Gracie's Gymnastics Show Off Day

Gracie did a great job! She is learning so much - she can hold a headstand for a LONG time, her cartwheels, and roundoffs are beautiful! She has really improved in the short time she has been taking the class. Her favorite part of gymnastics is the floor and the tramp.

We are having a bit of a tough week. Our dryer quit and we ordered a new washer AND dryer - but they won't be here until Tuesday. And the RAIN is killing us! It has rained all day all week - and the forecast just continues with more! Yesterday alone we had 1.2 inches of rain. We can't play in the new treehouse, the dog is inside all day and driving us nuts! We have a bunch of new vegetables to plant in our garden, but we can't in this weather. On the brightside, we are about to start harvesting the first of our vegetables - we have 3 peppers almost ready to pick. We are planting quite a garden. Watermelon, strawberries, peppers, tomatoes, squash, zucchini, snap peas, and corn. We need some cantaloupe and some green beans and lettuce and we will be done. We are hoping to make some of our great picante and can it like we did when Gracie was a baby.

Our homeschool field day is Friday and all ballgames and practices have been cancelled with the rain, so we are enjoying relaxing and lots of reading. Daniel has finished his math curriculum, but he begged to be allowed to go on to 1st grade math, which is working out pretty well since the first of the year is all easy review anyway. He's about to finish everything, so I'm not sure what to do with him while the girls continue their school. We'll end up letting him go where his interests go, which right now is dinosaurs and building.

Finished Treehouse

All Done! We all ate in the treehouse this evening.

Dad is a genius! He even rigged up a bucket on a pulley to get stuff up to the top.

Building a Treehouse

The whole treehouse -fort was Daniel's idea. He drew the plan out and talked it over with dad and they decided on all the real details together.

We still have a way to go to put the rails all the way around and a dad has to build the ladder.

Ally went to Disciple Now weekend at church, so she missed all the construction and hammering.

Sunday Hike

A hike on a nature trail

We wore rubber boots because we wanted to wade through a creek or two. The dog hated that part.

Wow! An actual picture of mom! Now, you can see my new short doo! Very short! It makes me look like my mom, but I like it. I actually told the lady that cut it I wanted it to touch the top of my shoulders.

Daniel was cranky.

Cool Lego Ship

Daniel wanted me to post a picture of his really cool Lego ship he built today. He looks half asleep in this picture. He did a great job in his first coach pitch game. He made an out at second, and the game was cancelled after two innings because it started to rain. Ally was able to play her game later in the evening. We went to her game until 9:30 - and we had to get home. Ally and Dad didn't get home until around 10:30 -10:45.
We are headed to the National College Equestrian Finals here in Waco today. That should be a fun field trip for this wet, rainy Friday.

Fun Day in the Park

Aren't these great climbing trees? This park is about 2 blocks from our house.

The trees were the best thing about the park.

Silly Sisters

We took our lunch and had a picnic. This was the first day mom could manage to do anything since struggling all week with the flu. Byron and I both had it over the weekend. It's like the yo-yo flu - we think we are recovering, then we feel terrible again. Byron has been at work all week with it, but I don't know how he has done it. Most of this week has been really tough for me! We went to the park and library today, though and had a great time. Tonight will be a true test for us all. Daniel has his first coach pitch game tonight, and Ally has a softball game after that.

Resurrection Buns Recipe

Several people asked about the Resurrection Buns we always made at LCA. They are very easy!

• Use Grands biscuits (original - no flaky) and flatten them to about 5+ inches. (Talk with children about when Jesus was beaten and crucified).
• Sprinkle with melted butter, cinnamon and sugar. (Talk about how they prepared His body for burial with spices, how sad they were...).
• Fold up a large marshmallow inside the flattened biscuit and place crease side down on a cookie sheet. You might want to line the cookie sheet with foil- it might get pretty messy. (Talk about how the marshmallow represents Jesus, pure and white, perfect without sin. The biscuit is the tomb).
• Sprinkle more butter cinnamon and sugar on the outside of the biscuit and cook according to normal package directions. When done, allow them to cool and then break or cut them open. The marshmallow will be melted and the bun will be hollow. (Talk about how Jesus is no longer in the tomb, He rose from the dead).

Have fun! Happy Easter!

Bluebonnet Pictures

Isn't it illegal to pick bluebonnets?

Homeschooling At Its Finest!

Homeschooling at it's finest! Daniel measured the full length of every dog body part. Added them, subtracted them, recorded his data to add to it later and make a graph of her growth, then he created story problems for his sisters to solve. He was supposed to just do a little school today because he was still running a low fever this morning. He's had what Gracie had last week, but he certainly handles it differently. He's a tough boy! But, I think he has learned more this morning just running around being curious about the world than a boatload of Abeka could teach him. His sisters have been reading him science books and he asks too many questions! He has tried to get everyone and anyone to teach him multiplication - but I want to hold off a year or so on that one.

DOG PILE!

A Little Help?

Now, come on, people. Some of you had to know what a bad idea it is to teach a dog to open a door by itself! Could someone not have shared that information with me? I don't know these things! It seemed like a great idea! After spending the whole morning bathing a muddy dog and getting mud out of the carpets, I'm thinking it wasn't the brightest idea we've ever had. Fun times!