Welcome To The Johnsons

Brighton Beach

2011-08-04T23:23:00.001-07:00

We had a few days of amazing weather this week, so the boys and I packed a picnic lunch and hopped on a train and went back out to Brighton Beach to further explore the rocks, tide pools, and beach huts.

More photos here.

Last outing with Maca/Jeremiah's Birthday

2011-08-04T23:17:00.001-07:00

On Saturday we rented a van for our third and final drive. We ended up checking out Brighton Beach(more on that later) and Werribee Open Range Zoo. We'd never been to a zoo like this and it was great!

More photos here.

Royal Botanic Gardens

2011-08-04T23:08:00.000-07:00

On Friday we spent the afternoon with Maca at the Royal Botanic Gardens exploring the areas that bloom in winter. Isaac really loved it there and was our official family photographer for the day with my phone.

More photos here.

Love Never Dies

2011-08-04T23:00:00.000-07:00

On Thursday, Jeremiah and I took advantage of having a babysitter and went to see Love Never Dies, the sequel to Phantom of the Opera. It opened to very mixed reviews in London, shut down for re-writes, then reopened and the Broadway opening has been indefinitely put off. Suffice to say that our expectations were quite low, and perhaps that worked in our favor, but we really enjoyed it. The music was good, with little touches of familiar Phantom music throughout along with spectacular costumes and sets.

Back to the city

2011-08-04T22:45:00.000-07:00

Even though we would have been happy to stay in the countryside, we headed back to the city Tuesday after these cockatoos posed so nicely for me.

On the way home we stopped by Yarra Valley Dairy for a cheese platter lunch which turned out to be completely incredible. We bought a few varieties to bring home and spent the next week trying to maintain a reasonable rate of consumption of our goods.

That night Anne and I headed out to Rock of Ages, a hilarious musical using music from 80's hair bands.

More photos here.

Healesville Sanctuary

2011-08-04T22:32:00.000-07:00

We returned to Healesville Sanctuary and again took advantage of their Magic Moments program, which we had done on our last trip with kangaroos. This time we got time up close with the koalas and the dingoes. Both were really great experiences, but it was the koalas that really stole our hearts.

More photos here.

I think for Isaac the highlight of this entire trip might be the moment in the photo below. Our hosts had told us that the parrots would eat our of your hands and Isaac had gotten them to do so before we left for the animal sanctuary and was thrilled. That afternoon when we got back he spent a lot of time out on the porch near the bird feeder and became buddies with this parrot who eventually hopped right onto his hands to eat. Isaac could hardly contain his excitement!

Return to Healesville

2011-08-04T22:08:00.000-07:00

You may recall that the weekend after we arrived in AUS we took the tram, train, then bus to get out to the Healesville Sanctuary to pet kangaroos for Isaac's birthday. On the bus we had driven through a beautiful area with lots of vineyards and rolling hills that we wanted to return to before we left. Anne's visit was the perfect time to go and we stayed at the most beautiful rental property, The White House. It was especially perfect for our family since it is a working farm and they welcomed the boys to help with chores and visit the animals. And animals there were! The day we arrived we saw kookaburras, cockatoos, parrots, kangaroos(finally!), horses, alpacas, goats, and miniature horses. It rained most of the weekend, and we got sooo muddy, but we were having so much that we hardly noticed.

More photos here.

Maca comes to Oz

2011-08-04T21:57:00.000-07:00

Anne arrived on Thursday, July 21st, sans luggage which got delivered to the apartment the next day, to start a 10-day stay. It was so nice to see a familiar face and be able to introduce her to our adopted city here. It was also a great excuse for a couple more outings as we had our own departure in sight.

More photos here and here

Collingwood Children's Farm

2011-07-17T05:53:00.000-07:00

Jeremiah took the boys to Collingwood Children's Farm on Saturday. I've been wanting to take the boys there since we came here, but was too intimidated by the public transportation route to take them myself. Of course J has no such concerns, so on Saturday they took off for the farm while I was a bit under the weather. They had a great time and I'm very sorry to have missed it. Hoping it might work out to get back there again before we leave.

More photos here.

Great Ocean Road - Twelve Apostles

2011-06-26T05:34:00.001-07:00

The big attraction in this area is the Twelve Apostles. They really are amazing, but there was a very specific viewing area and of course we arrived at the same time as about 4 charter buses full of people. We really only stayed long enough to walk and take the photos.

