The Rest of Friday...

The rest of the day was so much fun!! Todd took the boys fishing and although they didn't catch much, they had a great time together. All the guys in this house look so forward to fishing season so they start getting out there a little early ;) but you know what? They don't care if the fish aren't biting! They just love being out. I love that.

The girls and I had the day to ourselves. I had a really fun little craft set out for us:

I had bought this back in November to do at Megan's birthday party but when I got it home and read the directions, it was a NO! The rings are painted in reverse and they have to dry for about an hour between colors. That alone made it too difficult to fit into an afternoon birthday party. Then I read that the paint may not wash out of clothes and that did it! But it was perfect for our girl's day :)

 While we were waiting for our designs to dry, we painted pictures :)

 Some of our finished rings:

Then we headed to Easton for lunch and window shopping. And ice cream :) And Barnes and Noble ;)

What a great day!

Kristen had to go to work after that, but the good times continued with a bonfire!

 We heard many times, "This is the best day ever!" from all the kids! But it didn't end there!

Camping in the family room! We went out of town Saturday to celebrate Todd's mom's birthday with her so we ended up leaving it up all weekend. You can guess where they wanted to sleep Saturday night as well ;) And we let them! It was such a laid back family weekend and it was so very needed :)

Why We Aren't Doing Any Schoolwork Today

Sometimes other things are more important....

fishing with Dad

crafting with Mom

enjoying the fresh, warm air

It's going to be one of those days :)

Anxoiusly Awaiting Spring

I'm interrupting my co-op posts to post what we did yesterday. I've had requests to "get this on the blog" and when I have requests I know it was something someone wants to remember forever. That's important to me. This is our family blog and when someone wants to record something fantastic then I do it! I hope we all share these wonderful memories forever :)

Yesterday was a gorgeous day! It was wonderful to see the sun for a change and feel some warmth. Megan and I had planned a movie/mani/pedi day so the boys in the house decided to make themselves scarce. Strawberry Shortcake does that :)

Todd brought the boat out so the boys could start getting it ready for some spring fishing. They are really getting anxious for some warm weather! While they were outside, they found someone else anxious for warm weather:

We had ourselves a little cold-blooded friend in the yard. Megan named it. Ugh. The boys were so excited to see this early sign of spring! They looked all around for more creepy crawlies :) Kept them busy for a while ;) I'm just looking forward to more warm, sunny days. Come on spring!!

Fridays

Our Fridays have had a different pace. Todd doesn't schedule patients that day so even though he still goes into the office for some behind-the-scenes kind of work, he's around here more. We still get our schoolwork done, but our pace is different...slower. Especially in the morning. He makes the most of the fact that we have schoolwork and gets some of his own studying done for the new metabolic work he's doing at the office, but he often pops out for some quality time with whoever isn't currently immersed in work with Mama ;) Sometimes he steps in and helps with a certain someone who likes to push my buttons ;) but mostly he joins them in some sort of activity; one he came up with or one they are already working on.

Megan was working on her Draw Write Now book. On each page is a picture with four simple sentences underneath. On the page across from the picture are step-by-step directions on drawing whatever the main part of the picture is. Todd walked through our school room on his way to the coffee pot ;) and this is what happened:

 Some great Daddy time!

Another Friday moment:

Nicholas was working with his snap electronics and it turn into an entire lesson on electronics from Dad :)
(That's Brandon's knee in the picture. They were both hanging on every word their dad said :))

Brandon's Outdoor Ed class at co-op was working on making their own spoons from wood. They made the bowl of the spoon in class last session then the teacher told them to finish it on their own at home. Since they were starting with a pretty good size piece of wood, their teacher told me we could trim some of that down with a saw if we want so they aren't whittling for months so that was another great project for Todd ;) He and Brandon went outside with power tools and a wonderful lesson as well as time together followed. Of course, I didn't go out there with my camera, it was freezing!, so I don't have that time recorded, but I have the aftermath of a lesson on knife safety given by Dad:

 Our weekends have been taken over by basketball, so this bit of extra time on Fridays has been extra precious this winter. We are so very lucky :)

Racing

A couple of weeks ago, Nicholas had his first Pinewood Derby race. He was so excited for the chance to make his car! He came up with the design then Todd got out the power tools ;) It was a good time for them to spend together being all creative and stuff :)

There were eight races and Nick's car came in second a few times! He was thrilled!

