Trip to Columbia

As an online teacher for Columbia College, I sometimes get to attend conferences in Columbia. This is a perfect chance for us to take a little vacation and visit our Columbia friends! So, the boys and I took off Thursday to head down. We actually left 45 minutes early because the boys were so excited to leave. We spent Thursday night with the Lough's and enjoyed a lovely evening with them. We even played around and made this great Halloween Video of the kids.

http://sendables.jibjab.com/view/HrcWNAcOrMyFqtfsnGb

The next day we spent the morning, afternoon and evening with three different families. It was hard to say good bye at each but fun to arrive at the next. The boys spent spent the night with the last family while I went to my conference. I guess I can't just play the whole time. They had a ton of fun and even got to go to the ward trunk or treat and see all of their friends again.

My conference went really well and we really did have fun. I don't know if you can imagine what it would be like to put a bunch of female online math teachers together but let me just say it is pretty fun. We're definitely not what you would think of when you think of college math teachers. I even got to stay in a hotel room all by myself. Honestly, I just slept there but it was awesome to know that no one was going to come in and wake me up in the middle of the night!

The next day I had more meetings. I then had to find all the boys and relax a bit before we headed home. Overall it was a great trip and we had a blast seeing our old friends. I decided we need to do it more often, though, so now I need to start planning the next trip . . . maybe in the spring?

What I always love, though, is the recovery from your vacation. In order to recover (and in my defense I have been a little sick) I slept for 12 hours last night. I feel better and now have to sleep some more in preparation for our next trip! US History tour here we come!

Happy Birthday Joshua

Well, we are a little behind, but better late than never! Joshua had a great birthday and is now 7. These kids just grow so quickly! He started the day with some yummy waffles and a great soccer game. He even got to play goalie which he always loves.

Then, he got to spend the afternoon playing with friends and eating mac'n cheese with hot dogs for lunch. He was definitely spoiled with some really fun presents from his brothers and friends. He got a little nano bug from Michael and if you don't know what that is you should check it out because it is simple, inexpensive but super fun!

For dinner he had mini pizzas on English muffins and an amazing cake. The cake is decorated to look like a poison dart frog and I must admit that I was pretty impressed! James did a great job and even put peanut butter and jelly between the layers to look like frog guts. Gotta love boys!

After dinner they played soccer out back using his new soccer goals. They aren't super big but fun enough. It was a fun day and Joshua, as always, was very grateful for every last bit of it. He was so excited that he was hugging Jacob before he even got his present open! I have learned that Joshua is one of those people that gets really excited about everything and expresses his excitement physically. Needless to say we received many hugs this day for everything that made him happy! He is a joy and we look forward to many more years full of excitement with him! (written by Liz)

Homeschooling

I realized the other day that I couldn't imagine not homeschooling my children. This seemed funny to me because I had never considered homeschooling until I already had two children. I just have to say that I love homeschooling for so many reasons which I will not bore you with, but I will say that I am grateful that I not only do homeschool but can homeschool. I feel blessed to have the ability to teach them, the time to do it and a patient husband who supports me in doing so.

We went to the zoo a few weeks ago and did a photo scavenger hunt. The kids had a blast! Then, some of the kids did oral reports on an animal at the zoo. Michael decided to do one as well and did a great job! Our next adventure will be an early US History tour to Philadelphia, DC and Gettysburg. We are excited and will definitely blog our adventures!

Post renovation

I didn't realize that we had made so many changes since our last posting until Heather showed up and chastised us. So, here is our finished paint job and new dining room table--love Craig's list! We still haven't finished the molding because we want to buy new molding, but we will get around to it some time. :)

Oh, and I found this awesome picture of Michael feeding a deer in Utah last August. All of the kids got a chance to do it but this was my best picture. Enjoy the pictures!