*More photos here*

Great Ocean Road - Loch Ard Gorge

2011-06-26T03:55:00.000-07:00

This area was the real gem of our Great Ocean Road trip, I think Jeremiah would agree. It's called Loch Ard Gorge for the Loch Ard shipwreck in 1878 in which only 2 people survived. After looking at the photos, you might see why it's amazing to me that anyone survived. The water beats against the cliffs mercilessly all the way through the narrow channel onto the beach.

We first arrived here to admire the scenery and then returned later in the day to let the boys play in the sand. It was much too chilly to play in the water by any reasonable person's standards, but of course the boys didn't mind at all.

*Photos here*

View Larger Map

Great Ocean Road - Home Away From Home Away From Home

2011-06-26T02:58:00.000-07:00

Our vacation rental was the guest house of a couple who lives on 5 acres. It seems somewhat common to have a guest house built onto or near homes in rural areas. We absolutely loved the property. Would recommend it to anyone if you're in the area. :)

*Photos Here*

View Larger Map

Great Ocean Road - Apollo Bay

2011-06-26T02:20:00.000-07:00

The second stop we made was in Apollo Bay. The Great Ocean Road was absolutely beautiful, but also full of lots of twists and turns along the cliff-side road. We stopped often to ease queesy tummies.

*Photos Here*

View Larger Map

Great Ocean Road Trip - Bells Beach

2011-06-26T01:48:00.000-07:00

We got out of the city this weekend! We rented a van and headed for the ocean. Specifically the Great Ocean Road. Jeremiah and I could've spent a week here looking at the sights and exploring the area, but we didn't have a week and the boys weren't as interested in the sights as we were. It was still an amazing trip though, I'll put up photos in groups so as not to be overwhelming.

The first stop we made as at Bells Beach, a huge name in the surfing world.

*See photos here*

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Soggy Birthday for Isaac

2011-05-23T03:58:00.000-07:00

Happy 10th Birthday to Isaac!

More photos here.

May 21, 2011 - Isaac's Birthday Wish

2011-05-22T00:41:00.000-07:00

When Isaac found out that we were going to be in Australia for his birthday, his wish was to pet a kangaroo for his birthday. Uh, no problem? As it turns out, it was possible, so on our first weekend here, we hopped on a train to go to Healesville Animal Sanctuary. A tram, train, and bus ride later, we were there. It was a beautiful drive through wine country. We plan to go back while we're here, next time in a rental car when we can take our time and enjoy the beautiful countryside.

We participated in the Magic Moments program where we got to go inside an exhibit and feed and pet the animals. We chose the kangaroos of course, next time we want to do the koalas, which we didn't get to see at all this trip. :(

Unfortunately, I forgot my good camera at home on the kitchen counter. Of all days to forget it! I was so upset with myself. I had to make due with our ailing point and shoot camera.

More photos here.

May 18, 2011

2011-05-18T04:02:00.000-07:00

The boys sitting in front our building. Our living room window is on the top floor to their right. A few more photos from our day here.

Exploring

2011-05-15T20:51:00.000-07:00

The boys and I took a walk this morning in Fitzroy Gardens right across from our apartment. Click here to go the album with all the photos on facebook.

How did we get here?

2011-05-15T16:12:00.000-07:00

My friend Heidi asked me how we ended up in Oz, and when I started to reply I realized it was a good place to start blogging about Australia.

So 5.5 weeks ago on April 7th the boys and I were going about a very routine Thursday morning. We were sitting at the kitchen table doing school and Jeremiah i(stant) m(essage)'d me and asked if I'd be interested in going to Australia. The convo went like this:

Jeremiah Johnson: I don't know that they'd move a family but Tendril needs someone to move to Australia for 3 months

Jeremiah Johnson: may 16th

Jeremiah Johnson: want me to volunteer and see if they'll send us all

Jeremiah Johnson: ?

Shanelle Johnson: um, yes

Shanelle Johnson: absolutely

He went on to say that he had no expectations that they would really send all of us and that I should put it out of my mind, so I did. No really, I did. It was too overwhelming to think about it only for it to not pan out. Until the moment Jeremiah im'd me, I didn't even know until then that his company had anything to do with Australia at all. As it turned out, his company had a new contract here with Origin Energy and were looking for some people to go for 3 months to get things off the ground.

Five hours later, this was the im I received that made me all shaky and nearly hyperventilate:

Jeremiah Johnson: get your passport ready

Shanelle Johnson: seriously?!

