SHOWTIME!!

 

We wrapped up our year of dance this week with the recital.

 

Here are the girls getting ready to go to dress rehearsal.

 

They were just a little bit excited!

 

 



 

This was Missy's first recital and Bean's second.

 



We missed professional pictures this year due to scheduling conflict.

I had hoped to get some good pictures on recital night, but it turned out that Missy broke out in poison ivy ALL over her face.  Poor thing.  It is only just starting to clear up now. 

So, this is what we have.

 

In the auditorium.

Waiting to go on stage.

 

 

You know me, I try to be on time for everything.

I don't know why (!!) but it seems to get harder as time goes on..anyway, we were one of the first ones to arrive for rehearsal. 

 

 And then....

It was SHOWTIME!

 

The boys enjoyed the show too.

 

 

 There they are!

I did record part of their routine on my phone, but I missed the beginning.

During dress rehearsal, Rian did not smile at all.

So, after we went home and prior to the show, I stressed to her--SMILE!

She did. 

It was very cute,

while standing there with a nice smile and her hands folded in front of her,

 she just neglected to dance!

(for a minute)

 

Rian is the 4th from the left and Carina is 3rd from the left.

Bean did a great job.

She has the look of a ballerina.

If she chooses to stick with it, I see a lot of potential.

 



 

 

 

I'm going to try and get my video on here.

 

 

ooooh, I think we're successful.

 

Enjoy!

 

(pssst!  Great job, girlies!)

 



CICADA SUMMER

The woods are humming.

Literally.

You turn down our street and wonder what the noise is.

Everyone who has visited us in the past few weeks has commented.

 

17 year (otherwise known as Periodical Cicadas) Cicadas have emerged!



 

If you look closely, you can see the bottom and tips of the leaves covered in the shells.

This was not even a FULL branch!

 





 

It is pretty remarkable the way God designed these creatures.

They know exactly when to burrow out of the ground.

They have a 5 week adult life span.

 

 

 

The males are the ones that make the noise.

They are looking for mates.

 

Here you can see a small smattering of empty shells on the ground.

Parts of our yard are (or were, I should say--all the rain did have an effect!) covered!

 



 

 

Another tree.

There are a few different kinds of cicadas.

Some which come every year.

These are special though.

We were figuring out how old the kids would be when the next brood arrives..

potentially out of the house!

 

 

 Some of the books we have been reading to learn more.

I would definitely recommend the top one.

Great pictures and lots of information.

 

 

 

Finally, after reading about and hearing them and all that good stuff..we saw online that a friend of ours had made Cicada Cookies!

Yes, they are eaten around the world.

Did you know that cicadas are especially "revered" in France?

Anyway, I thought we'd go for it.

Our friends saved one cicada cookie for us to sample.

No one was forced.

 

 

 

Michael and Carina refused to even try it.

Rian licked it and Travis actually had it in his mouth and then spit it out!

I did take videos, but I was laughing so they are rather wobbly.

I think it would have went over better if the cicada had actually been incorporated INTO the cookie.

Hey, it was a once in a lifetime type thing, right?

 

So, yeah.

Our adventures with the cicadas.

:)



BACKSEAT

 

 

Blogging has taken a backseat to life.

 

It is not a priority right now.

 

Plus, we got our laptop back and I have yet to re-install my camera software etc. It just has not been high on my list of things to do.  I've composed probably 30 or so posts in my head and forgot all of them just as quickly. 

 

May was very busy.

 

This first full week of June has been beautiful.

Weather-wise, near perfect in my book.

Sunny, mid-high 70's..not too hot not too cold..

we have been spending a lot of time outdoors.

Laundry on the line, gardening, schooling, playing etc.

 

 

The cicadas are insane!

I have pictures.

You step outside and the sound is just overwhelming.

Some parts of our yard are crunchy.  Literally.

We were reading about them yesterday and they are a pretty amazing creature.

Friends of ours made cicada cookies (no kidding!) and I hope to pick one up later for sampling.

We will see who is brave enough. 

 

I am happy to report that our garden is growing nicely.

Everything we planted is coming up well, so far.

I am unhappy to report that something ate the roses off the rosebush I received for Mother's Day.

 

I am SO happy to report that #4 is potty trained.

This is week 3 of wearing underpants.

We've had accidents here and there, but he is doing well. 

We have done underpants overnight since day one and thankfully have had no issues there.

 

As you probably know, I am planning to school through the summer this year because of the break we took when Jared was born and getting back into the swing of things.

We are on a "summer schedule" about now.

Bit more relaxed, more field trips and outings etc.

Again, our emphasis is mainly on Bible, Math, and Reading at this point.

I'm trying not to stress over not getting to the "extras."

We do what we can, as much as we can, when we can.

I'm pretty sure we're not scarring the children for life because they aren't learning formal grammar or science etc.

 

T-ball is over this week.

Dance is over at the end of this month.

I found someone who does swim lessons for a very reasonable price, so we're going to try that out for a bit.  I'm not expecting Olympic swimmers, but I do think that water safety and being comfortable in it is important.  Last summer we were a pool a total of 5 times.  I am only one person and with 4 kids to teach (at that time) it was just not possible.  I have one afraid as well..so we'll see how it goes.  I'll keep you posted.

The summer reading program at the library starts this month too!

We're excited for that.

 

Jared is sitting, albeit still a bit wobbly, by himself and has two top teeth popping through.

