April 2016

Playing a game in class at church:

Trying to guess what's in the bag:

Most of our Wednesdays after Classical Conversations (CC) is over, we head to the library.  Then we often visit Ms. Nat (the widow whose house we fixed up for Both Hands).  Her birthday was in April (she says her birth certificate is wrong - they accidently put down April 18th, I believe... but she says it's April 8th)... so here the kids are making birthday cards at the library before we go visit her.

Abby watering some of the flowers that we planted at Ms. Nat's house:

Joshua got a baby sister!!  Our friends Arnold and Juanita were in the hospital for a few days since they had a C-section, so we got to keep Joshua during the days.  Our kids love him (and now his baby sister, Jenai, too) so much!  We went out to eat at Moe's one night:

Our weekly CC meetings were done April 13.  April is GORGEOUS in South Carolina, so one of the first things I did was work outside to clean out some of our wooded area and expand the flower bed in the front.  It was so nice being outside!

I made a little sitting area by the woods at the front of our house.  We're hoping to plant grass this fall.  You aren't supposed to really plant it in the spring here because the roots can't get deep enough before it gets HOT and a lot of it ends up burning up.

I bought these cute lanterns at Aldi to hang from shepherd's hooks in our back yard.  I just couldn't quite decide where to put them though, so after I rambled on and on about it to Ben (who I didn't think was actually listening), I finally said, "What do you think I should do with them?" and without a pause and without looking up from his computer, that smarty pants said, "It depends on which way the British are coming."

Grandma and Grandpa on their way back from Florida!

I caught Caleb drawing this one day.  His favorite part of the Easter story: when Jesus said, "Father, forgive them.  They don't know what they're doing."

Wood-burning lessons with Grandpa:

Playing checkers with Grandpa.  We were supposed to be at Micah's baseball game that night, but after we got there, Micah said his ear was really hurting, so we came home and put drops in it.  I did find out the next day then that he had a pretty bad ear infection.

Dominoes with Grandma:

Grandpa playing a "charades" game with Caleb and Abby.  (Not sure why the video is sideways):

Chocolate cupcakes at the Zieber's house:

We took a trip to the zoo in Columbia.  Abby loved the elephants.  Caleb loved the map.

The gorillas were so funny to watch.  This big guy was fast asleep right by the glass.  We said he looked like Daddy on the couch on Sunday afternoons. :)

Waiting in line for the carasole at the zoo:

Playing with stencils:

We thought Abby was getting pink eye.  Caleb prayed for her. :)

Micah was a "Memory Master" this year for the first time!  That means that he was able to recite ALL of his memory work for the whole year without a mistake.  (First, I tested him; then Ben tested him; then another tutor tested him; then our Director "spot tested" him.)  Here he is getting his award at the end of the year program with the other Memory Masters:

Our van was an absolute disaster, so I told Micah I would give him $8 to wash it and clean out the inside.  He did a better job than I ever have!  I gave him $10.  Of course, I think it took him at least 4 hours, so the hourly rate wasn't that good. :)

I almost decided to officially quit cleaning out our wooded area when I ran across this:  But this is the only snake I've seen at our house and I was digging through major brush, so I'm hoping he's all I'll ever see. :)

Babysitting our little buddy Caedmon.  My kids REALLY like babies.

Abby of course needed to check his growth:

These baby birds were in a tree right beside the trampoline at the perfect height for the kids to watch them.  Unfortunately, two eggs never hatched and a strong storm rocked the nest so much the other two fell out and died.   Abby didn't see the dead babies, so she decided they just "moved nests."

A few more things that happened in April (but I don't have pictures of): 

• Wayne Jacobson (co-author of "The Shack", "He Loves Me", and "So You Don't Want To Go To Church Anymore?") had dinner with us and some folks from the church... great conversation!  
• Come See Me Festival in Rock Hill.... I always think we'll go to more of the activities, but we at least went to the concert/fireworks.
• Had  a few birthday parties to go to, including at one of the nicer Chuckee Cheese's I've ever been to.  My kids were in heaven with 2 hours of unlimited game time.
• Ben went on a men's retreat with some guys from the church.  No agenda; they just hung out in a nice cabin off in the woods somewhere.