Ships Ahoy!

One of the science experiments the boys and I did was to make a boat out of a styrofoam plate, with a knitting needle mast and construction paper sail. At first, we were to see how far the styrofoam boat went withOUT a sail. It didn't go that far, of course... Then, we added the sail- what great fun! The boys spent 15 or so minutes blowing the boat across the tub. They loved it, and even had to find a Lego man to ride along. Arr!

Game Time!

Dave received an email at work telling him that the 5-time AF chess champion was on base, taking some classes and that he was going to play a sort of tournament for a week with whomever wanted to show up. Well, that is all Dave needed to hear! He and Matthew showed up all week, and got to play various people. Matthew beat the two guys in the top photos. The bottom photo shows the "chess guy", as Timothy called him, helping Matthew learn some moves. We also invited him over to our house one night, and he helped Matti some more. It was great fun for Matthew and we got some good tips. We were encouraged to look for a chess club when we get to our new assignment, and get Matthew to play in tournaments.

Invaders!

One rainy day, I had set a nice, big, tent "house" up in the living room for the boys to play in. All of the sudden, Stephen came running to me, yelling, "Mama! There is something DISGUSTING on the floor!!!" I asked him what it was. "Something Dis-GUSTING!!" I had to run and look, and it freaked me out, too. It looked like a small frog, but it also looked like a spider... What WAS it?? We captured it in a glass jar to get a better look. It was some sort of CRAB. After that incident, we have had quite a few more make their way into our house, sidling along, evading capture. We will never run out of "odd creature" experiences down here in Florida, I am afraid!

The Reader

When the latest "box day" from Sonlight happened at our house, Stephen was the first one to run to the box and look through all the books. He LOVES to read!

Matthew's Birthday- May 15th

We DID celebrate Matthew's birthday ON his birthday! :) He asked for a "rainbow bear" cake (the ears made entirely of frosting and Skittles-aiiieeeeee)! We got him an official chess set as his birthday present. He was very, very happy and said it was the best present we could get him.

Officer Marble

These are too cute!

Washin' Toes

Timothy's latest thing is to run into the bathroom and wash his feet after playing outside. At least he has initiative! He must want to get REALLY clean, too, because I've had to talk to him about his generous use of soap...(Ahem!)

This time, I grabbed the camera and snapped a few photos. A large mirror in front of the sink is too great a temptation-we must make faces! Timothy then noticed me, but couldn't resist at the end making one last face. :D

Grammy and Grampy's Visit!

It was a whirlwind of activity when grammy and grampy came to visit us in late April-early May. I don't seem to have many beach photos, but we went there almost every day, collecting shells and enjoying the (halfway) warm water. We really enjoyed our week-long visit, even though it seemed too short!



Grampy and Stephen.



Grammy with the kids.




How hard is it to get 4 kids and two adults to look at the camera at the same time and all smile? Don't even ask! This is the best one I got of the crew. :)

Homeschool Co-Op End of Semester Show

The kids have been participating in a homeschool co-op for the past year, and they really enjoy it. Unfortunately, we won't be doing it this fall since the baby is set to arrive right in the middle of the semester. Rats! Matthew took Spanish and botany, Stephen took unit studies and Heart of Dakota, Timothy was in a preschool class, and Rachel was in the nursery. I am so glad I found this group after moving down here. Every Friday, we'd go to this for a couple hours and it really changed up the pace of the week!






Matthew and his botany class explaining phototropism and other really large words. He was a sunflower... Can you guess which one? :)



Stephen totally overwhelmed onstage...



Matthew singing "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" in Spanish.

Playing Outside

I have been horribly behind in posting photos lately... Here are some from mid-APRIL! :)

Our neighbors have a couple of nice dogs that they let out back in a chained-in fence area. The kids LOVE it when they see "Coco" and "Lucky" outside. Rachel tries to feed them grass and they lick her. Whenever one of our balls or another toy makes its way over the fence, the dogs are so excited and run around like crazies. You can't see it in the last photo, but the dog is practically begging Rachel to toss the ball over!

Happy 5th Birthday, Stephen!!

Today, we have been having a nice, lazy day. We asked Stephen what he wanted to do today.

"Want to go to the beach, Stephen?"

-- "NO!" (The kids don't like having to walk the boardwalk, as well as walk down the beach 50 yards or so to get a nice spot past the fishermen, other people, etc., so they will always say "No!" at first. They love it there, though!)

"Ok... What DO you want to do, then?"

-- "Play boardgames!"


They have already played Monopoly (which Matthew won! I think he has won almost every Monopoly game they have played), and now they (Dave, Matthew, Stephen) are firmly ensconced in a game of Axis and Allies. Even I don't like that game! Blah. Matthew asks me why, and I tell him, "It's a man's game, Matti!" heh.

Stephen also requested "pizza store" pizza, otherwise known as Little Caesar's takeout. I made a tiger cake since he has a little stuffed tiger that he totes everywhere, and we had raspberry chocolate chip ice cream. All of our kids think that they do not turn the age they are turning until AFTER they eat their ice cream and cake. It is so funny!


We got him a Play-Doh "picnic" set, which has a bunch of toys to make all sorts of picnic foods. The boys busied themselves with that for over an hour after lunch.

In the morning, I set out Easter eggs around the house as they were playing Monopoly. They then took a break from the game and we all went out and battled no-seeums to find the eggs filled with candy, Goldfish crackers or MONEY. Rachel ended up getting the most money (thankfully not the candy!) Timothy decided to help her out and popped a large jellybean into her mouth which she chomped on for a long time, orange sugar juice drooling down her chin and all.

We've had a nice, relaxing day, and thank the Lord for yet another year!

Cabbage Heads

Lately, Stephen's favorite snack, the one he asks for the most is CABBAGE. I have no idea why... All I have to do is hack off a huge chunk of green cabbage, put it in a bowl, hand it to him, and he is happy as all get out. :)

Witness this recent photo of our last shopping trip. There were graham crackers hiding in a bag, too, but Timothy was overjoyed with a bag of spinach and Stephen with his enormous head of cabbage. Matthew had to jump in the photo with something on HIS head, too (checkers).








I am very thankful they aren't asking for Twinkies and Ho-Hos! :D

First Midwife Appt.

Friday's appointment went well. Dave's dad is here visiting, so he watched the kids for us and Dave came along. We got to see the baby (no twins, and I am okay with that!) dancing around so much that the ultrasound tech could hardly get the needed measurements. :) We got a bunch of little pictures to take home, too.

The tech put the due date at October 17th (as of now). Dave graduates his school the end of October. Two of my babies have been about a week overdue. We will see!