And....We're Back!!

Well, long time no see to a lot of you!!  I decided maybe I should catch up, since it's been several months!   I know, I'm a bum!  Let me just say, that if you don't live here, We miss you...my kids talk of family and friends who are far away all the time!  What a blessing to have so many people we love!  

We are good!  Crazy busy, but good! Everyday is a new adventure...we just roll with the punches (literally on most days)!  I have some crazy kids :)  We are loving our move to Childress! I love the slower pace, I love the room to roam, and I love having so much of our family right here!  

Our new home allows for us to spread out so much more than what we're used to!  And thank goodness for that!  We accumulated a large quantity of massive toys for Christmas!

 Here are all of my silly boys with their bouncy balls.  They all got dressed up for the picture!

On Fridays the kids (me too) look forward to our "DSL" (Daddy's Secret Lesson)!  Christopher prepares a lesson every week that none of us know about...helps break the monotony!  He always goes above and beyond and it is super exciting for all of us to work through!  I have the most awesome husband in the world by the way!!  He makes everything I do easier and oh so much more fun!!  

This particular week, the topic was Mars!  After we learned all about it, he decided that we should discover what a 'Martian' would feel like if we touched it!

 OOOOOOOOOO!!!!

 This picture cracks me up...Garron looks like a gnome or something!

We just finished up a unit on the earth.  We learned all about the different layers, earthquakes, and volcanoes...the list goes on!  Our grand finale was for them to build their own volcano!  After a couple of hours of attempting to hash through all of their different ideas (and differences) they went to work and really did a good job!  We had big plans of going to the farm, so we could make it bigger, but Garron got sick that week, so we opted for a mini version in the back yard!

 This volacano comes complete with a mote, some wild-life around the bottom, a super fancy rock design all around and a 'Tipa' flag on top!  We even made it blow up with red lava...we did this a few years back and it wasn't red, so this one was so much better!  My kids love to blow stuff up...I'm still getting used to it!!

The wall in our kitchen looks like this....

 Garron decided it would be perfect to test his rock climbing skills!

Here's another "DSL".  This one was about loggerhead turtles!  We got to look at lots of amazing pictures and watched a movie!  Here they all are designing their own turtle shell.

 Garron decided to just paint his right on!  Washable paint is a spectacular thing!

 I've told you before, but, we just love the park!  This really cold day (only because I'm such a good sport...HA) we went exploring off behind the bridge.  They love all of the different things they can find back there.  The last few weeks have been great to see the little yellow butterflies all around.  They are super fun to chase and Braydon's favorite color is yellow, so there ya go!  They like it back there because you can look out and see the whole park...they're waiting for the trees to bloom!

Saying "CHEESE" before we headed home!

Presenting the Birthday Boy!!!  Afton turned 4!!  He's taller than Garron but still no heavier!!

 He ordered a rocket ship birthday cake, blue on the top and brown on the inside!!
This is what I got when I said "SMILE"!

 Opening his new PJs!!

 Nanny and Garron!!

Christopher and I broke free for a weekend!  We don't escape very often, so off we went!  Thank you to all of the grand-parents who tag-teamed the weekend and cared for all of our kids!!  We went skiing at Ruidoso.  We really enjoyed some time together...it's totally weird to be with no kids!  We met up with some of Christopher's co-workers and had lunch and then we hit the slopes for the afternoon...after all, what better way to start a vacation than to sleep late and then go out!?!

 I LOVE THIS MAN!!

On the way home we saw more snow than we did in the mountains!  We got about 2 1/2 hours away from home and had to slow down so much that it took 5! 

 This was all we saw after the sun went down.  Terrible drive home!  

Garron didn't want to go to sleep that night...he was so excited to have us home!

 So he fell asleep sitting up...HA HA!!

 The kids were out the door first thing the next day!  SNOW!!  More snow than we've seen in years!

Rykin's snow/dirt angel!! 

 Garron wasn't really sure what was going on...he was just so stiff from clothes that he couldn't move!

 Afton in the only mud spot in the yard....of course!!

 Rykin and his Gonzo nose!!

 Braydon making a snow ball!!

 Kaywen and her masterpiece!  Celesta gave her some snowman tips...so she was eager to try it out!

 Aftermath from our little snow adventure...this is so not the fun part!?!  

Well, Kaywen is little Miss Busy Body since we moved back to Childress! She was one of the water girls for the high school girls basketball team!  With the help of her daddy and Uncle/Coach Perkins ...they were able to talk me into letting her go out of town with the team when they made it to the playoffs!! 

 Kaywen and Billy home from the game...in the middle of the night!!  I am not ready for this!  She is growing up way too fast!

Our latest science unit has been over rocks and minerals.  We took an entire day and went all over the place looking for rocks.  We went to the park, a river bed, to the lake, to the farm...all over! 

 Starting their collection!!

"Look mom!  Can we take it home?"

This was my laugh for the day.  This is a sure sign my kids were in the city far too long!

 Oooo...ahhh...a tire!!

 Here they are at Scott Lake...totally worn out from rock hunting all day!!

 Kaywen, blowing in the wind!!

 Rocks...what rocks!?!  Swords are way better!!

They quickly learned that   1)  giving Garron a sword was not such a good idea and   2)  giving it to him in the car was even worse...I think he smacked everyone of us in a matter of seconds!!

 Ninja in Training!!

More to come...just trying to catch up!!