Cousin Zane's 8th Birthday

So, we were invited over to my brother and sil's house for their son, Zane's 8th birthday.  And the first thing we did was to use the pitching machine.  Standing there watching, it doesn't look so hard.  But once you get up there and take your turn, you realize that the ball is going REALLY fast.  

Art Class

Today we tried a new art class in Surprise with some of our homeschool friends.  Quinn decided he didn't want to try and Sloane went ahead with it.  She seemed to have a good time in class.

On our way home, she informed me that she had a much better time in our pottery class the other day.  I asked what she liked about that class that she didn't like about this class and she couldn't put her finger on it.  This class goes every two weeks.  So we'll see what happens in two weeks.

Green Smoothies

Dave and I have been drinking GREEN SMOOTHIES since October.  We have both gotten healthier in the sense that we don't get sick and we are losing unwanted pounds.  Connor has since started drinking them.  He is starting out slowly and I DO mean slowly.  Dave drinks one 8oz glass a day.  I drink (usually) two 8oz glasses a day and Connor drinks one 8oz glass a day sometimes.  I haven't heard from him any changes he's experienced yet.  But I'll keep you posted when I find out.  

So, drinking green smoothies means having LOTS of greens available to put IN the smoothies.  So that means going to the market OFTEN.  Well, I've been doing that and loving finding all kinds of fun greens to put in our green drink.  

Then one day I went over to our neighbor's house.  (Hilda, you may remember her from a previous post)  She has the most wonderful raised bed garden in her side yard.  And she is growing GREENS ~ all kinds of chard, spinach, cilantro, parsley.  And she had been most gracious to offer it to ME.  OMG, it is Wonderful.  And the best part is she says I can have all I want because she doesn't eat it.  WHAT!!!!  I've been trying to get her to drink them like I do.  But haven't been successful yet.  I'll get there.  

Kids helping Haiti

My neighbor, Hilda Brown is the Founder and President of her non-profit organization called The Umbrella Project.  She has asked our homeschool group, LIFE is Good Homeschoolers to decorate some umbrellas for her latest Haiti Project.  Of course, we said "YES!"  Below are some examples of umbrellas from past projects.

Our group has about 12 children.  So we will decorate 4 umbrellas.  They will sell for $50 each and our group will have helped a very needed cause.  Doesn't that just warm your heart.

Park Day by ourselves

Today was a gorgeous day.  Everything was fresh and new from the gobs of rain we got last night.  It has been AGES since we've seen rain.  

Anyway, all the other members of our homeschool group backed out of park day so we decided to go out and enjoy the day.  And what fun we had!  The kids played together and laughed.  I love it when we can play together

Early morning walks

We are still walking Emma in the mornings.  And the kids' favorite place to stop is Walton Park.  Sloane loves the bar to hang from.

The kids were digging in the wood chips and found lots of worms that are coming to the surface from the rain.  Sloane thought that was pretty cool.  She wanted to bring them home.  I had to do some pretty tall talking to get her to leave them there.

The reason they were digging in the wood chips is because Quinn was making a house with a garage.  He is forever building, and pretending to live in his creations.  He is so his daddy!

Today Quinn and Sloane went to our neighbor's house to hang out and they had their handyman there putting in a doggy door for their new dog they got for Christmas.  What a great babysitter he is.  All the kids were very interested in what he was doing.  My kids came home all excited about doggy doors.  We don't have one for Emma.  But the kids think we NEED one now.