Trouble

Tessa emptied the cornstarch baby powder and bucket of diapers....

This is the age for messes and a strong will.
At least this time around we have a better perspective that "this too shall pass" --and hopefully it will sooner than later.

Homeschool and Field Trips

It is a bit of a challenge for me to write a post on our homeschool experiences.
Perhaps because it is much like the rest of my efforts as a mom. We have good days and bad days. There is always more I could do and always more than I am capable of. But I know it is the best path for our family and I'm very grateful to be able to do it.
I have enjoyed having school at home. I have become a learner again, finding more wonder and excitement in little moments. I felt more invested in my children.
Several families have inspired and guided us as we started our journey this year. The strengths of others truly lift us.

Here are some of the things we have taken photos of..

Searching for shells


Ranger Rick shows a gopher tortoise guarding her den.


Jordan's banana was really cute. (That kid has so many fun ideas!)


We went with a few other families to a local animal preserve.
The animals were incredible and the guide had lots of good information.
The area was set up much like a farm, in a remote residential area.
Ever since that visit (and with some influence from our Little House on the Prairie reading) Michael says he wants to have animals to take care of and he wants to "be a farmer."
He made a chart about what all the different animals eat and wore his cowboy boots and overalls every day for a week. He is an avid learner in whatever strikes his interest.

Amy, do you recognize the animal in the top right? It is the largest rodent in the world from Patagonia.


This is Jack the billygoat. Jill was his companion. The names of all the animals were so fun!



Tessa cracks me up in this picture. She is in the middle of everything....

Cute People

The neighborhood was together a few weeks ago for a birthday party and I took a few photos. We are really lucky to have so many wonderful neighbors! The boys love to have friends all around when we go out to play and I enjoy gleaning ideas from other moms.

Running through the sprinklers at Mariela's party


This is kind of a goofy picture.. but everyone was standing still watching the pinata festivities and I could get most of the group together.


cake and ice cream --pretty cute kids!

St. Patricks Day!

St. Patrick's Day can be a really fun holiday to celebrate.
This year we learned a little about the history of the holiday. Basically that St. Patrick brought Christianity to Ireland around 400 A.D..
Mainly though, I think March 17th is a day to enjoy Irish culture, and music is one of the best parts of Irish tradition. Earlier in the year I heard a law school friend, Jenilyn, play some Irish fiddle music and the idea was sparked to have a concert/night-of-music or "jam session" as she calls it.
It was one of the funnest nights I've had in a long time! The kids grabbed toy instruments and the adults dusted off real ones. There was a storm of music in our little apartment. Jenilyn brought some really fun music for us to sing and play. She fiddled so hard that she had to sit down and wait for her (third trimester) uterine contractions to subside.


We tried some tasty bread, cabbage, potatoes, and corned beef. Then Jenilyn shared her own (green) mint ice cream birthday cake. mmm... It would be great to make this a tradition!
Thanks Jenilyn!

BSA

Last month Jared took us along to help with a scout Eagle project. The young man was building habitats for animals in a sanctuary on the outskirts of our city. We ended up helping assemble a hammock for a fox. It was made out of a retired fire hose. The boys got to handle drills and power screwdrivers. And they learned what nuts, bolts and washers are... :) They especially loved seeing the scouts in uniforms. Michael reads the Scout Handbook every day lately and tells everyone that he will be a scout in the fall!

We love the beach!

In February after Renee left we decided to try to hit the beach more often. The reasoning went something like this.
Our days in Florida are numbered and we need to appreciate what we have got before it's gone!
Also it seems that when the rest of the world is groaning over the last months of winter, we especially appreciate our clear warm days.
It has been a wonderful "winter" full of running out the door in flip-flops and shorts to take a walk or bike ride around the block or to the park.
Only now the highs are climbing into the high 80's (with the humidity) and I remember that Florida isn't perpetually comfortable.


Friends at the beach made a "habitat" by collecting pieces of the beach and adding them to a big Sterilite storage container.


I have really enjoyed going to the beach with other moms and the kids' friends. (Jared isn't always as free as we would like him to be...)

Discovery

A few weeks ago Grandpa Clark sent the boys a package with these models to put together of Ares I! (You can probably tell it was a big hit!) His company, ATK, is making the first stage rocket booster. Ares I is one of the next launch vehicles to be used in space exploration.












Then, we made it to the launch of Discovery!
On February 24th at 4:53 we sat on the beach a few miles from Cape Canaveral and watched the last liftoff of the Space Shuttle Discovery.
We watched this horizon for more than an hour, while we waited. The shuttle was positioned 8-10 miles from us in the center of the photo.







Here's the "first row seat" Jared got for us. Jordan is in front of my knees on the rocks down the slope --close to the water. And Michael is in the orange chair. :) They watched some jumping fish and horseshoe crabs in the water and absorbed the excitement in the air until liftoff.
A few minutes before the launch I realized I should get a photo. So the man sitting above us snapped this quick one.

When it got close to time, everyone counted down... and we saw "blast-off." Of course my photos don't do it justice. Everyone around us had telephoto SLRs. Jared was getting video and trying to experience it "live" at the same time.

As we watched the power of the shuttle liftoff, I was inspired at what men and science can do. We have a drive to learn and reach beyond our limits. We can attain greatness when we channel our energy toward good goals.













About this point was when the boosters dropped and the rocket left earth's atmosphere. It was headed to the International Space Station which was way up (200 miles or so) above the Pacific Ocean.

We enjoyed learning with the boys a little about the history of Discovery. It's first flight was in 1984 and had 38 missions. To me the Discovery shuttle will always be the image of what a "rocket ship" looks like, although there are lots of other types that have now been developed.

I was proud to be apart of a little bit of history on Discovery's last flight.
















Well, the traffic was horrendous. This picture is before the launch. Double parking was a minimum along the road. Ace Hardware and the steak house and most every other store charged $10 for parking along this Highway 1. It was a holiday.
We, and the tens of thousands of other viewers along the coast, were stuck in a standstill on the roads after the launch. We waited in the parking lot of a shopping center and watched "The King and I." Then the kids slept in the car till we got to the hotel. At midnight, after our 45 mile drive (seven hours after the launch) Jared and I finally crashed too.

This trip was tense from start to finish for me. I checked the launch schedule 20-30 times in the last few months, including on the drive there when I nervously called my mom. I didn't reserve our hotel until the day before we left. This launch had been postponed since November and it might be the last one to happen while we are in Florida.
I like things to be set in stone on the schedule, not up in the air until the last second. I never would have made the trip to see it unless I had two little boys who are interested and love to learn all about "Space."
When we got home the neighbor said, "Oh yea -someone told me to watch the northeast sky and we would be able to see it. ...but she forgot... and I hope at least we got a better view from our spot.

The next day after the launch, we recovered and went to the temple in Orlando! It was wonderful! We love the peace of the temple. I took the kids to a nursery down the street and we walked around enjoying the flowers and citrus trees till Jared was done.


















And we finally made it to this McDonalds in Orlando. It's supposedly the biggest in the world. Of course the kids loved it and Jared enjoyed something other than PBJs.