We Bought a Zoo…

membership.  We have finally reached the point that is cheaper for us to purchase a membership and go to the zoo twice than it is to purchase tickets for the zoo.

At the end of June we were scheduled to go on a join vacation with our friends but last minute had to cancel due to the size of the space and other issues.  Because we had to cancel, I told the kids that we would go to the zoo one day the following week.  That’s where my sanity left and fear set in.

On a Monday, we were finishing lup our chores and I checked the weather while feeding Malachi.  I realized that the only day to go to the zoo (an hour away) would be that day.  It was going to be hot and rainy the rest of the week.

I called Mark and got the okay and then packed a quick lunch and loaded everyone up.  They had no clue.

It was so much fun to hear their excitement when we got there.  They were even more excited to learn we were going to be able to go back several times. 

And despite my insanity, I did not lose or gain any children while there. 

Afternoon stretches!

Comparing hand and feet of gorillas and humans.  Yep, the gorillas are big!

Bearded dragon. 

And Zoe touched it!!!

Penguins are fun to watch but it’s more fun climbing on the stroller and the rocks.

Unless you are these two…they loved watching the penguins swim!

Malachi just chilled.  Look at those thighs and cheeks!  I just love squeezing them.

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Books Alive!

We love our community!  It seems there is always something to do around here…like hold frogs.

Okay, not really just hold frogs.  Our local library puts together an event each year called Books Alive.  It’s an opportunity for authors to come in and share and sign and smile and all that.  It’s also an opportunity for families to all be encouraged to actually, dare I say, read

It’s a small festival but this year the kids learned a lot.

Like all about reptiles and amphibians from our local nature center.

Yep, Liam actually held a frog.  It also jumped out of his hands.  He thought that was cool.  There is hope. That my boys will be boys who like to grab slimy things and show them off to me and see if I freak.

And my girls too.

Zoe’s favorite thing.  Talking to the gardener with a locally growing group.  She spoke about all sorts of things that I grew up with but my kids had never experienced…eating mint straight off the bush, cracking pecans with just two pecans…fun stuff!  We planted some seeds but forgot to pick them up when we left…wonder where they are now.

And there were water slides.  Two…the kids really tired themselves out here!

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Our Malachi at Four Months

Four months ago, this not so little guy made his way into this world!  I could not imagine our life without this silly, smiley, laughing big boy!  Ya’ll, he really is a breath of sunshine in our home.  He’s got such an amazing personality and loves (I mean really loves) his brothers and sisters.  They equally adore him and prove it by continuing to pick up, play with, and poke the little man to pieces.

To celebrate his fourth month (and his granddaddy’s birthday), he got a tooth.  Mark and I have been able to feel the tooth for about a week now as it pushed against his gum but it finally broke through the gum yesterday.  

In other Malachi news, he’s kicking and rolls some.  Sleeps a bit and wakes up once during the night to nurse.  I knew the ten hour stretches were temporary and he proved it.  Not a big deal…of course if you had thighs and cheeks like his, you’d want a snack in the middle of the night too.

Here are his four month stats:
16 lbs. (73%)
26 3/4 inches long (95%)

Look at those thunder thighs!  He’s not the biggest of our babies at this age (that prize goes to our Josiah who is growing faster than any of the other kids still).

Ah, but those legs and that sweet baby belly!

Okay, Mark admits that his cheeks carry some of the weight too.  He’s all cheeks and thighs, that boy!

While Bryant is still a couple of months away from ditching the diaper drawers, I wanted to make sure I captured my traditional “babies in clothe diapers” picture before I forgot.

Aren’t they adorable?  Even if they’re a bit blurry.

I’ve got the pictures ready for June so tomorrow, I’ll rewind a month and post about our June birthday and all the lovely adventures we had then!

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My 15 minutes…

Where I talk about being organized and homeschooling…ha.ha.  Right now we’re not so much organized…but that’s a whole ‘nother story that I will share very soon.

Anyway, head over to The Old Schoolhouse Magazine and see what I had to say!   Stephanie Green is a local journalist who I’ve had the privilege of being interviewed by on multiple occasions.  She’s such a sweet persona and I do so love talking to her (yes, she did misspell my name, but then again, who doesn’t?).  So, when she called and asked if she could interview me for the homeschooling magazine that almost all homeschooling geeks moms know about…well, I couldn’t pass up a chance to chat with her.

Oh, and Ceili Rain is in there too.  And I still can’t believe how much she’s changed in less than a year!  By the way, those pictures were taken when Malachi was in utero…hence the big belly and all!

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New Header

My dear sister in law does this so I thought I would too.  For posterity.  I changed our header to add in our newest member to the bunch.  Here’s the old one: 

If you see this in Google Reader and are curious, click on over and check out the new header.  It’s so our family!

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Instagram Fun

For when I don’t have a camera handy but always have my phone.

