Catching up

Here are pictures from the past two weeks that have been stuck on my camera just waiting to get on my blog for the world to see...


Dodgeball Class-So Fun!

El Clase de Espanol-We love Maestra Ana!

Cutest Baby Girl Ever!

Cub Scout Field Trip to Police Station-What a handsome group!

Little Lego Engineer!

Happy Leap Day Everyone-Use this extra day wisely!

"Whale" you be my Valentine?

We had a whale watching field trip scheduled for Valentine's day, so we decided to make our annual school Valentine's party whale themed. We learned about whales, made whale cookies out of hearts,and made whale Valentine cards.And, of course, we passed out Valentine's to one another.These little cupids are just two cute!Julie and I are getting pretty good at these holiday school parties- this one was planned all via text the day before!

Today, we headed out to the Los Angeles Harbor for our whale watching tour. We spent some time at the Harbor Museum first before boarding the ship.It was a great little museum with a tour guide explaining everything along the way. The kids were very engaged even though it was mostly just listening. I was impressed with all that Tanner had remembered about ships from when we studied sea explorers three years ago!Since only ages three and up are allowed on the whale watching tour, Ladd took the day off to take the big kids! Julie and I stayed ashore with little kids. Apparently the sea was pretty rough and the trip was described as a roller coaster ride. (Good thing I was not aboard as it makes me queasy just thinking about it!) All the kids had a great time, except for Hunter who was scared of the big waves. I don't blame him-the boat went airborne over the waves! Since it is migrating season, the crew was hoping to see a gray whale, but all the whales must have been at some awesome underwater Valentine's party because they never surfaced! But, the kids didn't seem to mind that they only saw sea lions, dolphins, and the LA harbor lighthouse today!We hope you all had a WHALE of a Valentines Day!

Random Thoughts on...

Charity
She turned 8 months this week. She thinks she is a big girl and can keep up with her brothers in her walker. It is her favorite place to be! When she is happy, she is very quiet and you'll forget she is even there. When she is not happy, she yells and you cannot forget she is there! This pretty much only happens when she is tired or when she is done eating and wants out of her seat. She likes her baby food but when she is done-she is DONE! She loves to play with toys, or anything she can manage to get into her mouth! I keep waiting to see two bottom teeth pop up-but nothing yet. Thankfully, her spitting up improved drastically this week. I guess her little esophagus just needed a little time to mature. We love her more and more each day!

Tanner
He teaches me great patience on a daily basis. He is full of energy and helping him to gear that energy in a positive way can be exhausting at times. Tanner is so intense and passionate about his interests- I know he will move mountains someday. I am just trying to make sure he moves them in the right direction! I love to see him with Charity, they seem to have a special bond. He would stop the world for his baby sister. I love my goose.
Hunter
He is blossoming. One thing I love about homeschooling is that I get to see the exact moment when my child gets it. He got reading this week. It is so fun to see the light in his eyes when everything finally clicks! He is my early bird so I get to spend my mornings one on one with Hunter-I love a Hunter-bear hug first thing in the morning!

Spare tire
I am sick of the spare tire I've been carrying around for the past 8 months. Between school, nighttime feedings (still), trying to keep some kind of order and cleanliness in my house, feeding little people three decent meals a day, and all the other stuff we've got going on, I have not left anytime for myself! I desperately need to take a little time each day to exercise starting now! This is the most sedentary I've been my whole life and I hate it! I am sick and tired of being sick and tired of the extra jiggle around the middle. Regular workouts start first thing tomorrow morning! Thank goodness there is no picture for this random thought-Yuck!