Another Fun Day Geocaching

The kids were excited to go treasure hunting today. We went to find a cache at a park behind Fuquay Varina Elementary. We didn't find this but had a great time looking for it. It was a beautiful park!

The kids made a birthday cake in the dirt.

The cache is somewhere around this bridge.

I thought I saw it and climbed down into the rocks but ended up being an empty container. Not sure if it was it and had been messed with by kids or if this was just a coincidence. We looked for awhile for this. Notice the kids in the background playing in the dirt. I am glad that our family is one that enjoys the beauty of nature!

We did find one cache today behind a church. The kids traded some of their old happy meal toys for some new toys.

Geography Lesson with Dad

We found this large map of the US at a park. Chris was showing Arianna where Daniella was moving to and how far she was from where we live.

Ari standing where Mommy grew up.

My Knight in Shining Armor

I wish I would have gotten a better picture of this. What you see at the bottom of the pitchfork is a huge snapping turtle. The turtle was in the middle of the road. My dear husband turned around the van and turned on the caution lights to keep other cars from hitting him and the turtle. Then he proceeded to "fight" the turtle out of the road. It was snapping at the end of the pitch fork. I have never seen a turtle that big and boy was he ferocious! He wasn't leaving that road without a fight!
I love this about my husband! He saves those poor animals that someone else would have just ran over. We frequently stop for frogs in our driveway at night. Thanks honey for being my knight in shining armor.

Special Delivery

We got home today to a package on the front porch from Nana and Dala. We LOVE packages.

Ari and Ryan are very excited to see what is in the box.

Ari says "Wow" to the new Ariel video. Ariel is her favorite princess.

Ryan is excited about the golf clubs.

Ryan is excited about Scooby Doo. He is saying "Scooby Doo".

Ari likes her new Princess Magazine.

Ari loves her Cinderella earings and jewelry.

Ryan has the power of light.

Thanks Nana and Dala for so many fun gifts!

What is Arianna brushing her hair with?

Those of you with girls probably know the answer right away. Those with boys probably wonder why she doesn't have a gun that shoots web:) Arianna is pretending to be Ariel and brushing her hair with a dinglehopper (or fork). We have a superhero/princess house. Nice mix wouldn't ya say?

New Family Tradition

Tonight was the first time of a new family tradition: date night. Arianna had a date with Daddy and Ryan had a date with Mommy. Arianna and Daddy went to get ice cream and then to Borders to look at books (Ari's choice). Ryan and Mommy went to a different ice cream place and then to Target to pick out a toy. He picked out a gun for himself and we got Ari a princess doodle doll set. Arianna really enjoyed herself. She spent all day very excited about her date with Daddy. While we were out, Ryan kept asking where Ari was. He doesn't know what to do with himself without his sister. I love that they love each other so much! Ari and I are looking forward to our date in 2 weeks. We are planning to go to Paint Your Pots.

So Long Farewell

I hate goodbyes! As mentioned in a previous post, some of our dear friends are moving (hopefully only temporarily). We went to Chuck E Cheese yesterday to spend one last time together before they leave. We also celebrated Steph's birthday. I dreaded the final goodbye and didn't really get to celebrate her birthday like I would have liked due to the sad feelings of them leaving. We survived, not without a few shed tears but we did survive and say goodbye. We are planning a visit in the upcoming months to go see them in Connecticut.

School with Friends

Lately we have had a several different friends join us for school. My kids love school! Even more so, they love it when others join us. We have been discussing transportation this past week or so. On Monday, Levi and Canaan joined us for school. We played a guess the vehicle in the bag game. I would describe what was in the bag and they would use their listening and critical thinking skills to guess which vehicle. We read the book My Truck is Stuck by Kevin Lewis and Daniel Kirk. We talked a bit about rhyming words. Next, we made stop and go signs. Ari and Levi wrote out the words on their signs. Then, we went outside and used our stop and go signs to play red light green light. The boys eventually lost interest and began riding the Gator and Caterpillar ride-on vehicles. Ari kept trying to get them to stop by using her stop sign. She got frustrated that they wouldn't listen and stop. So we talked about what happens when someone doesn't follow traffic rules, the police gives them a ticket. She got paper and a marker and wrote out tickets to both drivers. She wrote their name, stop and the amount of their ticket. I so love homeschooling and how life is such a great classroom!

Our Sunflowers

We planted sunflowers back in June. We have watched them grow from tiny seeds into these huge beautiful flowers. We can't wait to eat the yummy seeds from them. Hopefully we will get them before the birds do:)

Only a Dad

Where is Ryan you ask...he is on top of our van. His Daddy put him up there. Ryan thought it was so cool to be on top of our van.

Wake Up...Ari

For those of you who know the Wiggles you know Jeff falls asleep often and you have to yell Wake Up Jeff to wake him up. Ari feel asleep at the Wiggles concert. She was in a deep sleep. Everytime they would yell Wake Up Jeff we would yell Wake Up Ari and she didn't flinch. She doesn't normally nap anymore but she has been up late with Nana the past couple of nights. Funny thing is that she didn't think she fell asleep. She said after the concert "I was tired but I made my eyes stay open". She didn't believe that she had fallen asleep until she saw the pictures.

The Wiggles

We went to see the Wiggles on Saturday. They put on a really good concert. It was cool because you could tell they were having fun. Ryan was mesmerized most of the concert.

Ari as Captain Feather Sword

Ari and Ryan enjoying Popcorn

Fun with Nana

Nana came to visit last week and she brought a fun activity. She and the kids painted and decorated these boxes.
My kids love to do this sort of things. Thanks Nana for such a fun activity!