Annual Family Tie Dye Day

  A tradition we started about 5 - 6 years ago! Spring time family tie dye day!! yeah! This year though we tried out some new techniques and they came out awesome!

Adeline's Pony Party

So for Adeline's birthday party we had two ponies come and give rides to the kids. She was so excited and talked about it for days. Each morning waking up asking if the ponies were coming today. Finally this morning was the day! After breakfast she went with daddy to get balloons, then put on her party dress and was ready to have her face painted! She also set out the pink party plates on the table then proceeded to "write" everyone's names on the bottom of them - it was rather cute!

Then the ponies arrived!!! Two cute males one named Rusty and one named Bullet.
Ryan rode Bullet ....


Adeline rode Rusty many many times!!

Even little Madison my niece tried out the big pony!

Everyone got a turn on either Rusty or Bullet

The face painting was a hit, as you can see Adeline is painting Willow's face
Even some of the daddys had their faces painted


We had bubbles

Homemade yummy cake with strawberry icing made by daddy - yummm.

After the ponies left we headed out front for sack races





Sage did not ride the ponies, but he did enjoy the sack races. He and Ariah had a fierce competition going.



No party is complete without a cute duck to pet : )

Everyone had an awesome time and I loved seeing all the kids getting to ride the ponies.

4h Alligator Farm

Tonight the boys 4H Marine Ecology group met at the Alligator Farm in St Augustine to study the birds that are native to Florida.

spontaneous hand holding! I love that : )


Welcome to the Alligator Farm

Adeline is not so sure about being there and I don't blame her - those alligators are big!

The small ones

The medium size ones
then the big boys
yikes!!!
In the end she liked the Alligator zoo
The birds - the reason we came here. Heron's, Egret's and Ibis oh my : )


This mama bird is sitting on her nest

And this one is feeding her young


It was a nice visit - but not a nice ride home. The smoke from the nearby wildfire was horrible!

Today my little girl turned 3. It seems like she has been in our lives forever , but it has oly been 3 short years. They have been wonderful and amazing. She truly brings joy to our lives. She has been talking about her birthday for months and when she woke this morning the first thing she said was "I'm 3" !!

Her little/big bro came in and wished her happy birthday and they headed out together to see what the Birthday fairies left her ...


She was more interested in the chocolates that the Easter Bunny left her ....


After looking over her birthday presents , we headed out to see if the Easter Bunny hid any eggs out side. Sure enough they found some..




After a birthday hike, Adeline put on her birthday dress and birthday crown , made a dandelion wish and we headed out for lunch and some beach/pool time

She was the only one brave enough to go in today. It was a bit on the chilly side and the water was pretty cold, but being 3 she doesn't mind these things!

Over at Grandma and Grandpa's we had our rainbow bridge ceremony and story. This was her first real ceremony and she really seemed to like it and loved crossing the "rainbow bridge"!



It was a wonderful birthday day! Little Adeline is tucked into her bed with her new birthday sheets and quilt! Happy Birthday !

Next week we will have her Party here at the house with believe it or not - pony rides!!! Yes, I have lost my mind -lol!

reconnecting

This morning I thought I would try something new. We headed out to the Arboretum for a morning walk and lessons. I thought that being in nature would help us focus and get somethings done. Well, it did not exactly work out like I planned (I am getting used to that with my two younger equally strong willed children -lol) We did have a nice time though.

I had been feeling like we were being so rushed all the time going from one thing to the next. So I decided to take a break from a lot of our homeschool group activities and just remember to be together - to slow down and breath through our day. It is amazing how many opportunities there are for homeschoolers, it is easy to become over scheduled ! I am not saying these activities are not important too - we are just picking and choosing now which leaves us more time to get out and explore.

Learning to take turns and speak kindly to one another

climbing trees
breathing in the peace and quiet
lessons in a quiet spot -
and even a little craft project

I think we will try to have more mornings like these!