Some fun along the way

 Thought I'd hit a few fun moments from my hiatus.  We made ice cream while learning that salt lowers the freezing temperature of a liquid.

 My imp and her impish jack o' lantern.

 Fun with geometry.

 Fall festival type party, eldest daughter was a flower, she made a crown of petals to go around her head...but it didn't make it that long.  Eldest son was a jungle explorer, thank you Wild Kratts. And we spent the rest of the evening convincing Imp not to call herself a Greek Goddess.

 Adventures with Husband Dear--the plus 3 (and me) love to explore with him!

 Candy cane experiments (melting and reshaping candy, who knew it was so educational). ;)

 Jackson Pollock-inspired art on the beach.

Only here

In case you were wondering, it is ill-advised to operate a drill and take a shower simultaneously.
Now you know.

Out of the Blue

Well, it's confession time. It has taken me this long to figure out how to transfer pictures from my phone to this blog.
There's really nothing I can say about that except: I'm sorry.
I kept meaning to figure it out, but well, life can be frantic.
And somehow hoping pictures would magically jump from my phone to this blog didn't just happen.  People assure me there's an app for that.
But, you know better late than never, right?
And, hey, look out internet world--cause I am on the line now.

"Another one busts the dust..."

I have a confession...my children are growing up faster than I can take in most days.  Sure Imp frequently gets the words mixed up or wrong, which yields such jewels as the above song title and the standard "pisgetti," but even these things are becoming less frequently heard.  While eldest daughter, at the tender age of eight, is passing my chin and eldest son is also stretching taller as well.  It is a strange world to be in, I borrowed eldest daughter's flipflops the other day and they were only a tad too small.  Makes me think that my frame of reference for them might just be a tad too small as well, more and more they are coming into their own as people.  Whether it's a clever "invention" from Imp, a delicious-from-scratch chocolate cake from eldest daughter, or the thought-provoking theological discussion of heaven and animals with eldest son--it's one more level of knowing them and seeing who they will become.  I have to remind myself that I am not letting go of who they were, not really, (I have too many funny stories, memories, and pictures for that to happen) just trying to keep pace as their lives are opening up.

"School's out for summer..."

Just as most of you are gearing up for the new school year, or already started on it, we are taking a much-needed one month "summer" break.  So far, two out of the plus three have perfected sleeping in (till 8:30), but one will always be an early bird.  At least they have all perfected making their own breakfasts for some time now.

With eldest daughter making her favorite egg on toast as often as she can.  The kids have been reading, playing games, and generally annoying each other--so a typical summer break (apart from the blazing heat).  But rumor has it that an inflatable water park may be opening soon near us...we'll have to keep you posted on the safety vs. fun on that one!

More Fun With Leaves

We loved the leaves when we were in the states, and so we even found a way to make them educational (beyond the fun of jumping in piles of them).  Collecting, sorting, graphing...throw in air and dance around.  Life is good. =)

A few I missed

Looking back through my sadly neglected camera (I stink as historian in this family), I discovered some wonderful shots (from our time last fall and winter in the states) with my best friend and her family.  I love that our kids fall right in step with each other and don't miss a beat, but it is truly so hard to be away...you can see why, such fun kids!

Course these kiddos, and their awesome parents, are now on their own adventure traveling overseas this summer.  I just wish they were traveling a little farther our way!