Mesquite Rodeo

We received free tickets to the rodeo this summer. Unfortunately, it was on the same date as a concert John had planned for he and I to go to. So, in comes the wonderful grandparents. Gram, Grandpa and Grandmother took all 4 kids to the rodeo. I was told that had a great time. It was hard to get a lot of pictures, but look at all the kids that went down to main grounds! And we had a great time at the concert.

Cow Appreciation Day

We have a Chick-Fil-A way too close to our home! We participated in the Cow Appreciation Day and we each received a free meal! YUM!

Lost Tooth!

Caleb lost his first tooth!

Summer Fun with Our Tennessee Friend!

Pool Birthday Party!

Rollerskating with friends!

Living at the pool!

Self proclaimed rock band "Super Snakes"

Making stepping stones for Grandma's Garden

I say, I say Boy!

Jerusalem Markplace VBS

Dominic came to visit us for almost 6 weeks this summer. We did so much, it's hard to remember all of it! We went to Tulsa, to see Micah's Grandma, Aunt Dodie and cousins Ryker and Jestique. We went to Six Flags, almost lived in the pool, celebrated Micah's birthday early, went to a few VBS' and played, played, oh and did I say played! Here are just a few pics from the whirlwind visit!

We've Got Guitar Hero!

Well, we've actually had it since March. Caleb generously donated a large portion of his birthday money so that he, Micah and daddy could enjoy the game. I've actually played it twice. Check out the guitar face!

Beit Or Camp Out

Our entire (almost) fellowship went on a camping trip just before it got really hot in Texas. We had a great time! Lots of fun, food and fellowship. We had a wonderful Shabbat admiring God's creation up close, played in a nearby lake and the boys had fun telling scary stories around the campfire.

Whatever Works!

I'm pretty sure you couldn't read like this in public school! One of the many beauties of homeschooling!

Dallas Zoo

We didn't get a lot of pictures, but we went to the Dallas Zoo with some friends from the neighborhood and from church.

I have the goofiest kids!

And I have no idea where they get it! Yes, I do, and it's not me!

Watermelon Fun!

We get to see family often now that we're in Texas and we love it!

Alvin and the Chipmunks in Concert

My kids love Alvin and the Chipmunks, but especially Caleb. I think their love started when we bought a boom box at a yard sale. It had the Tazmanian Devil on the front of it and someone left a cassette tape in the player. It was a bunch of popular songs featuring the Chipmunks singing them. Ever since then, they love them. So when I saw that a local mall was having a mini-concert for free, we had to go.

By the way, it was the first time my children (except for Micah) had EVER been in a mall! To say the least, it was overwhelming for them! The things you don't realize your children haven't done when you live in a small town. Now we're in the big city (at least nearer to one).

First Campout of the Year

The boys wanted to camp out with some of their new friends in March! In Tennessee, this would not have been very comfortable, and I wasn't sure by nightfall it would be comfortable in Texas. But there was no convincing the boys not to do it. So some friends brought their tent over and everyone brought their own sleeping bag and pillow for a night of marshmallows, campfire and fun. WELL.....the first one to go home was Noah - he said it was too crowded. There were 5 boys in a 2 man tent! Then at 11:30pm, Paden came knocked on my bedroom door and said he wanted to go home. So, I drove him home (around the corner). When I went to check on the boys when I got home, I noticed that Dominic was gone! It was really windy and the air was cool. At some point in the night he decided to walk home (around the other corner). So that left Micah and Caleb. They were warm inside the tent, so I left them both there. Not too long after I had gotten back to bed, Micah came up and was upset that he friends were gone. I said go to bed and I went outside and literally had to drag Caleb out of the tent door. He was dead asleep - had no idea he was the only left out there - and, obviously didn't care. The next day everyone came back to clean up the backyard, and decided that mom was right - it was too early to have a campout, even in Texas! The lesson learned - Let your yes be yes, and your no by no!

My Beauty

Sarah is all girl and today we found an unused set of princess fake fingernails and she so wanted them! She is such a little princess!

Happy Purim!

Last night we had a celebration of Purim.

Purim is an annual celebration of the events that happened to those that believe in God while in captivity by Persian Empire after the fall of Babylon.

The story is told in the Book of Esther.

While it is not one of the commanded holy days in the Bible, it is a day of celebration of one of God's miracles. It is also a celebration that our Saviour, Jesus Christ, Yeshua, a Jew, would have celebrated while He walked on this earth.

We broke bread together and shared some wonderful traditional desserts for Purim. John retold the story in the book of Esther. The children and some of the adults dressed-up as one of the characters in the story. During the retelling of the story, every time Haman's name was mentioned, we shook our noisemakers and yelled "Boo." Every time Mordecai was mentioned, we shook our noisemakers and yelled "Yeah."

It was a joyful celebration with wonderful food and wonderful fellowship.

We shared it with some old friends, met some new friends,

and we all learned more about the history of God's people.

Thank you to all who came! Thank you to the gifts and the givers!

Happy Purim!

Spring Equinox Experiment

On the equinoxes (approx. March 20 and September 22) the amount of day and night are of equal length--approximately 12 hours each. There's a "balance" of light and dark at almost all locations on earth.

But some people believe that there is another kind of "balance" on the equinoxes, a special kind of force that will make a raw egg balance on its own end!

Do you think this is true?

Is there some sort of cosmic "balance" that makes eggs stand on their own on the equinoxes, but not on other days?

Is there a scientific way for you to test this?

We did this test for 2 weeks before the equinox and then balanced the same, raw egg on equinox.

Look what happened! It DID balance on the 20th! And it had not balanced before.

Now, we're going to balance the same egg for a few weeks after to see what happens.

Snow in March in Texas?

We actually had some snow here in Texas. Only about enough to make 4 snowballs, but it counted in my kids' book!