Jeremiah Johnson: they want us to fly out Apr 29 to May 7th just us to visit and make sure we are really willing to do it

Jeremiah Johnson: that would mean leaving the kids in the US

Jeremiah Johnson: then we'd have to return on May 16th for the 3 month stay

Jeremiah Johnson: so we can work out the week-long part but we need to get passports ordered tomorrow for anyone that doesn't have them

Shanelle Johnson: right, ok

And that was that. We were going to Australia. Tendril wanted Jeremiah and I to go for a week to make sure we wanted to make the commitment to come for 3 months with the family, make housing arrangements, and for J to meet the team he'd be working with.

Everything happened at incredible speed after that. And far beyond our ability to control it, everything fell into place with such ease it was obvious we were meant to do this. Our friends who had kept our dog Zoe while we'd gone to the midwest were willing to keep her for the duration. Our neighbor Jen was at the end of her lease at her house and was looking for a place to move into. We initially assumed we'd need to sell the chickens and let the snake go, but we ended up reconnecting with some old friends, the Horns, who live on a farm and were willing to let the chickens board there while we were gone and our friends the Mackeys were willing to keep the snake for us. Almost without trying, we had accommodations for all the animals and someone to stay in our house while we were away.

When J first mentioned us going over first for a week, I wondered how that could possibly work out. A year ago, it was a big deal for us to leave the boys for the first time for 2 nights to have a get-away. 10 days is a long time! A few calls to IL told me that Aaron and Judy had no travel plans and my mom had a light work week and all would be thrilled to have the boys while we went.

So 15 days after the im's above, we were leaving our house for 4 months and heading to IL. Of course we came and loved the city. J and I were terribly spoiled by completely uneventful travels, so we were a little put out when our very first flight with the boys out of the regional airport to get to Ohare was cancelled and our flights all had to be changed to the next day. It worked out fine though, and we've arrived safe and sound in Melbourne. The boys traveled amazingly well and I didn't even have to get out many of the activity books that I'd bought for entertainment. We're getting settled into our place and are currently working on getting home internet set up and getting the fridge and cupboards stocked.

More to come.....

Homeschool Connection Projects

2011-04-20T18:40:00.001-07:00

Homeschool Connection teachers were so kind as to help the boys finish up some projects on short notice before we head out of town. Today was their last day and these are some of the things Isaac came home with.

This is Isaac's wolf that he saved for and bought from the Nature and Science Museum gift shop, he named it Snow. In his sewing class, he made this bag to carry snow in on our trip.

The next two are project from his Pottery 3 class.

I just have put something next to this for perspective. It's quite large and very heavy! The class worked long and hard on their canopic jars. I really love how it turned out.

Face in Space

2011-02-24T14:40:00.000-08:00

Isaac and Spencer watching their faces take off into space through the NASA Face in Space program. The space suits that Anne made the boys for cmas have badges for the specific Discovery shuttle mission that their faces are going to space in, so cool!!

Visit from Great Grandpa & Grandma

2011-02-20T21:51:00.000-08:00

This past week my grandparents were on the way back to IL from AZ and stopped in Denver for a couple of days for a visit. It was great to get to see them. The last time they were in Denver they came along with us while we were getting the inspection done to buy our house(10yrs ago), so it's been a little while.

We decided to make our first ever trip to the Museum of Nature & Science. We ended up buying a family membership and it's a good thing we did as we never did made it out of the Space exhibit. Before we left, we watched Hubble 3D at the imax, it was so incredible! We have tons of exploring yet to do at the museum, including a new exhibit opening in a couple of weeks: Pirates!

Here Samuel is shaping the surface of Mars.....in his own unique way.

In science class at home, we did a crater experiment with flour and rocks. This was a high-tech version of that with steel balls and sand and cameras where you could make the crater and then watch the recording of it being made in slow motion in both forward and reverse.

The tot area had dress-up gear and the cockpit of a shuttle to pilot. Asher is focused on picking up space rocks here.

So glad it worked out for them to come through town!

Isaac's Igloo!

2011-02-09T12:18:00.000-08:00

He's been working hard on his igloo and has been thrilled that the snow has actually stayed around long enough for him to finish it. (I'm not so excited about that part)

Silly Samuel

2011-01-12T15:36:00.000-08:00

Isaac got a Flip-like video camera for Christmas and we're enjoying it. Video overload here a bit, sorry about that. This is just Samuel in a fit of giggles, had us all cracking up.

Home Depot Kids Project

2011-01-12T15:30:00.000-08:00

Video is a little loud, might want to turn down the volume.

Spencer's Intro to Drama

2011-01-12T15:26:00.001-08:00

Today was the end of semester open house at Homeschool Connection. Each of the 3 boys who attend were part of the performance portion. Spencer's is first up. His class's performance is 10 mins long, the others are much shorter.

