Bowling

We went bowling with some friends last week and the kids had a great time. We signed up for a kids bowl free program. Check it out here if you're interested.

Joanna did well!

Caleb started out on a non-bumper lane. He ended up moving over to a lane with bumpers and did much better!

Eliana did not want to wear those weird bowling shoes.

She eventually tried it - but without the shoes.

Eliana being silly with some friends.

Toofy

Joel's got another nickname for Karis - Toofy.

Dishwasher surfing

Sometimes Karis likes to "help" mommy with the dishwasher. This time she decided she wanted to ride it.

She's quite the surfer. Next time maybe she'll hang ten!

Fishing & A Prince

Also last weekend, we went to our homeschool group's end-of-the-year party. One of the dads has access to his company's recreation area, and it was a lot of fun.

Caleb got to try fishing for the first time. He really enjoyed it, although all he caught was some algae.

Here's our pigtail princess. She also tried her hand at casting the line. She managed to do it quite well (and also caught her share of algae).

Joanna

Guess what's in the trap?

Karis isn't quite sure what to think....

Yep, it's a big ol' bullfrog. No one kissed it. We'll never know if it was a prince or not.

All four

It's not very often that I get all four kids in a picture.

Last weekend we went to a nearby town where Joel had to do some training and we visited the town's little zoo.

Caleb & Eliana - Caleb had to have his picture by this tank at a memorial we passed.

Look ma, no training wheels!

We have another biker in the family! Eliana is a natural.

Joel found a bike being thrown out a couple of weeks ago and just picked it up cause it was PINK! A couple of nights ago our neighbor quickly helped us get the tires all fixed up and ready to go. I didn't think that Eliana was quite ready yet to learn without her training wheels, but she wanted to try tonight. I held onto the back of the seat one time down the street and then she had it no problem.

Here's a video of her tonight. It's a little dark, but enjoy her happy squeals.

Texas Roadhouse

Uncle Dave & Aunt Beth were here for a visit last week, and one night we went out to eat at the Texas Roadhouse. The kids think it's so cool that you get all the peanuts you want and you get to throw the shells on the floor.

Karis was our entertainment for the evening. I think she really likes country music. Every so often the waiters stop and do a line dance. Karis was dancing away to the music which caught our waitress's attention and so she asked if Karis could dance with her. Very cute and funny. We also got a little video clip of her "dancing" in her high chair which is below. It's pretty loud in the restaurant so you can't even hear the music, but you can hear Joanna laughing in the background.

Eliana loves

Garage Sales!!

We went on an early bike ride this morning and happened to pass a garage sale. Eliana found the greatest dress (according to her!) so we had to hurry home and get mom's wallet.

I'm thinking that she'll be wearing her new dress the rest of the day.

Messy Spaghetti

Karis loves her spaghetti! Umm bath time??

This picture is of her 1st spaghetti a little while ago.

New uniform

Last week we went to check out a Taekwondo class. While we were watching, Caleb said he was getting more interested by the minute! Tonight Joel & Caleb went for the first time, and they had a great time!

Hyah! Watch out everyone!

If we work together...

Joanna and Caleb were getting ready to work on a globe puzzle. It will be a sphere when they are done with it.

They were very excited to get going, but I told them to read the instructions first.

I showed them that the box said it was for ages 12+ and told them that it might be a little hard and not to get frustrated. Caleb then responded, "But if we work together, we're 16."

Her nose!

She's found her nose!

Two teeth and a trip to the ER

Monday was a rough day for Karis. She has had two teeth trying to come in for almost 2 weeks. Her gums have been raw for quite a while, but they finally popped through! She also got croup pretty bad toward the late afternoon and we weren't able to do much for her. We finally decided she was working way too hard to breathe and it wasn't letting up so we took her to the ER. We're glad we took her in as she kept getting worse. She's on the mend now. She just goes from happy to crabby very quickly as she needs to catch up on her sleep.

Waving to dad

Here's a picture from over 3 years ago.

All lined up waving good-bye to dad.

Birthdays!

We celebrated Caleb's birthday and Karis' birthday last weekend. Where has the time gone? This week alone flew by so fast. Caleb had a great time and loved sharing his day with Karis.

The birthday girl!

Karis is eating some chicken here. Notice it is not her cupcake.

The birthday boy!

Karis starting to mess with her cupcake. She didn't want much to do with it and didn't like the frosting on her fingers.

I broke the cupcake up thinking she might take a bite, but she didn't want it. Can you tell?? It's my party, and I'll cry if I want to!

Caleb was so excited with each and every present he opened.

Eliana's Gospel Eggs

Eliana made her "Gospel Eggs" yesterday in Sunday School. She loves her teachers, Ms. Pam & Ms. Julie!

Here's a video of Eliana going through the eggs and explaining them a little bit to Joel.

A Run & Egg Hunt Day

This morning we all participated in the Easter Sun Run. I ran the 10K and then we all ran/walked the 2 mile together. It was perfect weather and lots of people signed up. The kids had a great time running with friends and enjoying the food. They also enjoyed getting their faces painted as you can see in some of the pictures.

Later in the day, we went to Nannie & Mr. Joe's house for an Easter egg hunt. Nannie has had a hunt for them since Joanna was a baby. Thanks Nannie & Mr. Joe!

Bringing home the gold!

(Joel here.) The closing program for our Classical Conversations homeschool group took place tonight. This year was the first year for a group of this kind in our area, and it met weekly. We're very proud of Joanna and Caleb. They've done a great job learning the material. The program includes a fairly daunting amount of rote memorization with the idea of providing a solid mental framework for continued learning; kind of like mounting a series of pegs on a wall so you can hang things on them as you acquire them. Tina has also done an awesome job coaching them and keeping them going at it.

Joanna was able to achieve a Memory Master gold medal, which means she memorized and could recite the entire history timeline as well the memory work in eight subject areas.

Great job, Tweeter!

Caleb also did well with his memory work, and he was even willing to get up in front of everyone at the closing ceremony and recite the entire history timeline from memory. He wasn't the least bit intimidated at being up in front of people. We thought this was really outstanding for a first grader. Way to go, Caboogle!

If you can't get the video to load below, you can click here to go right to the video.

Here is a movie clip of his achievement.

Warning here -- it takes 5-1/2 minutes to recite all of the events!

Karis is walking!

Karis is a walker! Well, very slowly and one step at a time...

Fun with the cousins

We're enjoying a visit from Patty, Dan & Katie this weekend. The kids are enjoying time with their cousins.

Here are some random pictures.

We had to make pizza for Aunt Patty. Joanna wanted to let her know we were happy to see them.

Cousin Katie and Karis enjoying their breakfast together.

Here they are enjoying another meal. Well, Karis might not be enjoying it too much.

Cousin Chloe & Karis. Karis kept wanting to lay down with Chloe.

Caleb reading a book to Karis.

Here's Katie getting ready for a bath. She has so much hair!! I'm just a little jealous.

I don't have any pictures of Eliana or Samantha. They've been busy playing polly pockets and other girlie things.