preferred to stay away from the rowdiness of their older brothers and play in the spray where the hoses were joined.  I rested in the hammock while I watched my kids play.  It was a wonderful afternoon.

Soccer Begins

Eric and Zachary had their first games of the fall soccer season today.  Both of them did a great job.  Zachary was much more aggressive than last year and actually kicked the ball a lot.  Of course half the time he was trying to take it away from his own teammate :}.  Eric's game was his first of his entire soccer career.  He did great!!  He even scored the first goal of the game and pumped his arms up and down shouting "yes, yes, yes!"  Soccer is such a fun sport.

Zachary's Birthday

Zachary had a good birthday.  At school he was the Student of the Week, so we made a poster and he got to share with the class all about himself.  He also was able to share a healthy snack, cheese sticks, with his classmates.  He had a Chase, his 'best friend,' over for the afternoon.  Chase brought him some Ninjago Legos, and he was able to open a couple Ninjago presents from the family as well.  Zachary, Eric, and Chase had a great time playing with all of them.  We then had cake and ice cream and watched a Ninjago episode.  (Can you tell that Zachary is into Ninjago lately?)  We saved some presents to open when Dad got home, but Zachary had a headache and fell asleep before they were opened.  It made the next morning that more exciting as his birthday celebration continued before he went to school.

Here is a little bit about the past year for Zachary.  He has really grown up physically and emotionally.  He loved Kindergarten, but often was a little too mischievous. This year he has always received a good behavior grade!!!  Zachary loves to be active and has a great mind for pretending.  He also is very curious and likes to ask the question why, and often digs a little deeper than many children his age.  We love Zachary and are amazed that he is already 7 years old!!!

Helping Hands

 Kyle had the opportunity to be part of the clean-up team sent from our stake down to Louisiana to help gut some of the housed flooded during Hurricane Isaac.  They left at 4:00am Saturday morning and returned Sunday evening around 7:00pm.  In between those hours the worked, slept, attended an early morning sacrament meeting, and worked some more.  Kyle says it was hard work, but a good experience.  Above he is modeling his "Helping Hands" t-shirt in front of one of the houses he worked in.
On the home front, we only had sacrament meeting, all the other meetings were canceled.  Wendy was quite distraught last week when she did not get to see her friends in nursery.  The boys were a bit confused, but got over it quickly.  I realized how much I miss Kyle when I was trying to help 4 children remain reverent without him.  This week the stake received another clean-up assignment, so again it is only sacrament meeting.  At least this time I will have Kyle to help :)

Elton John

Kyle and I went to an Elton John concert with some of his coworkers.  I did not know what I would think of it, but I have to say that we had a great time.  We were as high up as you could get, but we could see just fine and the music wasn't too loud.  The band had two cello players who also preform by themselves as the "Two Cellos".  They began the concert and it was amazing to hear what two men playing cellos can do with rock and roll.  I loved it!  It was then fun to hear some tunes that I recognized and to spend time alone with Kyle.

Lego Mega Block Fun

A couple of Weeks back we went to the Zoo and they just happened to have a traveling Lego Mega Block workshop.  The kids had a lot of fun and it got us out of the heat.  Wendy loved building tall towers.  Eric made and impregnable castle, Hyrum helped anyone who would let him, and Zachary found a friend and they built an "army boat." It was quite impressive and they would have just kept adding if we did not have to go.  They also got to hear a Lego story, the story instructs you to build different creatures as you read.  The zoo is always a fun trip and this just made it better.

A little, long nature hike

Today we went to the park.  After the kids played for a few minutes we (MiKell, Zachary, Eric, Wendy, & Hyrum) decided to go on a nature walk.  Please note that Kyle was not listed among the walking participants, that was because he was asleep in the van.  We saw a lot of fun things on our walk: a vulture, beautiful butterflies, flowers, a lake, a white bird, ants, and a worm.  We had a great time and did not notice that the time was flying by.

 When we got back to one of the pavilions and took a rest, a police car came driving up with Kyle close behind.  The police asked if I was MiKell, and then Kyle jumped out of the van and hugged, hugged, and hugged me.  He had woken up to no wife or children.  At first this did not worry him, but after 10 min he started looking.  He yelled at every pavilion, went to every bathroom or shed he could see, pounded on doors, and finally after his extensive search yielded no results he went to the police whose office happens to just be around the corner from the park.  The kids and I in our nature walk bliss never heard him yelling.  Our walk ended up being almost an hour long, so I can see why Kyle was worried, but I truly did not realize that I was scaring years off my dear husbands life.  I took a nap this afternoon, and when I woke up and told Kyle I was sorry I had slept so long, he replied, "At least your husband and kids are here when you woke up."  He is right I do love my family and would never want to be without them.  Hope you enjoyed sharing in the excitement of the Flamm family today.