Miscellaneous May

One day, while Catherine and I were walking laps on our property, we found this little guy making his way down to the pond:

A tiny turtle!

After admiring it, Catherine carried it to the pond, where it quickly slid into the water.

After the end of studying The King of the Golden City, Catherine made this lovely cake:

She decorated it herself.

Luscious strawberries began to appear:

Their new location near the house helped greatly.

Oh, that looks yummy!

At the end of a semester of art class, we celebrated with doughnuts:

They were enjoying this immensely.

Anne and Catherine showed off their final art project.

We saw some cool storm clouds while driving one day:

We stopped on the side of the country road to take the picture.

All of the kids got to do Lego Club:

Anthony, Catherine, Joseph, and Dominic showed off their creations.

Anne

This was Anthony's first time participating and he was so proud to put his creation in the display case at the library!

We met friends at the playground one day:

It was a game of chase!

Full-speed ahead.

Dominic took a break with a friend.

We go to the playground and what do the boys do?  Climb trees!

Girl hug!

We had two little cousins over for a couple days:

They checked out the chickens.

They climbed the hay bales.

They went for a ride in the big, yellow wagon.

Courtesy of Anne and Anthony.

Balthaser and Anthony had a sword fight.

They did each other in.

One day, we used another set of Braum's Book Buddies rewards:

Ice cream is good, very, very good.

Legos, Art, and Butterflies

At the end of March, we went to Lego Club at the library.  This month the theme was Castles!

Dominic and Joseph built one together.

Anne and Catherine each made their own.

Anthony was too young to join in, but he liked to watch the others at work.

Catherine with her "castle in ruins."

They had a great time.

One morning, Anthony spent a long time turning an empty cereal box into his own little creation.

"Cheeeeese!"

Kept him occupied for a long time.

One Saturday, Catherine and I went shopping for an Easter dress for her.  While we were there, Catherine picked out a tie for Daddy and we sent him a picture of it.

Silly tie!

The Christmas before last, we got the kids a live butterfly garden kit.  Included in the kit were a netted enclosure and a coupon to send off for the caterpillars.  I finally remembered to send off for the caterpillars at the right time of year and in March we got a container with 5 caterpillars.  Inside the container was all the food they would need as caterpillars.  The kids were fascinated, watching the caterpillars get bigger every day and frequently shedding their skins as they grew.  When the caterpillars were big enough, they attached themselves to a paper at the top of their container and each one formed itself into a chrysalis. 

We moved the paper with the chrysalides to the netted habitat.

Thus began the waiting game for butterflies!

More June Pictures

In late June, we picked all the cherries off our cherry tree.  Last year we got one cup of cherries.  This year we got enough to make a cherry pie!

Cherries were pitted and ready to go!

The pie with a cherry on top.

I barely managed to get a picture of a piece of pie before we ate it all.  It was yummy!

Catherine used her little patty pan to make a tiny apple pie with the leftover pie dough.

We went to Lego Club at our library at the end of June.  I can't remember what the theme was, but the kids sure had fun.  

Joseph and a new friend, with their creation.

Dominic with his Lego build.

Do you see a kid near the top of the tree?

It's Joseph!

We had a wild storm roll through one evening and this is what it left behind:

Our tomato plants had a lot of green tomatoes on them, so one day I made some green tomato salsa: 

It was tasty.

Then, on June 28, the girls came excitedly rushing into the house:

They were so proud!

Our very first eggs!

Lego Club, Picnic, and Playtime

One late afternoon at the end of April, I took the kids to Lego Club at the library.  While the big kids built their creations, Anthony and I hung out in the library. 

He got the computer all to himself.

After a while, we went to check on the big kids.  The theme of the day was Space Stations.

Anne with her creation.

Joseph worked on finding just the right pieces.

Catherine and Dominic built one together.

When Lego Club was over, I took the kids across to the picnic area so we could eat our picnic dinner.  They had swimming lessons an hour and a half later, so I wanted to just stay in town.  The kids loved eating dinner at the park.

Chicken pasta salad in a cup!

Then we had some time at the playground:

The big spider web contraption is very popular.

Anthony got the hang of it.

He was very proud of himself.

Big enough for everyone.

Upside down Anne.