This n That

Frosty

Our parakeet takes his job as class pet pretty seriously and does not really want Makin to get any work done.

Stream and Ralph the Tiny Turtle

Gorgeous day to visit the stream. Found the most adorable baby turtle and after a few minutes returned him to his habitat where he loved getting back in the pond.

Lets Go Fly A Kite

Sleepover

Our kiddos were ecstatic for their first official sleepover with friends.

Girls Night

Scheels

We were on a mission for a swimsuit, but they discovered it was "the best store ever" complete with fish and a Ferris wheel.

Mother/Daughter Date

We have been missing our dates during this busy season. So glad to sneak them in when we can!

OM After Parties

This group of kiddos is so much fun. :)

Sprit Days

Lorelei loved dressing up in flip flops, as her favorite book character (Hermione Granger), and sporting a college shirt (she chose to wear the college where Mom and Dad met).

Spring Concert

Lorelei was the narrator for a skit put on by her Performing Arts class.

Paint Ball

Caleb had a paintball party! So fun!

OM Update

Phew! Winter and Spring have been a whirlwind of OM workdays. These kiddos sure worked hard and have had to push themselves in many ways this season.

***Add - Pic 4322 Will go here...From Feb 20th

Makin's job is to build the structure for their challenge.
It takes hours to build one structure.
Then they crush it. Build it, crush it, try again.
It's been hard for him, but he has done a great job.

He has listened to a lot of audiobooks through the process.
The Hobbit was a hit, but we are having him wait for the rest of the series.

This beard may be my favorite part of their skit.
Makin and Charlie made it on one work day.

Painting the Coat of Arms.

Candy Crew made jewelry. (They are supposed to showcase their talents...) 
Lillian does this as a business Lorelei loved learning! 

Lots of hard work on their backdrop!

Spontaneous practice.
This time they had to build something with the materials and then describe what it could do.

The garage is bursting at the seams with two teams on a Saturday.

Hurry up and dry paint!

Because we had no regional competition, we asked friends to come and be judges to give us feedback on how to improve. It was extremely helpful and I'm so grateful they were willing to do this for us.

A typical day at our house. Makin working on a structure and Lorelei working on their backdrop.

Redoing their weather setting.

How much bubble wrap and styrofoam does it take to wrap a structure and have it shipped?!
A lot.

Shipped!
We had a very discouraging moment after this.
There was a rule surrounding the structure that Brad understood differently than the judges meant.
Because of this, the judges gave the structure zero points. This was a huge blow to the team.
The structure was worth a huge percent of their score. Brad fought for the judges to change their minds, but they wouldn't budge. Makin's structure, which weighed 15 grams, held 255.5 lbs.
This didn't count. It was scored at zero.
To say he was discouraged and sad-mad is an understatement.

This day we showed the teams their filmed skits.
Then they practiced for their virtual spontaneous competition and then competed.
Then it was time for some time off while we waited for results.

Candy Crew! 1st Place!

Dwarf Knights! 2nd Place!
(This was a MAJOR surprise. Apparently, only one team was scored on their structure, which held 49 pounds. If we would have scored we would have had 1st. They earned the points for second with their skit and spontaneous.)



Both teams were allowed a chance to travel to Worlds OM in Florida. The majority of Makin's team decided they did not want to put forth the time and money to go, but we have made adjustments to Lorelei's team and we are taking a new and improved Candy Crew, including Makin, Charlie and Sophia. SO this means we still have workdays (although most weeks it is only once a week) and we will be traveling to compete mid-June! We can't wait for the kids to have this experience after all their hard work this season!

Bluebonnets Take #2

No one is really surprised, right? Don't feel too bad for them, I kept it under 30 minutes. ;) 

Easter, Grandma and Grandpa's Visit, Trip to Hill Country, Ennis Bluebonnets

We were excited to have some special visitors over our long Easter weekend! Since Grandma and Grandpa didn't make their Texas trip this winter, they decided to come after we wrapped up with OM workdays. The timing was great and the kids had a couple of days off for the holiday weekend, so we drove down to Hill Country. While we didn't get the bluebonnet display I was hoping for, it was still a great trip!

Loved how the brown eggs looked when colored!

Grandma and Grandpa arrived and went to check out Brad's office.
Then they got to hang out a bit on the patio and Lorelei loved the chance to chat.

We stopped in at The Silos. Yum!

They added a baseball field since we were there last, which Makin loved.

Oh those cupcakes!

Playing a game of Washers

Fun pano pic Lorelei took.

We were in love with our balcony at the condo.

These three fit in games during any spare time.
We had a cool rainy morning so we waited a bit to head out to check out the bluebonnets.

Ah beautiful Hill Country...in the fog.
Can you find the bluebonnets? ;) 

You aren't supposed to pick them!

Easter morning!

The boys golfed Sunday afternoon.

We girls had way too much fun. Grandma had the genius idea of renting a golf cart to just drive around the grounds...but we had no idea just how much ground we could actually cover!

A stop on the grounds with a view.

Don't let those relaxed-looking feet fool you.
This was not a relaxing jaunt.

She thought it was hilarious that her mother was worried she may die in a golf cart.

It was at this point Grandma and I decided we had better turn around...

The word steep is no exaggeration.

So thankful the sun came out. Just gorgeous!

Ennis was mostly on the way home, so we stopped hoping to catch some better bluebonnets, but I think we were still just too early in the season. The last time we went this field was completely covered.

These two. This is them crouching down into the bluebonnets.

Over 50 years of this guy and Grandma isn't phased a bit. ;) 

Thankful for the time away, some great views, and great memories!