Mia Turns Six!

Mia has been asking for a surprise birthday for about a month now. She knows we don't do kiddie parties every year. This year would be some sort of family celebration and she wanted it to be a surprise.

We have a calendar in the office and she took the tag off of April 16th that said Mia's birthday, changed it to April 30th, and said now she would be surprised on the 16th.

But on the 15th she "couldn't pretend anymore". She "knew her birthday was tomorrow". But she didn't know what the surprise was and she really didn't know I had three surprises planned!

Surprise #1: When she woke up I brought her breakfast in bed, blueberry pancakes. She asked if Anna could have them too. Of course!

Since it was Friday we took them both to school next. Paul and Maureen were visiting from California. Paul and Dan were supposed to golf but we woke to this.

So they spent the day with us. After school, Maureen and I took the girls to Build-a-Bear for Surprise #2! Mia is a stuffed animal lover, big time. They loved it.

On our way home we stopped at a hibachi restaurant and these special people were there for Surprise #3! Mia. Was. Shocked.

Happy Happy Birthday to our very exuberant fun-loving Mia!

Impasto Painting Coop

This past week we went to an Impasto painting coop. Think Vincent Van Gogh. It is painting with thick paint using instruments other than brushes.

Since we had a doctor visit in the morning not too far from the coop we brought our lunch and stopped at the park before the coop. No sense in driving all the way home for lunch and back!

At the coop we first learned about Impressionists and we looked at lots of examples. Then the girls loaded their plates with paint and added corn starch to the paint to thicken it. They picked which instruments they wanted to paint with and headed outside to create their masterpieces.

The finished products!

We love our homeschool group coops!

Easter 2015

Easter has come and gone over two weeks ago and I am now only blogging about it! We had a nice Easter. The day before we dyed eggs.

We had several hunts with real eggs in the house that day. Mia closed her eyes while hiding them so that she would be able to find them too. She sometimes stretches logic just a bit!

Easter Sunday was pretty low key as I was not feeling great. The girls behaved in church so the Easter Bunny hid baskets while we were gone! They got a new bathing suit, cover-up and book along with a little bit of candy.

Bill, Dawn, Wade, Arek, Becky and Maks came over for brunch. Make loves the sand box!

It was a gorgeous day to be outside!

Ecological Preserve

I am really really behind in blogging. Even before Charlotte's Web we went to an ecological preserve with our homeschool group.

It was a beautiful day to be a nature girl.

Even the not-nature girl got her feet wet.

They hunted and hunted for fish and tadpoles.

Someone found these snakes that looked like threads or plants.

Finally a group of older boys caught some crawdads. Mia wanted to bring them home but I had to say, "No." After all, it was a preserve. Good excuse!

We came home way dirtier than we left but it was fun!

Charlotte's Web

I'm very behind in blogging! A few weeks ago we went to a play with our homeschool group. It was a wonderful rendition of Charlotte's Web. We read the book right before. The girls loved the play!

Mia wanted her friend Claire in the picture.

Right outside the building there was a cool serpent structure to play on. It was a bit nippy outside so we only played for about 10 minutes.

Our next play is Fancy Nancy (Anna's favorite book) in May!

Busy Busy Sunday

What a busy but fun day! We started out by going to 9:30 AM mass. After that we headed to the park as there was a nice breeze and it was perfect for kite flying. In spring it is usually calm or furiously windy around here so we had to take advantage.

Somehow I only got a picture of the kite string, but not the kite! The kites went up really high with very little effort.

We also brought their clubs and foam golf balls for practice.

After about an hour at the park we headed home for lunch. After lunch we were off to a Masters party. Dan watched the golf tournament, Anna ate, Mia played Minecraft with the boys and I visited with some friends.

After about an hour and half there we headed to a drum show.

We learned about the origins of drums (Africa) and how the technology traveled around the world and changed. I love theses monthly programs where the kids get to participate.

After the show we had a bit of drive to visit the new puppies!!

This was our first time seeing them in person. In two weeks we get to go back and pick ours!

After the puppy visit we went to Texas Roadhouse for dinner and then headed home. The girls were EXHAUSTED.

Arizona

A few weekends ago we decided to make one last winter trip to somewhere warm. We chose Phoenix this time. It was not the brightest choice with Spring Training and Spring Break in full swing! Most hotels were already filled and airline tickets were pricey. But we had credits on Southwest we had to use soon or they would expire so the flights ended up being free. The hotel we finally found with vacancy was a Hilton resort, and a little past its prime. But it had a pool and that was pretty much our only non-negotiable. The service at the hotel ended up being some of the best we have ever had!

Mia found a grasshopper on the balcony and spent a lot of time catching and playing with it.

Every night we ordered Room Service for dinner. The prices were really reasonable ($8) for a kid's plate and really healthy. Mia and Anna ordered the salmon, asparagus and mashed potatoes dinner all three nights. All five of my kids have been big salmon lovers. It was great not having to sit in a restaurant with kids exhausted from swimming!

We spent most of our days the same way: going out for breakfast, playing in the pool and then relaxing in the room watching T.V. We did venture out once to a park where they chased pigeons and drank smoothies.

I think this was our very first vacation with the girls where there was no event or family member to visit. It was just nice spending time together.