Easter Weekend

Jesus Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!

Saturday morning we continued to prepare for Easter, or Resurrection Sunday, by reading from our resurrection eggs and making resurrection rolls. Everyone liked these much better than resurrection cookies so I'm sure this will be our new tradition.

Cam was excited to see the "tomb" was empty! Bren was just happy for food!

We had a wonderful service Sunday morning at our new church and then headed directly down to Lawton for dinner with Granny and PawPaw. It rained all through church and all the way to Lawton. We were very thankful for the rain but it did slow our travels some.

We had a great meal of ham, potatoes, deviled eggs, and all the fixin's. After lunch was nap time for Cait and Daddy. The boys had fun playing inside AND out. Cait was so beautiful in her fluffy dress. It sure made crawling difficult though! She had fun exploring Granny's house.

We headed home around 8 and quickly put sleepy bodies to bed.

We are thankful to celebrate our Savior's resurrection. THAT is a grand adventure.

We Survived the Homeschool Convention!

Yesterday and today were spent at the Oklahoma City Homeschool Convention. This is a time I look forward to each year. It is a time to see old and new friends that we have met through different activities through out our homeschooling years and current friends from church. It's a time to look at plethora of resources and books that can be used in teaching our children. It is also a time to go to workshops to receive encouragement, knowledge and wisdom about homeschooling and parenting, marriage and other topics.

This was the first year that our entire family went for two full days. I knew they would be long days but I was grateful that they were enjoyable and smooth. Cam and Cait did get tired for sure but even tired, they behaved well. I'm a proud mama! Since Bren was in the Entrepreneurial Expo {check out the picture of his booth below}, we were there around 8:30 each morning. We brought sandwiches for lunch each day and ate in the car in the below ground parking garage {No Outside Food Allowed}. Tuesday we went to Falcone's to get pizza for dinner and then hit the Bricktown Candy Co. for dessert before returning to the convention at 7 p.m. to hear the comedian, John Branyan. That was great fun and we got home around 9. Tonight, we closed up Brendan's booth by 5ish and hit the road for some Chicken Express! It was great getting two nights off from kitchen duty. {I do love kitchen duty but on super busy days, it can be tough!}

Brendan did great on selling swords! It was a slow start but he sold most of them in the last couple hours of the second day. I am so proud of his hard work and his great attitude even when he *might have been* disappointed. We hope to sell more swords at our garage sale this weekend and maybe even on Craigslist! Brendan also entered the picture below into the art contest. He didn't place but this is MY favorite picture! It is from our trip to Galveston, TX in 2007. We camped on the beach and the seagulls were everywhere. I'm so glad he recreated it for me (in pastels) and thankful for my Gramma for all Bren's art lessons!

We only heard a couple workshops. Not near as many as we would like to but it is harder for Cam and Cait to sit quietly hour after hour. On Tuesday I heard Cheryl Lange talk on "What's Really so Important About Books, Anyway?". They I heard Mary Ostyn speak on "The Balancing Act: Homeschool, Housework and Activities". JC and Cam listened to John Erickson on "A Lesson in Life with Hank the Cowdog". Today JC, Bren and Cam heard our Pastor's son, Colton Wilson talk on "Rediscovering the Lost Art of Adventure (for boys only)" and they JC & I heard the Ray's speak on "Loving and Leading". All of it was so good!

Here's what we bought:
Great Books You Gotta Read by LodeStar
All Through the Ages by Christine Miller
Write Upon My Heart studies in Wisdom, Respectfulness and Kindness
Whatever Happened to Penny Candy by R.J. Maybury {on recommendation}
The Three R's by Ruth Beechick {on recommendation}
Kindergarten writing tablet and 2 fat pencils from Miller Pads
and finally Bren's sophomore science, the 2nd year of Physics and Chemistry by PACWorks

Oh, there was so much more we could have and would have bought but we should have many years of homeschool conventions ahead of us. We are so thankful to OCHEC for putting on such an amazing convention. {I didn't mention the nursing mom's "room" had rocking chairs, snacks, water bottles, a stocked changing table and more! So cush!!} It was a great time for our family. We are happy to be a homeschooling family with many friends and many adventures!

