One of my birthday cards

Just thought I'd share my birthday card from Joel which he drew.

I guess you can all imagine how huge I am!!

Missing a tooth

Caleb lost his first tooth today. He only noticed that it was loose a couple of days ago. He came running this morning and said, "Mom, look! I just pulled it out myself!" His other tooth is already in right behind it, just like Joanna's were. So there is a little gap, but not for long. He's been telling everyone!! The only problem now is that he can't find the tooth. It went missing on his way back up the stairs when I told him to go put it in a plastic bag and to go rinse out his mouth. It has vanished.

Our school pet

Belle always hangs out with us during school. She likes to play with the pencils on the desks and sit on the kid's papers. This morning Belle keeps sitting on Caleb's papers and won't get off.


She may also be smarter than we think.
Here she is learning some math facts and about nickels!

Coloring flowers

Caleb & Joanna are learning about the parts of plants. In this experiment, we split the stem of a carnation and put half of the stem in water with red food coloring and the other half of the stem in water with blue food coloring.

We started with a white carnation...

...and ended with a carnation with half of the petals

red and the other half blue.

Recycle Center

We went on a tour of our local recycling center. Caleb liked the big crushing machine and the educational video. Joanna liked the big paper pile and Eliana liked the girl who gave us the tour!!! They all also enjoyed watching the conveyor belt move lots of cardboard into the crushing machine. I was very glad we went in the winter, because I'm sure the smell is not very pleasant in the hot summer months.

Eliana and a friend

Here's Eliana with her friend Jake. They have a lot of fun together. The kids spent some time at his house while I was at a meeting for work.

It looks like they are always eating.

Commercial Pilot License

Joel passed his check ride for his commercial rating last week. This doesn't mean he can go fly an airliner now, but it does mean that he is eligible to be paid for flying. For example, he could go be a crop duster(if he wanted to). He'd like to get his flight instructor rating next. He could earn a little bit of money at that on the side. These additional flight ratings are helpful to him in his job.

Dissecting a cow's eye!!

The kids' human anatomy class dissected a very pretty cow's eye today(just kidding!!). They had to slice around the cornea and take it off. Then they had to pull out the iris and then the lens popped out!! The lens was a little bigger than a pea and kinda clearish/yellowish. They then cut down the side and flipped the eye inside out and could look at the retina. The retina was a very cool shimmering bluish color. They both enjoyed it although Caleb did make me a little nervous with the scalpel.

Tour of our local newspaper

We took a tour of our local newspaper today. It was very interesting to see the whole process. We didn't get to see the press actually working because they had some problems and were trying to get it fixed for tonight's midnight run. We were amazed at the amount of paper and ink. Each roll of paper in the picture weighs 1,500 pounds!

One of the many presses.

A couple rolls of paper

The paper roll was taller than Caleb.

A little bit of ink

A clip for each paper which then flies through the air.

The chute that the papers go down to the dock.

Caleb's cursive S

Caleb learned to make a cursive capital S today. I thought he did a great job on his paper especially for a 5 year old. He took his time and was very proud of his S's.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! The kids opened some presents from Boomba and Grandpa early this morning. Thank you!

The milk chugging family

We stopped to get some milk and ended up with a great deal. The 1/2 gallons that were about to expire were marked down to 10 cents!! Yes, we did stock up and I'll put it in the freezer. It won't last long since we go through so much milk. The kids had a great time because they each had one of the little kiddie carts and actually got to fill up their own cart.

Xenopus Tadpoles

Joanna and Caleb got their tadpoles today - They are so tiny. We now get to observe them as they go through the stages of becoming a frog. They are also wondering if they got boys or girls??

Valentine's Party

Here's the kids busy making Valentine's with the homeschool group.

What a mom says in a day - sung to William Tell Overture

Sometimes my days seem like this!

Ezekiel Bread

I made some Ezekiel bread yesterday. It actually was pretty good and everyone liked it. Supposedly it is a complete food, so it would make a good snack. However, you do need a flour mill to use this particular recipe though.

Today's Dr. Appt.

I had a normal checkup today. I'm only measuring a week or so ahead, so not bad. Every time my doctor measures me, she says, "Well, you are measuring pretty good. But you do hide those big babies well." We started the process of scheduling the c-section for April 3rd so we'll see what happens.

I get some weekly emails with info for how far along you are. Here's what I got today. Although, I might imagine 5 or 6 navel oranges instead of 4!!

"This week, your baby measures over 16 inches long. She weighs about 3.3 pounds (try carrying four navel oranges) and is heading into a growth spurt. She can turn her head from side to side, and her arms, legs, and body are beginning to plump out as needed fat accumulates underneath her skin. She's probably moving a lot, too, so you may have trouble sleeping because your baby's kicks and somersaults keep you up."

Belle gets pampered

Caleb has hit the right spot.

Snow fort

The kids have really been enjoying the snow this week. They've been working on a fort and with dad's help it went much faster. Their fort will be here long after the rest of the snow disappears.