1st homeschooling group field trip

Yesterday, Parker and I met some of our homeschooling buddies for our first homeschooling field trip at a hay farm. It was so FUN! This farm had hundreds of acreage of hay fields surrounded by freshly snow-covered mountains. The homeschooling family that harvests the hay was super gracious to give us a long hay ride through the fields and woodsy trails. Here we are on the hay ride with Parker's buddies and my buddies!

Parker insisted that the "Kroons" had a "family" picture since his buddies, the Bacons, had a "family" pic!!!

After the hay ride, we wandered down to the fields where the yak and a variety of cows graze. This humongous cow is a Scottish Highlander Cow- isn't he cool-looking with his HUGE horns!?!

Parker finally got brave enough to feed this big cow some hay! I felt bad for the cow because Parker didn't want to get too close so the cow had to lick through the barbed wire!

We are excited for all the future homeschool field trips that are usually FREE because the moms take turns planning them once a month!

sCiEnCe w/ dad!!!

Kep and the boys spotted this beehive a couple months ago while hiking around our backwoods. So we stayed away from the hive until we had about a week of freezing temperatures to kill off the bees. Then Kep went back to cut it down this weekend. And, now we have had our first science lesson on an animals' habitat! A couple weeks ago Parker and I read about bees making their habitat so this was exciting for him to see it first hand. I, myself, have loved these animal studies... I am constantly amazed by the creative handiwork of our God! Some bees make their nests/beehives of paper as insects are capable of making their own paper from plant materials. WOW!

Parker is thoroughly excited! And the reason Noah has "backed up" with this look of discust is because we could not convince him that bees were not going to fly out and sting him! Yep, the boys are in their PJS at 4pm... the beauty of homeschooling!!!

SIGH... no live bees! But there were plenty of dead ones and a few larva that inched around our porch- yuck! I love science but the decaying smells are not my fav. As soon as Kep cut the hive open... a nasty smell engulfed us!

Meet "Wilson" with his comb! (Wilson i.e. "Home Improvement" neighbor!) All those little circles are bee eggs that never hatched (at least that is what we told Parker- so we hope it's true as we couldn't find more info. on the internet). We cut a few of them open and there laid a full~grown dead bee! So there ya go... our first science "experiment"!

little miss piggy

I finally was able to get most of Savannah's hair into "piggies". So cute but it makes her look so BIG! This was actually the final picture I got of Savannah- a smile. The other ones were cute, too, with her other expressions. As you can tell, she loves to do whatever her big brothers are doing. Writing with a PEN is her favorite!

I asked her to smile and she wouldn't look up- such a tease!

I love how she always uses her tongue!

And, here's one final shot of what our little miss piggy likes to do... reorganize my kitchen drawers!

fall festival at Pyrah's

We had a fun afternoon at a HUGE local U-pick farm. This farm hosts a Fall Festival with hay rides, little carnival games, face painting and a chance to run through the fields and pick the last of the season's vegetables. Our kiddos loved it!!!

I think Savannah needs to live on a farm because this is how she was the whole afternoon... giddy as can be! Although she might be a little too pink and flowery for a farm- that would be my fault! I do love this picture of daddy with his li'l girl!

Happy kiddos despite the sad-looking scarecrow! Our younger two had never been around hay bales and they loved climbing on them.

Our giddy little gal running through the hay maze! As you can see it was a gorgeous and warm fall day. The colorful trees and towering mountains were amazing!

Noah loved being pulled on a trailer behind a TRACTOR! Our family pic on our first hay ride- you can't tell we are on the hay ride but oh well!!! ;)

racing kids

Cool shots by Mo~mo with her sweet camera!

Parker finishing his 2nd Teeland Titan Trail Run. Good job li'l guy! We were so proud watching him run up to the finish line!

And, of course, racing is always more fun when you do it with FRIENDS!!! Great job, Drew, Gavin and Layne- they all finished their 1.2 mile race!

These are the Teeland buddies as both their dads work at Teeland Middle School- so cute!

Valley

Isn't she cute? This is Valley, our dog's "daughter"! I don't know why but it just sounds wierd to say that our dog has a daughter!!! Valley's owners just sent this picture to us today and it helped lift my spirits in light of what we've been dealing with...

Unfortunately, our Saint has become territorial and bit someone a month ago (didn't injure the man, but it was still scary to watch). So, we have to bring our Ryder to Animal Control this weekend to let the veternarian determine if he needs to be put to sleep or if he is "OK" to put on the adoption list. We love our dog and we will miss him, but we are just too scared that he would be protective/aggressive with another person. It's a difficult time for our li'l family. But someday, we hope we can get a St. Bernard as a puppy... when they are li'l fur balls without the smells and slobber of a grown Saint. ;)

Lion King with my li'l prince

The Broadway Lion King show is in Anchorage and it is aMAzing! I really wanted to see it but Kep wasn't super interested, so Parker was my date last weekend. We are studying animals so we used this as a "field trip"! And, it will always be our most amazing field trip.