Samuel's Kindergarten Class Performance

2011-01-12T14:52:00.000-08:00

Isaac's Guitar Performance

2011-01-12T14:50:00.000-08:00

Prepared to Launch!

2010-12-29T10:36:00.000-08:00

We're studying astronomy all this year for our science curriculum, so when Maca asked if she could make the boys spacesuits for Christmas, it was perfect. Well Maca has outdone herself and the boys have the neatest spacesuits ever! Thanks Maca!!

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-25T20:14:00.001-08:00

This free digital ecard generated with Smilebox

Asher's Christmas Concert

2010-12-17T13:00:00.000-08:00

In years past, the teachers are always having to tell the kids to sing louder during concerts. I think it's safe to say this is a different group of kids. As an added bonus, Asher wasn't doing somersaults and other "entertainment" on the front center of the stage this year. He stood nicely and sang very well this year. That was a relief!

Sunflower Farm

2010-09-25T13:46:00.000-07:00

We first discovered Sunflower Farm when Seth and Heather were out visiting in July. Since Jeremiah, Isaac, and Spencer weren't with us then, we've been anxious to share this great place with them. On Friday, Jeremiah took the morning off and we headed up to explore with the whole family.

The zipline was definitely a favorite again.

Samuel turned 6!

2010-09-25T13:39:00.001-07:00

Samuel turned 6 on Sept 17th. First thing in the morning, we let him open a gift, his own scooter, which we promptly took to the skate park to let him try out.

It was exciting for another reason too!

That evening, we had small group, which turned into a little party for Samuel and Rowan, whose birthday was the next day.

Small group spoiled him!

Rowan and Samuel with their cakes. Rowan's was made to his liking, about half of it was frosting. Samuel's had Star Wars characters with actual light-up swords!

It was a great birthday for our Samuel!

Labor Day Camping

2010-09-25T13:20:00.001-07:00

I realized I had some pictures on my camera that I should put up, so here goes. We camped with the Mackeys on their property again over Labor Day and one afternoon we headed out to visit Bishop's Castle. It has been entirely built by one man over the last 30-odd years out of what began as a cottage that made of stones native to the area. Someone commented to him that his cottage looked like a little castle and his vision was born. The man is a metal worker by day. He is what you'd call a conspiracy theorist and pauses from his work to shout his thoughts on government, religion, you name it, to whomever will listen. As you can see, the place is incredible. However between some of the safety concerns and the man ranting, I found it to be rather creepy and wouldn't be sad not to visit again.

Again, all done himself, these very cool windows have one crank that open them all.

This is the first balcony level, the grating there was fastened in not as many places as I would have liked, and I couldn't make myself step out onto it.

You can see the really incredible work here.

Though I did eventually get up to the first level, I initially was very happy to stay Spencer and Samuel who also were not happy about the winding, steep, open staircase to get up there. You can see us waiting outside for everyone at this point. Yes, that's me literally hiding behind Spencer, fighting tears actually seeing the rest of my family up there. You can also see where there is a section of railing missing and there is a ladder in its place. This is about 10-15 ft off the ground.

Back at camp, the kids discovered they had seemingly superhuman strength when it came to knocking over the dead trees with their bare hands.

Samuel, who was content to bang on dead trees all weekend with the tent mallet.

Happy Birthday Samuel!

2010-09-17T08:01:00.000-07:00

Samuel is 6 today and before daddy left for work and Asher left for pre-k, we let Samuel open one gift, his very own scooter. We've currently got the newly remodeled Broomfield skatepark to ourselves while Samuel tests out his new toy.

Asher's first day of school.

2010-08-23T11:58:00.001-07:00

He was a very excited boy!

The proud big brother sends off his brother with a hug.

Last day with our guests.

2010-07-30T21:00:00.001-07:00

Denver Zoo

2010-07-30T20:54:00.001-07:00

Boulder Creek

2010-07-30T20:49:00.000-07:00

Anne U. White Trail in Boulder

2010-07-25T14:54:00.000-07:00

It was a gorgeous morning for a hike!

camping with scouts

2010-07-25T12:33:00.001-07:00

Isaac, Spencer, and I went camping this weekend at Golden Gate Canyon State Park. The weather was beautiful all weekend and everything went well. We had a great time!

Our camp site was right next to the main scout area so we never had to go very far for anything and we got to meet a lot of people.

The tent pads were beefy and smooth. Our tent fit perfectly into the pad and anchored to the loops already there we didn't really have to mess with tent stakes (but Isaac still wanted to put some in).

At the end of the weekend, Isaac took the tent down all by himself.

