Catching up to October 2013

 Picture taking at the local produce store's pumpkin patch.

 Playing hide and seek

Abby got the be in the town's homecoming parade

Dan being Dan

Dan had a suite coat on and needed to have his picture taken one Sunday morning.

Sarah helping me make hot oatmeal cereal.

Feeding ducks at the pond two blocks away.  

Abby made her friend this ballet bar for a birthday present.  

April and May 2013

At the beach in Tampa.

 Abby playing in the waves.

 Sarah

 Dan is braving the waves (up to his knees).

 Abby is helping Sarah brave the waves here.  

 Three very tired children on the way home.  

 Sarah got a really bad sun burn, so she was in sleeveless outfits for about a week.  

But here they are doing a fashion show with silly hats and shoes.  

These are some of the soars she got from her sunburn.  

Poor thing, next time I promise I will get better sun screen for the beach.  

Here are some silly walks.

Catching up with what we have been up to...

 Starting with a study unit...

 We made a brain with the six different parts out of salt dough.  

 Than Dan wanted to be silly

 Sarah and Dan leading music during our opening exercises for Kids School one morning.  

 Sarah showing off her yellow yarn braided hair.  Just what every princess must have.  

 A fun Easter egg hunt at a local Methodist of our friends, the Tates, who invited us.   

 Dan took the time to climb all these bars to get just one egg at the top, but before he made it, a taller girl came up from underneath and grabbed it.  He looked a little disappointed, but that didn't stop him from still seeking out all the hardest ones and running right past all the easy ones on the ground.  

 And Abby just got a ton of eggs in her hunt.  They all had a great time.  

 Dan is showing off his T-rex skeleton he got to find inside the sand brick on Easter. 

Abby and her leotard birthday cake.  

 Sarah in her chosen outfit for the hour one day, Abby's bike helmet, a baseball bat, red sparkly shoes, pink gymnastic leotard and a pink tutu.  If found her reading books in this great outfit in the corner.  

 Our trip to the Orlando Temple.  

 Frank had to rest from the relaxing day at the temple at his sister's house. 

We got to go Dinosaur World in Plant City, FL.  

 Frank got eaten by a T-rex.

 It would appear Sarah thought it was fun to be eaten.  

 Later, Abby and Dan were both eaten by the same T-rex.  

 Fossil digging.  

At the end when we were leaving we found one dinosaur they could touch and sit on.  When we were all in the car, I asked Dan, "What part of Dinosaur World did you like best?"

Dan replied, "All the toys in the gift shop." 

Next time we won't pay to get in, we will just let him sit in the gift shop for an hour for free.  

School Desk

Many of you might not know, but I have been homeschooling the kids this year.  It is our first year, of hopefully many.  It has not been easy by any stretch of the imagination, but when the Lord calls, it is hard to say "no".  So, here we are learning a lot about each other and ourselves.  It has been a huge learning lesson for me, to say the least.  

 This is our new desk in the dining room which we build this last Saturday.  We call it the school center, for the whole wall, but I love the "school desk" which is the green self.  The kids can add a couple chairs along the desk for space to work.

So, far the girls have been the only ones joining me at the desk.  Dan prefers the little black table in his own room or the dining table.  He like's his own space.  It is so nice to have space just for school things (besides the utility shelf which was hard to organize).  I am in heaven.  It is so easy to find our stuff now.  

Oh, and we have a great time line around the whole dining room, starting at the time of the "premortal realm" all the way through the bible stories, the Apostasy, discovery and forming of our nation, and the restored gospel.  It finishes off with our time and the returning of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ and the day of judgement into Eternity.  It is so awesome to look at it, though I am missing many pictures, but it is like hanging our testimony on the walls of our home.  It feels so good to have there as a reminder why we are here.  

Here is to a more organized homeschooling experience!

And, oh, how I love these darn kids of ours.  How else could I do this?  

February Happenings

 Sarah decided to color herself as a cat (while Frank was in charge).

Abby ran in a one mile race and came in at number 171 (improved by 15 from last year's race).

Frank took Daniel on the same race and carried him on his shoulders for a while.  During which, Dan said, "Dad, can we stop and rest a while?"  Oh, that is our Dan, needs to take a brake from taking a brake.  

My Talented Kids

Tonight we had dinner and a show at Meme and Paca's.  They came up with this on their own, of course.  

And to think they have never had a music lesson, AMAZING isn't it?!?

Dan's solo dinosaur song.

Abby brought in the "surprise instrument" the turn table that DJ's use.

Go, Dan go.

I have to say I did not teach him these moves.

 Notice the "cowboy" music in the background, it makes it even funnier.