Fathers and Sons Outing

Texas doesn't really have mountains, pine forests, or waterfalls but we do have pastures, horses, and man made lakes, so that's where Nathan and Jared went for their father's and son's outing.

 He has the hat for it.

 Smores.

 Breakfast by our new tent.

Nathan had fun riding the horse.

March 2016 Update

ST PATRICK'S DAY

After homeschool the kids decided they all needed to make leprechaun traps.  They each caught a naughty leprechaun who left them a chocolate candy.  We had a fun homeschool co-op party for St. Patrick's day.  I taught the kids how to make shamrock sun catchers and we ate lots of green food.

EASTER

Audrey didn't know what to expect from Easter, but she thought stuffed bunnies, baskets, eggs, and candy were pretty fun.

Here are the kids all waiting to go out for the hunt.

Nathan looking for eggs.

Maddy on the hunt.

Abby, the egg hunting expert.

Audrey was confused by the whole egg-hunting concept, but Daddy helped her figure it out.

Once she figured it out she really got into it.

Audrey discovering that the eggs she was collecting have treats inside.

Audrey enjoying a Reese's peanut butter egg.

When we tried feeding her a healthy lunch with veggies, she grabbed an empty Easter egg off the table and stuffed it with her vegetables.

She then opened the egg and stuffed the veggies into her mouth.  

The kids were spoiled by a second Easter egg hunt with our ward.  This time Audrey knew sweet things were in the eggs so she just wanted to sit down and open the eggs right after she found them.

The girls searching for eggs.

Nathan with his basket full.

Maddy eating a purple Easter cookie she decorated.

We did all the Easter egg hunts on Saturday so we could spend Sunday focused on the Savior and His resurrection.  Nathan's Primary teacher told me that he bore an amazing testimony in class about seeing Thomas again someday.   Thomas was on all our minds as we contemplated Christ and His miraculous resurrection.  With 9 o'clock church, a fussy baby, and bad weather, we didn't get a good Easter photo.  Here is one I took in the lobby at church before taking the kids home; it was the best I could do. Thanks to Grandma D. for sending along the cute dresses for the girls.  

 WOMEN'S CONFERENCE

 It is nice that Maddy is now old enough to go with me to Women's conference.  Sitting in Women's conference with sweet girls is such a joy.

 THE SAND PILE

The kids were excited when they found someone had dumped a huge pile of sand at their favorite park.

Audrey absolutely loved it.  Luckily she is now past the try to eat the sand stage.

Nathan getting buried in the sand.

Maddy took a turn, but ended up with sand in her eyes and mouth since Audrey tried to "help" by throwing sand on Maddy's face.

Audrey couldn't sit still long enough to be buried, but she did enjoy standing in the hole Abby dug for her.

 THE PRETTY PLACE AND OTHER FUN ADVENTURES

There is a place in Cameron Park known as The Pretty Place.  It wasn't until I saw it recently filled with wild flowers that I found it pretty.  Here is my pretty girl in The Pretty Place.

Maddy in The Pretty Place.

Audrey was too grumpy and tired to get out of her stroller for the picture, so here are all the girls.

Maddy and Abby going out for a walk in their red boots.

The kids with some cupcakes they made with a mix sent from Grandma.

RANDOM CUTE PICTURES OF AUDREY

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.