Natalie's favorite 'flower' is the dandelion, so you can imagine how much fun she's had picking them lately! This afternoon she was excited to see lots of 'wishers' in the yard, so we took some pics while playing!

I like this one because she makes this face a lot when she's trying not to smile.
We have a very young lilac tree in our yard and it is finally blooming this year! I got my first bundle of flowers off today--they smell so sweet!
And of course I had to throw one in of baby Nolan--not taken at our house, though :(

The mind of a 6 year-old

On the way home from church last night, Wyatt asked us if germs have germs? I have to make sure I write this stuff down--some of the things he asks have us laughing quite a bit!

Going on a Frog Hunt

Yesterday the kids and I set out on a very long hunt for tadpoles. We started out at a local 'mudhole' that I was sure would have plenty.

First, we saw this guy...can you find him?

He had lots of friends with him, but no tadpoles! Then we watched these guys for a while. Natalie informed us that this was a mom and grandmother with the babies.

We then ventured to another 'mudhole' and had no luck there, either. So we went over to a park that I was sure we would find some puddles with tadpoles.

We knew we wouldn't find any in the creek, but we were also keeping our eyes open for some caterpillars (didn't find any of those, either).
But we did find lots of nice flowers!

And the kids were excited to play in this 'jungle'.
Finally, after a day long hunt....we found tadpoles!!!!

And we'll definitely post updates on them. Now I have to convince the kids that they need to go outside--grammy's room is starting to stink!

**I have just discovered that we may have baby newts....I guess we'll find out when (if) they start developing!

Wyatt has become quite a picky eater lately and getting him to eat much of anything other than plain meat and green beans is a fight. He asked what was for dinner the other night and then threw a fit b/c it didn't sound good, so in my frustration I told him he could cook it. It turned out to be quite a good learning time for him--we've been working on fractions so he was able to find the correct measuring cup, pour in the ingredients, and then he stood over the stove and stirred until it was done. He was proud of himself and ate all of his dinner, the whole time telling us how yummy it was! He is getting so grown up lately!

Yesterday we went to the Maryland Assoc. of Christian Home Educators (mache) curriculum fair. This was our first time to attend one of these fairs and it was so much fun! It was the hottest day of the year so far (around 80!) and so that combined with lots and lots of people made for some grouchy kids, but we survived! It was so neat to see all of the groups and organizations in our area that we can benefit from. I got lots of ideas, some used books that we need for next year, and the kids enjoyed seeing some cool animals!

This is a Christian wildlife group who has some really neat presentations for kids. We are definitely going to book them to come see our homeschool group of friends! Natalie wouldn't touch any of them, but Wyatt was brave enough to check out the snake!

This big lizard was cool. They also had a big bird, a chinchilla, a parrot, and a turtle.
Natalie liked the saddles.
This little setup was built by a kid around 9 years old...it was very detailed!
Ben took a challenge to name all of the documents on this board--and of course he was able to!

Roller Skating

Last weekend our church rented a local skating rink for a few hours. The kids had lot of fun but we didn't spend much time skating since there were arcade games and a moon bounce! I had to do a lot of begging to get Ben to put skates on, and of course I was the one who fell. Someone made a comment that it was just like riding a bike....I beg to differ. I did a lot of skating growing up and it felt very foreign to me to have skates on again! Natalie did better than any of us!

One trip around the rink wore her out!
A bright blue slushie to cool off!
This was the only picture I got of Wyatt on the skates--he didn't spend much time with them on!

The weather was so great today! We were at Lowe's by 10am to buy flowers and then spent all day outside playing! The kids were filthy by the time we came in tonight!

luckily we haven't planted our garden yet, so they got to play in the freshly tilled dirt. This area behind our house was overgrown until last summer--Ben worked really hard to clean it out with a bobcat, and now we have a lot more room to play!

Natalie was trying to decide which rock to throw into the stream--she ended up chunking both of them in!
Bailey was never far away--she sticks close to the kids and watches them while they play. We should have named her Nanny--wasn't that the dog in Peter Pan?

We played outside quite a bit yesterday, enjoying the great weather!

Natalie spent a lot of time on the swingset!

And Wyatt spent a lot of time in the dirt!

I'm feeling better this morning--thanks for any prayers that were offered! I have a yucky cough and still ache a little, but nothing like I did yesterday.

I just walked outside and it is already warm! This is going to be a gorgeous day! I also found a dead baby bunny on our back steps. It was so cute and perfect, so I let the kids come out and see it. we'll bury it later. I have a feeling I know who the culprit is .

It wouldn't be this one I don't think--if so it's her first kill.

Our other cat (who disowned us and lives with the neighbors now) would have eaten at least half of it, so I know it wasn't him.
Spring is here! Baby animals and all. Speaking of which, i'm working really hard on Ben to get some chickens. I'll let you know if he gives in :)

I hope you all have a great day! Get outside and enjoy the sunshine if you can! I should have lots of pictures to share later!

sick :(

We have been hit with some sort of bug and so we haven't done anything worthy of posting pictures in a few days. Natalie started us off, but I kept her full of and elderberry supplement so she never got too sick....but the rest of us were hit yesterday and today. So prayers would be appreciated! I feel like i've been run over.

Washington DC Part 2

More pictures from our DC trip!

Natalie stopping to smell the flowers...Japanese Magnolias

You can tell that everyone was getting really tired at this point.


Waiting for the walk signal.

See this long bridge? After walking all over DC (or at least it felt like we had) Ben wanted to cross this. We thought he was kidding, but nope, there was something on the other side that he's wanted to see for quite a while. And that house you can barely see on the hill--it was Robert E. Lee's.

We (finally) made it across and were able to visit the Seabee Memorial. Ben was a Seabee in the Navy.

This is a picture I took on a 'back road' to our house--I thought it was nice!