Big Things For Little Boys

After practicing and practicing all on his own (totally self motivated to keep up with the big kids), Kian can now "ride the pedal bike"!

He is VERY proud!!!

He should be.  His legs are technically just a tad bit too short for this bike (though you can't tell that from the picture), but he figured out that if he scoots his bottom to the very front of the seat, and pushes with his toes, he can pedal!

I love how self motivated he is.  One day he decided he wanted to learn to do it, so he tried and tried, didn't get upset when it was hard, and a few days later, he got it.

Proud Mama.  :)

AND....

After a WHOLE year of anticipating losing teeth (because the dentist told Logan he would probably lose his first tooth at age 6), Logan has his FIRST loose tooth!!!!!

It was discovered at bedtime when Logan told Zac that his tooth was "broken".  Boy was Logan excited to know that it was in fact not broken, but loose!  A slight party broke out in the house at that news and everyone got to feel the loose tooth.  He is now anticipating putting it under his pillow for the tooth fairy, which means I'm off to sew up a tooth fairy pillow.

A Daddy, Daughter Project

Zac has been working on the second planter bed for our yard, but today he added the finishing touches on the first big planter bed, with Felicity's help. 

Zac had added posts, made from our last year's tree trimmings, up the center of the whole bed.  Today, he drilled multiple holes in each post.

Then, Felicity thread wire through all the holes.

This is her proud face.  She was excited to be such a big help.

And here's her concentration face.

And this is just her being cute.

Now I have a husband and daughter made trellis to grow beans on.  So, naturally, I had to plant some beans (oh, and some tomatoes, eggplant, basil, zucchini, yellow squash, calendula, cucumbers, gourds, and greens too).  Its been so warm here, that I decided to just plant the seeds straight into the soil, instead of starting them inside.  We'll see how that experiment goes.  We are awaiting the rain to start any minute.

COME ON RAIN!!!

School This Week

.....has rocked! 

For the most part that is.  We still had some hard moments, but I truly saw a light at the end of this tunnel.  I've said it many times on this blog....."We'll find our way," and tonight, I think I can say, "We ARE finding our way!"

We are only in week 4 of Sonlight, but so far, it is working better for Logan's learning style/ability than anything else has.  As an added bonus, its interesting, very mangle but still full, and I LOVE how its a literature based program.  We are reading some fun books!

Here's some pics from the other day, homeschooling on Grammy's front lawn in the BEAUTIFUL Spring weather we are enjoying.  Our favorite place to do school is on the blanket in the sun on Grammy's lawn.

Sometimes the other two kids join Logan and I.  Sometimes just one of them joins, but most of the time its just Logan and I doing school, while Felicity and Kian run around the yard playing.  Keeping them occupied while I school Logan has been hard to learn how to juggle, but I never have a problem if we school outside.  They naturally keep busy out there and rarely need me to intervene or break up a problem.

There are some distractions outside however, such as roly polys, and cats needing snuggles, but those are welcomed little breaks.

We had a GREAT distraction from school this week when Uncle Donny found that rain water had collected in his wheel barrow full of kindling, and frogs had found this a great place to live.  Unfortunately, frogs at my mom's house jump in her pool and die because of the chlorine.  And Donny needed his wheel barrow frog free.  So he caught every last frog, put them in a container for us, and the next day the kids and I took them back to our house where we released them into our pond.  There were over ten of them!  We caught another one tonight and he's currently residing in a mason jar on the dinning room table, which is awesome because the kids can really get a good look at him through the glass.  Kian was noticing his finger pads and how his throat bulged in and out constantly.  He was very into the little frog and insisted on telling him goodnight before bed.  We'll take him home to his friends in our pond tomorrow.

Today was another beautiful Spring day.  In fact the wind was so warm, it reminded me of the Santa Annas we'd get in Santa Barbara when I was little.  We schooled on the lawn again, stopping here and there for roly polys, and cats.  Today we started a book I've been excited about called "I Heard Good News Today."  Its a book full of missionary biographies for kids.  Today we read about one of the first missionaries, the Apostle Thomas.  Logan was enthralled by the story of how Thomas was chosen to go to India and pretty much threw a fit because he didn't want to go.  But then Jesus spoke to him and reassured Thomas that He'd be with him every step of the way.  The story then went on to explain how God worked out the smallest of details to get Thomas to India, and how Thomas had a complete change of heart, came to love the people of India, and taught many about Christ's love, even the King.  However, when a new King came into power, he had Thomas killed.  The biography told how even as he was walking to his execution, Thomas praised God for letting him complete the work God had set before him, and how he found peace in knowing he would soon be home with his Lord.  Logan was TRANSFIXED by Thomas' story and how he was martyred for the Lord.  It led to an amazing conversation about Thomas' attitude as he walked to his death and how we can have peace when we think of death one day because really, death bring our true life in Heaven with our maker.  It was an amazing moment shared with my son.  One that brings tears to my eyes.  I can't wait to read more in this book!

