We had a Cracker Barrel gift card and decided to go one Saturday morning with the kids. They thought it was quite the treat.
Our last day of CC was April 5th. (So we got to slow down a bit on schoolwork this month!) The last day was "wacky day". Abby played the part. :)
Our final "Hands-On-Science" for the year was for kids to design a contraption that could protect an egg from being dropped from a second story window using nothing but popsicle sticks, rubber bands, and napkins. There wasn't a great second-story window at the church with a clear drop to the ground, so weeks before, I stopped in at the fire station to ask if they would be willing to bring the fire truck over. We never heard back from them until they called at 9 AM the morning of CC and offered to bring the truck. They definitely went up WAY higher than 2 stories, but it was pretty fun for the kids to see. (It also was thundering while they did it, but I guess firemen are very brave.) :) One of the eggs actually survived!
Grandma and Grandpa Bender stopped in on their way home from Florida, and we actually got them to stay for THREE NIGHTS! The kids and I went with them to see the Easter production at Narroway (I had gotten them tickets to Narroway for Christmas.) And Mom was able to go to Rachel Hunger's bridal shower with me Sunday afternoon. We also visited with the Jettes while Micah mowed their grass. (And Caleb helped Mike wash the car so he could earn $5.) :) They also came with us to church Sunday morning. (Dad said, "Well, I don't care for the music." I didn't think he would. :)) Other than that, we mostly just hung out.
Reading Abby's Bible together...
Abby pretty much claimed Grandpa for the weekend. She was always climbing on him and teasing him. They were best buddies. ("You, you, you!")
One evening, Caleb, Abby, Mom, and I all went for a walk at Riverwalk. We saw a couple walking a dog, and Caleb said to them, "That's a nice dog." The man said, "He's an old dog. Old dogs need to get their exercise." Without missing a beat, Caleb said, "Yeah, like my Grandma here!" We chuckled about that for quite a while. :)
With such pretty days out, we moved our school out doors quite a bit. One day we went to Glencairn Gardens and had a picnic. We watched the turtles and snakes (yuck!) and collected flowers and plants to draw in our nature journals. I read to them for a while ("Watership Down") while they worked on the nature journals. It was such a nice school day!
I have no idea what these turtles were looking at, but they didn't budge the whole time we watched them.
I'm just glad the two snakes at Glencairn are always in the same spot so I don't get surprised by them!
Coloring/drawing in nature journals...
That afternoon we went to the Ziebers to dye Easter eggs!
Typical dinner scene. Abby was told she had to try one bite of sweet potato before she could leave the table. She would have waited there all evening. After about half an hour, I made a deal and told her she could trade in her one bite of sweet potato for 5 carrots. It worked! Strong-willed thing.
I planted flowers outside, cleaned the siding and windows, sprayed for bugs, etc. It was so nice this Spring the Micah WANTED to mow and weed-eat, so I sent him around the woods to take care of weeds that needed trimmed down.
One day Lindsey's kids had off of school, so we went to Freedom Park in Charlotte. They were pretty excited to see baby ducks.
Us Southern Belles like to garden in white pants and frilly shirts...
One day when Ben was leaving for work, he saw a box turtle on the road, so naturally he grabbed in, backed up the car, and brought it in to the kids. They promptly named him Sheldon and claimed him as their pet. I wasn't super thrilled with the idea.
He was given all sorts of treats to try.
Until... I put him on the back step to get some fresh air. And within 20 minutes, not only had he escaped his box, but he was NOWHERE to be found.
Panic ensued.
The search party was eventually called off. Oh well! (Translation from Mom: "Whew! That was a close one!") UNTIL... about a week later, Ben sent me this picture while I was grocery shopping. "The prodigal turtle has returned!" He said Caleb was playing outside and came running into the house screaming, "I FOUND SHELDON!!!" He had been hiding under the shed evidently. We decided he could be an "outdoor pet" and live under the shed. I haven't seen him since. Although Caleb still closes the gate to the backyard in hopes that we're "keeping Sheldon in." :)
Abby hardly ever plays with toys anymore... she just lays on her bed and talks to her little "flag" like it's an imaginary friend. We saw these flags at Walmart and joked that it was Abby's dream come true.
Abby and I went to see the Come See Me Festival Parade... and the fountains were finally working again! after a year of being broken!
Caleb and Abby's class at the End of the Year program. They sang the names of all the Presidents.
Micah's Essentials class. This was Micah's first year of Essentials...
Micah also achieved "Memory Masters" two years in a row! He had to recite EVERY piece of memory work for the whole year without any errors. (To me, then to another adult, then to his tutor, and then a few pieces to Laura, the director.)
Saying thank you to Laura for starting our community 4 years ago and being such a good director!
Our church played in a kickball tournament as part of the Come See Me Festival. They actually weren't bad and made it several rounds! The kids played in the dirt of course. :)
The Kickball team (except for Jake Page, who joined in the afternoon.)
