Zoo Field Trip

We celebrated the first day of school with a field trip to the Minnesota Zoo! It was a great day, and all of the kids had fun. We learned a lot by observing, discussing, and just enjoying the wonders of God's creation. We try to balance "book work" with hands-on and multi-sensory learning. Well, today is a beautiful day, so I'm going to head outside with all of the kids. Here is a "photo gallery" of our day at the Zoo:

Grandma & Grandpa's Visit

We had so much fun with Grandma Becky & Grandpa Terry when they came out from Oregon to visit! We started out slow, just visiting at home, then we had some fun going out shopping, and our biggest day was at the Mall of America! I have many pictures from the visit, ranging from our time at home to the theme park at the mall. I don't have much time to caption every picture right now, so I'll just put them in order for your viewing pleasure:

Home Decor

When Eric and I were discussing how to decorate our house, we both agreed that we would like to use scripture, and inspirational sayings, to keep our minds on God. Here is another decoration that we put up in the dining/kitchen area:

Truly, God has given us our hearts' desires...mostly in the form of our precious children!

First Haircuts

The twins did fairly well during their first official haircuts. A few tears were shed (by both babies and mommy), but we made it through. They look so grown up now!

Captain America...crashed

After playing hard at being the famous superhero "Captain America", this is how I found my 2-year-old Daniel this afternoon:

Good Weather & Family Fun

Today, we decided to spend some time working on our garden plots. We made a trip out to "Cedar Acres" plant nursery, and found some really good deals on new things that we could add around the house! This little shopping trip was supposed to only take half an hour or so, but we kept wandering around...they literally have ACRES of plants, trees, shrubs, landscaping supplies, etc. There was even a little mini-golf area that we played on for a little bit. When we got back home, we spent the rest of the day outside...enjoying the great weather and some productive family time together!

Here is Becca, looking over the edge of our deck and imagining where she wants her flowers to be planted:

Here is Christy, after working around one of the garden plots:

Homestyle Haircuts

I'm getting better at cutting Sam & Dan's hair! I've gone from a "boot-camp buzz" cut to a "been in the service for a few weeks" style. The boys are growing so fast, and they are wonderful big brothers! Sorry about the quality of the picture...my main digital camera has gone missing, so I had to use an alternate camera.