 

Okay, I need to get lunch on the table.

Just wanted to let you know that we're still here.

;)

 

What have you been up to lately?

 

 

 

 

 

 



MAY 22

My little guy had "minor" outpatient surgery done yesterday.

He did amazingly well.

How do you explain to a 6 month old that he cannot eat?

Yeah, he had to fast.

 

No food/drink from midnight on.

Surgery was scheduled for 8:45am.

He didn't get in there until after 10:30ish am.

That was a rough wait for me..

again, he did AMAZINGLY well.

We had some fussing but no outright screaming..poor baby was hungry. 

I felt so terrible.

 

 

This picture was taken around 9am



 

Still fairly happy over an hour later, after taking a short nap.

 



 

Then the wait.

Mike was (is still) away on a work-related trip and so I was there solo.

I had to hand over my baby.

The hospital does not allow parents in the operating room if the child is under 1 year old.

The actual surgery was relatively quick, under an hour, but felt like much, much longer.

 

 

By the time I was able to feed him, Jared had eaten nothing in over 12 hours!

He slept quite a bit yesterday, but in between was pretty much his normal self.

Even with a "minor" or routine surgery, things can go awry. 

I am so, so thankful that all went well.

 

Kudos to those parents and care givers that go through this on a regular basis.

 

 



THIS AND THAT

 

 

I think this has been one of the longest blogging "breaks" I've taken thus far.

It was not an intentional one.

 

Life has a way of happening.

May has been so busy!!

 

I have a bunch of pictures, but one of May's recent happenings is that I knocked over Mike's drink (accidentally) onto our laptop and our hard drive was fried.  I am currently on his firehouse/work laptop.  So, no pictures for the present.

 

We have had two deaths of acquaintances/friends this month.

 

We celebrated Missy's 4th birthday.

 

We finished out our co-op year.

 

Jared turned 6 months and started solid foods.

I think that will be its own post once I'm back on my regular computer.

I was a bit surprised.  I'll leave it at that.

 

We took a trip to the zoo as a family.

 

We installed a new toilet.

 

Celebrated Mother's Day.

 

Prepared and planted our garden (minus half a row)

 

Prayed as we had a family member go through a very serious surgery.

(currently in recovery, Praise God!)

 

Attended the ENOCH convention.

 

Took the kids on an overnight (first time since...um...can't even remember that far!) and a day trip with Daddy while Mommy attended the convention.

 

Attended several T-ball games and practices.

 

And the list goes on.

 

A little slice of what has been happening. 

I just wanted to check in.

 

Hopefully, I will be back to regular posting soon.

 

Till then--

Adios!

CHECK, CHECK AND CHECK AGAIN

It is that time of year.

Make sure you are checking yourself, your children and your pets for ticks.

In the past few years its amazing how many people have been diagnosed with Lyme Disease.

http://www.tickinfo.com/TICKIDPAGE.htm

Feel all creepy crawly now??

NOTHING MUCH AND EVERYTHING ALL AT ONCE

Helllooooooooo!

I feel as if I have not blogged in the longest time.

So, I'll just highlight some stuff that has been happening lately.

We were sick for what ended up to be quite awhile after it went through all the kiddies..

We've been busy getting the yard in shape.

Cutting up the tree from Sandy..getting the garden ready..etc.

Whoops!

WHOOPS!

Land Rover to the rescue.

I got the bug and did some rearranging of the furniture.

In the process, I'm trying to purge.  

Changing over the clothes is always a fun time.  NOT.  It is really a chore..

I have yet to complete the task.  The weather has been so up and down; I'm glad we still have the winter stuff around.

T-ball has started.  

The kids are loving it.

They are the "Angry Tigers" this season.

I got my hair cut off FINALLY!!

It is so much easier to take care of, out of reach of baby hands, and I don't feel like quite the frump.
Did you know that there is a local organic salon?  I didn't.  This place was recommended to me and I figured I would try it out.  All of their products are organic, from hair coloring to nail polish and everything in between.

Little things,

like such, make me happy.

You would think that buying a pencil sharpener would be easy--No!

I searched and searched and read customer review upon customer review...

We had gone through a couple of electric pencil sharpeners and I definitely wanted an "old fashioned" manual one.  So far we have had no issues with it.

I'm excited for next year's curriculum.

J has two little teeth.

Sharp little daggers, I mean.

I think there may be some more making their way through too..

Tonight, he found it amusing to try test them out.

I'm telling you, he was doing it on purpose.

He would bite down slowly while eating and when I made it clear that it was NOT okay, he would let go and grin up at me!  OOOh!  If I have a Boogie Junior, I don't know WHAT I will do!

There have been so many horrible things happening in the world/country of late.

How do we deal?

I mean, evil is real and has been around and infecting us since the beginning of time.

Is it that I now have children that it seems more prevalent?  Or IS it more prevalent?  I think it is a bit of both.  These are sad, frightening times we live in.  

The Boston bombings, the Gosnell trial, the Romeike case, the list goes on and on and on..closer to home?  Mike called just tonight and while he was at work, a car was stolen by thieves with guns.  Apparently, they hit up a couple of more places after taking the vehicle too.
Mike was the one to call 911.

How do we deal?
Or I should ask, how do you deal without faith?
Where is your hope?

So, I started this post over a week ago.
You know how it goes, 
there was more I was going to write, but I'll wrap it up.
I hope you have a nice week.