Parker and I at intermission with the stage behind us! I wish I could have taken pictures of the animals because their costumes were phenomenal, but photos were not allowed.

Parker wide-eyed with sheer excitement! This is how Parker looked the entire 2 hour show aside from the times he was laughing histerically at Rafiki, Timon or Pumba! All the actors were incredibly gifted! We sat in the front row, on the side, so this made our experience even more amazing.

And, here are our gracious friends, Mrs. Mary and Miss Katie! Parker and I were planning on going to Lion King in a couple weekends but our friends offered their extra tickets to us last weekend. So, thank you Lewis ladies, it was fun to sit with you gals!

I highly recommend this show! And, I can't wait to see my next Broadway in a couple years, with Teag as the star!!! ;)

Savannah's photo shoot

Savannah is our 3rd and I have been horrible about taking her in for professional pictures. But, I now have a friend... Carrie Lambing... that is a pro-photographer! She is fabulous at shooting pictures, editing and so fun to work with! Here are a couple of my favorite shots from our gorgeous day in Hatcher's Pass.

Carrie is great at capturing their true personalities with all her candid shots! I love this one of Savannah!

And of course, much against Kep's approval, Savannah's photo shoot turned into a family shoot!

Noah, Noah, Noah!!! Our little guy is never lacking expressions or emotions! Gotta love the 2 year old pout!

I think this picture will be in Savannah's wedding slideshow, someday!??! Savannah was not her normal smiley self- as you can see!

Cute action shot of our boys- I love their looks of determination!

So sweet.

And, there are MANY more adorable shots on the side of our blog and on Carrie's website. Thanks Carrie for a fun day in Hatcher's- I can't wait to get these printed and on our walls!

bike relay team

On Labor Day weekend, we 3 families woke up bright and early to 'cheer on' our 3 men from Anchorage to Seward. It is a 112 mile trip but it was split up into 8 different legs and 3 men. WE were incredibly blessed with another blue sky day and no wind!

Here's Kep on his 1st leg up Turnagain Pass. We had a fun time stopping along the highway to cheer our dads up their hilly treks. They did awesome!

Crazy 80s Steve with a boombox pumping out loud tunes! I think this is the reason our guys placed 1st in their division- fun encouragement for Kep's torturous hill climb! (at least it would have been torturous for ME!)

The first place relay finalists... Dick Quinn, Steve and Kep! Way to go guys, we're proud of you!

And, here's our silly girl wearing Noah's "My Dad is the Man!" shirt. You see, our kiddos did amazing and they loved yelling for their dads. We were in and out of our cars for 7+ hours... we would stop, pull the kids out, CHEER and then jump back in the carseats! Sissy was NOT excited about being put back in her carseat, on the 2nd to last stop, so she started screaming long enough to gag and puke up all her crackers! UGH! So, the only shirt I had accessible was Noah's shirt and it was quite suitable for our last picture and a lasting memory!

Parker's a Kindergartner!

Hard to believe we are now parents of a Kindergartner! Where does time go!?! Of course, I had to have a "1st day of school" photo and here is his requested sillly pose! It's definitely more entertaining than mom's pose.

Since Parker is a brand-new 5 year old we decided to start him in Kindergarten at home- with me! I am excited and honored to be his 1st teacher and he is thrilled to be a "student". Parker's sitting at the antique school desk I found 10 years ago at a garage sale in Washington. I refurnished it and I always thought it would be so fun to have one of my own children sit in it, as MY student. The desk worked perfectly for the first day and I imagine we will mostly use it for when we do handwriting... as the couch is much more comfy!

In my own classroom I always had my students' names neatly printed on a cute nametag, but I thought Parker would enjoy writing his own with a green pen- and I guessed right!

This year Parker will be learning about animals and their habitats so our 1st day lunch had to be about animals!!! He helped me make "pigs in a blanket" for the first time and we had the yummiest animal crackers, dipped in frosting, for dessert! What a fun day and I pray that most of our days can be an enjoyable experience!

And, many many thanks to Mo-mo for loving on Noah and Savannah so Parker and I could start our routine with no distractions. I know her help is what made our 1st day so enjoyable for me!

Matanuska rafters

On Saturday, we were blessed with a gorgeous day out on the Matanuska River with the Buchanans. As you can see with this silly bunch of boys... it was not a peaceful trip but it was a blast. The whole day I was in awe of the warm temperatures, bright blue skies, towering mountains and the fall colors.

Someday this 5 year old will be our guide- could be scary!?!

And, here's the Buchanan's future guide.

"Sand"! We don't have white sand in AK we have silt from the glaciers. The boys loved getting good and dirty AND building silt castles.

What good are rocks unless you can toss them in the water!?!

Noah all tuckered out. A full day of rafting in the sun wore this guy out! What fun- we could not have asked for more perfect weather on the Matanuska, there wasn't even any wind!!!