To top off that amazing moment, Kian was exhausted tonight and fell asleep in my arms while I sang to him.  I'll tell you, I used to get that nightly, but at two and a half, that rarely happens.  I could hardly bring myself to put him in bed and walk away.  I sat for a long time just rocking and rocking my not so little baby boy as he slept in my arms.

Today was filled with joy!

Tics and Treasures

On Saturday, we went geocaching for Zac's birthday, using his new GPS the family gave him.  It was SOOOOO much fun.  We attempted 3 caches, and found 2.  The kids were THRILLED.  The "treasures" in the caches were pretty lame.  I was honestly a bit disappointed.  Not that I was hoping for much.  But a used plastic knife?  I think someone thought they were pretty funny with that one.  I don't know.  But, in each cache, the kids found trinkets that they were absolutely thrilled with, and really, if they dig under the plastic knife and find an army man that makes their day, that's what its all about, right?  Its not like I was planning on taking any treasures home for myself.  Just memories.  And we made many GREAT memories.  Here's pics from our day.

Consulting the GPS and getting our bearings.

Starting out.

Down the boardwalk.....

....and up the hill.

I loved following behind this sweet procession.

Kian stopped half way up the hill to look back and admire the ocean, seen there in the upper right.

He loves the ocean in a very cute way.

Kian found our first cache!!!

Ok, well, actually Zac found it, but he pointed the kids in the direction of the tree it was under and Kian found it then.  :)

Treasure!

AND TICS!!!

Ugh!  I HATE tics!  Zac looked down and saw 2 on Lissy's sweatshirt so I basically told the kids to grab a treasure and run back to the path.  I was feeling pretty itchy after that!

So we moved up the path...

....and found another cache!

Oh yeah, and more tics.

UGH!

All in all, the kids hiked 3 miles, 7 tics were found and removed, 6 treasures were found and loved, a good dinner out was enjoyed by a tired, happy family, great memories were made, a love for geocaching was discovered, and all the kids zonked out on the late drive home from the coast.....one while digging for MORE treasure.

Birthday Weekends

Hello!  Anyone still there?  :)  Oh, my blogging has slowed down lately.   We've been settling in to our new curriculum, AND, the kids have had the cough/snots for TWO WEEKS!  Ugh.......this Mama is ready to join the land of the living again and be done with these cough/snots.  I think they are finally subsiding.

Anyhow, if anyone is still reading, here's what the last two weekends have held for us.

BIRTHDAYS!

I turned 32 the first weekend in March, and Zac turns 35 this weekend.  I've wanted new garden beds since we put last year's garden to sleep, but I wasn't going to ask Zac for that because he just had shoulder surgery in February.  But, he remembered, and built it with one arm in a sling.  :)  Here's my new HUGE garden bed.

HUGE!

18 feet long by 6 feet wide, to be exact.

It looks bigger from the road because Zac had to account for the slope.  When it was empty, it looked deep enough towards that back edge to house a pig.  :)  I don't think our neighbors would go for that.  In fact, I'm not so sure they're going to dig the box even without a pig in it.  We'll see if anyone complains.  It wouldn't be the first time.  People like to "landscape" with rocks around here.  When we first moved in, one of the first things we did was dig out PILES of rocks from our yard.  Our neighbors thought we were crazy, especially since I was digging rocks out while pregnant.  They also think its weird that I hand pull up all our weeds instead of using Roundup.  They've offered me some of their supply many times, but for the 7 1/2 years we've lived here, I've weeded only by hand....chemical free.  Yep, we're the neighborhood weirdos.  :)

This weekend, our dirt got delivered!

The kids ALWAYS love when we buy mass amounts of dirt.

Hey Kian, you have a bit of dirt on your face.

Kian must have watched Zac shovel because here he is trying to step on the shovel just like Daddy.

Hmmmmm.....I wonder what Zac's surgeon would think of this picture.

Today, while Zac was filling the huge bed with our new dirt (with one arm in a sling, of course), I remembered my compost that had been brewing.  I thought I'd take a peek and what I found was black gold.  Seriously...it was black.  BEAUTIFUL! 

 So off came the top layer of leaves, which went in Logan's compost box we're currently adding to, and then we dug out two wheel barrow loads of our first ever harvested compost. Since living here, we've always composted. But this was the first time we harvested and used it.

  Very exciting!

Look how dark and lovely it looks against the bought dirt.

Tonight the kids and I gave Zac his present.....a GPS to use for geocaching!  We've talked about doing it for years so finally I got him the stuff we need and we hope to go on our first treasure hunt tomorrow.

Wish us luck!