Happy Easter!

I've reached a new level of respect from Ryan. I pulled out my flag from high school band and started twirling it. Rye was very impressed. He said, "Did you used to do that Mommy?" "Why don't you do it anymore?" "You should join a band." I just love that kid. I didn't have the heart to tell him that most bands don't want pudgy almost-middle-aged women in their flag corps. Plus, I 'd really have to polish my tosses. They've lost a little height, spin, and accuracy over the years. There was more than one LOOK OUT cry in my backyard that day! LOL

We've started reading Old Yeller. The boys are loving it. They're even reading ahead! I'd never read it before and it's better than I expected... definitely a boy book with all the dog fights and wild animals. I haven't read it before but I know what happens at the end and I know Ryan is going to cry. He's very into the book and loves Old Yeller. He just now told me that Old Yeller got hurt and since he didn't know what Old Yeller looks like, he pictured Dash and almost cried. Now he's hugging and petting Dash! What's he going to do when Old Yeller dies??

I just got our new Apologia Astronomy book!! It's beautiful. I just love a brand new book... the shiny cover, the glossy pages, all those words waiting to be explored. We read a bit today but I'm going to wait until Monday to really dive into it. We'll be doing notebooking and experiments to go along with the reading.

And, of course, we've been getting ready for Easter. We dropped our regular Bible study to read about Jesus' triumphant entrance into Jerusalem, the Last Supper, His crucifixion and resurrection. It's truly the most important thing you can teach your kids. If they never learn anything else, they need to know that Jesus died for them. Please don't let this holiday pass you by with no mention of Jesus. I love you all! Happy Easter!

Go Fly a Kite

I'm gonna win....

I just bought a new vaccuum. But I hate it. I really wanted a Dyson but wasn't willing to pay $400 for a vacuum. Now Five Minutes For Mom is giving away exactly what I want! The only catch for this contest is that I have to tell everyone I know to go enter it. With only a little over 1,000 (!) entries so far, one of us (me!) is bound to win it!!

Were You Wondering?

March Madness continues into April. The NCAA championship game is Monday night and it's a close call who will win our family tournament pick contest. It's come right down to the wire and six crucial points will be determined by tomorrow night's game. Evan is currently in the lead with 80 points. If Florida wins tomorrow, he'll bring home the prize with a total of 86 points. BUT, I currently have 74 points and I picked Ohio State to go all the way. So, if Ohio State pulls it out tomorrow, I'll get the six points bringing me to 80 points! So Evan and I will tie. Go Bucks!!!!

Remember how much I hate Sonlight Science? I finally did something about it... something besides skipping Science for weeks. LOL I ordered the Apologia Astronomy book. I don't actually have it in hand but hope it will be here within the week. I'm so excited!!!

Evan is doing pretty good without his cast. Remember we were told by the doctor to take it easy for a month b/c the bone is not completely healed. Evan is learning just how long a month really is!! The weather was so-o-o nice last week and he was dying to play on the neighbor's trampoline. Here's the picture I promised of the cast being cut off of his arm. He looks scared but really he was just watching. He thought the saw was cool.

We tested today. West Virginia requires a yearly assessment and I don't really resent it too much, as far as government intrusion goes. I've chosen standardized testing as our form of yearly assessment for a number of reasons:

1. It's easy (for me LOL)
2. It's objective
3. It feeds my ego when the kids do well
4. It eases my "am I totally ruining these kids" anxiety
5. It proves to Jeff that I'm not "ruining these kids" LOL

Evan is not compulsory school age so he didn't test this year. Adam and Ryan tested. They both said they thought they did well; it was mostly easy with some super easy stuff and a bit of hard stuff too. We'll see.... in about six weeks.

Tadpole Update
The tadpoles are growing like crazy. They're swimming around a lot! And they look like mini legless frogs with tails! It's very very cool. I'm in love with these little guys. There is one in there that we've named "Pushy." It's not very original but quite descriptive. He's one of the smallest tadpoles in the bin but he just goes where he wants... doesn't matter if there's an unidentified bug larva floating there or another tadpole, he'll just push it out of his way.

TADPOLES!!!!!!

I was mistaken. Those itty bitty things we had the other day must have been some kind of bug larva, but not mosquitos b/c I know what their larva looks like. But now, we really have tadpoles!!! Those black things in the eggs ARE tadpoles... or should I say were tadpoles. Well, they're still tadpoles but they're no longer in the eggs! Am I making myself clear? THE EGGS HAVE HATCHED. WE HAVE TADPOLES! And they're way more cool than bug larva that you might think are tadpoles. Some of them are resting on the hatched eggs; some are resting on the bottom (I say resting b/c I hope they're not dead); some are swimming around with their cute little tails; some are eating algae off the hickory nuts that we scooped up with the creek water; I hope some have now found the lettuce I put in for them. They really are much cuter than the picture portrays. They like to hang onto the sides of the plastic tub and some of them are resting there on the egg casings. The cute part is when they swim around with their little tails waving. Puh-leez turn your speakers off when you watch the video. This is my first time taking video with my digital camera and I didn't even think of audio! I should have played some relaxing frog sounds or frog songs but instead you'll hear me, Ryan, and Evan talking (about Evan's toenail there at the end, LOL) So just spare yourself and turn off the speakers.

Adam and Ryan played in the AWANA games this morning. Our church had many practices which cost me a lot of money (I'd drop the boys off for practice and go shopping) but we got clobbered. The boys team had the lowest points of any team there. I thought they would be very disappointed but they were fine with it. And I was fine with it b/c I didn't have to sit on hard bleachers and try to keep Matthew from kicking the guy in front of us throughout the semi-finals and finals!

Dayton, OH - Vacation Destination

Okay, Dayton doesn't sound like the most exciting vacation destination but, to me, it's a favorite place to visit. Better than any sandy beaches or towering roller coasters is my lil' sis (lil' by only five minutes). So we went to visit this week. Actually, we chose this week b/c my oldest sister's kids are on Spring Break and she came up from Florida.

BIL is an engineer for the USAF and works on the air force base. He took us on a tour of the lab and let us watch some testing. He's designing air craft "skin." My kids alone are a pretty good sized group but with all my nieces and nephews along, it felt like a regular field trip, complete with free pencils and stickers.

After touring the lab, we visited the Air Force Museum on base. We toured Truman, FDR, and Kennedy's Air Force Ones along with some other presidential aircraft. Then we went to the bigger museum that's just off base and open to the public. I've been there before but my older sisters and their kids wanted to see the stealth bombers and it's definitely worth seeing over and over again. They have three HUGE hangars of aircraft starting with The Wright Brothers, then going up to modern day including the space program. I took pictures but forgot my camera at MILs house today. If I remember I'll add them later.

Evan got his cast off today. It's only been three weeks and it's not totally healed. The doctor said it has a nice bone growth around it and he'd like to leave him uncasted so he doesn't lose the range of movement in his arm. But we're to keep him from falling on his arm for the next month. Uh, yeah... if we could do that, he wouldn't have broken his elbow in the first place! LOL Again, I took pictures but don't have my camera. I don't think the nurse thought I was too weird snapping pictures of her going after my baby with a saw.

The tadpoles are hatching!!!!!! At least I think they're tadpoles. They are extremely tiny. Those black things in the eggs are not the actual tadpoles. They must be like the yolk of a chicken egg. At least that's my guess. Otherwise, we have a tub full of some strange bug larvae. I hope that's not the case!! Again, I'd love to share some pictures but the camera......