Alexa is always such a big help after school with dinner.  She just loves hanging out with mom and dad!!  Today I was a little slow.  I worked last night and slept most of the day.  Off to work again tonight. 

Tonight was Alexa’s concert.  A friend worked the last two hours for dad so he was able to come watch it too.  It was so cute.  The kids seemed to really be enjoying themselves.  You can tell they all worked really hard to get their hand motions right.  Lots and Lots of practice. 

Grandma and Grandpa Jones came down to see the show so Alexa had an opportunity to show them around her classroom.  It was pretty special.  Grandma even got some nice pictures.

I wasn’t able to get any good pictures of the concert so there is none to show.  Sorry.

The whole gang went out on the boat this morning to enjoy the sunshine.  It was relaxing.

See here I am.  See the water behind me!!  Yep I’m on the boat with the crew.  Now that I’ve got my trip in for the year I should be good for a while! 

Doug didn’t bring any keepers on the boat but he did snag a starfish… twice!  The kids had fun playing with it for a while.  Then it went back into the drink.

Jacob enjoying his book

Dad smilin cause he’s on his boat!

When we got home the kids all helped clean up.  Lexi got to do her favorite chore…. clean the crabs!!!

Last night Doug and I surprised the kids after school.  We told them to pack their bags for one night away with their swimming gear.  We already had the car packed with everything else.  Then we drove to the cabins.  We got there shortly after 430 at night so we only had a short time to swim before the pool was closing. 

Some friends showed up too and the kids all had a very fun night playing and running in the dark with their flashlights!  This morning we packed up and came home to enjoy the rest of the nice weather at home.  We were all so tired it just ended up being a lazy day.

We did make it to the gym in the afternoon and the kids had a fun time playing in the pool again! 

We have a pretty strict evening routine that we’ve been tweaking since the kids started school but it seems to be working well.  We try to have time with each kid for reading before bed.  Both of us read with the younger two kids.  Then Doug reads the bible with Jacob while I read the bible with Emily.  Emily and I are halfway through Genesis…. we’ve got a long ways to go!

The evening always starts with the kids getting in PJ’s and then quiet play in the house.  Then I read to the kids.  Doug even started listening.  Mr. Poppers Penguins didn’t much catch his attention but he has laughed right along with us with Laura’s stories in Little House in the Big Woods.  I have a book that has the first 5 stories all packed into it with colorful pictures.  I figure it will take a while to get through them all.  I haven’t read the stories in years though, so it’s fun!

Then the kids all read in the living room while one by one they get tucked into bed.  It’s been working out pretty good.  Of course there are always alterations when sports are involved.  Soccer is coming to a close though and Basketball is over tomorrow.  Jacob should be starting baseball in the spring but that’s a ways off.  He’s pretty excited about that!

Jacob and Nicolas swapt out beds so that Jacob could sleep with Hally.  Then he decided Hally wasn’t any fun to sleep with because she’s a BED HOG!  So we made her a bed on the floor.  Lets see if she will like it!

Emily has a Science project.  She had to come up with a hypothesis on something, test it, and evaluate her hypothesis.  She decided to plant peas.  She used 3 containers to plant three different pea plants.  One plant she placed Tuna under.  One plant she placed Halibut under.  The last plant she placed nothing under.  Ya, this was dad’s idea!

Her Hypothesis is that the Tuna will do the best.  Why???  Because she says it’s the yummiest so there for it should be the yummiest for the plant and the peas will grow well.  We’ll keep you posted!

Day Number one!  Planting the peas

water cup used to measure exact amounts of water in each pot.

Pea package

Nicolas had a blast this morning building his brothers roller coaster.  I had to remind him to eat his sandwich 3 times before school because he was so into it.  I think it was over 3 hours he spent on this by the time he took off for school.  Almost finished it too!

Calling her Mom…..

After school this afternoon, like many other days, Doug played baseball with the boys.  Lexi joined in this time too!  I was impressed.  You can tell those kids have been practicing.  They hit ball after ball after ball.  I finally recommended moving to the front yard so Jacob would have more room for the ball to fly.  I had gotten a call from the daycare that Rici was sick so he was here too.  By the time the kids were home he had some medicine on board and had fun chasing the balls around the yard.

So the other day Nicolas and I were reading a book about a family of teddy bears.  At the back of the book there was a cute little picture of the family.  Nicolas looks up at me and asks “mom, how come they always make the dad taller in the pictures?”  I sat there.  Then I heard Emily cracking up in the other room! 

Isn’t it funny how kids just think their lives are the norms.  Man there is a big world out there for that little guy to discover someday!