May 2016 Update

FAMILY HOME EVENING

 The kids always want to know what our FHE lesson will be so they can create a LEGO visual aid to go with it.  Here is one they created of the garden of Eden.

 NIGHT AT THE MOVIES

 
 Abby and Maddy had a piano performance this month.  The theme was, "Night At the Movies."  The performers all chose a song from a movie or musical to perform.  They played the first few notes and people had to try to guess what the song was.  Maddy played "Tale As Old As Time" from Beauty and the Beast, and Abby played "A Whole New World" from Alladin.

 The girls with their teacher, Linda Houlding.

THE KITE FESTIVAL

 The kids had fun flying kites with Jared at the kite festival.

 Even Audrey took a turn flying a kite.

 Jared put his big kite in the air, but the wind was a bit too strong for it.  It starting pulling him off his feet!

 MOTHER'S DAY

 I feel so blessed to be the mother of such wonderful kids.  I sure love them!

Abby and Maddy made me these cute mugs at Activity days.

HANSEL AND GRETEL

As part of our co-op, we practiced and performed the play "Hansel and Gretel."

 Abby was the witch, Maddy played Gretel, Christian was Hansel, Simeon, Joshua, and Nathan helped with the scenery, and Audrey ran interference.

 Hansel and Gretel listening in to their parents' conversation.

 Alone in the woods.

 Eating at the witch's house.

 Nathan played the duck taking them across a lake.

The cast at the end.

 Audrey was upset about Nathan using her duck costume, so she got a turn wearing it once we were done.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JARED

 We couldn't celebrate with Jared on his birthday, so we had a little party for him before he left for his CME conference in San Antonio.

Jared got the book, "How Not to Die" from us.  It seems like a morbid birthday gift, but he asked for it.  It is a book on evidence-based nutrition solutions to America's top 15 killers.  It seems boring, but I found it to be actually quite interesting.  It is written by the guy who does nutritionfacts.org.  The other book is from Jared's parents called "Exploring The Book of Mormon In America's Heartland."  It is a very fascinating book with maps, photographs, and art exploring the idea of North America being the setting for the Book of Mormon.

I had a number 3 and 6 candle for Jared's cake, but the kids counted up all our left over candles and they thought it would be more fun to put all 36 on Jared's cake.  It did create quite a blaze.

Audrey really missed Jared while he was away for PA conference.  She was excited when he came home and brought her a Texas Long Horn stuffed animal.  (Each year there is a different stuffed animal based on the location of the conference--ie a lobster from Boston.)  Maddy held it up and said, "His name is Austin, but sometimes I call him Tex."

SEA WORLD

We took a fun family trip down to Sea World in San Antonio.  Here are the kids with an owl.

They loved the Sea Lion show.

We got a kick out of this turtle just sunning itself on the alligator's back.

Abby, Maddy, and Nathan were brave enough and just barely tall enough to go on the Steel Eel rollercoaster.  Jared said it even made him a little scared.  You can't tell from the picture, but that is a 150 foot drop, and it goes 65 mph.  The kids also went on a big splash ride with Jared, and I took them on more tame river ride where you go under waterfall (which felt nice in the Texas heat).

Sitting in the splash zone was fun.  It was hot enough that it felt really good, unfortunately I couldn't get a lot of pictures because I was worried about my phone getting wet.

We really enjoyed the dolphin and buluga whale shows.   It is amazing to watch them with their trainers.

The penguins were fun to watch, but they kept it dark in order to reflect their natural habitat.

It was fun to watch the sea lions getting fed.

Otters are always fun to watch.

They had an area for younger kids with a splash pad and a few kiddy rides.  Audrey had fun riding her first carousel.

Our favorite show was called Azul.  They had beluga whales, dolphins, acrobats, professional divers, and synchronized swimmers.  It was amazing.

Our last show of the day was with the killer whales.  They were amazing to watch, but you could tell that their relationship with their trainers was very different from that of the trainers with the beluga whales and the dolphins.  There was much more fear involved and they were more careful about keeping their distance from their mouth, etc.

It was sad to see their drooped over dorsal fins and I am glad that they are changing their policy toward the killer whales to improve their environment and to no longer breed them in captivity.

Here are Jared and the kids after the final show.  The killer whales really did make the biggest splash.  Audrey isn't in the picture because the splash really upset and scared her.

After our visit to Sea World Maddy informed us she wants to be a dolphin trainer someday.  Here she is with an orca she designed and made out of LEGO.


FUN IN WACO

One day Abby made herself a crown and decided she was the bumblebee queen. 

Hanging out at the zoo.

I found Audrey "reading" the scriptures to herself.

The kids were excited when the eggs in the flowerbed outside the church hatched 4 baby birds.

A tea party at the Mayborn museum.

Maddy in the world room at the Mayborn.

The kids with a 500 piece puzzle they did all by themselves.

Nathan trying out wings at the Mayborn's new exhibit.

Nathan creating a stop animation movie.

Star Wars at the library.

GYMNASTICS

The girls with their friend Abby on their last day of tumbling.

We are really proud of how much the kids have learned in gymnastics this year.  They are getting stronger, more flexible, and more coordinated.