Annnnnd on we go. April… Well of course April is Trinity’s birthday – 8 this year! You can read all about her special celebrations HERE. She is growing up so quickly… they all are!

We made if over to the Novaks in April as well. I swear I take more pictures of pets than kids when we are there though. Snoopy the cat is way too much fun to photograph.

I think we would live at the YMCA. I know we BASICALLY did over the summer. (oooh spoilers) I figure if we are to be gifted a membership by Nana and Baba we better make it worth their money! So lots and lots of pool fun over our spring this year.

We are also getting in a lot of together time, often on my bed. Which is just fine. Planning school, crocheting, hanging out together. It is so special. 

Of course we made it to the Home Depot free Saturday. 

And spent some lovely time with Nana and Baba during their time up from Florida.

The big kids even had a field trip to a radio station!

And best of all – fun trip to the zoo with our new homeschool buds!!! You can read all about it HERE

April was a mix of warm and cool weather but with so much fun going on I don’t think anyone minded. 

And at a fairly brisk pace for once! I am determined to hit current BEFORE 2017 begins. Let’s see – March – creeping up on spring weather, St. Patrick’s Day, Easter, my brother and my dad’s birthday month. Wow, thinking back that is quite the list of special days for our family.

Easter is always a bit of a deal. The girls get new dresses and hats if we can manage it. We go to church as a family, take photos, have a nice dinner… OH and the Easter baskets. This year we did our own egg hunt as well. The weather was far from perfect so we did it indoors. You just have to make it work, right?

At church

Baskets

Egg hunt

We had a fun and rather special craft… dragon eggs. Styrofoam and thumb tacks. All thanks to Nana. Even Echo got in on the fun, though then you had to glue down a few extra tacks to make sure nothing comes loose. 

We decorated traditional/conventional eggs as well.

Of course we did our monthly free Home Depot project.

Emanuel and I had to miss the scout’s mom and son dance so instead we went out to Mom and Son ONLY lunch at Dairy Queen! Talk about fun! 

Emanuel did make it to his Scout field trip to a police station. 

We actually had a few good crafts this March. Marshmallow and toothpick structures.

And making more relaxation bottles using glitter and glitter glue. Sparkle Sparkle!

We even managed to get in a visit with the Novaks. 

And spent plenty of time at the YMCA.

Post swim curls

Celebrated Dr. Seuss’ birthday with a themed lunch.

All in all a good month. This has really been a pretty good year as we look back! 

BEFORE 2017… Go figure! And wow does that sound EVEN WORSE when I say it out loud! Anyway, after December comes January and more winter fun. The end of Karyn’s holiday visit. The continuing of homeschooling and the start of our Chinese New Year unit, because if there is one thing you can count on in OUR curriculum it is that we will somehow cover Chinese New Year. (this year it was a bigger focus on the country CHINA itself even! You can read and find resources for that HERE)

But enough with the generalities… time to get with the specifics. We had our monthly trip to the Home Depot for the craft, of course.

Snow… sort of… the boys complained that this was a disappointing winter with its lack of huge snowfall. Amazing how the whole arctic cold of last winter has been long forgotten.

We had the cousins up from Florida for a bit of a holiday visit. 

And said “see you soon” to Aunty Karyn – if you ask Trinity we should be her very first and most important destination for any and all holidays (and I cannot say I don’t disagree).

Gavin finished a workbook…

And we had all sorts of crafty moments.

PLUS Ken helped us create our large map of China. Nothing is more fun than working together on something we will then showcase in our schoolroom.

We even managed a visit to Aunty Shandai and Uncle Ravyn’s to pet the kitties – well Echo, Ken and I did.

And had the Schwartz family over to play.

OH and swim lessons… cannot forget our amazing instructors at the YMCA. The twins are in swim crew!

January kept us hopping and was full of visitors and fun. I love this reflecting back and reminding myself of how much joy there is in a passing month!