Meet Sammy

I found what I thought was a salamander in the garage a few days ago. He's a gecko according to Todd. We had one once before that always hid in the bottom part of the garage door & always fell out to the ground when we opened the door. He eventually got run over. Not the best spot to hide but they must think it is because here's another one. They are pretty cool-better looking than lizards. Todd & the kids wanted to keep him as a pet. I want him to be free but I lost so here's "Sammy" the gecko. He will reside in our old fish tank till he figures a way out or dies I guess. Todd bought him crickets and meal worms. I pay a guy to keep crickets away but now we need to buy them. If Sammy can figure a way for us to save money on our car insurance then I won't mind buying the crickets:o)

May Birthday

Happy Birthday to our boy!!!
7 years old on the 17th
He's having a sports themed party & I plan on making a cake that looks like a hockey rink in honor of our teams. I even made a Stanley Cup to put on it. Fun,fun,fun!

Hannah's Theater Performance

A different version of the 3 Little Pigs-one with 4 pigs & 2 wolves. In this version the wolves get scared away forever by the pigs.

The 2 wolves try to blow in the smart pigs' brick house.

Hannah, the Princess, doing her monologue. The beautiful princess is trying to kiss a frog in order to turn him into a prince for the Ball in just a few hours. It's not working. She cannot figure out why it's not working until she reads the spell book. Turns out you must make sure you are kissing a frog rather than a toad. Toads just give you warts. Uh-oh, she's in trouble! Always read directions first, people:o)

Four princesses are on a walk one day when they find a cute little baby dragon. They decide to take him home to their castle.

A prince moves in next door but the dragon doesn't like this new prince. The prince is attacked & left for dead.

Thankfully the prince was only knocked out. He returns to find out the princesses were tied up while sleeping by that cute little dragon. He must save them.

Everyone agrees to be friends. Yay-happy ending!

Cast party. Siblings included.

Joshua rocks on backstage.

Our super-star!

Hannah's theater showcase was last week. She is sad it is over. She did awesome. She is saving money so she can participate in the middle school plays this company puts on. They do one in the fall/winter and one in the spring. Rumor has it the fall play will be Snoopy. What a great 1st play that would be for her. Snoopy is 2nd to Disney around our house.

Joshua is helping her save money. He gave her part of his allowance last week. On Sunday he sold a toy for $10 and then gave her $5 of it for her class. So sweet! I think she has around $55 so far.

Yesterday we had a craft fair with HEofS. They made $22.44 and split it evenly. They are looking forward to doing it again.

They start hockey next week. This week I have no activities to drive to and I think I'm going to enjoy it. We have also been enjoying all the playoff hockey on TV. Upcoming events in May include a field trip to XRKade (like a Pump-it-up I think),Joshua's 7th birthday, and Wet-n-Wild. Sometime in June we'll be going to the aquatic center for our end of the year party with HEofS. Fun stuff.

Praying Mantises

When we ordered our caterpillars I also ordered a praying mantis egg sac. Here are the babies. I didn't know there would be so many. I bought one of these at Home Depot about 1 1/2 years ago & the directions said to pin it to a tree which we did. Now I know why we never saw them the 1st time. If you are not right there to see them the moment they come out you never will. We let them go the same night they came out. Hopefully they find enough to eat around our yard to stay.

Butterflies and Krispy Kreme

One of only 3 butterflies that made it this year.

We let our butterflies go yesterday. We got 5 caterpillars but only 3 survived to be released.

On Tuesday we went to Krispy Kreme for a field trip with HEofS. I don't care for donuts so getting up to drive to Arrowhead by 8am was not a trip I'd normally make. But I DO like my kids enough to get them there for a behind the scenes tour.

We didn't end up doing the Science Fair this year. We just didn't have enough time to prepare. We are participating in a craft fair later this month. The kids are making things to sell. They each have ideas where to spend the money. Joshua is saving for the next Sea World/Disneyland trip. Hannah is saving for a theater class in the Fall. She's seeking donations if you all have any money to spare-drama is not cheap! She's even more determined since we just got home from a Spring theater production-Seussical. She really,really,really wants to be in a play later this year.

