Our Co-Op went to the Pacific Science Center yesterday. It was the first time we as a family have gone.  We really enjoyed it and we will have to definately go back as a family.

The space needle through my sun roof

We have the book The Magic Schoolbus Lost in the Solor System and in it has Arnold's different weights on different planets, so it was neat to see this scale. Here is what all the kids weigh together on Earth and on different planets.

The boys getting ready for a chess game

C3 having a snack and watching the chess game

C4 playing with the chess pieces that the boys were done with, that kept her entertained for a while!

The butterfly exhibit was cool!

We loved the bubble wall.

C3 looking through the periscope

A group shot (minus me)

We got our garden planted over the weekend! Yay!! We bought an apple tree that has 6 different types of apples.

We also bought two different types of blueberry bushes. We planted from seed some bush beans, green onions, mini carrots, yellow squash, zucchini, pumpkins and a rhubarb.

It doesn't look like much right now - but give it a few months! I can't wait!

My DOUBLE oven is here! Yay!! I am so excited to have an oven again!

In the street!

In it's proper place!

C2 and C3 making some Lemon bread - we couldn't wait to use it!

My oven should be here on Sunday!! I am so excited!

Here is the one I am getting:

I still have no oven! We have someone coming today to give us a bid for running a gas line - we are thinking about getting a gas stove. It is hard not having an oven!

We took two of our hermit crabs back and got two more. These are way more active!

My brother is gone, we all had a nice visit.

My brother is up visting for five days! It has been fun having him here. Yesterday we went to PetSmart and purchased three hermit crabs and all that goes with it!

Here is a picture of my brother just starting to set it up. We also got another fish for our fish tank, that is what the kids are looking at.

Spidey getting ready to go in his new home.

Spidey on the move.

Well things don't look good for C1's I just checked on it and it hasn't moved yet since bringing it home. We might be taking Daffy Duck back to the store!

On to the electrical fire...

So I was pre-heating my oven last night to make lasagna and I see something in my oven that doesn't look quite right. It looked like there was a sparkler in my oven. So I open it up and my heating element was on fire! I didn't know what to do (I do now) so I used a fire extinguisher to try and put the fire out - that didn't work - that just made a HUGE mess that took me forever to clean up and ruined the lasagna! Anyway, so I called 911, I didn't know what else to do! The firetruck came - the kids liked that- and they put out the fire - turn off the power to an electrical fire- OH.

So now my oven is toast! Can you see the heating element is like ashes? It started on the right side where it is broken in two.

Currently my oven is on the front porch. Lovely.

I am so thankful to God that it was contained, that I was home to notice it and that all we really have to show for a fire in our kitchen is this:

My husband is going to call GE tomorrow and see what they will do for us if anything. I have my eye on this new oven:

I use my oven A  LOT, hopefully I won't be without one for too long!

Sundy hosted our group today with the theme of excercise. We split up into three groups, younger in one room with different stations (dress-up, puzzles, play-doh, etc.) and the olders divided into two groups.

Circle time

We started out in the excercise room. Sundy had the kids listen to their hearts before excercising. They started out with jumping jacks, jumping, stretching, and then she had circuit system set up for them. They started out with hopping backwards, then hopping on one foot, then hopping on the mini trampoline10 times, jumping over a stick, somersaults on the mat, and crawling through tunnels. They had a blast doing all of that, especially C1.

Listening to their hearts before the excercise

You want me to excercise!??!

Oh okay!

Crab walk

We then switched rooms with the other olders group. There we looked at pictures of the inside of the body. They each took turns drawing parts of the body on the poster.

Drawing parts of the body

We talked about weights and the proper way to pick them up. And they were to organize the weights from heaviest to lightest. We also played Head Shoulders Knees and Toes.

We all had a great time today!

And a cute one of C3 since I didn't get many of her at co-op today. She has matching play-doh on her tights from co-op!

Sundy from our Roots and Wings group hosts a music time. We have gone twice now and the kids love it!

C3 ready for it to start

The kids putting on their masks before singing the song 'Octopus'

Sundy's daughter

Thank you Sundy!

I was washing dishes and I looked up and saw the most amazing rainbow. These pictures don't do it justice!

Close up

Leigh was the teacher for co-op today. She did the theme of Dr. Seuss.

We started with cirlce time then got into three groups and rotated between three different rooms. It was really nice having it in three rooms!