The potty was brought in to the kitchen to help with a meal (it doubles as a step stool).  Ceili Rain and Bryant were playing with it and discovered it was a potty so by her prompting, Bryant dropped his drawers and his diaper and plopped on to the potty.  She was totally encouraging him too.  I can’t put what she was saying but she was being a good potty trainer.

 I made homemade yogurt.  In the crockpot.  Very cool and easy.  Bryant showed me he liked it by getting a yogurt gotee.  He wanted to look like daddy!

Unfortunately for us, my dear and precious Aunt Mary lost her fight with brain tumors in May.  We were and are completely devastated and there is a big hole in our family due to her being home with the Lord.  We rejoice that she is in heaven and celebrating her new whole body!  When we traveled for the funeral, Malachi got to come along.  His cousin, J, got to meet him.  That’s granddaddy holding him in case the moustache through you off.

Aunt Yaya got to meet him as well.  In fact, from the moment we saw them, she took over baby duty.  She loves the babies!  She also loves that she can return them to their mommies (not really…she really loves the babies).

Bryant-wearing his brothers’ “crocs” on the wrong feet.  He was so proud.

 Yo!  Yo!  What’s up?!
My little mermaid…oh, I crack myself up!
Argh me mateys!

Okay, I’ve secretly longed for instagram on my droid phone.  Now that they have it for the droid I’m “happy, happy, happy.”  (Bonus points if you know where that quote came from…oh yeah.)

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Pops!

Every year a local symphony puts on a free concert in a local park.  It’s a great opportunity for us to enjoy popular compositions and a quality symphony without having to shell out the big bucks!  This year the concert moved from a set up stage to a new park’s amphitheater!  Isn’t it gorgeous.  I have to say our county’s claim to fame is that two members of Lady Antebellum (country music group) graduated from a local high school.  So, in honor of them, they named the stage Lady Antebellum.  Yeah, we’re impressed.

Now, back to the concert.  Before the concert, they had a “instrument petting zoo.”  The kids totally enjoyed playing different instruments and getting their faces painted and the concert.  They had fireworks this year as well.  Very impressive!

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Into the Woods

I said May was a busy month.  And it was.  We went camping with another family in the middle of the craziness.

  Zoe got bored during a fishing expedition and made faces.  Pretty creative, I think!

The other family had a canoe.  Totally jealous.  They took the kids out one by one.  Totally jealous that I had to sit on shore with an unruly child and the infant.

The view from our campsite.  Gorgeous!!

Malachi enjoyed his first camping trip.

We’re hoping to be able to go camping more the rest of this year!

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And so what we have learned…

Good intentions…I do have them.  I fully intend to get the blog updated from May before the end of June so I can update with June even though there’s not much to report in June, except that we were visited by a host of Transueiness and we’re sick.  Croup for the babe, colds, stomach issues, fevers, and a touch of laryngitis for the rest of crew…and we’ve only had three go through it.  There’s still more to come!

However, before I start folding clothes, I thought I could do a post.

Our end of the year project fair with our homeschool care group was in May this year.  The weekend of Mother’s day to be precise.  Although it was a very busy day (and Aunt Yaya’s birthday) we had wonderful time.  This year, the kids voted not to do handbells.  They chose poem recitations instead.  I have no clue where the video is.  I think next year I’ll talk them in to doing a puppet show…or play.  They do enjoy getting up and acting and such.

This year was the first year for them to do projects.  I allowed them to choose their projects and have very, very little hands on work with them.  I did some guidance on how to do the projects, use machines, and how not to cut yourself with a paper cutter or scissors (or glue yourself to a board).

And I have to say, I was greatly pleased with the effort they put into doing this.  Because of that, we will be doing many more projects this year.

Zoe did her project on Bulgaria and the Bulgarian Lap Loom that she had received as a gift from us one Christmas.

They had to stand by their projects and actually talk to people who came by and asked about them (because they’re unsocialized).  Zoe enjoyed demonstrating the loom.

We love to watch The Spangler Effect with Steve Spangler and one of the experiments he had was disappearing ink.  That was Ace’s choice for a project.  He also learned a bit about cryptography and steganography.

 More “un” socialness going on.
About the middle of the year, Josiah told me he wanted to do a project on bird nests.  I told him he would have to do it with Liam since they were so young.  The boys eventually agreed.  As I wracked my brain trying to figure out how to help a six year old and a four year old put together a project on nests, I decided to glance in the kids science journals.  We studied flying animals this year and lo and behold, there was a mini book on nests.  We adjusted it to fit on a display model and brought along a nest that had fallen out of our tree at some point.  Some birds heard about our need for nests and obliged by creating one in a box we had on our front porch.
My totally anti-social Liam loved talking to everyone about nests and the different kind.  No fear of public speaking for this kid!
 Doesn’t Chi have a look of fear on his face?  Yeah, that’s brotherly love right there.
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