Sad-Happy Day

Today Dave is in upstate New York for the funeral of his Grandpa Killian. This is the first of our grandparents to die. Dave was very close to his Grandpa; it has been very emotional to say goodbye. Dave and his Grandpa communicated quite regularly through phone calls and email. Grandpa Killian's death was very sudden and surprising. One day he went to the hospital with a bad stomach-ache and 4 days later he had passed on.
We had been praying everyday for him while he was in the hospital and when he died, I told the kids. I said it was a sad-happy day. Sad because grandpa had died. I asked them if they could think of any reasons why it was happy. Molly said "Well at least his stomach doesn't hurt anymore." I was so proud of her for being so thoughtful. Elliot said "Because we still have Grandma." True, we are all very grateful for Grandma Killian.
I told the kids that it was a happy day, because of our faith in God and his eternal plan for us. We believe that there is life beyond death, where families are central, just like they are here. We believe that through ordinances performed in temples, families can be sealed together forever. Grandpa Killian believed it too. He and his wife were the first and only (besides their posterity) members of their families to join the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
(This picture is them visiting with one of their missionaries, nearly 40 years after their baptism.) They were sealed in the temple, and later both of their children were also married in the temple. But for Grandpa Killian, that was not enough. He spent tremendous amounts of time and energy searching for his kindred dead. He built a huge database of names and then sent them to a temple to have their ordinance work done by proxy. To me, this is one of the great principles of my religion. We believe that all people have the same opportunity for God's choicest blessings. Members of the church worldwide are busy doing temple work for people who have already died and never had a chance to hear the gospel preached or enter a temple in their life time.
Right now it is hard for those of us that are left. We will miss him so much. But we know that he is in a happier place, surrounded by other family members. I like to think that there is a long line of people waiting to shake his hand and thank him for the blessings he bestowed upon them while he was alive. That's why it's still a happy day, too.
We love you Grandpa Killian!

Poetry Recitation

My kids always work on memorizing poetry for school. I thought I would give them a chance to show off what they have been working on recently.


Elliot just passed off "Peter, Peter, pumkin eater". He sometimes get confused, but he really does know it.



Jill's poem is "Clouds" by Christina Rosetti

White sheep, white sheep,
On a blue hill,
When the wind stops
You all stand still.
When the wind blows
You walk away slow.
White sheep, white sheep,
Where do you go?



Molly's poem is "Sunrise" by Katherine Kosmak

I've never seen the great sun rise,
For then I am in bed;
The sands of slumber in my eyes
Hold down my drowsy head.

I think the sun climbs up the sky
And throws the clouds away,
Then girds her flaming tunic high
And strides to meet the day.

Soft-touched by bird's wings is her head
Her feet caressed by trees;
She turns their leaves to gold and red
And stoops to drink the seas.



One more from Elliot. Here he will sing the ABC's. (We recently noticed that Elliot might be tone deaf. But he makes up for it with confidence!)

The Plague

(You knew it was coming - but do you have the stomach for it?)

The bubonic plague, or the black death.
Started in 1347, came from Asia via Italian merchants. (Why didn't the Asians get it? they had immunity because they won the challenge on last week's episode)

Was a bacteria that was carried by rats. The rats also carried fleas (they were equal opportunity pests). The fleas bit the rats and got the bacteria. Then they bit the nasty, non-bathing, unhygienic middle-agers and presto infecto.

Once you came down with the initial symptoms (headache, fever, vomiting, weakness) you really only had about 3 days left. The for-sure sign that you had it was the buboes, or swellings that would appear in the groin and armpits.

The plague swept through Europe between 1347 and 1350. By the time it had run it's course, 1/3 of the population had died. People thought it was the end of the world. The plague completely rocked the social structure of medieval Europe. The deeply entrenched system of feudalism could no longer be supported. There just weren't enough people.

The plague wound it's way around Europe for the next few hundred year, but it seems it was never quite as bad as the initial outbreak.

In case you were wondering, yes, it was hard to study a topic like this with small children. They were very worried about getting sick. They were very worried that we had rats in our house. I had to explain over and over that we have antibiotics and that we are hygienic (we give our trash to the garbage man, we don't throw it in the streets).

But we still had to do a project or craft. That's what we do on Fridays to make school fun and memorable. But how do you put the fun in Black Death?
We made little rats out of bread dough. They have cute little nut-ears and ham-tails. And raisin-fleas. Then we made them into sandwiches and ate them. Now you know why homeschoolers are so strange. Their moms do it to them.

Hungry, Hungry Anna

Many of you know that I use cloth diapers. Today, after washing a load of diapers, this is what I found in the washing machine. . .Gross.

(Just for clarification, the red thing is a polly-pocket princess shoe, the brown things are pebbles, and the black things are those little rubbery covers that are on cell phones to cover the charger jack.)

Warping the Children?

Anna's really smart. She loves to try to talk. I always ask her if she's a good girl or a bad girl. And she always gives the same response. I made a video of it because I thought it was so funny.

Why I Hate the Ice Cream Man

because he turns perfectly happy children into sobbing, unhappy, whiney disasters!

Renaissance Festival

Since we are studying the middle ages--we had to go to the Renaissance Festival. (It runs this weekend and next. For more info check out their website utahrenfest.com. I believe they have one every year.)

The kids went in costume. Elliot was a knight and Molly and Jill were princesses (as usual!).
Elliot was excited to see all the other knights in full armor and watch the displays of real swordfighting.We tried out some huge turkey legs for lunch.
And the kids rode ponies while they waited for the featured event...
Jousting!!

Here is the squire helping the knight to put on his helmet and extra chest protection.
The knights clashed.
And clashed again, until their lances were all broken (they had 4 each.)
It was really cool to watch. And unbelievably loud when their lances broke. I was amazed that anyone was crazy enough to want to ride at a full gallop while aiming 8 foot long wooden poles straight at each other! (I wondered what their insurances rates are like!)

Okay, one more picture, but it is kind of inappropriate, so if you are reading this with your little people, you should send them out of the room for a drink or something.

Dave and I saw these and could not stop laughing.

Obviously designed by a man, no woman would ever want them.

And seriously, you males out there, what is the appeal here, besides the see-through factor? I'll tell you my theory; if you are the kind of person who makes stuff like this--you are probably reading too many fantasy novels.