Family Nature Hike

A little trail near the Rec Center where the kids have been taking swim lessons. 

We stumbled upon this fort in the woods. Lucas challenged the kids to contribute and make it better. They loved that!...finding sticks to pile on was a favorite activity. 

Then, "the stream." It seemed so quiet and peaceful and harmless. Well, country-boy Lucas helps us find the "wild" in nature. ;-)  He chased this frog (which Clara spotted on a rock) back and forth across the stream for about 15 min until he finally caught it. It was quite fun to watch! The little frog was all worn out and just sat in his hand here for a few minutes before finally hopping away again. 

Crayfish! This one was dead. Lucas dredged it up from the bottom.

A water snake!!  Yikes! A this point I was ready to move along from the stream.

Watching crayfish have territory battles below. 

Climbing a sand hill (which had a beehive in the side of it, but thankfully we didn't bother them)!

Flowers that the kids picked for me along the way. :)  So thankful for family, for great weather the whole weekend, and for health to enjoy being out together!!!

Memorial Day Weekend...Pool is Open!

Clara Likes Her Princess Legos

Brent helped her build this set. 

Little Insects!

We just finished a science unit on "insects." The kids came up with this antennae idea on their own - so cute!  

Video - Kids Spinning

The Simple Joys

Finishing Out the School Year

Amber still loves math. I found the book Brent is using above at Goodwill; it's a dry erase book for writing numbers and letters. We are thankful for both A and B's smart minds and their eagerness to learn about the world around them. This past year of homeschooling has had it's challenges, but overall we are so thankful for the year of growth all together!

Great Friends/Minds Think Alike

I thought it was fun that Lucas was randomly matching with 2 of his friends recently. Ben and Stephen are fellow DIY bathroom remodelers too. ;-)

Grout Today!

Original Lego Creations

Laying the Cement Board and then the Tile

Clara's 3rd Birthday

Clara wanted a "princess" birthday, though it mostly focused on Frozen and Rapunzel. She enjoyed being the birthday princess for the day. In the morning she opened the family presents before Daddy left for work. 

For dinner that evening, we had two families over for CostCo pizza and cake. 

We played "Pin the Butterfly on Flynn Rider" for those who wanted to participate. 

And then "Drop the Clothespin in the Bucket." For the older kids, and for Lucas ;), they had to drop the pin into a cup. But then...

Clara wanted to show us her amazing skills, and she beat them all by one clothespin!! We were all speechless!  

Lots of fun, generous princess gifts. 

Blessed with friendships!!

"Happy Birthday, Clara Leilani!" 

Amber and Brent's Swim Lessons

Every Monday afternoon, since mid April, Amber and Brent take a 30min swim class at the local Rec Center. The class is for ages 4-6yrs. There are 4 kids total in it, and Mr. David is very good with the kids. Amber and Brent are making some progress on learning their strokes and floating. 

Amber doing front crawl and then back stroke. 

Here they were starting to learn the froggy kick for the breast stroke. 

Playing with Neighbor Kids on Mother's Day

They had been waiting to use their piggy bank dollars to buy ice cream from the ice cream truck. A real treat on a hot day!

Ladder ball. We hadn't set this up since Hawaii.