Easter 2010

Eggs from homeschool Easter egg hunt.

Family picture.

Just the kids.

The kids with Will-a favorite friend:o)

Egg Toss with Reanne.

Everybody watch out!!!




Easter was another busy day. It was Hannah's Sunday to help out with children's church. We made some snack bags that looked like butterflies for her to hand out to all the kids. We filled snack size ziplock baggies with colored mini-marshmallows, pretzels, & Trix cereal & put a decorated clothespin right in the middle so each side looked like a colorful wing. Earlier we had put glitter glue, eyes, & antennae on the clothespins. After a wonderful church service we went to a potluck & got to see our old church family.

The kids always have fun & wear themselves out. They hunted for eggs and Hannah did the 3-legged race & egg toss with Reanne. Todd hunted for & found a rattlesnake which eventually met his doom. We left around 6:45pm & got home around 8pm. It was hard to get them up for P.E. this morning but the promise of our Easter party with the homeschool group got them going. Yes, a day late but still fun. We are happy to celebrate the Resurrection more than one day a year anyway! Joshua found one of the few "golden" eggs which means a special prize but it must have fallen out without him noticing because it was gone when he checked out. He was heartbroken. He would have been fine NOT getting it at all but finding it & losing it was too much to take. He was in tears about it when a sweet little girl who did get the chocolate bunny prize came over & gave him hers. She claimed to have enough candy at home. Very generous girl. That was very nice to see after seeing so many egg hunts turn out to be cut-throat. I'm sure that kind of tender heart does not go unnoticed by Jesus. We're going to give that little girl & her siblings some sand dollars next week to thank her for her kindness. Hannah also got a golden egg. She got one last year too.

Upcoming events include a trip to Krispy Kreme, a craft fair, & science fair (if I can get myself motivated to help Hannah brainstorm ideas).

Tolmachoff Farm Field Trip

Picking carrots.

Playing in the corn kernels.

"Train ride" pulled by tractor.

Pumping water.

We went to Tolmachoff farm today. The kids got to pick carrots,2 types of lettuce,beets,sweet chard,onions, & cilantro. They also planted corn. They went on a train ride pulled by a tractor,pumped water,played in corn kernels,ate ice cream, & saw lots of animals. They didn't want to feed the calves their bottles though. That didn't matter because the two calves sucked them down so quickly only a few kids got the chance. We saw lots of goats,ducks & geese,horses,calves,pigs,chicks,an ostrich, turkeys (yum),& a bunny. They had a lot of fun & want to go back. They really want to pick the corn they planted.

While we were waiting for everyone to arrive Joshua told me he would not want to live on a farm because of all the poop. I said the flies like the poop. Then he says he doesn't want to be a fly either.

Good times!

Fashion Show

My beautiful girl & my hubby who doesn't look at the camera.

This was outfit #2

Todd modeled too as he needed a new pair of jeans-you get 25% off whatever you model.

Outfit #1

Before the show started.

Today was Hannah's 3rd fashion show at the base. She got to model 2 outfits this time. She's getting to be a real pro. Todd participated this time as well. She always enjoys this. I'm thankful one of my wonderful co-workers worked my shift so I could be there.

We have a field trip to a farm next week on Wednesday. Of course we are looking forward to celebrating Easter. Gotta love how much Jesus loves us!

I think that catches me up on pictures. Whew!

White Tank Mountains

Earlier this month we went to the White Tanks since we had to miss the annual hoedown with HEofS when Todd was in Texas.

St. Patrick's Day Party

Here's a few green pictures of our St. Patricks' Day party with HEofS. We brought rainbow cupcakes that were a huge pain to make & will never make again. Hannah won some cupcakes in a musical chairs/cupcake walk type game. She chose store bought cupcakes for her Daddy.

Basketball Silver Medals

Here's the kids with their basketball teams after winning silver medals.