Let's go Fly a Kite

Don bought the girls kites a couple of weeks ago and we had a very windy weekend, so yesterday Don and I took the girls out back to fly them. It was tougher than we thought but we eventually got them up and flying high. :)

Homemade rolls

I don't bake a lot of homemade breads, although I'd like to. It just seems I never think to do it, or my time is spent elsewhere. That and it seems half the time it never turns out quite right. I think I need a mentor to help me. Any volunteers? :) However, I made some homemade rolls last week and Emily helped me make them. Alexis was spending the night at Grandma and Grandpa's house and Ashley was napping so we got to make these all by ourselves. She loves helping me cook and she had a great time helping knead the dough.

Work Boxes

Apparently the big buzz in the homeschool community is workboxes. I guess there's a whole e-book all about it you can purchase and everything. Well, in browsing some fellow homeschoolers websites I think I figured out the basics and I liked what I saw and decided to give it a try. I haven't read the official book, so I'm kind of doing it my own way, but I have to say it was a huge success with my girls. Basically what I did was purchase clear containers from Target. Then I put the girls names on them with a special spot for a Mommy and Me card. Then I divide the girls work for the day into those boxes. If there is a Mommy and Me card on it then they know to do that box with Mommy. If not, they do it independently. It seems simple and it really is. I think the main idea is to slowly make the transition over the years from learning from Mommy to learning independently, which is one of my goals for my children. I want independent learners that don't have to be spoon fed. I've read many testimonials from successful homeschoolers, whose children excelled at Ivy league colleges, say that the last few years their kids were completely self taught. They were motivated, loved learning, and knew how to get the information for themselves. Another reason I love this system is because it keeps me organized and on top of what we have to accomplish each day and there's no last minute hunting for that math manipulative or the crayons or whatever. So, we'll see how it goes, but so far it's going great and the girls love it!

Our Three Little Easter Blossoms

I remember when we had just Alexis. It was so easy to take a good picture where she was smiling and looking at the camera. Then we had Emily and it got trickier. You had to not only get them both looking at the camera at the same time, but also smiling. Now we have Ashley and with three it's literally a workout every time to get a decent picture. (Notice I say 'decent' now instead of 'good'.) I got them all dressed up in their three little matching Easter outfits with visions of adorable pictures on a beautiful spring day where they would all look adorable looking right the camera and flashing big smiles. Don stood behind me trying to act silly and get them all smiling, but Alexis kept complaining the sun was too bright, Emily looked everywhere except the camera, and Ashley kept trying to crawl away. But in the end we got a few decent shots. :)

Eggs and Paws

On the day before Easter we went to the zoo with the Blick family, who were visiting us. They had a special Easter day there and had characters walking around and Easter decorations up.
The girls, however, weren't too fond of the army guy. :)

Here's Alexis, Emily, Jonah, Julian, and Ashley with the elephant statues.

Ashley loved riding on Daddy's shoulders for a little while.



The best part was the lion exhibit. The lion walked up close to the gate and roarded really loud several times. We've been there many times and this is the first time we've heard a real roar. It was really neat. Here's a picture of Don, Jeremy, Julian, Becky, baby Caden, Alexis, and Emily all looking at the lion roaring.

After the zoo we all went out to eat at cute little restaurant called Clay's Cafe. They serve really yummy strombolli and they have all sorts of board games and such for the kids to play while you wait for your food. We were all exhausted by the time we got home.

Easter Sunday

In our family the Easter Bunny doesn't come on Easter Sunday. We have him come earlier - usually the day before. So on Easter Sunday we do things to focus on Christ. We were blessed this year to have our good friends, the Blick family, from Florida with us. After church we ate and then we gathered the kids and read a picture book about the Easter story. After that we did a puppet show about a child making a good choice to forgive as Jesus did. Then we took the kids outside to hunt special Easter eggs.

Of course the guys had to play a fun trick on the kids and squirt silly string all over them when they were outside. :)

Inside all of the eggs were pictures of Christ. So when they got back inside we opened all the eggs and looked at all the pictures and told a few stories from them.

Baskets and Bunny Ears

The Easter Bunny also hid the girl's Easter baskets. They found them upstairs in the guest room closet. They were certainly excited to dig into all the goodies.

They especially loved their chocolate bunnies. Ashley kept saying, "Mmmmm. Mmmmm" over and over as she sucked on hers. :)

The Easter bunny also brought Ashley some cute pink bunny ears and her sisters also took turns trying them on.

After Daddy's big egg hunt we played a few Easter games, such as toss the Easter egg in the basket, the bunny hop race, (where everyone cheated - no one ever hops the whole way and it always turns into a run/skip/gallop thing), and the egg on a spoon race.

Hunting for Eggs

On Easter Bunny Morning the Girls woke up and found the easter Bunny had hidden all of their painted eggs and all of their plastic eggs. (That's alot of eggs). So they looked all over for them. It's so much fun hearing all the squeals of "I found one!" Even little Ashley got into it after a while and got excited whenever she found one.

"I found one!"

Then later in the day, Daddy hid eggs all over the upstairs while the girls all looked for them. It's definitely a favorite Easter tradition around here. :)

Coloring Easter Eggs

We love coloring Easter eggs each year in preparation for Easter. The girls look forward to it from the day after Valentine's Day. :) This was Ashley's first year coloring eggs, although being 10 months old we didn't let her truly color yet. But she did watch Mommy color her egg with fascination. The girls always color a dozen or so eggs, but each family member gets their own special egg with their name on it to color however they want. Daddy chose purple this year, Mommy chose blue, and of course the girls all chose pink, which is the favorite color around here. Afterwards they put stickers on them and talked excitedly about the Easter Bunny's visit that night. They also insisted on leaving the Easter Bunny 4 carrots and a butterfinger. Mommy wasn't sure the Easter Bunny would like chocolate, but apparently he does, because the next morning, the carrots and the chocolate were all gone. :)