Bugs, Swords, Contraptions, Easter Blessings

Cam's curiosity keeps growing. The latest object of that curiosity is nature. We're having fun reading about insects and animals, and such and even more fun finding these things in their homes. Here, Cam looks at a beetle I found that was over 1" long!

Bren & JC finished up their Pre-Engineering class on Saturday. This picture shows them putting finishing touches on Bren's Rube Goldberg project.

Here the students have put their machines together, the end machine is Bren's and it's purpose is to pop the balloon.

I mentioned before that Bren will have an Entrepreneurial Expo booth at the OCHEC Homeschool Convention next week. Bren has invested quite a bit of {his own} money and LOTS of time to make swords. Sunday at church, our Pastor's son (in from Austin) and Bren had a duel with the swords. They had a great time! {Make sure you visit his booth at the convention!}

We have been gearing up for Easter around here. Cam and I cut out palm branches for table decorations.

We also made artisan bread and took a loaf to our neighbors.

Yeast is an amazing thing.

What a great helper!

Then Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty...I am the living bread that comes down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. ~John 6:35, 51

Today, the kids and I went to Will Rogers park for Easter pictures. Don't I have great looking kids?!

The roses were absolutely beautiful today. What a blessing to see such amazing creation!

Sister is 10 Months!

Well, here we are just 2 months away from her first birthday. I love this serious, curious, busy, beautiful, happy, playful, sometimes fussy and demanding little baby girl. {Do you see her on her tip toes, below?} She is on the move and it was hardest this month to get her to pose for a picture.

So, this one seemed appropriate!

It's so hard to believe how fast time flies.

Lake Arcadia

Before I tell you about our little outing, I just had to share some cutie pictures. This first one doesn't do justice, but I just love when Cait sits on her knees like this. It seems like such a big girl thing. Which makes me think about her age and her 1st birthday that is just two months away! How can time fly so very fast?! She is communicating more and more. One thing I just love is that she mimics me. If I call down the hall to one of the boys, she "yells" after me. I told Cam yesterday that she is mothering the boys. I thought that having a little girl would mean having a child that sits and plays with dolls. That is not the case. See... Unfortunately she doesn't know how to back up (backin' up, backin' up) and it usually ends bad. She also climbs the elliptical and other toys. Little stinker!

JC and I were at the dining room table and looked outside to this; so precious!

Friday was parent-teacher conferences so JC was able to come home around one. We packed a picnic lunch and headed out to Arcadia Lake.

It was a beautiful, warm and windy day. We ate, relaxed, and watched the boys play.

There are two things which help me feel close to God. One is my children. I think about how much love I have for my children, so much that I feel my heart could burst. And sometimes I think and wonder at God's love for me. It must be so much more than my heart can even feel. I love thinking about God's words to Judah in Zephaniah:

The LORD your God is with you, He is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing. ~Zephaniah 3:17

The second thing that I feel the Lord uses to draw me to Him is His creation. Sunrises and sunsets; birds, deer and other animals; trees, flowers and sometimes even "weeds"; storms and rainbows. While JC, Cait & I were relaxing and the boys were playing in the water, JC and I saw two birds that we'd never seen before. {Eastern Bluebirds} They were in the tree closest to us. The blue on them was outstanding. I felt as if God was giving me a little gift; telling me, "I created beauty for you, my child". As Elihu told Job:

Stand and consider God's wonders. ~Job 37:14

Or as David writes:

The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands. ~Psalm 19:1

I couldn't get a picture of them but it sure was a treat! We actually got a quick glimpse of 2 more today after church!

Ooooklahoma where the wind comes sweeping down the plains... (see Cait's hair?)

I was surprised how nice the beach area and water was. A little chilly, but sandy and clean.