Here he is with his car on weigh-in day:

 Yes, that an energizer bunny!

 I know this is blurry but his car is on the far left:

 The two creators:

I love that they could do this together. Nick was very involved and came up with the idea all on his own and did the painting, but he can't use power tools yet ;) that's where Dad took over ;) Yay for that! I really like all his fingers and toes :) One thing we found out is that siblings can participate as well. I think we'll have more than one entry next year :)

The Best Art Class Ever

We had a lite school day yesterday. Nicholas and Megan are both suffering with a little cold so I had cut out a few of the more frustrating things in favor of letting them rest. Even so, we still hit on several subjects: language arts, science, math....and art!

In our home, I do most of the schooling. Todd works all day and in the evenings we're busy shuttling kids to different things so when he's able to get involved it's a treat for all of us!!!

Just look at them! You can tell they're very interested in what he has to say :)

 Brandon worked on his for a long time. He even got an extra lesson from Dad on adding color and shading.

 After Nick finished his bird sketch (again with the birds! They're just giving us so much material this winter!), he switched to his favorite Despicable Me characters....the Minions :)

 Finished drawings:

 You can just tell these two are feeling pretty crappy :(

 They all did a great job! Now for some art from the teacher:

his bird (and some quick doodles ;))

 Also in his sketch book:

 Those last two were sketched previously but I wanted to include them anyway because I love them :)

We really needed a day like this. This week has been rather stressful not only in the area of school but other areas as well. It was so good to hang out, learning and relaxing together. I love days like this :)

Applebutter Day

Todd took the boys to Applebutter Day yesterday. This is a cubscout event at one of the boyscout camps where they have all kinds of boy-things--bow shooting, tomahawk throwing, leather branding, BB guns--you name it! Not to mention time with Dad! Todd snapped a few pics with his phone:

They have such an interest in archery and handle a bow very well.Do we have more hunters on our hands?? (NO!)

Like Father, Like Son

A few weeks ago, I noticed Megan putting a sock in her purse. When I asked her what she was doing with a sock in her purse she told me it was her wallet and pulled it out to show me her coins stuffed in there. At the point, I decided she needed a wallet of her own! I ordered one from Jenny's daughter, Adrienne, who is making the cutest duct-tape wallets ever this summer. When I brought it home, she was thrilled! She loves it! She isn't the only one though. The minute Nicholas laid eyes on it, he wanted to try to make one himself. So much like Todd! Always has to know how to make something! Between the two of us, he definitely the more creative :)

So, Tood looked it up on the internet, took the kids to the store so they could pick out their duct-tape (it comes in all kinds of colors and patterns now. Crazy!) and set about making wallets with them:

They had a great time doing a little project with dad!

Kid-Wash

Today, Todd was powerwashing the deck and this is what happened:

It is no wonder why we can't seem to finish a project around here! We're too distracted by cuteness!

Fishing

Yesterday was Brandon's last outdoor survival class. I'm sad to see them end! Not only did he absolutely LOVE every minute of these classes and time with his friends, but Nicholas, Megan, and I also had time to hang out with friends! It was great!

We decided to go a bit early yesterday and take Todd along to try some fishing there. We didn't have any luck but we did see some nice bass and carp in the water. And a snake! GAH! Unfortunately, the snake was too fast for me to grab my camera (maybe because I was rooted to the ground with fear?), but I did get some very sweet pictures :)

Check out Megan's pinkness. Even her fishing pole is pink! What you don't see here though is her tackle box...all pink lures ;)

Todd showing his little fisherboy were the fish are:

Brandon LOVES fishing. He's really pretty good at it too.

Look at her concentrating. So cute!

Megan didn't last as long as the boys. Soon she parked herself beside me and started her lunch :)

Leaving the die-hard fisherman to do their thing ;)

We had a great time! It was so quiet and peaceful there and it was nice to not have any distractions!