Ballet...

Tonight we went to the ballet. Marissa finished her first full year in ballet and at the end of the year they have a recital. We went last year as well, and this year was a little more difficult to handle. Noah doesn't nap anymore and was so wiggly from the beginning. He and Corey left early and got to bed early. Ben got wiggly in the 3rd act but we all wanted to see Marissa so we stayed until the end. She is getting good! We were all very proud of her and we look forward to next year!

After the ballet

Marissa :)

Sewing...

I have been trying to get back into sewing on my machine but Rebekah won't sit in the room quietly with me. She wants to be held and in the end I'm not really getting much sewing done. But the kids are! They sit in there with me and take out their needles and thread them, they find fabric and get to work. Ben has been making some funny little hats that look like they belong on Peter Pan's head and Hannah is always trying to make "something new". 

Hannah trying to visualize what she'll make

Butterflies...

This afternoon we went on a field trip to the Monarch Butterfly program in Encinitas. We've been before and this time was just as great! There is little classroom where they have a little program set up with a movie, slides and kid participation. They learned a lot and it was totally geared to kids. They learned about the four stages of the butterfly's life cycle, and then they got to witness it out in the butterfly area. Then we went to the butterfly area where there were so many butterflies flying all around. There was watermelon in there for the kids to pick up and hope that a butterfly would land on their piece. The butterfly lady had some caterpillars that she passed around for the kids to handle and pet as well. They loved it.

Butterflies

Ben got one on his finger!

Hannah caught one too (as one flies by her face)!

Rebekah got one!

Noah caught one

Swearing in...

This morning, I took the kids downtown to witness history :) We were present as my little brother (Chris) was sworn in as a lawyer! The kids loved it especially since their cousins were there too. What a proud day! We are all so proud of Chris! The kids were great during the short ceremony and afterwards made off with all the rest of the little mints left in the room. I'm so glad all the lawyers and judges were gone by that point ;) Anyway it was a great morning with the little bro.

Chris with Mom and Dad

Baskets...

This afternoon we went to a class on making Native American baskets. The teacher had brought two kinds of baskets for the kids to make. They loved it. They each made one though and had to bring the other home because they had to play with their friends. It was great to see how baskets were made and we may just try to make one with real branches as we prune our trees and bushes....just like the Native Americans and the pioneers used to!

Hiking...

We haven't been on a hike in such a long time. So we decided to take this morning and explore the hiking trails near our house. It was awesome, the kids were in a great hiking mood, the weather was perfect and we headed out. The trails are just under 3 miles away from our house so we drove over there. The flowers were blooming and the kids were in a mood to explore. We found lots of poison oak and managed to steer clear of it today. We think that the kids need to start wearing hiking shoes and pants, just in case they walk into some poison oak. We found a bridge where we sat and took a little break, the kids snacked and played in the creek. They love to gather algae on a stick and make things with it. They do this with their playgroup friends too. They've made beds with algae and other stuff for their bush house. It was a great morning together.

Sweetwater Bridge

Ben with bow and arrow (he's an Indian, see the grass "feather"?) and babies in his backpack (like Daddy)

Identifying red ants

Algae

Noah caught some algae

Hannah exploring under the bridge

Circus...

We went to the circus today! It was so much fun for the kids. They loved it. I do think the best part was that we took Marissa with us. Yep, we went all the way up to her school and picked her up to take her with us. It was great. 

The bigtop

Not impressed with the clown

Yum popcorn!

Cheese

Motorcycle tricks

Elephant tricks

Scratching post...

Since we have a kitten now we needed to have something for him to scratch besides our couches and furniture. We also have a bunch of kids who like to build and create so we thought it would be a nice project for them. They loved it. They picked everything out and helped put it together. They found some wood pieces and some fleece in the garage and got busy putting it all together. Here they are trying to keep the rope straight and tight while Daddy twists it on. They loved it. The kitty loves his new toy too! Such a handy bunch!

Adventurers and...

