We decided to do our monthly field trip the same day as our group meeting. It was kind of a emergency worker day. I was bummed that not more people got this opportunity because it stormed pretty hard that morning and both the meeting and field trip had low turn outs as a result. Those of us that came anyway were really blessed!

First, we had a couple of EMT's come talk to the kids for our meeting. They spent about an hour telling all about their jobs, what they do, how to become a paramedic, continued education, safety, what to do in different emergency situations, what happens when you call 911 and urged every one to learn CPR. To finish it off they let us look through the truck and sounded the siren. This was a great meeting. Very informative. The kids really listened and I could tell they were taking it all in.

After the paramedics were through for our field trip we headed over to the Athens Fire Department. These guys are great! We went a couple of years ago but had another event after them and had to leave when they obviously were willing to spend a lot more time with us. This time we didn't leave until they showed us and talked to us about EVERYTHING! These men were so patient. If a child had a question or an "um, one time my Mommy..." story they listened to it and answer it. They let the kids see everything from their bedroom to every single compartment on each truck. They let them touch stuff and try stuff on. After the tour they sat the kids down and went through fire safety, how to become a fireman, what it is like to be a fireman, what happens on a call, on and on. They had gifts for the kids and took the time to pose with the kids in pictures. I've always taught my kids to respect the police, fire men, and paramedics but I think all the kids came out of this day with a new awe of respect for these heroic men and women. I know I did!

Brandon and Emily went in for their 6 month dental check up and all was good! Now if I can just get Emily to let me pull the tooth that has been barely hanging on all week..... And don't even get me started on her keeping the teeth. She insists on writing notes to the tooth fairy asking her nicely to leave the money without taking her precious teeth.

This is our first year in 4-H and sometimes I feel a little overwhelmed. To tell you the truth I don't think I could do it without my friend that already knows the ropes. She is practically leading me by the hand. However, we are really enjoying it.

First of all, it has given Brandon archery which he has really just thrown himself into full steam. Brandon has always been easy going with not a speck of competitiveness in him. He is truly content at doing a so so job at just about anything. This the first time I've seem my son actually willing to do whatever it takes to excel. In short, he has found his "thing" and I'm really proud of him. But there are so many more opportunities!

Here is a picture of recent community service: The kids donated stuffed animals to the hospital to
help when they have to draw blood from scared children.





Here are pictures of Brandon & Emily at Archery:

Perhaps she shouldn't shoot straight UP? Ya think?


Daddy came to Archery this time. It made Brandon's day.
I forgot to take pictures at Rifle this time and it is only once a month.
So, I guess you'll just have to wait to see...
yet another shot of Brandon's back as he uses a weapon. LOL





Here are the kids at Food Fun Night:

This was more or less a food and nutrition class. They also learned about food safety and comparison shopping. I was really impressed that Emily sat and listened so well. They also learned about a Food Show that they will participating in; in early November. Originally I just signed Emily up for this project but Brandon asked if he could do it too. I didn't even think about how much he loves food! Duh, this project is just a natural for him!






Still coming....who knows what. Emily is supposed to do Clothing and Textiles at some point and our group is really holding out for a Dog Care project. I know one thing there are 101 ways for a child to learn, grow and be active in their community through 4-H. If your worried that you don't own a cow, stop worrying and find a local group for your children!

Daddy took some time off work recently and we took some time off school (surprise, surprise). We used this time mostly to catch up on things that were falling apart around the house. However, we did spend one day together just having fun. First, we went to a close by drive thru Safari, Cherokee Trace. It mostly contains deer and cattle type wildlife, very few what most people would consider exotic. Still, it was often just jaw dropping to see these animals up close. I was surprised how hard it is to get good pictures because once the animals surround the car they are too close to snap shots of! Many would run to the car and simply beg. A few could care less that we were there. We never saw the kangaroos (which was disappointing). I was prepared to love the llamas (which we did of course). I was not prepared to fall in love with the bison. The pictures do not do them justice and I didn't get many of them because they surrounded the car and Cecil made us roll the windows up. They are amazingly cute! Their noses kind of stick up a little like a pug or pig and their eyes seem so sweet and innocent. Any way, Loved loved loved the bison!




After the Safari we went over to the Tiger Creek Refuge which some of you might have seen on Animal Planet's show Growing up Tiger. It is a small-ish place but they are trying so hard to love and care for these animals and are working on building larger habitats. The guide took the time to let us know about each cat, their special personality and how they came to be there. Even though we all know that these are savage beasts that can turn at the drop of a hat it still was hard not to see a little of our cat Snowy in them. This was Brandon's favorite stop of the day.




