Family love.....it is changing.....

Today we enjoyed a wonderful family outing......

but these family outings are changing...

It seems like just yesterday this photo would have been of 10 stair step children, chaotic, happy, ever moving children. Children that caused much worry in the parents as they tried to keep an eye on little people all eager to go their own way .

Now, a Daddy can sit, as big kids take little kids on rides. Little children so anxious to ride with a sister who no longer lives at home.....a place of honor with the biggest sister.
Big brothers are now working. Everyone can't be together very often.
One brother is far away, but always in our thoughts and prayers.

The dynamics are changing, but change can be very sweet.

The love the "littles" have for the "bigs" is amazing.

My prayer is that these children always stay close to each other, whether they are near of far apart, because even at their young age, they are learning that even distance can't stop strong family love.

I saw this love today.....and it made me feel so very blessed.....

A Blast from the Past---3 years ago today

Little Luke---2 years old....

I am so blessed!!!

A country girl headed to the city......
it was pretty scary.....being a country girl much more used to corn fields and waiting for geese to cross the road.....
but after 4 hours the country girl arrived at this amazing place....Saint John Neumann Seminary....I was in awe.....

and this country girls' son....looked wonderful----perfect----like he belongs there....

I was so happy to hug him and know with my own eyes the joy he is finding here.

And then this countrygirl is sitting at the seminarians picnic and who comes to the picnic but Father Benedict Groeschel....I held his hands...

I am blessed.....

A Blast From the Past---3 years ago today

I was looking back over old posts and I can't believe how these kids have grown....

so I decided to give you an occasional "blast from the past".

These photos make me smile so that is good enough to merit a repeat.

Kimmy Irene at the zoo, three years ago today.

{this moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you're inspired to do the same, visit Soulemama to leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

In honor of Pp week

Completed!!
Just in time for the letter Pp week---a purple poncho perfect for a pretty little princess....

A Bubbling Lava Lamp--Science Rules

Another great experiment from Steve Spangler.

It takes just some everyday products---(although I have never had Alka-Seltzers in the house before)
Our jumbo test tubes are also from Steve Spangler Science.
Fill test tube, or a soda bottle, 3/4 full of vegetable oil.
Fill up the rest of the test tube with water.
This is a great time to talk about the fact that water is more dense than the oil.
Add about 10 drops of food coloring to the test tube.
It is fun to watch the water based food coloring "float" through the oil and then mix into the water at the bottom of the test tube.
Divide the Alka-seltzer into about 8 pieces.
The reaction is great!!
The Alka-seltzer reacts with the water, forming carbon dioxide gas. The bubbles of gas rise to the surface of the tube. The gas bubble pops at the surface and then the water drops back to the bottom of the test tube.
We have been repeating this with additional pieces of Alka-seltzer all day.
It works again and again.

After our reactions settled down, the kids enjoyed using the test tubes as their own ocean wave bottles.

A whole afternoon of easy science fun!!

Check out the video of today's experiment at this post.

Our Bubbling Lava Lamp---Science Rules!!!

Thanks to Steve Spangler Science.

Fairy Dust.....

The tooth-fairy put fairy dust on Luke's first "lost tooth" dollar!!"

He was very excited!!! It also kept the other kids busy as they tracked the "fairy dust" that seemed to be sprinkled throughout the house!!

I Heart Faces---Beach Fun

This week's photo challenge is "Beach Fun" and this is my favorite photo of the whole summer!

Heading into the waves with Daddy---one child confindent, and another not quite sure!
Head on over to I Heart Faces for more entries.

A First Lost Tooth---Makes My Monday

If anyone even looked at his tooth this past week, Luke would start crying....."It is soooo scary, having a loose tooth!!!"

But Sunday, it was so loose, it twisted out of place. Big sister Amy told him that she could twist it back into place. She twisted, and out popped the tooth.

"It didn't even hurt! I am grown up!!"
My baby boy, has lost his first tooth.

And I am afraid, he is growing up!!

Check out more of Makes My Monday at Twinfatuation.

Caddie the Caterpillar--has hatched!!

About 2 weeks ago Gracie found Caddie the caterpillar on some Queen Anne's Lace wildflowers out in the back fields.

We identified Caddie as a Black Swallowtail caterpillar.

Gracie found Caddie a few days before she transformed into a chrysalis.
Right on time, ten days after entering the chrysalis stage, Caddie has hatched, revealing the truth.....Caddie is a boy....(you can tell by the amount of yellow on the outer wings.)
You can see the empty chrysalis at the top of the photo.
Time for the release.
Out into the fields we went, a perfect spot for a new caterpillar to find the sweet snack of nectar.

Sorry we thought you were a girl, Caddie.

He wasn't eager for help getting out of the butterfly habitat.

Finally, he found his own way out.

Beautiful....

Just beautiful....

Now, this is what I call a science lesson!!

Check out more Science Sunday posts at Adventures in Mommydom.

L.E.N.S. Photo Challenge-sunlight

The L.E.N.S. photo challenge this week is "sunshine".

I love the sunshine in this photo, as it accompanies Kimberly in the woods...

Check out more L.E.N.S. photo challenge posts at Home is Where You Start From.

Kindergarten Days--Week 10

This week was a review week of all the letters we have learned up to this point in our home kindergarten. You can check out the past "letters of the week" posts here.
Kimmy got out the Match-Up game this week.

This is a game from LeapFrog. It is a listening and matching game--kind of like a listening concentration game.

3 in a row!!

Pattern blocks are always a hit.

We painted all our recent letters with Do a Dot paint and posted them on our learning wall.

One of our favorite books of the week was Kitten's First Full Moon.

I found a real fun project to go along with this book.

You can check out the full post here.

Amazing!!!

Math time was spent learning the numbers 1-25.

Both kids and count to 25 now, so I thought it was time to learn to recognize the numbers.

The big kids have been learning about digestion for the last 3 weeks.

Here, Kimberly is discovering that she can still swallow when upside-down.

Our Counting Fish Mats had Kimmy practicing counting.

This is a very cute activity.

"I did it!!"

Luke's turn.

These books by Amy Krouse Rosenthal are very cute and fun to read over and over again.

Luke got a haircut from big sister Becky....

We learned that a frog CAN get out of our big spaghetti pot!

I made a lotto game to help us learn the numbers 1-25.

The kids enjoy it, and they loved the "rock" candy we used as markers.....as you can tell, they smell great.

Working hard...

Yes, chocolate---and very, very tastey!!

stickerbook fun

For the week's grand finale, we attended the the county's healthy kid family fun day!!

We won a great door prize full of fun!

I hope you all had a great week.