Happenings

Things have been busy around here lately!!! Between homeschooling, tutoring (a part-time job I got), church, mission trips (Aron's to San Francisco with the Jr. Highers and my preparation for Tanzania in June), and just regular, every day life with my four blessings, there's been a lot going on! So here are some pictures of some of the everyday happenings around here:

Just a picture of Libbie's ponytail....pretty messy, but I love that her hair's long enough for me to put it all up! Plus, she's got a pretty cute profile, wouldn't you say?

And big sister Anna's ponytail...quite a bit bigger than Libbie's! I remember when she was Elizabeth's age and I was so worried that she'd always have super-thin hair. Well, I think she'll be just fine! Her hair has definitely thickened up this past year, but it's still really stringy...any advice on that?

My Anna girl.

And the cheese-ball, Libbie June!

Nathan at gymnastics class, which he loves! One of the biggest blessings God granted us in our move to California was the opportunity to be involved with Valley Oaks Charter School, a school set up solely for homeschooling families. One of the super-awesome benefits we are given through the school is being able to use one of their "vendor services" at a greatly reduced fee. They offer things through local vendors such as music lessons, art, swimming, and gymnastics, just to name a few. The school will put $40 per month towards each child enrolled at the school and when we use the vendor AmericanKids, it's absolutely free! So both boys did swimming last semester (in the indoor pool at the gym), and this semester Nathan is doing gymnastics while Caleb hones his swimming skills. I cannot explain how blessed we are by this opportunity! We've always lived on a very tight budget, so things like monthly fees to a gym were not possible. I'm so amazed at God's provision for us through Valley Oaks!

Nathan's hanging off the bars way back there...the boy in all green. He doesn't have much fashion sense!

Caleb being a docent at History Camp! Another great thing about Valley Oaks Charter is the History Camp they hold every year. Both boys got to be involved, Nathan one week with the older kids and Caleb the next week. The school sits right next to the Kern County Museum, which has many old properties that have been donated and moved to the site, and I guess they have established a nice working relationship with them. The kids got to borrow 1800's-style costumes from the school and learn different trades and skills from the time period, all in the setting of the museum with it's old buildings. Then, on the last day of camp, the kids got to pick which skill/trade they wanted to share and they became docents to the public school classes that came for a Living History Day field trip! Isn't that so cool?! I'm sad to say that I have no pictures of Nathan during his week, (I'm still getting used to remembering my camera as I didn't have one for awhile after the boys broke my other one shortly after our move) but I do have just this one of Caleb playing checkers. His station was of the games children used to play.

Caleb putting ants into the ant home. One of our friends at church works at Insect Lore, a local company that is responsible for all of those bug habitats you've seen advertised on infomercials or sold at stores, including the ones where you send off for caterpillars and watch them turn into chrysalises and then into butterflies. He invited us for a tour of the Bugseum and it's inner workings and we came home with many gifts, including a butterfly habitat and the caterpillars, mealworms to watch turn into beetles, a ladybug home with ladybug larva, and an ant hill! Such a blessing!!

Daddy helping to find the ants with Raleigh's assistance. :)

Still looking....Can I just say how awesome my husband is? He gets right down in the dirt, literally, to be involved with our kids. He blesses me so much by the way he fathers our children.

My girls! Don't you just love the "cheese" stage?! Elizabeth's got it down!

Kinda hard to see in the picture, but this was an incredibly clear day and I just had to take a picture of the mountains we can see on our drive home from church. On clear days, the beauty of them can literally take my breath away! If you look carefully, below the clouds, you can see all the snow on them. It's so neat that although we'll probably never get snow here in Bakersfield, just a short drive away, like 45 minutes, we can be in all the snow you could want, let the kids play, and then drive home and not have to shovel our driveway. Pretty great if you ask me!

Hope you enjoyed the pictures! I know it's been a long time. Stay tuned for pictures from Easter (that's for you, Mom! ;) )