Fiesta texas 2014

This year's Fiesta Texas trip was extra fun because Jonas earned his free ticket and Troy took the day off to join us!  I was worried about crowds since it was a Friday but we were all pleasantly surprised!

We spent time at the regular park, headed to the water park, and then went back to the main park.  

Jonas loved the Roadrunner Express and rode twice alone while I watched!  Reef was over at the Boomerang, his most favorite roller coaster ever.

The big swings were closed all day, so they had to settle for the small ones.  These make me much less nervous!

This is the Pandemonium.  They loved it, but I absolutely think I'd throw up on it!  That car spins while it moves on the track!  They rode it 2 or 3 times in a row.  No, thank you!

It was a super fun day with our 2 oldest guys!

Last day of school!

We celebrated that last day of Kindergarten and 2nd grade with milkshakes from Sonic!  Overall, we had a great year!

The fish...

Jonas told me one day that he wanted a fish.  The very next day, a man from our church called to offer us a fish tank with 5 fish!  The amazing thing about this story is that I hadn't told anyone, not even Troy, about Jonas's request!  It was a great opportunity to show him that God answers prayers even before they've really been said out loud!

Book It!

Nothing beats free pizza for doing something they love: reading!

Strawberry Picking 2014

In the spring we had a great field trip strawberry picking!  The kids have never done it, and the crop this year was great.

Jonas decided he wanted to make a strawberry pie with his berries.  I made him help.

I forgot to take a picture before we ate some.  Oops!

It was enjoyed by all!

Homeschool Day at The Witte

Reef and I have enjoyed homeschool day at the Witte the last 2 years and were excited to have Jonas and the Ebroms with us this year!

Reef made it all the way to the top of the rock wall!

Ellie gave it a try and made it even higher the second time!  Jonas wasn't into it this year.

Finally, he was tall enough for the tightrope bike!  Jonas really wanted to do this one but was a smidge too short.  Next year for sure!

The Texas exhibit was new to us, and there was so much to see, do, and touch!

Love that tongue sticking out!  He was concentrating hard on that Labyrinth-type maze!

We had a great time but quickly learned that the special CSI exhibit that we paid extra for was definitely age-appropriate!  We raced past the crime scenes but enjoyed looking at different fly larvae in the microscopes.

Can't wait till next year!

Fall Co-op Fun!

I'm attempting to jump back into the blogging...again...

We continued with our co-op in the fall and had a great time with friends.

Our art was to make fall leaves.  This was the sample:

 These were their projects:

 Totally nailed it.
We also packed boxes for Operation Christmas Child.  It was so funny to watch the girls and boys shop!  The boys were all about getting what was on the list while the girls wanted to buy every pink thing in sight!  In the end, they did great sticking to their "budget".

 Our finished boxes.

 The girls, Molly and Ellie.

 The boys.  Can you tell Jonas was having a bad day?

A visit from Gigi and Mr. Don

Gigi and Mr. Don were able to come visit on Jonas's actual birthday!

Jonas got a metal detector that will be super-fun at the beach.

 We took the kids on the River Boat ride.

 And then walked down the river to Rainforest Cafe.

 The birthday boy!

 This was our first visit in lots of years so everything was very exciting!

 We stopped in at the bar.

 These children ate a TON of food!

 Jonas's surprise birthday dessert!

 He was pretty excited!

Thanks, Gigi and Don, for making Jonas's day extra-special!

Donuts!

Apparently I took the kids to get donuts for Jonas's birthday!  Who knew?

The birthday boy.  Is he really already 6???

 There's no stopping this kid from digging in!

 Our serious child.

 Last but not least...

 Nailed this group shot.

 They could watch the assembly line for HOURS.  I should bring a book next time..

This was  a great way to kick off a birthday!  We were anxiously awaiting the arrive of Gigi and Mr. Don in the afternoon!