Eric playing Boccherini Minuet, just practicing!

Strawberry Picking & More

Leah surrounded by strawberries...she hasn't yet figured out she is allowed to eat them!
The kids cooling off at the beach.

We have been continuing to enjoy the beautiful spring weather, and spent a morning this week at a local strawberry farm. The kids picked, played on the playground, on the tractors, and looked at the farm animals. When we came home, the boys helped me mash strawberries for strawberry jam and a strawberry pie...yummm!

Dennis has had a long stretch a work where he has been working 12+ hours a day, 7 days a week, but thankfully that is over now and we are looking forward to having him back around the house and enjoying the visits with family over Memorial Day Weekend!

Check out more pics from the Strawberry Farm by following our webshots link!

Spring Fun!

Here is something new for all you blog lovers out there! We have registered with YouTube and now have the capability to put short videos of the kids on our blog. With the warm weather, we have really enjoyed spending some time down at our beach before the jellyfish come. Leah is getting braver every time, and even after this video, Bay was swimming with his whole head under the water. Stay tuned for more action from our family this summer.

For those who don't know how to operate the video, here are your instructions.
1. Click on the large play button in the middle of the video to activate the controller.
2. Then click on the smaller play button on the lower left of the video screen to play the video.
3. Make sure your sound is turned on, the clip has sound as well!

Camping at Kerr Lake, NC

We just spent a great weekend camping down at Kerr Lake in North Carolina. The JC Cooper campground http://ils.unc.edu/parkproject/visit/kela/kela.pdf has become one of our favorite camping locations, and we like to get down there early enough before the weather warms up too much! Heather's parents joined us for this trip, and we also got to visit some old friends who camped nearby with their 3 kids. As you can see from the smiles on their faces, the boys had a blast and even found some frogs to torture! We dodged a few raindrops and the weather was unexpectedly cool (no shorts this weekend!), but were still able to fit in a few boat rides, many walks to the playground, and relaxation-true camping style! I have posted the rest of the pictures on our webshots link, so look there to see the rest of this trip.

Field Day!!!

Leah with her painted bunny on her hand
The kids enjoying Bay's birthday cupcakes after a rousing chorus of 63 kids singing Happy Birthday to him!

Eric at the tug-of-war contest

We had a great time with our Home School Coop at the end-of-year Field Day. The day coincided with Bay's actual birthday, so I made cupcakes to share with everyone and the whole group sang Happy Birthday to him. It was a beautiful spring day, and the kids enjoyed games such as water balloon toss, 3-legged race, obstacle course, and tug-of-war to name a few. It was a great highlight and end to a fun year. We look forward to joining with the coop again next year.

First Camping Trip of the Season!!

We recently enjoyed a beautiful weekend near Frederick, MD at Cunningham Falls State Park. Heather wanted to attend a home school curriculum fair Friday night, so, since the weather was beautiful, we decided to make a weekend camping trip out of it, and we are so thankful that we did! Since it was early season, the only loop open at this state park was the Manor loop, with about 25 sites, and except for being close to the highway, it was a beautiful place! You can check out their map of the loop at this link: http://www.dnr.state.md.us/publiclands/western/manor.html We stayed at site #20, right next to the bathhouse. There was a babbling creek running along side the campground, and it led into a wider creek at the bottom of the hill adjacent to a super cool "recycled tire playground" and nature center. The kids loved playing on the rocks and around the rushing water, and at the nature center they had a HUGE bald eagle, barn owl and other really big birds of prey.

We also biked another section of the C&O canal: this time from Point of Rocks north about 6 miles and then back again. It was a beautiful ride, and we learned lots along the way about the canal lock-keepers, and an old aquaduct that carried water and boats across the Potomac River.

You can check out the canal bike ride here: http://bikewashington.org/canal/canal_d.php

and check webshots for more pics of our weekend, though our camera battery died halfway through, so there aren't as many pics as we would have liked!

Easter 07

Well I can't believe it's already been a full week since Easter, and I'm finally getting to this post! We had a very cold Easter this year, and didn't get the kids photographed in their Easter best, but we did have a good time preparing for and spending the holiday with family and friends. It has been really neat to see the life of Jesus taking shape through Bay's eyes this year, he has really been taking much more notice of why we celebrate the things we do. As we read the events of Jesus' death and resurrection on Good Friday, Bay's eyes lit up and said, "You mean that Jesus really died?" And of course I answered him with, "Yes, but did he stay dead?" Bay, "No! He came alive again!" What fun conversations to have over breakfast!

That afternoon, my friend Genia came over and we prepared a Southern Maryland Stuffed Ham (a local holiday regular for those of you who don't know about its wonders!). Once it had cooked and hung for a day, we split the ham with her family to enjoy for their Easter supper as well.

The kids decorated eggs Saturday night, but due to some grumpiness around the table, the only one who stuck with it was Bay, and he had a blast, dyeing, and re-dyeing eggs. He really took the whole operation quite seriously-it was very cute!

Sunday we bundled up in our long-underwear and headed out the door to face the icy blasts on our way to church. Once back home, everyone changed and went outside with gloves and mittens to hunt for frozen candy-filled eggs! We had Easter dinner at Heather's parents house, with Dennis' mom joining and a friend from church.

The cold weather still hasn't broken, but we're hoping for a few warm days soon to be able to go camping! There are a few more pics of Easter on our webshots page.