We love being outside!!

He had the best time playing with the muddy water creation that his sisters made!

Mark cleaned out the gutters and we found this guy trying to survive the flood- he lost his tail in the process.

This was precious! He was so excited to hold it- but a little leary too!

Pool and sprinkler fun. Mark and the girls used this sprinkler for batting practice.

A Big Day

Cleaning out his desk for the last time!

Trophy for all A's in Elementary

Outstanding achievement for highest class average

A Honor Roll All Year - notice he held his certificate upside down...and yes, it was on purpose

Giving flowers to his teacher, Ms. Vanley. She cried when we said goodbye.

With his friend, Matt - they will go to junior high together!

With Ms. Wills, Jake's principal. She's been great!

Best Math Student Award

Jake was in his last drama play at church...he moves on to the youth group next week! He gave Dana, the teacher, flowers after this last performance Wed. night.

Haircuts for all!

Faith wanted to do "Locks for Love" so we all went and got haircuts this morning!

Hannah just got a trim.......

Faith's new style.....she really likes it.....

sorry it's blurry....

Okay, I think it's kind of freaky, holding the hair.....

Gardening 101

We have started our first garden ever, YEAH!!! One of our nice neighbors offered to till our garden plot, God has really blessed us with many kind neighbors!

There are four sections, I planted tomato plants, eggplant seeds, pumpkin and watermelon seeds. Anmer planted corn, red peppers and pumpkin seeds. Andrew planted carrots and corn. Sweet T planted cucumber plants (for pickling) and he named each one! Also on T's plot are canteloupe (the neighbor that tilled for us gave us the canteloupe seeds:), and potatoes!!

Each of the kids got to pick out their plants/seeds, and Andrew also chose a lemon tree!

Andrew was a HUGE help with putting in the rods, and measuring and sectioning off each plot with string- we had fun together!

Okay, I sometimes get overly excited about my food, and when I fixed this DELICIOUS plate of saltines, spicy red pepper hummus and perfectly ripe avacado, I just had to brag on myself- Anmer said that I should blog my creation! I would have GLADLY made you a plate, too, Mom and Cheri!!! Do I have any other sisters with the same taste??

Field Day Part 2

Original post is after this one, but I realized I didn't include AM & A's pictures!!

Field Day

HUG is our group: Homeschooling Under Grace!

We all had a really fun time playing games and visiting with our homeschool friends!

Above, this is at the beginning, Thomas is not sure about all the activity!!

Summer has begun!

Our first official swim (Wed) in Bob & Linda's pool!

That blue water looks cool in this picture...

This picture looks funny...I didn't realize how posed it looked, it didn't seem like she was doing that going so fast down the slide!

My little banana girl.....

Homeschool Camping Trip

Mark came and spent the night with us each evening, made a campfire, took down my tent, and was a big help (oh yeah, emptied the tanks after all us girls used the potty/shower so much!) We went to Cedar Hill State Park, about 45 minutes south of Dallas...from Sunday - Wed.

This is the group that went camping.....8 families...the H.E.A.R.T group has 14 families all together...

The moms......

Hannah buried in the sand (rocky sand...) by the lake...

This was by the lake...sweet Abby Kate!

Jodi took this from the camper...she must have been jealous she wasn't in on the Yatzee game we had going!

Okay, Jodi gets the "Good Camper Award!!!" I invite her on the trip with 6 other families she doesn't know...she uses her camper/camping equipment to make dinner (okay, I did the ground beef ahead of time at least)- then she SERVES the WHOLE group dinner from right outside her camper!!!! She was AWESOME !!!!!

Sweet Jo...notice her red, swollen eye....the first night we were there, she accidentally put a strong cleaner for contacts but NOT for direct use in the eye....she couldn't even open her eye....she called Brent, Mark got solution, and 1/2 through the next day it was better...

I love the way Toby likes to get on his tummy to play!!! He was such a trooper...there was another little boy there, who shared toys with Tobs....oh yeah, Toby and I got some GOOD together time!!!!! (me, Cheri)

The kids played many hours on "The Hill" beside the campsites...they rode their bikes down the hill, played, and just had fun!

Hannah loved playing in the lake!

I brought our tent, slept in it the first night, then left it open and empty, and the girls had brought some toys, and there were this one species of butterflies that were easy to catch, and plenty of..so they had them flying around in the tent,and played a long time with them! Abby Kate and Shelby are holding butterflies.

The state park was on Joe Pool lake...the water was cool, and the kids had a blast!

Most families brought water toys, and they had fun getting cool!