Sam's Catch

Sam came to the door and said, "Mom, get your camera and take a picture of this crawfish I caught!"

Bits 'n Pieces

I know it has been a long time and this update is still probably not going to satisfy my sister but it will have to do for now.

Homeschool Convention
I spent Thursday afternoon and evening and a good portion of yesterday in Ohio at Midwest Homeschool Convention in Cincinnati. Many thanks to my husband and to Annie for watching the kids so I could go! I had a really enjoyable time and gleaned many helpful ideas from various speakers. I was also able to meet a few of the people from the WTM Boards. It was really nice to put a few faces with names.And last but not least I spent quite a bit of time browsing the vendor hall looking over things for next school year. I would like to say that everything is finished and ready to go for next school year, but, alas, it is not. I still have quite a bit of work before me. But a great time was had and to top it off I met my youngest sister last evening for supper at the Tumbleweed. The food was good and the company was great! Thank you, Lyndi, for your listening ear!

A New Blog
Welcome Lynn and Philip - some of my most favorite cousins! I am really going to enjoy reading your blog since we don't often get to visit in person with each other.

Mother's Day Gifts
If you are looking for Mother's Day Gifts here may be the perfect solution for you. My sister Heidi is doing a fundraiser in order to bring home 2 children from Columbia.

Easter Weekend
We had a really enoyable time with my youngest sister and my Mom. The only thing missing was Dad. He was in Colorado and unable to come home. I will come back later and give a better update on Easter with pictures.

I hope you all have a great weekend!

Easter Sunday Pictures of Our Children

Curtis, Samuel, and Alex

Curtis, Samuel, Alex, and Briana

Now we have all five!

Curtis, Samuel, Alex, Briana and Julissa

Another picture of all five!

Daddy and the boys.

Daddy and his girls!

Mama and her boys!

Mama and her girls!

Curtis - 10 1/2

Samuel - one month away from being 9.

Alex - 7

Briana - 5

Julissa - 3

Easter Baskets

When I was growing up, we always had Easter baskets on Sunday morning before going to church. Mom and Dad always hid our baskets and it was always a fun time looking for them. We have never done that for our own kids. We have just always had the baskets sitting on our mantle but we were at Mom's this year and we decided to hide the baskets for the kids this year. I believe that they enjoyed it. Below are a few pictures of the kids with their baskets or should I say buckets. If I don't I am sure I shall be corrected by one of my sisters. Hmm... wonder which one that would be?!

Curtis finding his basket behind the chair.

Samuel found his under the dining room table.

Alex - I don't recall where it was as I didn't hide it. Not that I hid any of them - my little sister did it all! Isn't she sweet!

Briana - ditto

Julissa's basket was sitting on the floor behind a pillow. She didn't see it at first but she saw Daddy with a bucket the same color as her bucket and thought he had her's. It took us a bit to convince her that it was indeed not her bucket.

All five!

Samuel excited over something!

The two girls checking out their stuff!

Easter Weekend

Four of the five kids playing Racko at Papa and Grandma's.

Samuel, Ana, and Alex waiting to hunt for Easter eggs. Aunt Lyndi and Curtis are hiding them. Each of the oldest four kids took turns hiding them with Aunt Lyndi. They hid 68 eggs and I think we came home missing one. So somewhere in Mom's house there remains an egg.

The five kids getting ready to color Easter eggs.

A work in progress!

Curtis putting his egg in the coloring.

Samuel either putting his egg in or taking it out.

Alex checking his egg with the proper equipment.

Briana checking out her hands!

Julissa having fun!

Look, two eggs!

Check this one out!

A closer look!

Three of the five enjoying themselves.

A group shot of all five with Aunt Lyndi in the background.

Aunt Lyndi trying to get a picture of the Julissa.

The girls showing off their eggs!

Intriguing Photos!

Curtis intensely concentrating on writing on his egg with a magic crayon.

Samuel totally relaxing while coloring eggs!

The only picture from the weekend that I could find of Alex clowning around. He is not one to normally act out of character.

Briana with green hands!

Julissa showing off her colored hands!

Our Wednesday Walk

It was a beautiful day so we headed out to walk around our development. While we walked we watched and listened closely for signs of nature and spring. We heard a woodpecker but didn't see him. I have included a few pictures of various things we did see along the way.

A few birds at the top of the tree.

An old bee's nest.

Quite a few leaves from last fall that never fell!

An old bird's nest and the moon in the background.

A budding maple tree.

A couple flowers.