Happy Trails

We said goodbye to this fine automotive specimen last Friday. Jay got this Cavalier at the end of college. Even though I didn't pay for it, I kind of think of it as our first big purchase together since he made me call the salesman back to try to get a better deal. When we moved to Omaha, this was our good car, but over the last few years, the air conditioning went out and the paint job disintegrated, leaving it looking like a car belonging to someone who takes drugs, not someone who prescribes them. A few months ago, Jay got a shiny new Cobalt, and since then, the Cav has been sitting at the end of our driveway.

Jay made some calls and donated it to a charity. We watched as it was going...

...going...

gone!

And then I turn and see my poor sentimental child sobbing over this junk car that he had never even ridden in until Jay got back from the desert less than two years ago. I tried to seem sympathetic, but I couldn't help but laugh a little when he asked if we were giving away my car anytime soon. I told him we would keep my car long enough for him to be embarrassed about it and relieved when we did get rid of it, which is hopefully the truth!

Happy 10 Months!

It seems like just yesterday that this big girl was a tiny baby. I can't believe I've already started mulling over ideas for her first birthday party.

Alice is definitely a morning person. I took this picture yesterday morning around 6:00 (so please excuse my beautiful look), which I'm glad to say is early for us now. She seems to be sleeping better with her big bed and naps a little more regularly, too--though still not for a long time.

She isn't walking yet, but she pulls up on everything and crawls everywhere--fast. One of her favorite things to do is stand at the side of the tub when Jack is taking a bath. Sometimes she'll drop things in the water for Jack to pick up--and then she drops them back in. They both think this is beyond funny.

Early last week, Alice got up one step of the stairs. Friday she climbed all the way to the top. I guess Thursday's gymnastics class paid off.

Even with all that movement, she's finally starting to chunk up. She refuses to eat baby food, so we're trying all kinds of new things.

She also stopped liking baths, so I started bathing her in the kitchen sink. It has been a huge hit, but now she wants to turn on the sink every time we go by.

In spite of all of the other changes, one thing is constant: She still adores her brother. Hopefully we still have a while to go before the fighting starts!

Happy 10 Month Birthday, Alice!

More Happy Easter!

Easter began really early here. It wasn't completely intentional; Alice woke up about 20 minutes before my alarm was going to go off, which was much earlier than normal. This picture was taken after breakfast when I was getting the kids dressed. Looks like I shouldn't have thought it was so ridiculous when Jay suggested the sunrise service.

Poor Jack was getting sweaty by the time we got home, but he was awfully cute anyway.

Alice seemed happy enough with her first Easter dress. In case you're wondering, these pictures are cropped due to crazy faces (the kids) and someone who never wants his picture on the blog (Jay).

This is the only shot I got with the kids and their baskets. Alice got new jammies, a snack cup, and some Playmobil people. Jack got Legos, a new I Spy book, a Pound Puppy, and a jump rope.

As soon as we got back from church, Jack got started on his Lego car.

Jay's parents came over for lunch and afterward, we went outside to try out the new planes they brought Jack.

Alice finally made friends with Nana.

On a completely materialistic, totally non-spiritual note, I am thankful for my dining room. In the old house, if you wanted to have a nice dinner, you had to dig out the nice dishes from the garage and hunt down the serving pieces and linens from the top of the craft closet--which involved moving everything out of the bottom of the closet so you could get a chair in there to climb on. Here I can just pull dishes out of the hutch or the pantry and usually the placemats are already in the drawers. I love not having to sweat--literally--trying to get the table ready!

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter!

Happy Easter

May you and yours have a wonderful Easter!

Spring Day

"The first day of spring is one thing, and the first spring day is another."--Henry Van Dyke

Learning Lately

I'm certainly not as organized about it as I was before Alice, but we have been doing a lot of learning lately. There was a rainforest unit.

One night we tried different rainforest foods.

We made a mural of rainforest animals.

During our unit on bears, we learned how a bear's fat keeps it warm.

We did some Dr. Seuss activities and went to a Dr. Seuss party at the library.

The same week we were learning about the body, we got to visit a walk-through model of the heart!

With our homeschool group, we had an Africa day where we learned about Uganda and we made fruit salad at the end.

The next week we had Guatemala day. This picture makes me laugh every time. Why is he so surprised at how good a chocolate covered banana is?

Last week we rowed The Bee Tree and a beekeeper came to our homeschool group.

For a snack one day we had biscuits and honey like they do in the book. When Jay got home from work, Jack told him how we had potatoes and honey for snack. Details, details.

This week we are doing some Easter activities and keeping on with our math and reading. Just this evening, Jack pointed out QUICK on the fridge, so something is sticking!

Medieval Fair

Yesterday the kids and I hit the road for a visit to the Medieval Fair. The hat Jack is wearing in this picture is the one he got on his first visit a couple of years ago. This year we were not studying medieval times, but we read some old favorites all week in preparation.

Jack has become quite interested in--obsessed with, really--the Magic Tree House books. He spent almost the whole car ride (about two hours) going through one of his new ones.

As always, we began with a trip to the bouncer. It's $2, but the guy doesn't care when your kid gets out, so it's money well spent if they have the energy to burn.

This year Jack decided he wanted to ride a camel.

We watched a blacksmith for a bit.

Alice had her first taste of funnel cake. I did knock off the sugar before I gave it to her. I'm not that bad of a mom.

Jack made his own coat of arms.

Even Alice got in on the dress-up action. Jay says I am raising little nerds. Maybe so, but they're cute nerds.

We watched the circus and Jack got to throw the juggler his pins while he balanced. This took a while since the pins were half his size and he throws like his mother.

Later he got to go up on stage and they juggled back and forth over him. They joked about an accident in the previous city and Jack wanted to know if I was worried and what I thought the accident was. He loved it.

All in all, the day went wonderfully. We left our house at 9:00 in the morning and didn't pull in until 9:15 last night, but the only tears were when Alice was trying to go to sleep on the way home. (Jack was a little indignant that he wasn't allowed to get a pet lizard as his souvenir since I had said he could have something, but thankfully he was pacified with a toy dragon.) Jack is already planning what he wants to do on our next visit!