April Happenings, Part 2

 

Our April ended as full as it began!

A friend snapped this picture for me of Katherine at co-op. One of the best things about homeschooling with this community is the social skills learned from interacting with kids of all ages. Katherine and Willow received guitar lessons from a high schooler one afternoon. 

While Matt and I were in Columbus, we weren't the only ones having fun. Nathan joined the other middle schoolers in our homeschool group for a Capture the Flag tournament. Such a fun afternoon for them!

Samuel asked to make pancakes for breakfast one morning, and that kid doesn't do anything halfway. Look at his "Honey" pancake!

Chandra and I share a birthday month and two months later, we were finally able to celebrate together with Leslie and Erica (and our husbands). Coordinating four full schedules takes some time! It was worth the wait to spend the evening visiting and laughing with such dear friends. 

While Katherine and Laura were together one afternoon, they performed a whole show from the Sound of Music. Those girls are adorably hilarious. 

Mindy asked Erica and I to keep her girls for a week, while she, Brandon, and Carter went to Washington D.C. for Carter's sixth grade trip. We happily agreed and had a fun week together. 

Erica and I tag teamed for the week, and they were staying with us on Sunday and got to go to church with us. Church is always more fun with friends. 

Even though we had a lot of fun, we still worked some on school. 

As we were driving home from Trail Life and American Heritage Girls one evening, the girls all started singing together. It was precious. 

We also spent an afternoon at the Breedens enjoying popsicles and plenty of sunshine. 

Honey is always surprising us. I walked into the office one afternoon and found her in the chair. 

While Addalie and Langley were with us, we also spent some time in Kidsboro with the neighborhood gang. Elisabeth made a broom!

And you'll always find Samuel making something in the dirt and trees at Kidsboro. 

The end of April also meant the end of co-op for the year. In science class they celebrated the last day with an animal party. 

The Middle School Science class divided into groups and created Rube Goldberg machines for an end of the year project.

Although we're sad for the end of co-op, we are definitely ready for summer!

Katheirne's Elementary PE crew!

And her Fun Class friends. She had the best year with the sweetest kids. 

Elisabeth ended her Crazy Concoctions class by making melted crayon bookmarks. 

The last day the Evetts were with us were supposed to include a safari field trip. Unfortunately, it was rained out, so that left us with a free day to play!

Of course, that included a show that turned into a movie filmed and edited by Nathan. These kids are not short on creativity or personality. 

They also had enough time to bake some cookies. 

For their last night with us, Erica and I planned a girly pizza and movie night. They enjoyed a popcorn bar and watched Wonka. It was the perfect ending to an awesome week with some of our favorite friends. 

Katherine and Elisabeth's sweet friend from church was performing as Jasmine in Aladdin Jr, and of course we had to go watch her. She did an incredible job! It was a great evening of theater. And now my girls are begging to be in a show like Aubree. 

Whew! What a busy month full of great memories. 

Katherine's Soccer Season

 

For the second season, Katherine is playing soccer, and boy is it fun to watch her play!

She plays with toughness, passion, aggression, all with a huge smile on her face. This girl is determined and has improved drastically from last season.

She was so ready for her first game of the season!

She has the same coach from last year and a few of the same teammates. It's a great group of kids, and Katherine can definitely hold her own against those boys!

She's always ready for hugs and high fives during her breaks. 

She found a friend to play with on the sidelines during one of her games. 

It's such a joy to watch my kids working on and excelling in things they enjoy and are passionate about. She's young, but I have a feeling that I might have a lot more seasons of being a soccer mom. I'm here for it!

Nathan's Thirteenth Birthday Weekend

 

Last year after taking a parenting class at church, Matt and I decided to start a 13th birthday tradition for each of our kids. For their thirteenth birthday, they get to choose a weekend trip- the boys with Matt, and the girls with me. 

It doesn't seem possible, but we have an almost 13-year-old in the house, and he and Matt started the tradition for the family. 

Nathan is an amusement park fanatic and somehow convinced his dad to take him to TWO different Six Flags parks in one weekend. They're both crazy!

They left Friday afternoon and drove to Dallas for the night.

The next morning they got up early and drove on to San Antonio to visit Six Flags Fiesta Texas.

Nathan was most excited about the roller coaster, Iron Rattler, so of course they headed there first. 

He's just a little excited. 

They spent the day riding all the thrilling coasters. 

We have reached the point in parenthood when Nathan's stamina outlasts his dad. Matt sent him on some rides by himself at the end of day. 

They closed the park down and then drove to Austin to spend the night. 

The next morning they drove up to Arlington to Six Flags over Texas. 

They were ready for rope drop. 

Nathan's must do at Six Flags over Texas was the Mr. Freeze coaster, and thankfully he got to ride it twice. 

Unfortunately due to recent storms and rainfall, a lot of the park was closed down for the day. They made the most of it though and rode the rides that were open multiple times. 

They didn't shut the park down on Sunday since they had to drive home that evening, but they did enjoy two full amusement park days and plenty of time in the car for conversations about growing up and entering the teen years.