More Great Days

The weather has been fantastic!! It is so conducive to wonderful field trips and outdoor learning. This week we studied about volcanoes and Josiah made one from a kit. Thursday we set the lava flowin' for the first time. It was great fun!

While he did that, the girls worked on their puff ball animals. I thought we'd make 1 or 2. They could've filled Noah's ark! Here they are with some of their favorites.

Mia made a dog.

Sierra made a cat.

We're also studying through creation and had the opportunity to go to the Oregon Gardens for their homeschool day on Friday. It was very well done and, of course, the atmosphere was beautiful! We saw a garter snake, large Koi in the pond, frogs and tadpoles. The kids learned about the parts of a flower and different kinds of trees, and they examined the skulls of different animals as well as their, pardon me, excrement.

We could have spent more time there but we got a late start due to our first homeschool PE class at the Hoop. It was wonderful. They are accessing the kids' skills in order to group them accordingly, so this time they were just separated out into three groups of 15 or so kids. Each of my kids were in a different group so that was fun. Sierra was right in there trying all the physical feats: jumping over the lines all different directions, sit-ups, push ups, crab walk, etc. She looked so tiny in between two high schoolers!! All the kids did a great job. Mia, of course, made a new friend so we're already looking forward to seeing Amanda again next week. Josiah really enjoyed the workout and that they are working on football skills. He did great at tucking the ball after a catch.

That evening the midwife came over for my first appointment. It was wonderful to share the experience with the kids. I wish I had a video of them clambering all around to watch and have their chance to feel what the midwife was feeling in my belly and to hear the heart beat. It was a good appointment, unfortunately I found out I'm only 2 weeks from my third trimester so I started to feel the anticipation building and really we still have a long way to go. Add that to the fact that her name is out there now and I'm just ready to meet this little one! Ahhh all in "due time".

Here is a clip of Sierra telling you clue #5 of the baby's name. We didn't get a chance to post it before the name was figured out. Sorry, I'm to computer illiterate to figure out how to rotate the video. Why did I think it was smart to video sideways in the first place?