Off to Awana

The Awana crew is uniformed and ready to go...

Now we have a Cubby, a Spark, and a T and T girl!

At the County Fair

 

Fun night at the Brazos County Fair!

Abby loved the baby chicks.  She talked to them in their language!

 Ezra was captivated by the rodeo... and the French fries.  He was so impressed by the cowboys, he wanted to wear his boots to bed.

Abby thought the popcorn was amazing!

We had fun at the carnival too.  Ezra rode the train, Johnathan took me on the ferris wheel (and kept me from getting too scared), and the carousel gave everyone a spin.

More Mayborn Fun

 

After our hands-on history lesson, we played in the many discovery rooms at the Mayborn Museum.  Here are some of the highlights!

 

Early Texas History

This year for school we are studying the history of Texas.  It's fun for all of us, because we're learning it right alongside the kids (I didn't learn too much Texas history growing up in Colorado!).  

So we started out with a field trip to the Mayborn Museum on the Baylor University campus, where we could walk through Texas history starting from the beginning... or, at least, way back in time!

 

 

We stood on a glass platform over a dig site where the fossils of mammoths were uncovered.

The replicas of homes from early Texas history gave us a picture of what life was like in the periods we are going to study.

One of our favorite parts was exploring the historic village outside, where we went to church,
visited the general store, and did a little reading in the schoolhouse.

 

We even got to ring the school bell!

This hot day was also a good reminder... the early settlers did not have air conditioning!

Storm Clouds at Sunset

Just Another Day

 It's easier to remember the "special" days, holidays, and vacations... But someday I figure we'll want to see pictures from a regular old day.  Like when Ezra picks up a book and actually sits quietly reading while the bigger kids do school (Ok, so that's not exactly typical, but it was sweet!).

And Naomi is excited to make all of us lunch all by herself with a recipe from her cookbook.

 

Here Johnathan takes a break from school to jump on and off the trampoline... One of our best school investments!



 

This picture shows Ezra at his usual active play... He told me the animals were getting ready to eat Wendy, poor girl.  Wendy is 3-year-old Ezra's favorite character these days.  He even has a special high-pitched voice he uses just for her!

Abby doesn't like being left out of school, and she is starting to phase out her morning nap.  So I've had to get creative to find activities she can do that hold her attention for more than a minute and don't involve emptying bookshelves, dumping out pencil cups, or banging on keyboards!  She loves sitting in her booster and poking pom poms through the holes in this yogurt container.

Now here's a little extra detail that tells you a bit about MY days.  I finished this post and clicked over to my list of posts, where, lo and behold, I discovered I had saved another post with almost the same title about a month ago.  Turns out, I had already crafted one with the same pictures, but had saved it unfinished.  I find that kind of thing happening a lot lately... Like when I got everything ready for dinner a few weeks ago, then turned around and realized I had already put a different meal in the crock pot early that morning!  Whew!  It's a whirlwind around here and I often feel like I'm almost but not quite keeping up.  But at least we'll have the pictures and stories to remember this crazy season of life!