Circus!

The Greatest Show on Earth came to Tampa this weekend.  A friend of mine was able to get us all great seats on Saturday night and we had such a fun time all together.  None of us, grandparents included, had ever been to the circus so it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience for us all.

When it was over Lieren leaned over to Nana and said, "That really was the greatest show on earth."  Goodness I love that girl.

And Papa and Grandpa really were there.  Promise.

Camp Life

The student ministry at our church had a retreat last weekend.  Florida is a great place to live for winter camp.  We stayed in cabins, played outside, and had beautiful weather.  The students seemed to have a great time of solid teaching, worship, friendship, and activities.  The kids and I spent most of our time with a friend and joining in on worship and the outdoor activities.  It was exhausting and fun.  The kids got tired and grimy and I am fairly sure they loved every minute.

Family Recently

After our guests departed mid-week, we took Grandma, Grandpa, and Aunt Sue to Epcot.  This was a couple weeks ago now; I am doing a bit of catch-up here.

If you are beginning to wonder if we ever do organized school, I don't blame you.  Ha!  During the post-Christmas weeks we were all about a slower pace around here.  It was such a nice and welcome way to ease ourselves back into the schedules and demands that school brings.  We are in full-swing now and while I can tell we needed that slower pace, there is a depth I miss when we are not taking time to cover all the subjects.

Anyhow, back to Epcot.

Our family had been once before so we knew the rides we wanted to be sure to hit and we had some great fast passes lined up.

 Test Track is one of the kid's favorites.  We also got to ride Soarin' this time and it seriously did not disappoint.  I ended up getting fast passes for later in the day for us all to go back because we all loved it so much.

 It did rain a bit but ended up being a nice cooler day and beautiful evening.

On MLK Day, my parents and I took the kids to Parkesdale Farm for some strawberry goodness.  We had never been and I had been wanting to visit.  

It was as delicious as advertised!

I've decided that if I ever leave Florida, I will never be able to enjoy produce anywhere else.  Everything here is so fresh and often grown right down the road.  If you ask the kids, they will tell you how much I love the avocados 😉

Little Readers

Simeon and Lieren have turned into sweet little readers.  It was a whole new journey for me to teach them to read.  Silas was completely reading on his own when we started Kindergarten.  I never knew how accomplished I would feel to see these two read.  One of the many joys of homeschooling.  

We finished 100 Easy Lessons last week and have moved on to leveled reading that I have as part of some curriculum and also books of their choice.  Our read-aloud time is one of our favorites these days!

Ten in A House

This is what it looks like in one corner when there are 10 people living in our little house.  

And I love it.

Right after we got home from our Christmas travels to Illinois, like 4 days after, we had some of our favorite guys from up there follow us down and stay for a week.

We had a few of them here last year in the spring, and as full as our hearts were then, they were just as full this time around.

I mean, the chaos is real.

 But the moments sure are sweet.