New Beginnings

Have the last movie night before school started.  We love when Daisy snuggles with us.

First day of school for the older three.  They really like their teachers and classes.

Along with a new year, Benjamin lost his first tooth!  He was nervous and when it popped out he was happy that it was easier than he thought.  The tooth fairy even left him a letter.  You can't see the hole very well because a big tooth was already growing in behind.

The family loves to give me flowers on our walks.  We love these plumeria flowers.

The other night I was taking Daisy out for one last go and she did a number 2 in the yard.  I walked over with my bag in hand trying to see where it was to pick it up when suddenly I walked right into a web.  I looked up to see this very intimidating spider hanging almost in my eyes!  It is a giant orb weaver and it is only there at night.  Everyday its web is gone, but every night it comes back.

Glad it didn't land on my head!  Ick!  I had shivers the rest of the evening, and I am a little less willing to go wandering about at night.

Today Andrew is having his first day of school.  He is excited to have his own backpack!  (the only one who got a new backpack this year)

He was also excited to ride his bike all the way to school!  As we rode, he told me it was really hard but "I am NOT giving up!"

When we got to school he had a complete transformation.  His lower lip trembled, his eyes turned watery, and he was speechless.  Like the good mom I was, I hug and kissed him and tried to leave before I decided to take him with me. 

As I rode home I wondered why Andrew seemed so small to me.  He is probably the tallest child I have in comparison to the others at that age.  When David was four I thought he was so BIG!  Now I see that in my eyes David is still the same size as he was five years ago, which means all these other people are just getting smaller!  How can they all grow so fast!  Now my lower lip is trembling.  I think I will go hug Daisy...  because it is just her and me...  Waaaaahhhh.

July Happenings

Here are a few pictures from here and there throughout the month. We have been enjoying summer together. I will be sad to have them all back in school again. If only there was a way for them to get their education and have so much free time like we have in the summer. I love going on outings with them and exploring.  When we aren't going on outings, they are best friends creating fun worlds with toys, legos, or whatever else they can play with around the house.

 

Benjamin's minion world

For one of our Field Research Ranger adventures we went to the science museum in Palm Beach.  It was fun to explore all the marine life and other experiments.  They had a fun exhibit on "what's eating you".  They got to climb through the Colon Crawl, look in the elephantitis magic mirrors, and be jumping bugs in a bounce house. I thought it was interesting to have the tunnel of lice in hair, and next to it a place where children could try on costumes and hats.  Who knows if we would walk away from it with lice.

Benjamin loves to remember the sweet girl who made this blanket for him way back seven years ago.  He wanted me to get a picture of him sleeping just like he did when he was a baby.

Andrew wanted a picture too.  He loves the blanket one of grandma's friends made for us too.

A surprisingly fun activity that entertains the children is drawing on the windows with white board markers.  They even found they could have fun drawing on eachother's faces through the window.

For a month we have had fun babysitting a bearded dragon.  The children are fascinated watching it eat the live crickets!

Benjamin loved his birthday and is now always reminding me how old he is.  It is hard for me to believe how fast he is growing up.

House projects.  Here is a mid-work photo of our bathroom, which is now converted into a beautiful bathroom.

Fishing!  Our mailman was so nice and stopped by to chat with us and give us pointers.  Soon after he left we were able to catch a fish!

Memory Making Week

There were several memory making moments the past couple of weeks.  I found the cookie cutters and Andrew said he wanted to make cookies.  Why not?  So we made cookies together and he loved it.

A bit of heaven with my littlest man.

The boys were supposed to go on a camp out that ended up being cancelled due to weather, and Rebecca and I had a Girls Night (even if the boys came home).  Make-up, nails, hair, movie and chocolate; what more could you ask for.

My tween

We got a little pottery wheel for Christmas that Andrew wanted to try, it ended up being pretty hard for me to figure out.  When the clay finally dried a few days later, he wanted to paint it.  As you can see he did a great job painting everything except the pot.  That made me laugh.

Good thing that paper was there.

Our friends invited us over for an egg hunt.  The children had so much fun.  They are such great friends.  We are thankful for good neighbors.

Ready to go out and find eggs.

The children were all so sweet to guide Andrew to find eggs.

Saturday we did chores and then settled down for the rest of the day to devote to General Conference.  This is how we set it all up:

Excited to listen to the Prophet and other church leaders.

Sunday morning Easter baskets found!  Then on to eating way too much candy.

We found this Easter egg in our neighborhood.  Anyone know what kind of bird egg this is?

Happy Easter!    Wish you were here in Paradise with us.

Favorite Things

Spring is here!  This morning I just couldn't help myself in admiring my yard.  I see new life growing everywhere and it is beautiful.  Although we don't experience winter like those of the rest of the country, I can't explain how much I have missed the growing season.  I love seeing the trees and plants waking up up and growing once again.

Raspberries soon to be eaten

Sitting on this bench and smelling my flowers

The first signs of blackberries

Can't wait to taste our bananas

Beautiful sky

Our baby maple

Blueberries!

The first time our little Ponkan Mandarin is flowering

The garden is sprouting once again

Cute bundles of baby grapefruit

One of our hisbiscus has been blooming a lot and it is beautiful

It must be Spring, the Cyprus has woken up

These flowers make me want to fly away.  Beautiful Bird of Paradise bloom.

These are a few of my favorite things as Maria from the "Sound of Music" once said.  I feels so much gratitude in my heart when I see how beautiful nature is around me.  God has given us such a beautiful world.

Birthday Weekend

We had a busy weekend but were able to have some fun in spite of it.  I was finishing a dress for Rebecca and had David help me by letting me see what length I needed to make it.  That reminded me of a picture of him years ago doing something similar.  That is when I found some pictures that made us laugh.  We saw this picture and laughed so hard that David hasn't changed much at all.  So I had to capture him imitating himself and this was the result:

October 2008 to Feb 2015

Benjamin wanted me to "post" a picture that he dressed his penguin up.  He is such a silly boy.

The cake that almost didn't happen.  Sweet girl made it a special day just by being who she is.

She actually went to a school friend's birthday party at a science lab and came home with treasures and balloons to share.  It really did feel like a birthday party after that.

After I made a picture for David's birthday, Rebecca said she wanted one too except it be a Pegasus instead of a unicorn.  My birthday gifts are pretty simple, but I love how much they appreciate them.

Birthday morning surprises from Grandma and Grandpa Rowe!  Thank you!

I finished Rebecca's dress and even though there are some flaws, I think it turned out wearable.  She is going to wear it to church.