Rumor is we've got Talent

(to the tune of O Susanna)

Oh she comes from Arizona
Its a place that's hot and dry.
When I met her at BYU
She really caught my eye.

Chorus:
We're the Blumers
We're crazy as can be.
We like to play together
and we live on 10-60

Oh he comes from California
with a guitar on his knee.
Now he lives in Provo
with some rowdy kids and me.

These 3 are the Blumer kids
They like to sing and play.
There's Paige, Ashby and Levi
and there's one more on the way!

Brian was the star of the show - doing solos between verses on the nose flute, Jaw Harp, and Harmonica with no hands. The kids did a great job dancing around and looking cute. It turned out pretty well for coming up with it a few hours before.

Baby Blumer #4

Sometimes I wondered if there really was a baby in there. I haven't felt nearly as sick as past pregnancies. It was nice to actually see the real thing up on the t.v. screen. Guess its for real.

Paige's nightmare

At 5:00 this morning Paige started screaming.
I ran into her room to help calm her down.
"Did you have a nightmare?"
"Yes."
And through her sobs she told me, "Levi was putting a bunch of little bouncy balls down the sink!"

Well, if that doesn't warrant waking up the whole family, than I don't know what is. :)

Valentine Surprises

We sent the kids on a treasure hunt to uncover their Valentine surprises.
My mom would always send us on treasure hunts with really hard and clever clues. Well, my kids aren't quite at that stage yet, so we had a picture hunt. We took close-up pictures of different places around the house and the kids had to figure out what it was.

They started in their room and headed for this spot.



The inside of the toy kitchen.
Inside revealed some Hershey kisses and the next picture clue.




This is one of Levi's favorite hiding spots, behind the brown chair in the piano room.
There Levi found a fun pop-up peek-a-boo toy, and the next clue.



The bookshelf in Levi's room.
More Hershey kisses and the next clue.



The hallway closet.
Ashby's present - a dog Pillow Pet.



The paper drawers in the craft closet.
More Hershey kisses and another picture.



The linen closet.
Paige's present - a ladybug pillow pet.

Ahhhh...Pillow Pets. The kids have been drooling over them since the first time they laid eyes on them. It was hard to justify, but I just knew how excited they would be. So we bought them, and tried not to think about it again.

After a good while of playing with the new toys, Brian gave the kids one more picture clue that had been hiding in his pocket...



This was the hardest picture for them to decipher. Paige especially looked all around the room, and even when I stood right next to her, she still couldn't get it.
Eventually she saw that it was my shirt and after I rubbed my belly a few times she said, "Are you pregnant?" What? I didn't even know she knew that word. I laughed so hard and she got all embarrassed. But once we told her and Ashby more about it, they were so super excited. And the first thing Paige said was, "And I will be such a big helper." Hooray!

[note: my belly is not really that pregnant, but Brian made me stick it out for the picture].

So, now you all know our big Valentine surprise!
Due sometime at the end of the summer. Ultrasound next week, so we'll keep you posted.

Happy Valentine's Day. I hope it was filled with lots of happy surprises as well!!

Ode to the BYU water bottle

We've had you ever since Paige was a wee one.

You've been with us through thick and thin,

on countless expeditions with the diaper bag,

through three kids and dozens of teeth.

You've calmed many tear-filled eyes, 

and hushed many sacrament meetings.

You were just the right size.

You did just what we asked you to do.

But now you are broken 

and we will never find another as good of you.

Thank you BYU water bottle. 

We will miss you.

Our first Science Fair

Last week Paige entered in her school's science fair.

I showed Paige a website of all different kinds of science experiments she could pick from. She liked the ones about eggs, but she wanted to do them all. They were pretty simple, but suddenly we had to do 4 different things.

Question 1: Can an egg bounce?
Of course you'd say no. But after soaking the egg in a cup of vinegar for a few days, the shell dissolves and sure enough. It makes a rubbery bouncy egg. Pretty cool.

Question 2: Can I make an egg float in water?
If you fill a glass with water and stir in a few spoonfuls of salt it will float because the density of the water changed.

Question 3: Will an egg break if something heavy sits on it?
We placed 4 large yearbooks on top of 4 eggs. The curved shape of the eggshell distributes the weight across the egg so it can support more weight.

Question 4: Can I tell if an egg is raw or cooked?
If you spin the eggs on a flat surface you can tell the difference. A hard-boiled egg spins well, but a raw egg wobbles around because the yoke inside bumps around.




























Paige had a great time explaining the different experiments. The entire fair was pretty low key, but Paige got 2nd place for the kindergartners. It was fun.

Laurel High Adventure

On Jan 8th I was in charge of taking the laurels in the stake on a high adventure. We went cross country skiing and snowshoeing. I wanted to give them the option of activities in case they were scared to try something new. We had about 30 people at the activity (not everyone is pictured). It was pretty difficult to work out all the logistics of it, and I got pretty stressed out a few days before. I was secretly hoping it would just blizzard and we could cancel the whole thing. But...I couldn't be more pleased with how it all turned out! It was really such a great activity. The girls were so happy and willing to try new things, and not whiny at all. We went up to Big Springs Park in Provo Canyon and made our own little xc skiing track around the park to practice for a little while. Then we ventured up the mountain and made it to the meadow. It was a worthwhile challenge and I am just so happy with the results. It was my first time xc skiing too. So I was nervous about helping others learn, but luckily there were some other experienced leaders and everyone had a great time. I'm looking forward to going xc skiing again!