List of stuff we loved:

watched a blacksmith make some cool stuff out of iron

camp fire

fun camp games

playing hot potato (with a potato from the fire)

scout camp fire with skits and songs

2010-07-24T16:08:00.000-07:00

Sunflower farms has kids farmfest every Saturday during the summer. We tried it out for the first today with uncle seth and aunt heather and it was tons of fun!

Sandbox in the silo!

Really neato treehouses.

Uncle Seth meets Snake Eyes.

2010-07-24T16:05:00.000-07:00

Littles Love Cherries!

2010-07-24T16:01:00.000-07:00

There are two exciting things happening this weekend. One is that Jeremiah and the bigs are on a cub scout camping trip. The other is that Uncle Seth and Aunt Heather arrived for a visit.

What better way to start a fun weekend than with cherries?!

Too hot.

2010-07-14T15:29:00.000-07:00

I guess it was too hot to lie on her bed, so she opted for the cooler floor.

Fun at the Fountains

2010-07-14T15:25:00.000-07:00

Last week Isaac went to see the new Karate Kid movie with the Mackey girls and the other boys and I came back early to pick him up so they could play in the fountains at the promenade. I'd love to have a couple of these in the backyard. :-)

SnakeEyes

2010-06-28T10:55:00.000-07:00

Isaac decided to name his new pet SnakeEyes. I took a few pics yesterday so you can really see just how small SnakeEyes is.

Jr Master Gardener

2010-06-16T10:35:00.001-07:00

Isaac started a Jr Master Gardener program for the summer through the Colorado State University Extension/4-H program. He came home with a bell pepper plant to take care of for the summer that already has 2 tiny little bell peppers on it. Isaac is looking forward to them getting bigger so that he can pick them and use them for an omelet. Here is an article from the Broomfield paper about the program if you're interested to learn more about it.

Samuel Outside

2010-06-16T10:29:00.000-07:00

The boys are really enjoying the new tire swing.

Treasure Hunt

2010-06-16T10:26:00.000-07:00

Isaac set up a treasure hunt for his brothers last week. He wanted to have 50 clues, but I talked him into 15. The boys loved it and Isaac loved doing it so much that he set up another one for his small group friends last Sunday.

The prize at the end.

Backyard Fun

2010-06-05T13:50:00.000-07:00

New Tire Swing

2010-06-05T13:48:00.000-07:00

Memorial Day Camping Trip

2010-06-02T17:49:00.000-07:00

We got to go camping at the Mackey's property for the long weekend. I have more photos up on Facebook if you're interested, but I didn't want to put all 50ish here.

We rented a pop-up camper this time. It was so nice!

4-wheelers are just as fun as play structures as they are to ride.

Isaac and Spencer got quality time with the BB gun while we were there.

More vehicle playtime.

Shooting the .22

We visited an alpaca farm while we were there. It was a lot of fun, they were neat animals.

Starved Rock

2010-05-22T21:07:00.000-07:00

Jeremiah and I are down at Starved Rock for our first ever weekend away. We're really enjoying ourselves. Here's some pics from our hike today.

The boys meet cousin Ian.

2010-05-19T20:43:00.000-07:00

Baby Ian has grown so much since I was here in March. He is such a good baby and I was excited for the boys(and Uncle Jer) to get to meet their new cousin.

Arkansas

2010-05-19T20:24:00.000-07:00

This past weekend, we were in Arkansas to visit family and attend the wedding of Jeremiah's cousin Emily. We had a great time catching up with everyone and stayed at a rental house that while very secluded was great for all of the kids(and grown ups) to hang out together in.

Getting ready for the wedding.

The Bride's Parents, Greg and Diane.

Playing in Cari's garage.

The rental house.

The boys were catching salamanders at the rental house, they were sooooo cute.

This cracked me up.

2010-05-11T11:23:00.000-07:00

Denver Area Scout Show

2010-05-02T13:25:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday we went down to the Scout Show. There were soooo many people there, it was a little overwhelming, but the boys had a good time exploring the booths. Each Boy Scout pack in the Denver area had a booth with an activity, and Isaac helped at his pack's booth.

Digging for rocks.

Isaac at his booth doing his job of assisting kids with tying different kinds of knots.

Spencer learning about CPR.

One pack was teaching kids how to build lean-to shelters and after the lesson, the kids got cotton candy. It was a popular booth.

This was a booth that had air powered(bicycle pumps) rockets(empty water bottles). They were a lot of fun.

Ever since we had our addition put on, the boys have especially loved skid loaders and they got to sit in one while we were there. The poor guy who was supervising the machinery had to listen to every single kid try out the horn on that thing.

