She did it!

I've always decided to give the ear-piercing decision to the girls and allow them to get it done when they wanted to.  Well, Makenzie finally requested to get her ears pierced! She was ready to not back out either.  She was so brave and excited.   I took her after her dance class the other night.  She showed no emotion during the process, but was all smiles afterwards! 

Spring Time and Easter

I am so happy with our decision to home school my kids this year.  As we about ready to wrap up for summer,  I can say that home school has been a success!  I have enjoyed being apart of my kids education; to work with their strengths and weaknesses.  Jordan and Makenzie are complete opposites in their learning styles and interests.   I've seen my kids really become more united this past year, and their love for playing with each other has just grown more.  

The girls are doing art....

Ellionna is a "mini-Makenzie" and is really taking interest in the arts early on, just like her sister.

  

 Give the boys a bag of lima beans and their imaginations go wild!

Our outdoor adventures are becoming an everyday occurance.  Ellionna is the "independent" stage.  She voluntarily takes her hair bows and elastics out.  She undresses herself and picks out other clothes and shoes to wear.  I really should have taken a before picture.  But by the end of the day.... this is what we get!  My little orphan child. 

One of the first warm days and Gavin insists that it's warm enough for the sprinkler, slip n' slide, and a swimsuit.  I convinced him to use just the hose and he compromised by just taking off his shirt.

   

My flower girls... or flower pickers.

 

I got this kid lease when Jordan was two.  We really haven't used it for it's real purpose since then.  But the kids sure do love playing with it and act like animals on a lease.  It's so fun to watch Ellionna be included in their imaginative play.

We had some of our very favorite med school friends visit us during their Spring Break.  The Miller's are living in North Carolina right now.  Makenzie and Aida's friendship started when they were babies.  Luckily, all of our other kids get along just as great. (Gavin was at preschool in these pictures.)

I wouldn't be surprised if these two got married!  They had so much fun with each other.  Jordan asked me when he could start dating Ariah. I told him when he turns 16.  He said that no matter where we were living, he would take her out. I asked him what they would do for their first date, and he said they would go bowling.

 Best of friends! 

We ended our weekend with all of the Easter festivities.  We went to a community Easter egg hunt.  I got one picture with the one child I could keep up with.

Easter morning before church!  

My beauties!!

Our new home!

We bought our first house in Wenatchee, WA!  Of course, house buying doesn't go like you ever plan.  We weren't even planning on coming out to find a house until the end of April.  We were going to take a week to search around and scope the area.  Well, this house came on the market when Tyler was in Pennsylvania taking his boards in mid-March.  It got my attention.  I talked to my realtor and she said it definitely wouldn't stay on the market for very long and I needed to come out sooner than later, if we were serious.  Well, we were.  So I made plans to leave the morning after Tyler got home, which was one week after the home was put on the market.  I got my travel plans all arranged and the very next day, my realtor informed me that an offer was put on the house!  So we did something very dumb with buying a house.... we put an offer on it without actually seeing it.  It was pre-inspected, which really was a blessing because it helped us to make such a crazy decision 3,000 miles away with only a few hours to act.   We would have 5 days to get out of the contract if we needed to, which gave me the time to come out and see the house.  So, we just needed to make the offer look good and get it accepted.  It did!  I just kept praying that if this really was suppose to be our house, it would all work out.  It was such a fast roller coaster of emotions and decisions that we had to make.  Well, I went out and fell in love with the house even more.  It really just sealed the deal.  We are happy with it and are so excited for our future!   As I look at the available homes that are for sale right now, the week we were planning on coming out, I'm disappointed to find that there really isn't anything that is catching my eye.  It's just a confirmation that we got the right house. 

 

 

I will post more pictures of the inside when we move in!