Craft Time

I am a horrible mom. It is a rare day that I do crafts with my kids, even though they love them and would craft away each day if allowed to do so. Why? Because I am lazy. There you have it. True confessions.

Every once in a while, though, I get inspired. Inspiration this weekend came in the form of a "Bead Pets" kit sent by Auntie Lori and Uncle Jeremy for Corrie's birthday. How could I refuse when the kids were so excited to get started?? So, I read the directions, enlisted Joel for help, and, lo and behold, we have pets made of beads!!



Thank you, Jeremy and Lori, for enhancing the lives of my craft deprived children. They loved it!

Swim Lessons!

In an attempt to beat the late winter doldrums, we decided to sign the kids up for some swim lessons. After a few attempts at taking lessons at the community pool, and not seeing much progress, we decided to pay a bit more and sign up for lessons at the local fancy pants swim school. With the abundance of lakes around here, the kids want to be able to swim in them all summer long, and so our goal for this summer is to really get them swimming well.

Our first lesson was last night, and I'm impressed so far. Corrie only has three kids in her class, and Jack only has four. The teachers seemed to do a great job of quickly assessing their skill level, and then got right to working hard with them. By the end of the lesson, Corrie was picking up rings from the bottom of the pool!

Before the lesson . . . ready to go!

Looking good in the pink goggles.

Benefit of fancy pants swim school: glass enclosed room to contain/entertain the Wes man.

The Long, Long Winter

Well, to say that this post is overdue is more than an understatement, but I've decided to not give up completely on the ol' blog (yet). This year has been the busiest since we moved to Minnesota. Jack joined Corrie as an official student enrolled in the Bascom Homeschool Experiment. Keeping both of them learning, thinking, and reading (while keeping Wesley from dismantling our house) has kept me fairly occupied this year. We are also now involved in two co-ops -- one is a small gathering of moms and kids from our church, and another is a larger, more established group that provides field trips, testing, social gatherings, etc. Both groups have been a blessing, but meeting with the other ladies from our church has been a really wonderful thing for me and the kids this year. I have made some good friends, and so have the kids. My extroverted children are thrilled, and I'm exceedingly thankful.

Here is a photographic run down of the past several months:

In the fall, ready to kick off a new school year.

It was a typically beautiful fall in Minnesota.

We enjoyed it thoroughly . . . the kids loved picking apples and visiting the pumpkin patch.

The snow started in November, and there is still some on the ground today. In fact, we are expecting snow and sleet tonight. It has been a looooong winter. Spring, come soon. Please.
We took a break from the snow in January with a trip to California to see our families. Here's Corrie at the beach with little cousin Katie.

We all got to meet my brother's new baby girl, Emily. She was only two weeks old when we arrived.

We all love her.

The kids loved all the good cousin time.
But, soon enough we were back to this.
And this.
And this. Thankfully, the kids can't get enough of playing in it. Corrie told me this week that snow is the best thing about Minnesota. Gotta love that positive attitude.
I have to admit that my attitude is reflected pretty accurately by Wes in this picture. I love the snow at Christmas time . . . but by late March, I am officially ready for green.

And, to bring you completely up to date, we celebrated Corrie's 8th birthday this week. I'm ever so grateful for her. She fills the house with enthusiasm and make believe, she loves her little brothers somethin' fierce, and she gives me reasons to laugh every day.