Notice the cowboys peeking in the back window? It was a mural on the wall, but the placement cracks me up.

A New Path on a Beautiful Day

2010-04-18T20:57:00.000-07:00

Goodbye Aunt Whitney!

2010-04-02T17:42:00.000-07:00

We brought Aunt Whitney to the airport this afternoon. We had a lot of fun with her!

Just in case you didn't see...

2010-04-01T21:13:00.000-07:00

I think probably most of you saw photos on Facebook, but I can't pass up the opportunity to show off my new nephew again. Brad and Valerie welcomed Ian Bradley on 3.15.10. I got to make a solo trip to IL to meet him and take photos the following weekend. He is such a sweet baby and I loved getting to cuddle with him while he was still so fresh.

More pictures from March

2010-04-01T14:15:00.000-07:00

I just saw these saved on my computer to blog. A couple weeks before my quick trip to IL, we went for a walk on a path up in Lafayette that we like. The boys had a lot of fun with tumbleweeds.

When we first met the Cables when we lived in IL, Luke would say how all the trees in IL made him feel a bit claustrophobic and I never really understood that. But I do now, you get used to wide open spaces.

All that blue sky and open space makes my heart happy.

Butterfly Pavillion

2010-04-01T13:05:00.000-07:00

We went to the Butterfly Pavilion this morning. I hadn't been in quite awhile and forgot how neat it was. I instantly regretted taking the point & shoot instead of my own camera, when will I ever learn?!

Breakfast!

We all took turns holding Rosie the tarantula, except for Whitney who said, "EWWW!"

Goodies in the gift shop.

Zoo

2010-04-01T13:01:00.000-07:00

I didn't do so well taking pics at the zoo when we went on Tuesday afternoon. It was our first 80 degree day of the year and we were there with half of the metro population. I took a few pics while the boys were playing the African drums.

Aunt Whitney is visiting!

2010-03-29T13:04:00.000-07:00

Spencer's TV Debut

2010-03-10T21:02:00.000-08:00

Well, kinda. Spencer's Tiger Scout Troop led the Pledge of Allegiance at Broomfield's City Council Meeting last night. The meetings are broadcasted on Broomfield's public access tv station and are also available for viewing online. They are on about 1.5 minutes into the broadcast leading the Pledge and then introducing themselves. Click on the pic below to watch the video.

A Funny from Dinner.

2010-03-10T20:53:00.000-08:00

Mommy: "Pete and Repeat were in a boat. Pete jumped out. Who was left?"

Boys: "Repeat."

Mommy: "Pete and Repeat were in a boat. Pete jumped out. Who was left?"

Boys: "Repeat."

Mommy: "Pete and Repeat were in a boat. Pete jumped out. Who was left?"

Asher: "MacGyver!"

Spring Might Actually Come Someday

2010-03-01T20:24:00.000-08:00

This past Saturday, we finally had some decent weather and we were all itching to get out of the house, so we went and explored a new walking path near Boulder.

A lair for the boys inside a bunch of fallen trees.

Asher giving daddy a ride on his shoulders.

Isaac making me a lil' nervous. Thankfully nothing hissed or jumped out at him.

Isaac's First Pot

2010-03-01T20:18:00.000-08:00

Isaac came home from Homeschool Connection last week with this first pottery class project: a pinch pot!

It's solar system themed: the sun.

The moon and stars.

Planets.

A back hole.

Isaac goes by Ike there(his choice, not mom's).

Pinewood Derby

2010-02-13T14:01:00.000-08:00

I'm a little behind on posts. We've been staying busy with school and scouts and work and life. A few weeks ago the boys had their pinewood derby with the cub scouts. The boys picked out their designs and did most of the work themselves. We learned a lot for next year and the boys had a lot of fun.

Spencer's lego car.

Isaac's guitar car.

Ice Skating

2010-01-18T08:28:00.000-08:00

We went ice skating yesterday with our small group, it was the first time any of the boys had gone and the first time Jeremiah had been since we were kids. Each of the boys did pretty well. Spencer wouldn't slow down to actually learn to skate, but would race for a short distance until he wiped out, pick himself up and race off again. When we first started, the littles would find an adult they knew to hang on until that adult got tired and then they'd get passed on to another adult(thanks small group!). That got old pretty quickly, so we took each of them to the middle or side where it wasn't so busy and made them go on their own, focusing on balance and going nice and slow. Samuel especially ended up loving it. He told me this morning, "When we were skating yesterday, I was as happy as a tiger who found food." :-)

Pics were all taken with my camera phone, most were blurry, so these 2 are the only decent ones, they happen to both be of Samuel.

