Aussie Bound!!

Today is the big day for my trip to Australia with my dad. I'm a little dreading the llllooooonnnnnggggg flight over, but I'm excited to spend some good quality time with my dad. It's crazy to think that we fly out of San Fran. at 10:40pm Monday and arrive in Sydney at 6:20am.....WEDNESDAY!! As Miller would say, YEOWSA!

The Silence is Broken

Here we are! Anyone surprised? (I am).

Ok, so now that you know we are alive and well, here are some of our Disneyland favorites:
Solomon loved Splash Mountain,
Jedi loved Matterhorn,
Evie loved Splash Mountain,
And Zach loved the Pixar Parade.

Grizzly Mountain River Ride was Jeremy and my favorite place to sit down.

(Look for us again in another six months).

Memorial Day Fun

Runner Jeremy

Jeremy and his brother John ran a half marathon together last weekend.

The cheery before picture:



The smiley "5 miles down 8 to go" picture:



Part of the cheering squad:



The relieved "We made it. Where can I lay down" smile:



We're proud of you Jer and John!!

Second Choice

The first choice was to get the slip-n-slide set up in the yard. They were determined the cold and rain were no issue.

Our newest addition

Meet LaRue, Solomon's Hamster (also known as Hammy). She sleeps all day and runs miles and miles each night on her squeaky wheel! The kids love her and I actually even touched her once.

Our new niece

Lila Delight

Against my better judgement...

Against my better judgement, I gave into Sol and Jed's begging and started backing out of the driveway with three of the four kids in the van. The boys wanted to play a joke on Zach. The poor little guy was still putting on his coat in the garage. Zach looked up with these huge, incredulous eyes as we backed up 10 feet without him and then stomped his foot and started crying and running for the van. None of us could contain our laughter at the expression on his face (which was again, definitely against my better judgement) and we just laughed harder when he rebuked us all with, "That was so wude!"

Rocket building

Papa surprised us with a visit one school morning last month. It was the perfect opportunity to build a rocket for which I had been collecting supplies. It was a lot of fun and actually flew well. The key was to get out of the way before getting sprayed with water.

The excitement of "Hello"

Solomon and Jed each got a fish for their 8th birthday.

The sadness of "Goodbye"

Watching Jed's fish take it's final swim.

Papa and Nana's Farm

The boys love to run with Little Ann.

Hidden Beneath the Fleece...

For those of you who didn't know this about my wife....next time you see Val, ask to view The Gun Show!!

One thing I love about homeschool

Yesterday for school the boys and I had a great time learning about circuits and electricity. We were taking apart some old Dollar Tree remote control cars and using the parts to make our own experiments. We were lighting up Christmas tree bulbs, flashlight bulbs, making fans with the motors and some flying discs. It was such fun for all three of us. At one point, while splicing wires and trying bigger batteries, I remarked about never having learned about circuits before. To which Solomon said, "Didn't you learn ANYTHING in school?"

That's what I love about homeschooling. I get to learn all kinds of cool stuff.

Gingerbread House Fun

The Simonsens, Shaws, Papa and Nana came over to decorate gingerbread houses.

Thanks to Costco, the assembly was painless.

Thanks to the Simonsens, the adults enjoyed espresso drinks.

Thanks to the Shaws and Papa and Nana there were extra hands and it was more festive.

Thanks to Ellie (the Shaws' lab) there was no candy to sweep up afterward.

Bowling

We went bowling in Oregon last month with Jer's family. Gotta love those bumpers! Evie and Zach's favorite part of bowling was watching the ball shoot back at them from the retrieval machine. Evie didn't care that her ball weighed 12 pounds, she HAD to have a pink one. And she was quite disappointed about giving back the cool shoes.

It's Christmas Time!!!!

A Good Man

Yesterday Solomon said, "Mom, I think Jedi is going to grow up to be a good man. He always does what he says he will do."

Mama's Girl

This week my mom was talking about going to the mall and Evie asked, "Nana, what is the mall?"

Have a Happy Day!