Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day! The kids and I woke up to a sweet surprise -- chocolate for the kids and chocolate and flowers for me. What a guy:) After breakfast (we experimented with dying oatmeal and milk with red food coloring -- the red oatmeal was not a hit, Ben thought it looked like blood) the girls went to basketball. The kids are outside jumping on the trampoline. What a great day!

Science

Yesterday was a very full day! We had a friend of Taylor's over to our house for a good part of the day. In the middle of the day we had our co-op science class with the Williams family. We studied the 3 phases of matter (solid, liquid, and gas) and ended up completing about 4 experiments. The first picture above shows (with the help of cornstarch) how something can be a solid and if left alone can turn into a liquid and the other picture shows a balloon filling up with gas after combining baking soda and vinegar (unfortunately the other balloon burst and sent baking powder flying).

Taylor's Gift to Ben

Today Taylor made Benny a bear. Here is a picture of Benny sleeping with the bear and a close up of the bear. It's amazing how I can take pictures of kids sleeping and never wake them up -- I think the flash would surely wake me up!

Hike

Today was a beautiful day! We packed up the kids and went for a walk, just past Great Falls Park, at Difficult Run Stream. This picture is showing where Difficult Run and the Potomac River meet. Great excercise -- great time:)

India

We are learning about India! Two weeks ago we started getting together with another homeschool mom and her daughter (same age as Tay) to learn about other countries. Our first country is India. The first week the kids dressed in Indian outfits (thanks to the other homeschool mother). This week we made Diwali (their New Year celebration) votives for candles. We also made made and ate flatbread (oops, forgot to take a picture). We have been learning LOTS and having alot of fun:)

Breakfast in Bed

The kids surprised us with breakfast in bed this morning! I was showered and dressed by the time breakfast was served -- but I had no trouble crawling back in bed with Greg to enjoy this delicious creation:)

Saturday

A beautiful day today. Basketball this morning for the gals. A wonderful "Skype" conversation with some dear friends and soon we will be going to the Home Depot park to play. Above are pictures of the kids that I took today. Taylor wearing monkey magnet earrings, a home that Taylor created for a bug that was found in the house (fully equipped with a bed, front door, doorbell made from beads and other misc. accessories), and a moment I captured of Abby showing Benny how to use one of the Leapster games:)