Today EVERYONE did school.

2010-01-13T13:24:00.001-08:00

and boy was that interesting. Between the bigs' curriculum and finding things for the littles to do, I kept busy! Oh, check out my amaryllis on the table. A christmas gift that we're really enjoying!

Open House at Home School Connection

2010-01-13T13:16:00.000-08:00

Yesterday the bigs had an open house at their Home School Connection program. The program started with a performance by the HSC choir.

Art class projects were on display, as were science/lego projects.

And they showed us what they'd learned in keyboarding.

Oh, and we got to sample food from the cooking classes, which, as you can probably guess, Spencer was a part of.

Asher's joining us for school today.

2010-01-11T09:27:00.000-08:00

Asher wanted to join us for school today, so I was excited to once again use this super duper cool website where you can generate custom handwriting worksheets. Asher is working on his name in these pics and has moved now moved on to his upper case alphabet because he says he wants to do school "all day". He surprised me by actually sitting and listening mostly quietly when we did our history reading about Greece. We'll see how long that lasts. :-)

Boys' New Climber!

2010-01-01T13:39:00.000-08:00

Christmas Day

2009-12-29T13:12:00.000-08:00

As usual, the 3 boys were waiting for Samuel to roll himself out of bed so they could dig into their gifts. In fact, this year they stood outside the door shouting "WAKE UP SAMUEL!!". Talk about a rude awakening. You can see Samuel is still stretching trying to wake up here.

The boys' big gift was a new costume box.

Lots of Star Wars costumes!

Even one for Daddy!

Breaking in their new citiblocs.

Mommy's try at the blocks.

Preschool Christmas Program

2009-12-19T10:33:00.001-08:00

The littles had their Christmas program on Thursday and both boys did really well. They knew their songs and Samuel knew his lines. Somehow Asher ended up being the front row all by himself, which was.......entertaining.

Cookies With Mimi (Picture Heavy)

2009-12-19T08:57:00.000-08:00

Mimi was here for a visit this week and made cookies with the boys. She had brought with her the cutest sprinkles ever from an Amish community in Iowa. I think some of the cookies were more sprinkles than actual cookies. And I think the boys ate as many sprinkles as they put on cookies.

Blue and green dolphins.

Pink pigs, rainbow butterflies.

Black and white cows.

Asher's 4th Birthday!

2009-12-04T13:21:00.000-08:00

Asher turned 4 yesterday. He got his birthday crown at school in the morning, which thrilled him to no end, and we had a nice celebration at home last night. He's such a sweet kid, happy about every little part of his special day.

Spencer's 7th Birthday

2009-11-29T15:52:00.000-08:00

Spencer turned 7 this past Monday and we had a great day. Here are some photos.

Interesting Craft/Project Today

2009-11-18T14:42:00.000-08:00

I'm learning so much, hopefully the boys are too! A couple of things we learned today: the inside temp of the Great Pyramid is a constant 68 degrees, it is located at the exact center of the earth's land mass and is the only one of the Seven Wonders of the World still standing.

He Loves Me!

2009-11-09T16:28:00.000-08:00

Something you may not know about me is that I have a bit of a sock fetish. My favorites are wool socks, not of the 2-inch thick winter sport variety, but awesome, everyday-casual-style wool socks. Hubby not only humors my addiction, he single handedly feeds it. You can imagine how excited I was to get a surprise package today with a return address of The Sock Company!

Science Experiment: Making Butter

2009-11-09T15:40:00.000-08:00

We didn't exactly churn it, but I wouldn't let the boys use the standing mixer either. The boys each got a jar of cream to shake into butter. I didn't let the cream get to room temp first, so it took longer than it should've, but once it started hardening it went quickly.

The liquid leftover is buttermilk. I think we could've made more butter and had less buttermilk, but the boys were getting impatient to see the fruits of their labor. Isaac has now requested buttermilk biscuits, anyone have a good recipe?

Oh the weather outside is...October?

2009-10-29T08:01:00.000-07:00

As of an hour and a half ago, the official snow total for Broomfield
was 20.7 inches and it's supposed to continue through this evening. We
lost power for a couple hours last night, but it came back about the
time we were starting to worry. We're thankful to be safe in our warm house and the boys are learning that a downside of homeschooling is that they don't get snow days. *Evil laugh*

*I just noticed that the official Broomfield's official snow total of 20.7 inches that the news reports is from 10:30pm last night and it's been snowing nonstop even since then.

