We are HERE! We are Here. We are Here!

Well, it is our first year of homeschool and we are enjoying it, so far!

We have a funny, enthusiastic kindergartener.

She wants to be a mathematician when she grows up.

Just like Dad.

And we also have a 2nd grader who knows how things work at school.

She's learning a lot of history and is pretty patient with me as I figure out how I want things to work.

Aren't they cute?

We have been pleasantly surprised with how well our garden did this year.  We actually harvested some of our red and orange peppers this year!!  We have also had more cherry tomatoes than even Lucy and Brig can eat. Lucy loves picking them whenever she has a chance.  We had enough tomatoes for 2 batches of salsa, jalapeños, sweet peas, zucchini and yellow squash, and as you can see, cantaloup.  Our most recent surprise was a delicious watermelon that we picked yesterday.  

It is funny how much satisfaction can come from growing things you can use.

The ducks like the handouts.

We have enjoyed learning about the lily pads at Longwood Gardens.

Life with kids.

We have been busy these past few months.  Time goes too fast.  I can't believe my boy is 8 months old already!   He is so wonderful for me at church, it has been said in reference to Brig by several couples in our ward--expecting, and not yet expecting babies, "I want one of those."  He is a gem, what can I say.

We got a swing set!!  And within the week Anne finally figured out how to pump all by herself, and Ruby made some major improvement!  (hooray for me!)

The girls will preform his every command.  Or at least they compete to be his favorite jester.  Anything to make this guy laugh!

We went to Philadelphia to meet Uncle Cory and Aunt Jill.  It was so fun to see them!  It has been too long.  

Had to get a picture at the Rocky statue, even if it isn't very good.

And here's an Easter picture that snuck in there.

We had an awesome activity at church!!

At home, Lucy kept asking me why the doorbell was broken.  It wasn't until I was going through pictures later that I realized what she was talking about.

Campfires are the best!  It took Lucy a while to cook her hot dog, holding it way up there.

Did you know you can reach farther in the splits?  Well, at least Brigham can.

We had a passover dinner with some friends leading up to Easter.  It was fun to think more about the symbolism as we remembered the sacrifice of our Savior.

We are excited for the fruits of our garden!

One happy baby.

Hayride at Milburn Orchards.

To celebrate finishing The Book of Mormon as a family, we had a party.  Here are our bows and arrows that were not broken. 

 But some of them lost their spring.

Anne was chosen as a "Young Ambassador" again this year.  We are so proud of her hard work in school and her good citizenship.  

Would you believe those girls are in the same grade?

Anne had a great growth spurt this year too!

I guess she takes after me more than I thought.

Ramblings

The girls often play with towels of some sort on their heads.  This is Lucy with a towel-thingy on her head.  I wish I could see inside their heads and picture it as they imagine it.

Randy was sick last week and stayed home from work for a few days.  Anne had a snow day and the girls spent most of the day painting dad pictures to make him feel better :).

These are the bathrooms in the main conservatory at our family's favorite place, Longwood Gardens.  For some reason plants growing on the walls makes it feel cleaner.

Our wonderful home teacher told us he had some leftover trim that we could use to make shelves.  Randy jumped on it quickly and Bridger put two of these together.  We now finally have something on our walls.  We are so slow at decorating!  Thank you Bridger!

A month in pictures

Merry Christmas!!