Home School Share

This is such a great site! They have lapbooks and unit studies there. I have browsed the site many times and plan to start using the information there soon. They are having a contest starting soon. You can find more infortmation about it here. I don't think I would be good at writing any type of curriculum at this point but i appreciate all those that do!
http://www.homeschoolshare.com/blast_2008_guide.php

The Botanical Garden's

We had a field trip there today. At certain times of the year they have the butterfly pavilion open. There are just lots and lots of butterflies in there and if you are still sometimes you can get them to land on you, hopefully. Meghan loved seeing all the butterflies. The kids would hold their fingers out to try and get them to move onto them. They weren't suppose to touch them though. We hung out with Meghan's friend Rachel and her mom, Lavonna. It's nice to have friends to do things with and we loved seeing all those butterflies. Have I mentioned how much I love being able to homeschool? We get to do so many amazing things, lots more trips than they do in a public school. We get to learn by doing. Love that!

Kaden's Birthday gift

We decided to get Kaden this little play gym thing for his birthday. As you can tell we didn't wait until his birthday to give it to him. He LOVES to slide down over and over. He can climb up there all by himself too. So cute!

Sorry I have not been keeping up well. We have still been at the hospital a lot. It's nice to see everyone and we have gone out to eat all together to have a little time to catch up. Meghan loves her cousin Elizabeth (they share a middle name). I will try and get pictures of them soon! They are saying that Grandma's surgery is going to be tomorrow, so hopefully it is. She has been in there 2 days short of 2 weeks tomorrow.

More Easter day activity

The kids got their Easter baskets this morning. Meghan was so excited and somehow Kaden knew there was one for him too, he crawled right over to it. Meghan kind of got a big gift today because I found a great deal on a Barbie townhouse and just had to get it. They had a lot of fun playing with their new toys. After that I sent Meghan to get dressed and Nate hid the eggs in the back yard. We let Kaden get a couple and Meghan searched out the rest. After Kaden's morning nap we decided to go out to eat today. Nate had wanted to go to Texas Roadhouse for our anniversary and we didn't get to go, so we went today. It was very good and it also put us closer to the hospital. My Grandma has been in the hospital so we wanted to go and see her. We were there all afternoon/evening. We took my dad and Seth to eat something and then we came home to put the kids to bed. Kaden was so tired because he had to skip his second nap. I am pooped but happy. We are blessed to have such full days and be able to do so much with our kids. Blessed because Grandma seems to be getting better too. Happy Easter!

Coloring Eggs!

We have had a full Easter Sunday! We colored our eggs today because we just didn't get it done before hand. Meghan loved that of course and liked mixing the colors to see what she would get. She had to eat an egg after we were done.

This week...

Monday we learned about the history of St. Patricks Day and how St. Patrick brought Christianity to Ireland. That was a lot of fun and I really never realized what it stood for myself. I am happy to know there is a bigger reason for the day other than to have a party. :) For breakfast we had green iced cinnamon rolls and then we did a craft.

Tuesday we went to Julie and Sarah's house to play. They did an Easter themed craft also. That was fun. Then on Wednesday we walked to the park. Meghan's friend Rachel and her mom met us there. We had lunch and they girls played. Then we hid eggs and let them find them.

We had an egg hunt at Park day last Friday too. So Meghan has had two egg hunts and it's not even Easter yet! Lucky girl!

We are just relaxing the rest of this week just doing Easter activities and crafts.

Busy, Busy

I am trying to keep up here but I guess I missed a few days.
Our friend Nathanael came out to visit. He brought his girl friend, Emily, also. They live in New Hamphshire. Meghan loves Nathanael! Anyways, Emily is really sweet. We got to go shopping one evening and hang out a little. Burg took her to Sedona and to the Grand Canyon while they were here. He proposed to her in Sedona... everybody now.. awwwwww. So now they are engaged! They talked a little about plans to maybe get married in the spring and they are talking about moving out here. I really hope they do.
We went with them to the Renaissance Festival on Sat. That was fun and we got to see John and Barb, and John Jr. and Tisha. I hadn't see John since he got back from Iraq and we hadn't see the others in a long time either, so it was nice.

Speaking of growing up

Last night Meghan ate her first meat ever, other than chicken. We have had her try things on occasion but she never likes anything with meat or red sauce. Last night she actually asked for a cheeseburger. I was sure she wouldn't eat it but we got it for her anyways and she ate it! I can't believe it. Of course I had to document it. haha!

They grow so fast!

It's been a pretty quiet couple of days. I guess we are recovering from being so busy last week. Kaden is walking more and more every day and he doesn't get discouraged when he falls. He just gets right back up and keeps going. Meghan is his little cheer leader, telling him how good he is doing and getting excited for him. I keep saying it but I can not believe he is already almost 1! Do I have to have a birthday for him? I guess one good thing is he can move on to regular milk. :) A couple days ago I saw something shine in his mouth so I persuaded him to let me look. There are two teeth back there! I didn't think he would get any back teeth before getting all the others. I can't really tell if they are molars but they are back in there a bit. He has been saying mama, dada, mommy, daddy, thank you, bye bye, baba, and no. I have not been able to figure out what he is calling Meghan yet. On Monday when Nathan went back to work from lunch he said "Bye bye dada". So cute.

Taste of Camp

Today I took Meghan to Taste of Camp at Camp Sombrero. They had a lot of activities for the girls to do. We learned some Girl Scout songs around a campfire, which was great because it was chilly out there. Then they were able to make Smores. She made a rain stick and learned that it was traditionally made of cactus. She made a necklace, played games, something to blow bubbles with, went on a scavenger hunt, made her fingerprints, had her face painted, pet the horses, and climbed the rock wall... Just to name a few things. haha We had a great time and I think Meghan is ready to go to camp!

Boyce Thompson Arboretum

On Wednesday we went to the Arboretum. It is in Superior, so it was a little road trip, I have not been up there in a long time. The tour was called Plants of the Bible and it was set up specifally for homeschoolers. The weather was nice up there, a little cooler than in the valley and we had a good time. Meghan started to get bored and hungry towards the end but she did great! Kaden hung out in the stroller and did great too! Here are a few pictures.

Meghan's Birthday

Someone asked :) so here are some pictures. The cake was not as nice as I wanted but that's what happens when you are doing it at midnight the night before. She had a great day though and loved having all her friends and family around.