Pumpkin Carving

2009-10-26T21:10:00.000-07:00

Last night we carved pumpkins with our small group. It was especially nice to take advantage of Greg's newly cleaned heated garage. We're enjoying the yummy toasted seeds today.

I didn't have a camera with, so these photos are from Deb and Chris.

Kings

2009-10-23T15:19:00.000-07:00

Our art project today was to make the double crown of the king to rule all of Egypt after Upper Egypt conquered Lower Egypt and became one. The red crown was from the king of Lower Egypt and the white crown was from the king of Upper Egypt. The yellow on the front is a cobra made of gold. The boys are trying to look very powerful here.

A funny from Tiffany.

2009-10-22T10:05:00.000-07:00

Love this!

Guess she feels safer there.

2009-10-20T10:05:00.001-07:00

End of an era

2009-10-17T13:24:00.000-07:00

My dad picked out this toy as a gift when Isaac was born because of how annoying it was. Wouldn't you know, it was a favorite for every one of the boys as babies. Drove me nutso. I am cleaning closets today and found this little gem in a box. I am happy to report that he is getting cleaned up and donated, as quickly as possible. Thanks a bunch Dad! :-P

Evening Walk in Boulder

2009-10-16T13:31:00.000-07:00

We met Jeremiah at his office last night to go for a walk and have dinner together before he went on to another meeting. It was a gorgeous fall evening.

Fort in Progress

2009-10-16T13:30:00.000-07:00

Northern Illinois

2009-10-10T09:58:00.000-07:00

On the top, a cortland apple from the apple orchard in Indiana. The cortlands are really big, bigger by about half from the fujis I usually get from the store. On the bottom, a wolf something apple from a tree that belong to one of my mom's neighbors. The thing that's amazing to me is that this is one of the regular size apples from that tree. They had other apples that were twice as big!!

Proof that I can still use the stilts!

Enjoying his peaches.

Samuel's Indiana birthday.

2009-10-04T19:09:00.001-07:00

First of all, check this out. This is so hilarious to me. Don't see it? Check out the cat in the doll stroller. And she stayed in there happily for quite awhile!

Christi and Maca were kind enough to celebrate Samuel's birthday while we were here, complete with gifts and cupcakes. Notice the apple in his hand. He had to chew and swallow before he could blow out the candles.

Cutie nieces!

Legos!

Space vehicle! Samuel was a happy happy boy.

Indianapolis

2009-10-04T18:54:00.001-07:00

The second stop on our trip was Indiana where we are visiting with Aunt Christi, Uncle Justin, Maca, Lauren, and Maddie. We visited another apple orchard too. Samuel, who will constantly be eating an apple if I let him, is in apple heaven.

The silly cousins.

Time with Uncle Seth & Aunt Heather

2009-10-04T18:18:00.000-07:00

This past Wednesday, the boys and I headed out for a road trip. I had been considering such a trip sometime this fall and then Jeremiah reminded me that his rocket club had their big October launch the first weekend of the month, so our trip became reality.

Our first visit was with Uncle Seth and Aunt Heather. We got to see their apartment and get shown around Greenville. We went out to an apple orchard with them and pick some apples and bought a scrumptious carmel apple pie that we enjoyed back at their place before we headed out.

Saturday Hike

2009-09-29T17:46:00.000-07:00

On Saturday we went to a new to us path in Lafayette, Public Road Trailhead. It was a nice little trail that followed a stream that actually still had water.

The boys building a bridge.

Hard to see here, but this crawdad had turquoise on him.

Spencer's Life Dream

2009-09-23T19:18:00.000-07:00

Spencer loves to memorize things and is really good at it too. This year we enrolled him in a nearby church's Awana program where he gets this fancy vest for badges that he earns by memorizing scripture. I can't tell you how much this vest means to him, like it was his lifelong goal to get one. He's in heaven this year because in addition to Awana, he and Isaac are also participating in Boy Scouts, which means another vest and more badges.

Spencer won a DQ gift card tonight in their crazy hat contest. He really did wear a hat, he had taken it off by the time he got home though. :-)

Berry Patch Farms

2009-09-23T19:03:00.000-07:00

This past Saturday we went to Barry Patch Farms in Brighton to check it out. The strawberry picking was slim, but there were raspberries galore, it was wonderful! We'll definitely be going back.

This is bacon bits, the rather plump resident pig.

Puppy Love

2009-09-23T16:21:00.000-07:00

Spencer and his toad.

2009-09-18T10:05:00.000-07:00

I found this on the point and shoot today, one of the boys' pics. It cracked me up.