Showcase

A week ago last Thursday, we had our last day of co-op and our showcase. Unfortunately, Nicholas woke up very early throwing up so he and I stayed home. He was very disappointed to miss his last day and the fantastic pizza party we have but since we had no idea what caused him to be sick we didn't want to take any chances on spreading that nastiness around!

Lucky for us, that was a one and only episode so by the evening I felt he'd be ok to attend showcase for a bit. Brandon was in a play and Megan was in choir so we wanted to be there to see them perform. And I'm so glad we did! Nick was fine and the performances were wonderful!

Brandon's play was first. These kids have worked very hard learning their lines and acting. Brandon can be soft spoken so I was really impressed at how well he was projecting. They did great!

 I love their expressions in this picture:

 It was so fun! Brandon had a wonderful experience and learned alot about WWII and the holocaust.

Megan loves her music class. There's no way she would miss a single session! This semester they learned the flute-o-phone:

Brandon also performed a solo piano piece but I couldn't get a good picture from where I was sitting. He did great!

They all had artwork displayed.

Brandon took a fine art drawing class:

 Above is a portrait and an optical illusion. Below is a city scape using perspective.

 Megan and Nicholas both had a solar system class this session and they did the cutest solar system chalk drawings:

Everyone really enjoyed their classes! It was a great session!

More Horsing Around

Our zoo trip was just plain fun. I think we really needed a fun, family outing because this is what was happening as we were leaving:

Kristen and Megan were chasing each other around trying to step on each others' shadow :)

 Then Todd led a game of Follow the Leader to the car (which was parked waaaaaay out there).

This day was needed. Truly a blessing :)

Horsing Around

What is it with horses and girls? Growing up, I had horses and they were the very best part of living on a farm. I loved everything about them and still do. And so do our girls.

On our way to church we pass a farm that has several horses and lately Megan has been asking if she could ride one. Kristen was the same way and still enjoys riding. Our boys, not so much.

When we got to the zoo we started off in North America wandering around. Then we passed the pony rides. Megan's whole face lit up! Todd bought her a ticket (offered to get one for Nick too but he declined) and she was off on her first ever pony ride!

 She was a bit nervous at first but she got over her fear pretty quickly and begged to ride again!

That's one happy girl :)

Our Family Zoo Trip

Yesterday was a great day! First, I awoke with all 6 of us here and no one rushing off! I celebrating by making a big pancake breakfast :) That just doesn't happen often around here anymore! We deiced to keep the celebration going by heading to the zoo! Yes, it was packed. When you live close to the #1 zoo in the country, you simply do not get it to yourself on Saturdays ;) That's ok. We expected that. At this point, we take what we can get. The younger kids and I can go pretty much whenever we want and take our time at whatever exhibits they want, but it was so nice to be there as a family :)

Even though it was packed, we really enjoyed the animals. Here's a few highlights of our day:

You know we visited the tigers, right?

I've never seen so many pairing up/nesting birds. There'll be lots of babies soon!

 This little bird was so mad at us for spying her nest! She was  giving us the evil eye for sure!

 Then she fluffed her feathers like a very mad momma would and turned to face us. She was cracking us up!

We couldn't believe how hard it was to see the female here even though they were really close to the path. Sneaky ducks :)

And a trip to the zoo would not be complete without visits to the reptile house and the aquarium. I totally lucked out here. Since we were running out of time, we decided to split up....I got the aquarium :)

The aquarium fits right into our science studies right now and since the boys didn't get to see much of it, we'll be heading back soon on a much less busy day :)

Our parting shots:

It was a great day! More to follow :)

Shake It!

Yesterday was so good for us! Yes, there was rain but only here and there and the weather was so warm. That means we play outside!! Our kids have been penned up with nasty weather for way too long (did you know we might break the record for rainfall this month?? 6.3 inches as of yesterday morning...) and everyone's getting pretty snippy, but yesterday I could say, "Go outside and play!"  Of course, the backyard is a swamp but the kids found things to do in the front like ride their bikes, practice their dribbling, and....

 working the hula hoop!

 She was so determined! It was adorable how she'd shake her entire body trying to keep that hula hoop up.

 I love this photo....the little tongue stuck out in concentration, the purple nail polish (thanks Margot!)

 She called to Nicholas to watch her success :)

She got better and better and, more importantly, she had a fantastic time trying! It was a great day to be out in the sun :)

A Little More Egg Fun

The weekend before Easter, our church had their annual pancake breakfast and Easter egg hunt. This was our first year attending so we were pretty excited! Until we woke up that morning to thunderstorms. Boo. So the party was inside, which is still fun for the kids but I really love it when our egg hunts are outside.

The pancake guy, Chris Cakes is the company, he was so fun! He flipped those pancakes up into the air and then he toss them up for you to catch on your plate! Luckily he asked each person about that ;) For the kids, he got really close and pretty much tossed it onto their plate. Smart guy :) Still, there were some misses and that was part of the fun. Of course, I didn't even think about pulling my camera out to capture that. I was too worried about catching my pancake ;)

After we had our fill of pancakes, we headed to face painting.

 Since they had to hide the eggs inside, they put a huge tarp down, covered it with colored grass and hid all the eggs in it. It was a pretty clever idea! Of course, they used plastic eggs. That could have been a real mess ;)

They took the kids in by age group and replenished the eggs between groups. Another clever idea!

 For Nick's group they had to line up facing the wall while someone said, "On your mark, get set, go!" I couldn't resist a picture :)

This is the only non-blurry picture I have of him scooping up eggs. He was like lightning!

It was fun to get together which our church family. 

Easter-2011

Our Easter celebration started with baking :)

Then church, which was amazing AND we we sang some of my very favorite songs! Bonus!

Then home for more traditions.

The Easter bunny has been very creative over the years. For a while, he hid little gifts and there were pictures/clues to guide the very little kids to the gift. Then, as the kids got older, there were rhymes in eggs to guide them. Lately, however, the Easter bunny has taken to fitting all the gifts into their baskets and setting up an elaborate treasure hunt!

The hunt begins upon entering the house:

 The clues had them all over the house! There were times when I heard breathlessness!

 The final clue was a word puzzle :)

 And they were rewarded for their efforts!

 There was lots of laughing and running. They had so. much. fun. We have a hard-working Easter bunny ;)

 My mom and dad joined us for church and all the after stuff :)

 A quick one of all of us:

 We had another guest this year too. Jon joined us! He and Kristen came right after church so they didn't miss any of our fun.

I think he's used to my camera ;)

 Isn't that a good picture?

We had a wonderful day with family! Even though some of our traditions are....frivolous...we are all very aware of the reason we celebrate this very important day. Resurrection Day.

"You are stronger, You are stronger, 

sin is broken, 

You have saved me. 

It is written, Christ is risen. 

Jesus, You are Lord of all!"