Well, I have more to post on recent events and activities but we're currently running behind on getting ready to head out to Awanas. So, I guess it'll have to wait until the next time I can steal a few minutes to myself to post.

Our church has finally gotten an Awana's program! Emily is a Spark! This is a wonderful program and I think Emily will love it! Here is a picture of her at game time during the very first meeting.

I also have her signed up for All American 4-H. Her projects will be in Food and Nutrition and Clothing and Textiles.

She will be going to the monthly American Girl Book Club at a local library.

When we remember them we'll go to the Home Depot and Lowe's kid's clinics. She loves those.

I haven't decided if she'll do children's choir this year.

I've also gone to a local dance studio and checked into the price of putting her in tumble and ballet. We just have to talk Daddy into it!

Even though I haven't really mentioned here lately, we have indeed started our "school" year. Brandon has some really great curriculum and I have high hopes for this his seventh grade year. However, he personally is most excited about our newest extra-curricular activity we added this year. We joined the All American 4-H group and he is doing Rifle and Archery. He is doing so/so in rifle and I think it has dampened his enthusiasm a bit. He doesn't like the prone position they make you start out in and he can't move up to standing until he conqures prone. I think with more practice at home and better scores, his interest will rise back up for rifle. Now, on the other hand Archery he loves! So much so, that we went ahead and made the investment in buying him his own bow. Yes, he is a very proud boy! He even gracefully accepted that this meant he would not get much for Christmas.

Not only did Emily have a way cool party where she really cleaned up on some great new clothes but she got to celebrate her friend Macie's birthday with her too. For Macie's birthday we went to...........American Girl. Is there really need to say more? Does it get better than this?

Now, last Christmas I bought Emily a faux Julie doll to see if I really wanted to hand this child a $100 doll. Not only has she taken excellent care of her, she also sleeps with the annual AG catalog that comes in the mail, she finally watched the Felicity movie (I'm planning on buying all the ones they've made for Christmas.) , I've been reading her the AG books (a wonderful friend loaned us a beautiful set), and she has been to the AG book club at a local library several times. Yes! It was time. She was ready for her very first Real American Girl Doll! She got Samantha! We are currently making a "game plan" on who to buy next and which accessories are necessary, etc.

Her mouth just dropped open as we entered the store.



The dolls can get their hair done while their "mothers" shop.



At the Bistro the A girls get their own highchairs and menus.



A girl and her shopping bag. This was a good day folks!



She fell straight to sleep that night and
didn't even ask once if she could sleep in my bed.

Our home school group's last meeting of the "school" year had Cory Mason of the Texas Department of Parks & Wildlife as a guest speaker. This is the second year he has been our speaker. I am told he brought bones of various animals indigenous to our area of Texas last year. I didn't get to make it to that meeting. This year however he caught some wild animals for us to see.

He brought snakes....

Which actually made our group's second snake lecture because we had a lady from the TDPW speak to us last year. She had allowed the kids to hold a corn snake that they have for educational proposes. The is no way to properly express how I feel about snakes. The words Hate or Ick are not strong enough. Still I appreciate that the have their own purpose designed by God and if you can get past the "ICK" of the whole thing they can be seen as pretty in their own way.... I endured it last year because it is very important here in the country for the children to learn how dangerous snakes are and to identify which ones are poisonous. Needless to say, I was not thrilled to have to be around snakes again...and these were wild snakes NOT the program used to being handled kind of snakes. (Note: no one handled these snakes but Mr. Mason)

However, Mr. Mason was a great speaker and I'm sure the kids could do snake a review and reminder with it coming up on summer.....OK Honestly, the kids could see the snakes yearly again and again and not mind a bit......I have issues.

BUT....What I was really excited about was the other animal he caught for us to see! And I DID pet it! I petted it gingerly and not without jerking my hand back a couple of times and holding my breath a little but I DID pet it.


Isn't it cool!? A little alligator! Now this was a new lecture for us and we really did enjoy learning all about the alligators here in Texas! Gee.... I wish my oldest Heather was here. She Loves Alligators!

Well, our soccer season has come to an end. Now, I'll have to hear my children's constant question, "When does soccer start again?" until next season. Here are Emily's and Brandon's pictures from the awards party. I noticed I made two glaring mistakes with these pictures: 1. I'm in them. 2. I let the kids play before they received their awards.

