Kids Photo Shoot :: 5.21.17

It had been awhile since we sent photos of the kids to family, and really, we hadn't ever had photos of the 3 kids together, so we took on the challenge.  It's sooooooo hard to get a decent photo of all 3 kids together, but I think we had some success.

Joel really hated us trying to make him sit still.  Ha!  I love the expression on Joshua's face.  Ha!

This was the "success" photo.

Outside time :: 5.20.17

We are enjoying our new yard.  I especially love to sit on the deck or in our lawn chair in the yard when I read.  It's a small yard, but I feel like it's perfect for us right now.

Just a regular day :: 5.18.17

I love being home with the kids.  There are days and moments when it's really challenging, but it's all worth it.  I'm thankful for these little ones.  And I'm really thankful to have the opportunity to homeschool.  Jeralyn is just about to finish up her Kindergarten year and I'm so pleased with how well things are going.  She's learning to read and can even read some stories all on her own.  She flew through her first math book and we started the next math 2/3 through her year.  It's been fun to watch her grow and learn.  She is becoming less interested in princesses, and more interested in other things, like dinosaurs, bees, and horses.  She says she wants to take an art class.  We've been doing nature journals together and it's been really fun to watch her drawing the different things we read about that are "nature" things, like flowers, animals, leaves, trees, etc.  

A lot of people wonder about our choice to homeschool.  I have a few reasons to why we have chosen to go this path for their education, but one of the main reasons that I see naturally occurring (that I hadn't really thought of before) is the bonding and relationship-building that is taking place.  Homeschooling is a commitment I take very seriously.

Jeralyn really enjoys listening to audio books.  Some of her favorite stories include the Hengry Huggins and Ramona series by Beverly Cleary.  We do a lot of reading in this house, which I absolutely love!

Joshua joins us for a lot of the schooling part, but mostly to play with her math blocks, watch the science/math vidoes and when we do "morning time".  I will be starting a very light preschool with him this year (the same I did with Jeralyn at 3-4 years old).

Joel the busy mole is around for "morning time" and then we put him in room time with some music for an hour each morning.  It gives us time to focus on things like our language arts.

Wyoming :: May 5-13, 2017

Quent had some training for work in Lander, Wyoming, and since his uncle and aunt live in Lander, we decided to make the most of it.  The total drive was going to be 12-13 hours and we knew we would have to break up the hours with pit stops, playground play, and sleeping in hotels.  We have learned that we have to give the older two kids Dramamine for Kids or we have a mess to clean up.  We are still getting used to long car drives.

We were packed up and ready to go...

One of first stops was along Hwy 12 on our way to Lolo Pass.  We stopped for a picnic lunch and watched some people getting ready to have an adventure on the river.

I believe this was the next day, driving through a pretty quiet part of Idaho. Long road.  No place to stop...just go, go, go.  Oh, and some beautiful scenery.

Another stop was Teton National Park, which features my favorite mountains.  So happy to be back to see them.  It was cloudy and rainy on our way through, but we still enjoyed it.

We had a picnic lunch and the kids played in the snow.

And ate the snow.

And then we drove on to Lander.

Uncle Win and Aunt Janet have a beautiful home.  Quent and I went there about 13 years ago.  They now raise cattle and have chickens.

The kids enjoyed helping collect eggs and the other daily chores.  They would ride around with Uncle Win and I think he really enjoyed that.  Jeralyn was always ready and eager to help.

Joshua was really excited about all of the cars and trucks in Janet's toy box.  He slept with all of these (or attempted to) the first night we were there.  Funny boy!

A goose nest.  The last day we were there, the goslings hatched and it was so fun to watch the goose and gander taking care of their new babies.

The kids played in the pond a couple of the warmer days.  They really enjoyed it!

The last evening we were there Jeralyn went fishing. No fish were caught, but she had fun trying.

Roasting marshmallows.

We really enjoyed our time in Lander with Win and Janet.  There is a really awesome playground in Lander, so the kids enjoyed that.  We also checked out some other things while we were in the area, but those photos are lost in la-la land because of my phone dying when we were in Lander.  

The drive back home felt faster and it was successful (aside from me giving Josh his medicine too late--oops!).  We even experienced a couple of inches of snow while driving through a pass.  The day before that it was in around 83-degrees.  That's a big temperature range that we experienced.

It's honestly so fun to be back on "the road system" (who says that?).  Ha!

Joel was the hardest to keep happy in the car, but that's just how it is when you are 15 months old.  I consider the trip a success.  Yay!

Easter 2017 :: 4.16.17

The first few pictures are from a few days before Easter when we dyed eggs.  We dyed a dozen eggs and I felt that was enough.  The kids really enjoyed it.

And then Easter morning the kids looked for Easter baskets.  We didn't go to church this day and I think it was because the kids were still dealing with some sickness from a cold.

The kids went outside and hunted for Easter eggs. It was a beautiful morning.

Joel often sticks his tongue out like that when he thinks he's cool.  He thought he was cool because he was crawling up these steps.

I try to get a photo with all of the kids on Easter.  It's so hard to get all of the kids to look at the same time.