Enjoying God's beautiful creation

We have enjoyed our springtime so much this year.  The weather has been so nice and we have been able to get outside a lot.  We continue to learn about God's creation.  Anna studied weather in science this spring.  She had a little weather station set up and recorded information on a daily basis.  She charted information from the wind vane, an anemometer, a thermometer, and a rain gauge.  She has become an expert at cloud identification and has become our favorite local weather girl! 
We have planted all kinds of flowers around our house and are enjoying all the beautiful colors.  We hung a bird feeder and hummingbird feeder and have had so much fun identifying the birds with our field guide.  The girls both have bug collecting containers with magnifying glass, tweezers and nets.  Their favorite to study right now are the lady bugs.  Butterflies are just beginning to appear on the scene as well.
We also had the privilege of mothering some sweet baby kittens.  Wesley brought them home as he was worried about them because they were not being taken care of properly.  We bottle fed them, eventually got them to solid food, litter trained them and loved them well.  They were so much fun to watch, as they found their footing, then learned how to play.  They were so cuddly and when they purred, their little bodies shook all over.  We fell in love with all of them, but did not keep one for ourselves.  Found homes for them all as it is not our time to have kittens.  We will be traveling and I will be having two separate eye surgeries that will replace my tear ducts that continue to get infected.
Our hears hurt each time one left, then they hurt worst of all as the last two, little black ones left, but we were also happy they were being adopted together.  Hard lessons in loving and letting go!
Our theme in homeschool this spring was to be intentional about observing God's creativity in His creation.  All the different flowers, their uniqueness, their bright colors, the different types of clouds and what they do for us, the purr and playfulness of kittens, their different colors and personalities, the many different kinds of birds and their distinct vocalizations, the quick chipmunk family that lives under our big rock and who sometimes sun themselves in the morning light, the spots on the lady bug and strangeness of the praying manus, the freshness of the spring breezes and so much more.  Anna did amazingly well as head momma kitty, and Amy continues to take all of nature in as she learns so much every day.  She is a hands on learner and being outside is her favorite.

Psalm 96:12

Let the field be joyful, and all that is in it.  Then all the trees of the woods will rejoice before the Lord.

The kittens loved Anna so much! They all wanted in her lap. 

Amy was not crazy about their claws.  Took time for her to not be afraid of being scratched.
She did laugh so much at their playfulness.  

One of the chipmunk family members

Anna and Amy's  wild flowers still growing, they have watered faithfully

Bird watching from our window

Bottle feeding

Kitten love

Amy preferred being next to the kittens

Awesome experience loving these 5 babies, getting them healthy, and adopted out to loving  homes.

Spring Activities

Roasting marshmallows and making smores

Anna had a great soccer season

Amy preferred the playground over soccer this year

Celebrated Earth day by planting some wildflower seeds on the edge of our woods.  The girls edged their flower garden with rocks they found.

Our favorite part of homeschooling, reading time on the screened porch

Lovely ballerinas and some big brothers who are supporting fans

A Busy Springtime

We have had a super springtime.  So many reasons to celebrate and so many activities. Mine and Scott's anniversary and Scott, Wesley, and Will have birthdays in April.  Anna and Amy both have adoption days in April.  This time of year is also busy as we come to the end of several sports, and school activities.

Celebrating 28 years of marriage

Our bestest friends with whom we enjoy so many activities!  Our homeschool Timothy days are full of ballet, art, geography, science, literature, and more!  

Trip to the doctors office for some allergy issues.

Gotcha day presents.  They will be painting their own horses.

A trip to Gibbs Gardens.  

Really lovely day.

A Blessed Easter

Pretty Girls in Pretty Easter dresses

Ready for Easter Church services

Anna was the first one to find her Easter basket

Amy not far behind in finding her Easter basket

Inside Easer egg hunt

Easter bunny love

Outside Easter egg hunt with cousins

Easter preparations

We have been enjoying the spring weather and getting ready for Easter. The girls really understand the meaning of this special time of year.  We have enjoyed our Resurrection Eggs, opening one each day, reading the Bible scriptures that go with the symbols, and having some good discussion time. We have been singing, Hosanna to the son of David! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.  Hosanna in the highest.  Mathew 21:9

 We are filled with hope at the love Jesus has shown us, and we celebrate the fact that HE LIVES!
And because He lives, there is no sorrow that heaven can't heal.

Brightly colored eggs

Crosses made from the egg dye

Empty Tomb Craft

Luke 24:6  He is not here: He has risen!

Our Insulated Cup Collection

We have been collecting pretty drinking cups since Amy came home from China.  In an effort to have the girls drink more water, I thought it would be motivating to have a lovely cup, from which to drink that water.  My plan has worked.  Every morning before we go up to do school, they pick their cup for the day and fill it to the top.  The goal is to drink at least one full cup per day, but I encourage them to drink more, and they usually do. We take our cups with us when we run errands, play outside, just about every where we go. We always know whose cup is whose.Thankful for the simple pleasures of life,  good clean, drinkable water. Behold our collection. 

  

Probably their favorite, bling cups.
Amy the pink, Anna the purple.

Christmas stocking stuffers from 2014.  Glitter, winter snowflake cups. You can shake the glitter and stars around.
These make for good sensory input while you drink. :)
Amy blue, Anna purple.

Valentine's cups from 2014
These have nice grip strips around them.
Amy pink, Anna purple

These were spring cups but both girls dropped them on different occasions and the outer  layer broke off.  We still use them, they are just not insulated anymore.  Pretty neat, they have raised bubbles on them. Another nice sensory input cup. We agree that out of all the cups, the girls were glad these broke, but in such a way as to still use them.
Amy pink which used to have multi colored plaid/flower outer cup,  Anna yellow which used to have a purple polkadot outer cup.
Anna is always purple something!

My cups. Keeps us more germ free and we always know which cup is ours and who drank how much water!
And we can identify if someone leaves their cup in a strange place.

Snow Days from February 24th and 25th

I am behind on posting our snow day pictures.  It was great to have Scott home for the week as first we had some ice then a day or so later the big snow came.  We ate some great home cooked food: cheddar potato/ broccoli/carrot soup, fresh baked bread, and a pan of chocolate chip brownies. We enjoyed the real wood fireplace. Before the snow came,  the girls enjoyed helping to stack the wood by the front door.  They pretended to be pioneers.  Plus they remember being without power the last time we had ice, so this was added security of being able to stay warm just in case!  Very happy to have some good family time in our beautiful winter wonderland.

Yeah for SNOW

The snowflakes were huge.  So pretty to watch coming down.

So thankful my parents live next door to us.  They came over to watch the girls play in the snow.

The snow princesses built a lovely snowwomanprincess.