Madeline

The girls found a bunny today. Apparently, the mamma made a nest in a pile of leaves we had. Mike was cleaning up the pile today, and this sweet little bunny hopped out. The girls had fun playing with it, naming it and petting it today. We even tried to feed it. However, after some research, we decided that raising a bunny right now is not really something we can do. We talked to a rabbit rescue, and they said the mamma will still feed it if we bring it safely back to the nest, so we did. There were two VERY sad little girls in our house tonight.

(Especially Miss I)

Lemonade

The girls decided one Saturday that they wanted to have a lemonade stand. We really don't live on the best corner for that, and it's really not lemonade stand season. But my girls are not easily deterred! They just had the lemonade stand sale in our house. Mike made the lemonade with them, then they poured it into cups and charged Mike and I $0.25 a glass. Hmmmmm ... mommy and daddy pay for the lemonade, the cups, the water, and daddy helps make the lemonade, and somehow the girls still make the money.

Science Day

Our home school group had Science Day last week. Everyone brings a couple of science experiments to share, and the kids go to town! Here is Miss I with friends doing a color experiment.

Miss O testing what water does to different ingredients.
Ato T enjoyed playing with cotton balls and learning what they feel like.



More mixing water - that was definitely Miss O's favorite experiment.

Build a boat - then see how much weight it can hold before it sinks.

Color paddles: what colors can you make by putting the paddles together?

Making a buzzer - Miss I's favorite.

One of the experiments we brought involved popcorn, and it got pretty messy. Miss I and her friend Reece enjoyed vacuuming it up together.

E-Card

As I type this, kids and husband are all on the floor of our family room, huddled around his computer. What are they looking at? An E-Card he wanted to send to them. It's a card of man passing gas, and the card reads, "Hope your day wreaks with happiness." I've never seen such laughter out of them all at once as I see when they discuss flatulence with each other. Miss O is actually falling back in laughter. Ato T finds it hilarious to try and get his sisters while they are doing this.

Okay, I don't really enjoy the fact that my husband is teaching them that bodily functions are funny. But, how thankful I am that my kids have a daddy who takes time to spend with them. My love for this amazing man grows deeper every time I see him interact with our kids like this.

Praise the Lord for wonderful husbands and daddies!

Boggle

Miss O has really enjoyed playing with her Boggle, Jr. Game lately. She sits for 30-45 minutes at a time. She doesn't actually want to play the game, she just sits here and spells the words to herself. Way to go Miss O!

Backyard work day

Mike spent a lot of time and effort buidling a patio to put the dog kennel on, and the girls did a great job helping! Ato T and mommy played in the yard and on the swing. Thanks for the hard work, guys!

Easter

We were awakened on Easter morning by 2 very eager little girls at 6:15. The kids found their Easter baskets and searched for eggs around the house. Then we were off to church. Sadly, it was our pastor's last Easter service with us, and we were happy we were able to be there for it. We were there in time for the Easter pancake breakfast and egg hunt. (We ignored the gluten-free diet for the day.) After church, we headed to Grandma Lynn and Grandpa Bob's. The kids had to find their Easter bags there, too, and Grandma had also hidden puzzle piece all over the house. We found all of them and put the puzzle together. It said "We Believe. Jesus Died. Jesus Rose." Then it had all of our names on it.

Cousins on the couch.

Easter baskets at home. My kids are getting so big!



Aren't they the best?!!


Miss I coloring Easter Eggs on Saturday. Miss O did some, too, but wasn't in the mood to have her picture taken.
Happy Easter to you all! Christ is Risen!

Cakes

I made a couple of cakes recently. Mike's birthday cake:

A cake for a family at church.

I love practicing cake decorating!

Ethiopia

I led a day of activities on Ethiopia at our homeschool group the other week. I brought in a bunch of the things we bought while we were there, we watched a short video about Etiopia, looked through our scrapbook, made a traditional thatched roof hut, and finished the day with a snack of Yesmir Wat and Injera. It was a really fun day!

Digestion

We've been studying about our bodies in science. We traced each of the girls' bodies, and then drew their digestive systmes, and they had to color organs different colors. Sorry the pictures are sideways.

Fun night

A couple of weeks ago, Grandma Lynn and Grandpa Bob took the kids overnight for us, so we could get some time away together. What a blessing that was! These are some shots of the kids and grandparents playing in the back yard before we left for the evening.

Miss O and I had spent the morning at a Neuropsychology appointment. They spent a good amount of time making me feel terrible about our decision to home school, and trying to convince me that it would be best for Miss O if she were in a special Ed. setting in a school classroom. I came home in tears. Thankfully, my wonderful husband is just as committed to homeschooling the kids as I am, and he was comforting to me, and so was Lynn. But, after a morning like that, it sure was nice to get away with my husband to discuss our plans and options, regroup, and just relax. We spent the afternoon at the Science Museum Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit. We checked in to our hotel, had a nice dinner out, and a relaxing evening in the room. In the morning we checked out a new book store we hadn't been to before, and found they had a good sized homeschooling section. It was a nice, relaxing time away.

More creativity

The girls made coil clay pots. They turened out pretty cute! They boy played with the clay, but just was not a huge fan. After they dried, they each painted their pots. It was a fun day!