The kids sometimes helped me out in the thrift shop I volunteered at with the Navy Wives Club.
Lots of fun finds there.
Matthew continues to choose interesting reading selections.
"Introduction to Genetic Analysis"
:o)
We brought home this mini ping pong table from the thrift store.
And Matthew armed his RC car with a cat toy to drive Ivy crazy.
The next day, he modified his RC with a mini robotics kit.
It was now a remote-controlled tank.
Check out the video.
Lol, the cats were not sure what to think.
:o)
We visited a new hair salon to get Evelyn's hair color touched up.
Wow! So pretty. :o)
She loved having so much more color this time.
Emily and Ivy watched a documentary about cats together - ha!
And Ivy kept watching it after Emily went to bed!
Lol.
Emily brought home this update from her teacher about her reading level.
"I am amazed at how well Emily reads. She just passed her 18 DRA (Developmental Reading Assessment) with a perfect score. Keep up the good work."
This is the level they expect from 2nd graders - And Emily was only in kindergarten! :o) While I think these tests and measurements are not very accurate, it's nice to see the progress she was making. :o)
More great school work.
She said it was me and Chris. :o)
Look what she was doing with that hair!
And here is some artwork by Evelyn that she made for a project promoting unity in society.
Wow. :o)
We were asked to submit a photo for a slideshow for Chris and other ship members.
Lol!
Joshua liked showing me how tall he was getting. :oP
And Emily's latest writing was the steps in How to Plant a Seed.
She also made a small "contraption".
She loved/loves building things like this. :o)
Matthew lost his second-to-last baby tooth. :oO
On the 7th, he and Evelyn traveled to Charlotte, NC to visit the Carowinds Amusement Park for their middle school band trip.
Matthew's 6th grade band also played in a competition there.
💙
They got home close to midnight.
They were exhausted, but had a great time.
Photo Staging by Emily :o)
More art work!
Wow.
She was inspired by this beast from Where the Wild Things Are.
:o)
In this video, Matthew exhibits the third law of motion (for every action there is a an equal and opposite reaction) with a boat he created out of juice cartons.
Pretty impressive Matthew! :o)
Yay for more squirrel friends in our yard!
And yay for pedicures!
All the kids went outside to have some fun with play-doh.
And Evelyn created this birthday card for one of her friends.
Aww, best Harry Potter card ever. 💛
Emily shared another one of her contraption ideas.
And here is the video of it in action.
Goodness, she's awesome. :o)
And she had blue hair that day for some reason.
Ha!
Funny hats are funny.
And yay for Cici's for dinner!
We were fortunate to have a really nice Cici's not far from our house in South Carolina. #PizzaForDays :o)
Emily helped make sure the seeds we planted got plenty of watering. :o)
Here is Matthew showing me what he was doing on his new game.
This is when he started working to convince me that many of his games were not for mere entertainment purposes, but that they had learning qualities that enriched his understanding of engineering and aerospace design... lol! Well, he wasn't wrong, but I still had to figure out how much "game time" to give him. I'd like to think we found a happy medium for these kinds of games. (I mean, he was still bombing stuff here, so yeah...) ;o)
Yay for ice cream!
On the 15th, I started my day with breakfast in bed.
And later, we attended a neighborhood Easter event.
Later that day, we dyed eggs.
Happy Easter!
Egg hunt at church.
Time for a hunt a home.
Where lots of competition ensued.
Lol!
We had a great day. :o)
On the 19th, Emily got to wear pajamas to school.
Cat shirt on top, Moana on the bottoms... it works. ;o)
Holy Fog Batman!
Yeah, we had some pretty foggy mornings.
Little seedlings started to sprout in our little garden area!
Now that the weather was warming up, we grabbed a few spring/summer essentials.
:o)
And more flowers and plants to pot!
Lol!
We went to Emily's school fair on the 22nd.
Yes, she "milked" a cow. ;oP
Later, I caught all four kids jamming out in Emily's room on the guitar hero game.
💗
In preparation for his Confirmation, Joshua made this facebook page for his saint.
He also decided that his hair looked a lot like one of the lego guy's haircuts.
Ha!
And Emily worked with Ivy on her high-fives.
Ha, Ivy and Chewie are now both pros at this. :o)
Matthew picked up some new books at one of our library visits.
Well... he always keeps it interesting! ;o)
Emily received a certificate to celebrate the Month of the Military Child.
"We thank you for your service too!"
💜
And Evelyn received this lovely note from her English teacher after writing a great essay.
"Evelyn - Your writing is gorgeous. You have excellent command of language and total control of precise word choice. Bravo!" :oD
On the 28th, we discovered one of Matthew's many hidden talents.
Check out the video!
Lol, he's too much fun.
More art work and writing.
"If an Alien Came to You
First, I would screm!
Then, I would come down.
Next, I would call my mom.
Last, I would play basetball with it."
Lol. :o)
Later on the 28th, Matthew was inducted into the National Junior Beta Club!
The club encourages and recognizes hard work in academics, service, and leadership.
We were all super proud of him.
Yay for Matthew!
And Evelyn attended her Solo and Ensemble Competition.
She received Superior ratings (highest) in both her middle school and high school flute ensembles as well as for her own solo! Woohoo for Evie! :o)
This is Emily with her best friend Cailey.
They had lots of great play dates during our time in South Carolina.
And even though we have since moved, they still write letters and video chat. :o)
They attended a birthday party together that day.
Evie came too.
:o)
At the end of the month, Emily's class was learning about Space, so she decided to do a project about it.
I showed her how to find images online and save them to a folder. She printed them, assembled her poster, and had us gather for a presentation.
Check her out!
And no, this was not a "school" project, and she didn't get any points for this. It was all just "for fun". Lol. Guess she fits right in with the rest of us nerds. ;o)
Last day of the month.
:o)
And that was our April. :o) Lots of great stuff. On to May... (by the way, I am not sure how far I will get on this blog before I have to take another break [i.e. the babies arrive!]... but bear with me. I'll get back to it all eventually!) It's all good. Laters!
