Suspenders

Mr. K was having some issues with his regular attire.  We thought a pair of suspenders would be a blessing to him and to everyone around him. ;)

Is it cold?

Miss C sitting at the table for breakfast, next to the sliding glass door with drapes open, snow visible on the ground....

"Mom, is it cold today?"

"Its snowing Miss C"

"Ok"

I think she is not a morning person. :)

Science Olympiad STATE!!!!

All of our kids were so excited after the Regional Science Olympiad competition, and looking forward to State.  The excitement level was high that evening after the venue tour.  Much of the team (including parents and siblings) were hanging out in the hotel lobby.

Miss E and Mr R headed out early with another mom that kindly offered to take them so that we could take a little more time to get our crew down to breakfast and out the door.

Everyone was so excited.  I loved Seeing Miss A getting in on the fun.

Mr. R and his partner launched their bottle rockets in the morning and we enjoyed getting to watch.

For most of us it was a day of watching, waiting, and playing.

After a very long day these two (one of our coaches and Miss A) were so tired.  It was such a sweet moment to see Miss A gladly melt into the arms of this dear friend. 

The awards ceremony is always exciting.  Miss E and her partner(s) did well in their events.  She had 4 events and placed 2nd for Anatomy.  We were pleased to see that in her other 3 events they had stayed consistent in their placement or had improved.  Our Sr. High team placed 3rd overall.  Mr R had 3 events; he and his partner(s) placed 3rd at bottle rockets, 2nd in Write It Do It, and 1st for Elastic Launch Gliders.  Our Jr. High team placed 2nd overall.  While awards and medals are nice, they learned so much that can not be measured; the character growth and friendships are the real rewards here.

This was such a wonderful experience not just for Miss E and Mr R; but for our whole family.  We are so thankful to our teammates and coaches for making us feel so welcome on the team and for teaching us so much.  We're looking forward to next year, but for now we're also VERY thankful for a break. :)

Happy Resurrection Day!

A quick hunt in the back yard before breakfast....

Then we were off to church where we finally joined our new local body as members!  

Spring break

Ah, Spring break.  We had some great camping plans.  Then we changed them thinking we would need to be studying for the State Science Olympiad; and we had things we needed to be doing around the house.  Maybe we'd just enjoy some local activities we had been wanting to get to while taking care of those other things?  Then we got sick.

Our first Spring break activity was going to get manure for the garden.  Fun!  Those that were feeling well (and were interested in going) had a good time checking out the alpacas and watching the tractor loading the manure.

There was plenty of free time for those feeling well enough to play.  It was fun to see what they came up with.

I managed to get out almost every day for a bit of quiet reading time.  Miss E enjoyed joining me too.

Between his savings and birthday money from Nana; Mr R was able to pay for 1/2 of a new mind storms set.  We had agreed to pay the other 1/2 for his birthday gift.  It was ordered a bit early so that he could use the spring break time to enjoy it.

We had been asked to help with the Christian Elder Care conference that was being put on in town.  We had planned to help as a family, but we still had some sick-oes.  Mr. M and Mr. S went along with daddy to help.

Well, it wasn't what we had planned for Spring break; looking back though it was good.  The time at home to rest and and work on some smaller projects was good.  The kids enjoyed the free time.  We were able to focus on some things that needed attention as well.  God knows best, I'm glad we were able to just trust and enjoy what "life" threw at us..

A trip to the doctor

We've had a virus.  Its just a cold/cough.  Some of our kids have a harder time being sick than others.  Mr. S seemed to be having a very hard time with this virus, but he had some extra symptoms as well.  He had an icky tummy.  It progressed to abdominal pain one evening.  He had a fever as well.  He had a rough evening but by morning he seemed to be doing better with the home remedies that we were trying.  However; by late morning he was feeling awful again.  The fever combined with the abdominal pain (think curled up crying type pain) prompted a call to the advice nurse.  She recommended that he be seen in the next 3 hrs.  The base clinic had an opening with his doctor.  His primary concern was the possibility of appendicitis (same as the nurse's).  Blood work and an ultrasound were ordered.  Then we waited....

Daddy was able to meet us there since classes were over for the day and spring break had begun.

The good news?  His lab work looked good!  The good/bad news?  They could not find his appendix during the ultrasound.  This means appendicitis could not be officially ruled out; but that a badly infected appendix would have stuck out.  He went home to rest.  Turns out that he was just having a harder time with this virus than the rest of the kids.  A few days later he had recovered fully.

Happy Pi Day!

In celebration of Pi Day Miss E made some "Pie" cupcakes for a Pi Day party some friends were throwing.