It's Been Too Long

Hi there family and friends that have probably forgotten that we ever had a blog...well in all that is going on for us right now and in the last few months the blog has graciously taken a way way back seat to house and family changes.

Here are a few update pictures...

we moved into a house we absolutely LOVE in SE Fresno at the end of January

we have had a lot of fun this year with homeschool and friends

{Valentine's Day party}

we have made several trips to Ripon, CA to see the little guy we have been matched with

we have really enjoyed getting to know him

we spent two weekends traveling to visit him and last weekend he came to stay with us

this is the first weekend David and I met {J}

{J} drew this picture for us and gave it to us the first weekend we got to hang out with him

A Strage Halloween this year

This year was a weird Halloween. On the Friday before Halloween Grammie invited us over to the Windam for their festivities. Grammie was so excited to have the girls over. It was hard to be missing grandpa as we toured the place trick-o-treating.

Jenna was Princess Diana on her wedding day

I got her hair up and it stayed

Kirra was Jackie Kennedy

she's such a beauty

That ended up being the only time they got to dress up since we had a field trip to Monterey Bay Aquarium on Halloween. Cohl missed out altogether because he had soccer practice when we went to Grammie's. He wasn't too bummer.

The Big Fresno Fair

So after last year I said I would not go back for another Girl Scout patch...

well that didn't last.

Here we are, three little girls and one mommy with a very heavy backpack

full of water bottles. I am not about to spend $6 for one water.

Here is the girl's one treat.

We visited our friend's sheet in the Live Stock Pavilion.

Which head belongs to which sheep?

a little baby pig racing, one of my favorites

After 6 hours, we saw many things, consumed some fair food, smelled fair smells and left with one large patch for the vest.

'Til next year I guess :)

quill & ink

we have been studying early America for the past few months

one of the projects we were presented with was making our own ink from berries

and writing with a feather

(just like they did for writing the Declaration of Independence,

they may not have used berries)

it was so cool the kids really got into it

it worked really well

they all loved it

and so did I

Exploration Day::Woodward Park Field Trip

the kids are scoping out the creek that runs through Woodward Park (near the Japanese Garden)

even Karlie go to come

Cohl is mid-jump across the creek

they had a great time IN the creek

we talked about water flow

did a rub of leaves we found

and did a few sketches of what we saw

we followed the creek all the way through the park to the "lake"

{a fun time had by all}

some school projects

with our curriculum we have done some really fun projects so far

we made butter while studying the pioneers from Holland that came to North America

we discovered that adding salt to water can make thing float

we learned about the first explorations of North America and these famous ships

we are having so much fun and look forward to what's next

Cohl is 8

We are so excited to celebrate 8 years with our Cohly...what a guy!

He is already growing into such a responsible, confident and fun guy!

Here are some oldie but goodie pics of our guy from the FPU days.

Cohl's current interests are playing chess, swimming, playing soccer, wrestling with anyone who will let him, battling with Beyblades, playing the Wii and watching episodes of Bear Grills, Beyblades, The Pink Panther and The Cosby Show.

We love you so much Cohl and look forward to what God has in store for you this year!