We had just bought Ben new shoes a month or so ago, and I brought them for Karl to try on. (His shoes didn't have tread.) But then we left them at the park accidentally. I was so bummed because I figured for sure someone would have taken them. I called the park's lost and found on Monday and they didn't have them. After two days of rain, I went over there Monday afternoon to look, and although EVERYTHING was cleaned up from the tournaments, the shoes were still there! (Covered in slugs, but still there!) It's silly, but it just made me so happy that God let us get those shoes back!
Many of local CCs got together for a "Colosseum Day" where we had a bunch of competitions and games. It was fun, but VERY LOUD and chaotic. Abby did not appreciate how many people there were. :)
Tug of War...
3-legged race with Clay Brafford...
Caleb's friend, Elijah...
Abby and her friend, Annabelle...
Micah and Caleb doing a wheelbarrow race...
Me helping Micah with the wheelbarrow race...
We spent an afternoon at the "fire museum." Caleb and Abby played a long time in the ambulance with this little girl. I asked if the puppy was sick, and they said, "No, she's having a baby."
Brattonsville, the historic site near us, hosted a "school day" for 3rd-5th graders. Kids got to go and experience what a day of school would have been like in the 1840s. I couldn't stay for it (there were only two adult chaperones allowed for the whole group), but Micah and the Mom who chaperoned for our CC said it was super fun and the schoolmaster played his part well. He acted as though it truly was 1840. Kids were encouraged to dress the part as much as they could. Here's the lunch I packed for Micah.. sandwich and homemade cookies wrapped in paper, ice water and chips in jars, and an apple. The closest thing I could find for him to carry it in was Abby's basket for her tea set. :)
Micah liked how he looked this day. :) The jeans aren't very authentic, but the only other pants he had that would have worked were getting a little too snug.
The group after the school master changed back into his "normal clothes." I guess Micah wanted to be a loner... or he stank. :)
Figuring sums
Meeting outside the schoolhouse...
Geography...
Nature hike...
Identifying plants..
Playing "time period" games at recess...
trying to roll the hoops with a stick...
Handwriting with a quill and ink...
Afterward, they got a tour of a few other buildings on the site. (All Revolutionary or Civil-War era.)
Meanwhile, the other kids and I enjoyed a morning at Books-a-Million eating muffins and reading...
And then we went to the playground and happened upon a turtle LAYING HER EGGS! Homeschooling for the win! (This must be the month for amphibians and reptiles for the Gansons!)
One of the other Moms nearby got a good video of an egg actually dropping into the nest... here is the link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMb0aZ6ij-o&feature=youtu.be
So Ben set Micah up with an UGMA account (I have no idea what that means.) But basically Micah has an account at Schwab where he can buy and sell stock and make investments. Ben told him we would match whatever he put in it. Micah is LOVING it. First he invested in Ford because in a few years, they are supposed to come out with a self-driving car. Here he is buying stock in Bank of America. (He researched it and thought they looked promising.) :)
This is how my mornings usually look. I read my Bible in the chair, and then Abby comes and snuggles. :) Not a bad way to start the day!
Micah is loving his new lawn-mowing business. He mows Mike Jette's lawn, and also started mowing Mike's neighbor's lawn too. I think Ben is just as excited about it as Micah. They have big plans to expansion and growth. :)
Mike and Sharon like that Ben brings the younger two kids over too while Micah mows the lawn. Mike is growing on Abby. :)
And evidently, if I'm not around (like this Saturday, while I was doing an all-day Director training), not only does Abby's hair not get combed, but the kids get introduced to Taco Bell!
Not sure why this picture is sideways... but this was Caleb's solution while he was doing math and the sun started shining in his eyes...
Our "new" car! The Jettes got a new car, so they gave us their old one. They said we could keep it or sell it or whatever. It's a 1999 Lexus and had the same amount of miles on it as our Hyundai (145,000), but the body of the Lexus was in much better shape. So we made one repair on it and decided to keep it. The kids think it's "luxury".... heated leather seats, a sunroof, and a 6-CD changer in the glove box. We gave our Hyundai to a family at church who had just moved to SC and needed a second car.
Even Darth Vader has to sit in time out sometimes...
Easter bunnies and gift cards sent in the mail from Grandma and Grandpa Kaufman!
We went with our friends Jake and Meagan to a concert in the park one evening. Their son, Caedmon, saw a little girl 18 months old like him, and they were like magnets to each other. He grabbed her arm and they just stared at each other for the length of an entire song. We were all crying we were laughing so hard.
Of course, Ben also turned 37 on April 30. The kids and I got him a grill, (our old one was dying anyway), which hid in plain sight under the old grill cover for two days. He never knew it until the evening of his birthday when I asked if he could get the grill started for me so I could make steaks. The kids got quite the kick out of that, keeping the secret. :) Plus Mike Jette gave him a $100 amazon gift card so he could order a sound bar for the TV. (Boys and their toys! I'll never get it!)
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