February 2016 Update

OUR BUSY BABY

 Audrey in her favorite dog jammies.

Audrey found an unattended roll of toilet paper.

 Audrey likes her teddy bear back pack.

Audrey with her cheesy smile. She often gives it when she wants something or when she knows she did something wrong and she doesn't want to get in trouble.

She likes to "pretend" she is a baby sometimes.  She sits into her baby's cradle and fake cries ("wah wah").

She's super cute even when she cries.

Audrey really likes spaghetti.

Audrey thinks it is funny to run away from mom whenever we go out.  

 MAMMOTH SITE FIELD TRIP

 Our homeschool group took a field trip to the Waco Mammoth site (featured in National Geographic).  It contains the remains of 24 Columbian mammoths that all died here in a flash flood.

After the tour the kids got to do some digging of their own.  

 Abby and Maddy were digging partners.



Nathan and Christian digging together.  After their dig, Nathan informed me that he is considering changing his future profession from being a PA to being a paleontologist.

 VALENTINE'S DAY FUN

 Maddy likes having the bottom bunk so she can decorate it for all the holidays.  Here she is with her Valentine's decorations.

 We had a fun Valentine's party with our homeschool co-op.

 Audrey had fun on the see saw.

 Valentines' exchange.

 The kids with their Valentine's boxes.

 Maddy insisted on making a Valentine's cake for her doll out of sugar cookies.

 Audrey got a chocolate heart for Valentine's day which she stuffed entirely  in her mouth.

 Maddy

 Abby

Nathan 

 FAMILY FUN

Nathan  has almost mastered riding his bike.  He is good at balancing, and we are just working on starting and stopping and steering without overcorrecting.

 My sunglasses broke, so Maddy used them to make a crazy lady outfit.

 We took a trip to Heritage Homestead, which is about 30 minutes from our home.  It is a religious community similar to the Mennonites. The kids enjoyed seeing an old fashioned style blacksmith, pottery shop, weaving shop, etc.  Here they are in front of an old fashioned, water powered gristmill.

 We took a field trip to the Waco center for the arts.

 For our Valentine's date Jared took me to see Magnolia Marketplace, which is the home decorating store started by Joanna Gaines from the show Fixer Upper (which is set in Waco).

 The store was fun, but we what we really enjoyed were all the fun garden and outdoor ideas.

 We had fun swinging on an old fashioned swing.

 We also enjoyed playing Frisbee on this nice lawn.  It's actually the first nice lawn we've seen since moving to Texas.  It's fake.

 Jared in front of a classic 1953 Willys Jeep.

 Jared at the Clay Pot restaurant where we sat on the floor and enjoyed some delicious Viet food.

Maddy and Abby have been begging for me to do more crafts with them.  Here is a little caterpillar that Maddy made by doing some straw weaving.  She calls it her "critter." 

 The kids were happy that Jared finally got around to setting up the trampoline.  Audrey loves jumping on it with the big kids.

She also enjoys getting pulled around the backyard in her wagon like the spoiled little princess that she is.