June 2013

 More wrapping up school year activities....Ann-Marie started flute lessons shortly after Christmas and participated in her first recital at Elmcroft Nursing Home.

 Ann-Marie attended her first gymnastics banquet (we have been on vacation other years) - it was fun to see her teammates all dressed up and reminisce about the accomplishments of our gym from the past year.  Ann-Marie was awarded "The Most Improved", which she was really excited about.

 Darrell had business in D.C. in June so we decided to pay our friends, the Blietz family, a visit.  We had a great time with them!!!!  We went did things in D.C. two of the days we were there....one day was rainy so we visited the indoor sections of the National Zoo - above was a snake approaching it's lunch....

 a demonstration involving naked mole rats....

 and we visited the National Museum of Health and Medicine, which has some truly fascinating and disgusting exhibits.  It is small, but jam packed with stuff.  Darrell's favorite was the bullet on display that killed President Lincoln (below).

 Another day was spent walking around D.C. and visiting some places like the fountain and sculpture gardens...

 taking a tour of the National Mint.....

 and visiting the National Archives as well as....

 the Jefferson Memorial.......

 notice some extra kids in the picture?  We took some of the Blietz kids each day we went and they were a blast to hang out with!!!!

 Also, the kids took the pictures most of the day....above was Evan's favorite Jefferson quote...

 as well as Ann-Marie taking a picture of Alec taking a picture of Ann-Marie!

and the Washington Memorial under scaffolding again.

We love visiting Maryland and D.C.....I'm sure we'll be back again soon.

May 2013 - Wrapping up the school year

I feel like I've really dropped the ball on keeping up with this blog, and for those family and friends that keep up with this way, I am sorry!  Time has a way of getting away from me, especially at this stage of life.  So here are some pictures of our end-of-school activities......Evan created a display board to demonstrate what he learned in his logical fallacies class this year.....

 and Ann-Marie decided to display here artwork and a poem she had memorized.

 Both Evan and Ann-Marie performed in a play that their homeschool coop group wrote and performed.....

 and Alec recited a poem he had memorized.

 We wrapped up AWANA for Ann-Marie and Alec with an awards ceremony.

We finished school on the last day of May and we were all ready to break for summer!

Ann-Marie's 10th birthday

 Since Ann-Marie's birthday fell on Saturday this year AND it happened to be one of the busiest days of our year.....we decided to celebrate as a family on Friday, the day before her birthday.  She opened her big present from us and the presents from her extended family.  It was apparent that we hit the birthday with no toys as presents.....crafts, gift cards, and anything for her Kindle Fire.

 The menu she chose for her birthday was Cinnamon Rolls for breakfast, Dad's special pasta, broccoli, and sauce for lunch, and spaghetti with shrimp for dinner.

 Ann-Marie wanted a big friend birthday party this year, which she hasn't had since she turned 5.  Since it was a busy day (soccer and track meet day), we planned it for 4 p.m. in the afternoon.  Theme: spa party!  I was so blessed to have my sister-in-law, Maura, come as well as my niece, Meghan, and her friend, Kasey - they ran the spa part of the party by giving facials, manicures and doing hair.  The girls were very pampered!

 Our friends from Maryland were able to come, which always makes our birthday parties even better!

 The cake was fun to make - flip flops with nail polish (marshmallows and tootsie rolls.) It was a big hit!

 Twelve girls were able to make it and had a lot of fun!!!!

Happy Birthday, our dear Ann-Marie!  

track and field 2013

Evan completed his first year of track and field with the Plants and Pillars homeschool athletic organization.  It was the first year of Middle school and High school track, so one month of practice and two meets.  The first meet, Evan participated in the turbo Javelin (above video), shot put, and discus.  The second meet he participated in the discus, shot put, 4x100 relay, and 4x400 relay and received a fourth place ribbon for the 4x400 relay.  Pretty good for never really running a 400 before!

Easter 2013 in pictures