On the Banks of Plum Creek Day

One of the best things about doing this group is that the kids get to experience things that I would probably never take time to do on our own.  Laura had a interesting experience with a crab in this book so Marilyn brought home several crabs for us to examine. She also gave us a great science lesson reviewing the different classifications for animals and what characteristics each type have.

Isaac and Abby both enjoyed watching the crab scoot around and snap its claws.  Abby giggled the cutest laugh at the crab!

 Another major part of the story was when Pa tried to grow and harvest a crop of wheat only to see it get destroyed by a plague of grasshoppers.  I decided to show the kids what an actual wheat berry looks like, grind it up, and make our own "quick" bread.  Thanks to the vitamix we were able to grind up the wheat in less than a minute, mix the ingredients, and 20 minutes later, had fresh bread!

 It was especially good warm with butter and honey! Thanks to Mom I was able to use my grandma's old bread pans for our cooking lesson.

 Then it was time to go outside and examine the crabs a little more.  Marilyn helped them identify all the different parts.

 Marilyn has a trampoline now and all Caleb could think about was getting his turn to go on the "jumper" as he calls it!

 I love watching Weston and Caleb play basketball. 

 Inside the house Laurie was helping the kids make their own quilt squares like Mary did in the book, but out of patterned scrapbook paper.  Gracie and Abby could have spent the whole morning just doing this activity.

 Kim Medina showed the kids how to cut designs out of folded paper, just like Ma did in the book when she was decorating the house.

 Caleb and Weston were able to jump on the trampoline for a while alone while the other kids were working on their activities.  But pretty soon the bigger kids came back, and Caleb had a hard time staying up with Dylan jumping around!

Time for Gracie and Abby to examine the crab. 

 Sweet Gracie jumping for my camera!

So thankful for these times we get to spend together.  I especially enjoyed sitting around discussing the book while we ate lunch! 

We are going to Disneyland!

 Grammy surprised us on xmas with Disneyland passes!  We haven't been to Disneyland for a while and here you can the see the very surprised look on Dylan's face as Grammy explains what the Mickey Mouse cup in his stocking means!

 Gracie was thrilled!!! She keeps hearing about all of the neat things that have changed at Disneyland since the last time we were there.  She jumped up and hugged Grammy.

 Grammy has always been generous but she really outdid herself this year.  The kids wanted to go that very day but we decided to wait until we got back from Cayucos.

 We got up super early and made it to Disneyland just as it opened.  Dylan wanted to go on the new star tours ride so all of the big kids and Lori, Chris and Daddy went there while I took Caleb on his very first Disneyland ride!  None of my pictures came out very well but I wanted to remember which ride he went on first.  He seemed very confused about the whole process.  It took him a while to figure out that he was supposed to be shooting the gun and aiming it at the squares.  We walked right on the ride so I took him on it a second time.  He did better the second time but at the end didn't want to do it again!  I then took him on the Autopia ride. He didn't understand why we had to wait in line, but kept pulling on me to push my way through all the people.  I kept trying to explain that we had to wait and then finally we made it to the front.  They wouldn't let him ride on my lap so he became frustrated that he couldn't see and kept asking me where Mickey Mouse's house was?!? 

 I wanted to ride one thing all together so we decided to go on Small World which was still decorated for xmas time.  I was trying to get him to look at the camera but there was way too much stuff to look at!

 He did however have time to hug Daddy and give him a sweet kiss!

 I was trying to get a picture of all of us together, but no such luck.  Aunt Lori and Uncle Chris are back there as well as Gracie.

 While we were in the ride, I was playing around again with the different settings on my camera and I'm not sure how I got these cool effects.  I'm not sure I could do it again, but I like them!  Gracie and Emi were singing Jingle Bells and It's a small world, and below you can see Dylan and Delaney's reaction to their singing!  Uncle Chris calls the two girls his little chatterboxes!

 While the big kids went on Thunder Mountain I took Caleb to see Goofy and Mickey's houses.  He ended up liking Goofy's house the best because they have some playground toys in front.  He didn't really understand Mickey's house and there was a super long line to meet Mickey so I decided to wait until another time when the other kids were with me.  I have a feeling he wouldn't have actually wanted to have his picture taken with Mickey unless they were with him.

This picture cracks me up because he actually posed for me, which he NEVER does!  I guess he is getting more used to me taking pictures all the time!

chasing butterflies and championships

 The past few years Bill's team has played a tournament right after xmas in Atascadero.  We were thrilled when he found out about it because it gave us a reason to go back to Cayucos over winter break.  Every time we go back, we find new things about the area that we enjoy.  This year we ate at the Sylvester's in Atascadero.  Right next door they were restoring the old city hall, which reminded me of the one in Back to the Future.  The people at the school are always so welcoming and friendly to all of us.  You get the feeling of a small town atmosphere even though it isn't that small of a town.

There is a park in Morro Bay that my kids refer to as "the park with the three story slide."  From the first day, Luke is always asking to go there.  One day when Bill was busy with his team, Grammy and I took the kids there.  Dylan decided he would rather try a new restaurant with Lori and family, so he isn't in the pictures.  Food appeals quite a bit to an "almost" 12 year old boy it seems.

 Armed with my brand new camera and having just watched the DVD explaining some of the different settings, I was excited to try taking some more outside shots. 

 Emi was going around chasing butterflies so I have about 20 different pictures of her in different stages of running.  I loaded them onto Grammy's Ipad and she loves watching Emi run in slow motion.

 Gracie got to try my camera for the first time as she spotted a butterfly close enough to snap a picture.  She was super excited to get this shot.

 On the day of the finals of the tournament, Bill wanted me to bring the box of new uniforms to him at the school to surprise the team with them right before the game.  I said, no problem, and then proceeded to let Lori take my car with all of the girls up to Cambria to the Tea Cozy for a tea party.  I didn't remember that the uniforms were in the back of the Sequoia until an hour and a half before game time.  Chris jumped in the car, drove me up to Cambria to get the uniforms, and made it to Atascadero with just enough time to get the uniforms to the team. For those of you who don't know the area, that is a lot of mileage to cover in such a short time.  He did some amazing driving (not speeding of course) and I was so thankful! They won the tournament for the second year in a row! At that point in the season they were 13-0, which is the best start to a season that Bill has ever had!

 I ended up getting sick for the second half of the week so I don't have a lot of pictures to share.  The older kids enjoyed going on a hike with Daddy, Uncle Chris and Uncle Bob.  They also were happy getting to go have ice cream and walk on the pier.  On Friday and Saturday I was able to take the kids out to play in the sand for a while because the weather was so nice.  These pictures were just taken with my phone, so I am really looking forward to going back in the summer and taking more ocean pictures of my favorite spot!

 Caleb played in the sand for about two minutes before he wanted snacks!

Aunt Lori helped Gracie and Emi make their own hats during our week in the surf shack.  Gracie was very proud of her work, and so was I! 
Even though I didn't feel good I still got to have my favorite smoked salmon tacos from the smokehouse (thanks to Grammy) and my favorite brown butter sea salt cookies (thanks to Lori).  Plus, Laurie and Clay stopped in Cayucos on their way home and we were able to go to Bible study with them on Wednesday night and introduce them to Woodstocks pizza! Luke was happy that he got to spend most of Thursday afternoon playing with Abby at the surf shack instead of going to the basketball game, thanks to Laurie for watching him.  We also were excited to see Joy and Craig stop on their way up to Reno and watch the championship game with us.  We are so blessed to have a wonderful Church family!