Easter

Easter came really early this year, and it was lumped into the end of Spring Break.  We got back into Montgomery very late on Friday.  Saturday was a recovery day and laundry day.  Sunday morning, we woke the older kids up for the Sunrise service.  When they got back, we prepared Resurrection Rolls for breakfast.

While they were cooking, we peeked in our baskets that were filled by a special visitor!

Then Dad took the kids out front to try to get a few good group pictures!

 

 

After church, we came home and had our family Easter Egg hunt.

 

 Later in the afternoon, we did break out the egg dyeing kits.  It was a little late, but it was still fun!

Bluebonnets in Texas

We were born and raised in the State of Texas.  The beautiful bluebonnet is one of my favorite picture backgrounds!!!  When we lived in Texas, we put the kids in the bluebonnets every year for pictures.  John Mark found this gorgeous pasture of bluebonnets on his way to pick me up from shopping at Canton Trade Days.  He is such a good man to get the kids out and take a few pictures.  Granted they were NOT dressed for the occasion because Mom had not thought or planned for this phote shoot, but they are roughedly beautiful!!

Kids,we are going to Texas for Spring Break!

One night I made a rash comment while watching Baylor Men's Basketball.  "JM, we should go to Baylor and watch the next round during Spring Break!"  It must have been late and I was not thinking clearly.  By morning, JM had the trip planned and hotels booked!  Ditch our lake plans because we are heading to Waco, Texas!  Only Baylor grads or Dr. Pepper fans would consider Waco a Spring Break destination!!!  

I called my mom and asked if she could meet us in Waco for a few days.  She quickly said, "well, sure!"  We drove all the way to Texas on Monday( JM had to work the weekend shift) before stopping to rest.  The next morning, we rose early to meet my mom in Waco for lunch.  Then JM, Tyler & Corynne went to watch the Baylor men's tennis match that afternoon.  Grammy and I took the younger girls to the Mayborn Museum which was AWESOME!!!  This museum was built years after we graduate, and we had never been.  Many of the exhibits tied directly into what we had been studying this year.

We went to the girls game on Tuesday night at the Ferrell Center.  It was a great game even though the girls did not end up advancing to the NCAA tournament.

On Wednesday morning, we slept in a little and then went to visit the Baylor bear and walk around the campus.  It was fun showing the kids were we spent most of our college time!

 We visited some of our favorite eateries that we do not have in Montgomery like Health Camp, El Chicos, and Fazoli's.
We went to the men's game on Wednesday night.  Of course, Tyler wanted to wait around for pic opportunities!  Corynne was an excellent photographer for him!

 On Thursday morning, Grammy & I got up VERY early and drove to Canton for some shopping at Trade Days.  JM got the kids up, met a college doctor friend for lunch, and then drove to Canton (on the way out of Texas) to pick me up.  It was a fast and fun Spring Break.  Well, everything was fun except the 12 hour drives!!!

Permit to Drive

It is official.  He can finally drive me or JM around town.  The countdown has begun until the REAL license comes!

State-by-State: Vermont

" Capital comes with the letter C.

Here laws are made to keep us free.
On the banks of two rivers, sitting pretty,
Montpelier is our capital city."

  ~ M is for Maple Syrup: A Vermont Alphabet

Once again, we started off the week by reading our Discover America Series book!  This week we read M is for Maple Syrup: A Vermont Alphabet.  The girls and I love the rhyming, sing-a-long style of the books to learn interesting facts about the states.  The girls then completed their scrapbook page and mini lapbook.

"I introduces Ice cream,

America's favorite treat.

Ben & Jerry's makes dreamy, creamy ice cream 

with sweets we love to eat."

~ M is for Maple Syrup: A Vermont Alphabet

I surprised the girls today with a special little treat from a Vermont Ice Cream maker!!!

"M is for Maple Syrup,

a yummy treat that farmers stir up.

In winter, they tap the sugar maple tree,
for sap to make maple syrup for you and me!"

  ~ M is for Maple Syrup: A Vermont Alphabet

We learned that it takes between 20-40 gallons of sap to make one gallon of syrup.  During syrup season, a mouth watering aroma fills the sugarhouses, and the large water evaporators that boil away the sap's water run constantly.  

We decided to make pancakes topped with apples, Vermont's state fruit, and a special jar of Vermont Maple Syrup.  The syrup was so yummy and definitely a treat!

Anatomy Projects & Lapbooks- Part 2

We have enjoyed learning more about Anatomy this year with Apologia's Exploring Creation.  The kids and I are learning a lot together.  This program makes learning fun with all the experiments!

Digestive System and Respiratory System (Chapters 4-6)

The girls learned the organs of the digestive system and their functions in Chapter 4.  Chapter 5 was devoted to healthy eating and the food groups.

One of the projects for the respiratory system was to build a model lung.  

Using all the mini foldables that she had completed as we read the lessons, Lauren assembled a beautiful lapbook for the chapters.

Life in the Blood and The Cardiovascular System (Chapters 7-8)

One of the projects for Blood was to assemble blood sample.  This was used to help explain the 3 parts of blood and how it gets its color.

We assembled a few different heart models as we were learning about the chambers of the heart.  An edible one...

And a plastic one...

We practiced everyday on our game boards to help us remember all the parts of the heart.

Lauren's lapbook for these chapters.

The Brain, Nervous System, and the Endocrine System (Chapters 9-10)

Our next chapter covered the Brain.  For this chapter, we used air-dry molding clay to build models of the brain.  The first model was just to learn the 3 main parts of the brain.

The second set of models taught us the areas of the brain.

The girls also made Brain Caps.  This was a fun project, and I caught them wearing them a lot!

For the nervous system, we learned the parts of the nerve.  We again build our models out of air-dry clay.  Learning how your brain connects old paths learned to recall informations  The more ways you learn something...the easier it is to recall.  Hmmm...we read it, we write it, we build it, we sing it, we learn it!!!!

Trying to trick those brain neurons!!!

 Lauren's assembled lapbook for these chapters.

Lauren is very proud of her lapbook projects.  Easy way to show what she has learned so far this year.

Colleen's 3rd Birthday

In 2 days, Colleen will be 3 years old!  I cannot believe how big she is getting.  Time flies by so fast.  We decided to have her party on a Sunday after church which happened to be St. Patrick's Day!  Well, that made the theme really EASY!!!  I have been looking for a reason to make a new wreath for the front door, and I went all out and MAKE the cake myself!  It has been a long time since I have done one for the kids cakes.  It was fun to cake decorate again!

 We had a few friends over to celebrate her big day!

 Colleen had the best time!  She loved having her very own special day!!!!