They also have a playground there that we visited before leaving for the day. This was Cait's first time in a swing. I think she liked it!

Just about dark, we headed down the road for an enjoyable dinner and sodas at Pops before coming home. Cam and Cait were asleep before we even made it back to the highway to head home. When we got home, we realized Cam had a 102 fever! After a bit of a rough night and early morning, he was feeling nearly back to normal.

Our goings on - photographed!

Man! We've been busy! And April looks like a very CRAZY month for us! It will be my goal to update our blog on Sundays. Hopefully I can keep it up! Along with planting a “serious” garden, this month is the Homeschool Convention and that is a big deal around here. Brendan always enters into the art contest and this year he entered into the Entrepreneurial Expo. The EE allows him to have his own business booth at the convention. He has to do the work and pay for everything; if he gets help, he has to pay for the help. We'll post more on his business later; we're keeping it under wraps for now!

Convention is also where we buy our curriculum for next year so it takes time for me to look into our options and plan out next year. It’s so hard to believe that Brendan will be in 10th grade next year! He will be doing his second year of combined physics/chemistry, algebra 2 and English Comp. I still have to work out his history and electives for the year. We are also trying to finish our master bath remodel! Whew! I’m exhausted thinking about it.

I have lots of pictures so I uploaded them in the small version. If you would like to see a picture better, remember all you have to do is click on it.

This is our dry erase board where algebra is done. And Cameron usually has his own art lesson afterwards.

Cameron came up with his own idea to make chocolate cheese. We have a cheese making kit that makes mozzarella and ricotta cheese. Cam wanted to use it with chocolate milk. I kept putting him off, but finally, we made it. We all agreed. It was disgusting.

I just love this picture of Cait, sitting pretty! We found this play chair in Cam's closet! I'm glad we kept some of his younger toys.

I have some crafty projects going on. The first picture is for nephew Jackson's 2nd birthday shirt. Can you guess what it will be? I am also embroidering names on karate suits for a friend. And ripping out those stitches so I can try again. :)

We were given, YES! GIVEN, a piano this month! We are LOVING it! All of us!

We are enjoying the beautiful weather. And as always, we are entertained by Cam's choice in clothing!

Cait is finally eating! We've found these pouches with baby food and she is doing really good eating them. She is also doing better with table food, although she still doesn't have teeth! She likes green beans, guacamole (not plain avacados!) and crackers.

We found a homeschool group for P.E. recently. Brendan really enjoys the exercise and time with the guys.

While Bren was at P.E., Cam, Cait and I went to the church's playground. This is Cait's first time to play on a playground! I think she had fun!

She kept trying to get to her brother but the tunnel was slightly elevated, and crawling on her soft cotton pants just didn't work for her. {It was kinda nice that mom didn't have to go in after her, though!}

Brendan is still enjoying art lessons with my grandmother. I love that she gives of her time, and supplies, to our family. I love getting to see my grandparents every other week. Brendan is also enjoying his dad's pre-engineering class. JC has been teaching a homeschool pre-engineering class each Saturday since January. He really enjoys the dynamics of teaching homeschoolers. I'm ready for getting our Saturday's back at the end of April!

We are also getting ready for a major garage sale. This past weekend, Cam, Cait and I cleaned out Cam's room from top to bottom! Can you believe he had 42 toy guns? That doesn't include light sabers, swords or bows and arrows!!! He was able to keep about half of them! Lots of other toys went to the garage sale pile. I think it will take me a full day to price all this stuff! We are planning on giving at least 1/2 of our garage sale proceeds to "charity". We have two in mind but we haven't decided what exactly we're going to do. This is also part of simplifying life. We have too much stuff!

"Take a picture of me, mom, I'm playing dead" Oh boy! This is one Cait's new dresses from the JBF sale. Isn't she pretty?!

This {below} is a sign we see often. It means trouble!

It means that this will follow...

And then this...

Happy April!