Circle time - musical hats

Station one had the book The Cat in the Hat. We were to read the book, then discuss family rules that we have in our house, rainy day activities, and naming various hats and where you would find them/see them.

Station two had the book Green Eggs and Ham. We were to read the book and then discuss green foods, what animals besides chickens lay eggs and do a dot to dot page.

Station three had the book Dr. Seuss' ABC's. We read the book and then worked on our ABC's.

C4 and her friend 'N'.

We had a great time! Thank you Leigh!

I am so excited that C2 and C3 are learing to ride their bikes on their own! It is so hard to go for a walk and stop every 10 seconds to push them along and push the stroller!

Kathy was the teacher at co-op today. The theme was snow.

Here is C2 and 3 looking at images of ice crystals.

The kids were to feel ice cubes and warm water and tell us what they thought/felt.

The kids also did some dot to dots and coloring

C4 taking in cirlce time

And of course snack time!

C1 turned 6!

I made him a special birthday breakfast - 'roll-up' pancakes and chocolate milk.

Opening presents

Yay mom a scooter

He wanted mongolian grill for his birthday dinner. Here he is dishing up his food.

The food being cooked

Yummy!

mommy and the birthday boy

mommy and her boys

Cold stone for dessert

daddy and the birthday boy

We took our house off the market!! We are staying put! I am so happy to be out of limbo!

We had our Tuesday School today. I was the teacher and the theme was Friendship. We met at our church, which is so great!

We started out with circle time. We sang our hello song, The More We Get Together, and If You are Friendly and You Know It. We also played I Spy and The Alphabet Name Game. I did a small devotional on friendship and how God wants us to be kind and loving friends. We then divided into two groups, the olders and the youngers.

We did the following in our groups:

Activity one

Make a friendship card (or two)

Activity two

What I like about_____

Activity three

Friendship Quilt

What You Do:

• Give each of your children a piece of construction paper and let them decorate it any way that they want. Connect all of the pieces and you will get a fabulous Friendship Quilt.

Pictures:

Making friendship cards

What I like about (name)

Working together building

We also had some birthday celebrations. It was Leigh's son R's birthday today and C1's birthday tomorrow (26th). So we had cupcakes and icecream.

I found a recipe for Easter Cookies that teaches the true meaning of Easter. They taste pretty good too!

Here are some pictures...

Daddy reading out of the Bible

The boys breaking up the pecans (after Jesus was arrested he was beaten by Roman soliders)

Daddy adding the egg whites (The eggs represent life. Jesus gave His life so that we could have life.

Adding the sugar (the sweetest part of the story is that Jesus died because He loves us. He wants us to know and belong to Him.)

Opening the tomb

Opening up the cookies

It really was a great visual, and C1 really got it. He asked so many great questions. We will do this again next year.

The children participated in the neighborhood Easter egg hunt - that was a first for our family. The weather was nice and it was not on Sunday...

Here are some pictures from the hunt.

C3 on the walk to the hunt

C2 and C3 'finding' their eggs

Daddy helping C3

C1 with his eggs

Back home checking out what they got

C4 with an egg

We also did our own hunt using the resurection eggs and daddy read the story, Benjamins Box.

The kids had a great time at our co-op, Mommy got a little overwhelmed! Our group is getting so big, which is great, but the energy gets a little much for me. We are currently trying to figure out a little more structure for the group.

Liz was our teacher this week. She did a great job and planned so many great things for all the kids.

We started with circle time, we sang our 'hello' song and played a couple of games.

Here are the boys getting ready for 'red light/ green light'

Can you see the amount of kids!?

The kids filled out a paper about themselves and read it aloud, the other children were to ask any questions they had about that child. Some of the questions were, "How many brothers and sisters do you have?", "What is your favorite sport?", "What is your favorite shape?" It was pretty cute.

C1 reading about himself.

After that there was an egg hunt - the kids were to work together and put the eggs in order by number - the kids didn't want to give up their eggs! It was a good try!

There was also play-doh

We left group a little early, I was a bit overwhelmed.

Next week I teach.

The boys love their science book, The Berenstain Bears Big Book of Science and Nature. We had been reading about the science fair and Papa Bear made a jet powered airplane. So I had daddy give it a try with the kids. They all had a great time!

Here they are watching daddy make the paper airplane

Ready to go

Trying the blimp

Trying it on a toy car

We have been having a lot of fun with spring themed crafts, food projects and printables!

Here are the kids working on their worksheets

We made edible bird's nests - everyone loved them of course!

C1 enjoying his nest