Our kids love to create with their K'nex. They are all into them. They make all sorts of stuff with them. Today they became adventurers and they kinda remind me of the Ghostbusters in this picture ;-) I love how creative Ben is, he was not working on his goggles for a long time but they are so great and look like they took a long time and a lot of thought. It just comes easy for him, he's a builder. 

Watch out, here they come!

goggles

Here's Baby Rebekah doing what she does best

And Quila, cute kitten

Sisters...

Here are our girls, hanging out together. Hannah is so long next to Rebekah! One of the first things that Hannah does in the morning is find her little sister if she's awake. She's still in love with her and can not wait for Rebekah to play dolls with her. She's good at waiting and she'll teach her early. :) 

Pics...

Boy bonding

Big boy on a mission

Big girl with mismatched shoes

Present...

Today is Hannah's actual birthday and since we had plans to go celebrate my aunt's 70th today we had Hannah's party yesterday. But we waited to give her her present from us, until today. So Corey and I went to Friends Of Cats to pick him up. She wanted a little orange kitten and boy was it hard to find one so specific! 

While we were gone, Nanny watched them. She took them to the nearby 7-11 for a slurpie and then they tried to catch up with a cat that was visiting our backyard. We got home at about that time and called them to the house. They started to hear the meowing from the box and automatically assumed it was the cat they were following, so funny. So they went running outside to find it again and we had to pull them all back in the house to open the box. The meowing was stronger in the house but still, they thought it was the one outside. We started to open the box for her, she (they) had no idea what to expect from the cardboard box that she had to open.and then the little orange kitten popped his head out and surprised everyone. You can see the surprise on their faces in the first picture below. Hannah didn't know what to think.

And yes, she was very excited. So much so that she didn't want to go to the party in the afternoon because she had to leave him at home alone. That made her very sad. The same type of thing happened when Rebekah was born, she didn't want to leave me and her sister. Ever. Even to go to the park. This will wear off, I'm sure.

Happy Birthday Hannah!

Party!

Today we celebrated Hannah's 6th birthday and the day couldn't have been better! She was thrilled with her choice of having a party in our new house (her other choices were to have the party at the playground or have a few people join her at Boomers, both were tempting to her). She invited exactly who she wanted and most came :) She had a blast running around with all her different friends and playing and enjoying their company. We also had a lot of family who hadn't seen our new house yet and they came for the party too. The house and property were buzzing with people all over the place. It was a great day. 

We had a craft that everyone got to do and take home, a visor, they were a big hit. Ben loved the activity so much that he made 5 visors for himself (you can see all 5 lined up in front of him in the picture below)! 

We have a big pile of dirt in the "orchard" area of the yard and the kids set up a bike jump. They were riding bikes and scooters down the large pile and jumping off the smaller one below. Everyone had fun. Definitely a day to remember. 

Happy Birthday, Hannah Rose!!

Birthday girl!

The visor craft

Blow out the candles~trick ones!

Opening presents

Great-grandma Rosalie with Rebekah

Rain sticks...

To continue with our native american art theme, this afternoon we went to a fellow unschoolers home for a class on rainsticks. The teacher gave directions as they went and we came home with 3 kid-made rainsticks and they look great! Each is different from the other. They work too!

Firehouse...

We had a nice time on our tour of the Solana Beach Fire Station with our monthly homeschooling field trip group. It was so appropriate because Noah is into fire engines and he loves to pretend to be a firefighter. He still plans on being a firefighter for Halloween (he was one last Halloween) again. He loves firefighters. They got to get in the fire engine and check it out, some even sat in the drivers' seat. One would think that they would want to get into the fire engine and sit in the firefighters seats, but it took a LOT of coaxing and reassurance that I'll be right there for them to get in. Ben just hopped in so maybe it's an age thing, but Hanah and Noah were both a bit hesitant. Interesting. Rebekah casually napped the whole time, missing the whole thing.

Afterwards we went to a park to play with our friends for a bit.

In front of the fire house

Fire engine is coming!

Down the pole

Getting dressed

Rebekah naps

The group

Play time together at the park

~

the 2 firefighters

Swinging together