April 18 was a really busy day for us.

First, was a field trip to the Depot Museum in Henderson. http://www.hendersontx.us/index.asp?nid=61

This was a really nice field trip. It was a slight drive for us, but well worth the trip. For a very low price there was tons to see. I wish there were more opportunities like this near by. Here are just a few pictures.




I actually took over 70 pictures of this field trip. Right now it is a toss up to as whether I was just happy to finally remember to bring my new camera to an event or if there really was just that many cool things to take pictures. I decided to spare you the whole album and just give you a general overview. They also have a nice little pavilion that we were supposed to picnic in after the tour. But lo and behold 98% of us did not bring a picnic to eat! We may have a nicely diverse group but one thing we have in common is the reality that effort is just not fun! We went to Mickey D's instead! ROFLOL

Afterwards we got home just in time to freshen up, load supplies into the car, drop Emily off to her Daddy and Brandon & I went to our first ever Homeschool Barn Dance! I was a working it not an attender. However, I did make Brandon dance with me twice. The coolest thing about this event is that is was a fun raiser for a group member that has been fighting an expensive on going battle with cancer. OK, that was really runners up to seeing all these homeschooling kids that didn't know how to dance try to figure it out. The whole time we were planning this the big question was, "Will they dance?" Yes! They did! It took a lot of families to pull this off and it turned out wonderful. Big Kudos to all involved! I won't bore you with a bunch of pictures of kids you don't know trying to dance but here is a good picture of Brandon. I think I'll call it this year's school picture!

When I posted my last blog I thought it'd probably be a while before I blog again I might as well give them a peek as to why I'm not around! Sure enough I haven't blogged. However, I truly do have a ton to blog about. I guess that happens when you go a whole month with out a peep. Just give me a moment or to organize my thoughts and I promise I'll catch ya up to all we've been up to. Let's just address them in order.

Beth Moore Bible Study:
This is wonderful! But then again it is BETH MOORE for crying out loud! So, that is really a given.


WLBC Food Bank:
Brandon is still doing this the first Wednesday of every month, but will miss the next two due to soccer.


Patrick’s Wedding
We actually stretched this trip and stayed a lot longer than we originally planed. This will get it's own post with pictures and all.


Pick up Josh:
Josh actually drove up by himself and spent a few days with us. It was nice to have him around.

Dentist Appts.:
Brandon: 1 filling
Emily: 2 crowns where she already had fillings that just weren't cutting it.

EASTER PICNIC
Easter was wonderful. We did the homeschool group picnic. Then the family egg hunt on Sunday. As it was time for our family egg hunt children from the neighborhood mysteriously appeared in our yard. So, we had quite the gathering for it too! LOL

I had the family wear blue this year for Easter Sunday but alas didn't get that elusive family photo. Here is a picture of Emily and Brandon:



MONTHLY FIELD TRIP
Where: ---- Zoo
This was a nice outing. Great spring day for it. I forgot my camera but if you've seen one giraffe you've seen them all, right?

ACTS SPRING SOCCER
What can I say? As much as I hate physical exertion I might become a soccer mom yet! Soccer Wednesdays are my children's favorite day of the week. Not only do they get to go to soccer but I count it as our free day. I know we won't get any school work done on Wednesday so it is open house day. This is the day they are allowed to invite their homeschool friends over to play. We go to soccer, come home and picnic with friends, and the last one usually leaves around 6 PM.

Other random thoughts.....

In all we had a two week spring break and I've been trying to play catch up ever since. This week in particular I've knuckled down. I see summer around the corner and we are no where near wrapping up our school year.

We got a new puppy Dobie.


I've planted some flower beds around my gazebo and of course it then snowed. Snow in East Texas? I'm pretty sure this was all about me and my tulips.

























Finally Spring has sprung and the yard is looking pretty.







And last but certainly not least I just have to tell ya'll about the new lawn mowing service I've hired. These gals really love their work! They don't want any pay and are absolutely meticulous that they get every little blade of grass. The one draw back is that due to their size and dedication to detail they are rather slow.

To those of you that have already seen this picture, it's cute. Surely you can stand seeing it one more time!

OH the Randomness. I have so much more randomness I could share but I need to get to bed because tomorrow is SOCCER! I'll post some soccer pictures tomorrow after the game. See you then!