Easter Eggs and More

 We turned Easter up a notch this year.  First we made natural food dyes and dyed free range local eggs, which started off white, blue or brown, and made our Easter Eggs. We got some really vibrant yellows and pinks.  We had no success with carrots, but we had to give it a try.  We even did a scientific write up, so we turned the whole thing into a great lesson.  Beets, blueberries, and turmeric/tea/onion peel were really the best.

     We went to the Unitarian 9 am service and the 9:30 group breakfast, which was a great chance to meet new people there finally.  Easter activities and egg hunt, usually in the beautiful overgrown, floral graveyard, because of rain it was held in Gage hall classrooms. Mark was with us and we all really got a full tour of the grounds together.
      At home the baskets were pretty simple, but each kid got a new wrist watch (to practice time on).

2012 Christmas Cards

These photos were taken about 9 months ago.  I just realized they were never posted and they ought to have been.

Rebirth Sunday

I call it our Secular Easter.... "Hey Kids put on fancy clothes, here are some plastic eggs... and by the way lets talk about the Christian reason for Easter and all the ways rebirth exists in Spring and all the time.

End to Summer

As Summer winds down...
Grady turned a broken down yard car into a sprinkler...
We stopped by Cumberland Falls in Daniel Boone National Forest...
Cora tried pretty successfully to use chop sticks for the first time...
Grady harvested and dried out his corn crop... and we successfully popped it for breakfast...
Cora and Grady and Chester made a huge mud field in the back yard...
We thanked and thank again all our friends and family for making the birthdays so much fun...

Cora and Chester keep breaking the rules and playing in the resting garden bed...
Chester discovered the joy of popping birthday balloons...
Cora ate a delicious and messy dark chocolate covered Graham cracker... and School started up...

Welcome to Home school Kindergarten...

Grady begins reading practice on Starfall.... and plays with Friday School project slime.

Friday school is on Fridays in rotating houses where different mommies host a project or lesson.

Tuesdays Grady takes Yoga, Thursdays Spanish. Wednesdays might get busy soon too. I'm also thinking about joining a Monday Geography Club to rotate along with our Monday Library days. Last but not least Grady and I have discovered Dreambox... a terrific online math curriculum keeper that gives mom progress reports... he has completed half of Kindergarten already! yea!

Cora is getting two year molars and potty training some, and Grady's bottom front teeth are getting wiggly from time to time.

Mommy Photoshoot

Home Made Photo Shoot for the kids this Morning.

CBird is wearing a dress my mother worn at her own Christening.

Emerald Isle

We visited Emerald Isle this last weekend and caught up with Judy (99yrs old) Bob and Mary Kay.
Bob had an awesome camera we had alot of fun playing with, here are some of the better shots.

Georgia "Pumpkin Patch"

Pumpkin "Patch" with Friends.