Family
Graduation
It’s hard to believe that the year is over, and four years of high school have passed already. Sunday our homeschool group had a graduation ceremony for the three homeschoolers in my group graduating this year.
Receiving my homeschool diploma from Dad:
Yay!
I decorated my table in blue and yellow, the same colors that are painted on my room walls (my ‘school colors’). : )
A hobby corner on my table featured pointe shoes, a trowel, teacup and saucer, spoon, knitting needles, parrots, and books.
This is the first picture of my whole family together since the addition of Claire:
Though it’s a little sad to be finished with high school activities such as quiz bowls and drama competitions, I’m really looking forward to fall. I’ll be attending school for nursing while still living here at home. I can’t wait to start!
Pictures by my Dad and Grandparents
Wishful Thinking
I just love how transparent three year olds are! They just completely don’t realize how much they completely give away their secret, mischievous plans.This story comes from just a few weeks before Daniel was allowed to stop taking naps (because he couldn’t get to sleep at night).
Landon’s iPod touch usually lives on his bedroom clock where it can charge and play music, but this had to change when we discovered Daniel playing with it under the covers of his bed. He was supposed to be napping, but decided games on the iPod sounded like a better idea.
The next day I took him to his bed for a nap, and we went through our usual routine: read a book, get a drink, and say “I love you”. When I finally tucked him under his blankets, he sat up with a start. “Hey, where’s Landon’s iPod?” he asked.
“Oh, he put it in a hiding spot,” I replied casually.
“Where?” He glanced about the room anxiously.
“Somewhere,” I said.
“Oh.”
Crestfallen, he allowed me to re-tuck him into bed and kiss him on the cheek. He pulled the blankets up to his chin and turned over sighing, “I do wish Landon’s iPod was here.”
New Chickens!
The baby chickens sure are getting a lot of attention around here! They are so cute though, so who could resist picking them up and petting their silky soft down. There are four of them, and they’ll be beauties when they grow up! 
This is what they’ll look like when they are big:
A barred rock:
A speckled sussex:
A gold laced wyandotte:
A columbian wyandotte:
We’re working on naming them, since so far only the gold laced has been named (Victoria). Chickens have ended up being a really fun and rewarding project, so everyone is excited about the new additions.
How Could I Refuse?
I was in the process of working on some school, when I heard Daniel’s voice coming from the kitchen. “Pumpkin,” (he calls me pumpkin), “will you come out here and drink some tea with me?”
“No Daniel, not right now,” I replied. “I’m busy with school.”
“But Pumpkin,” he protested. “If you don’t come, you will take my sunshine away!”
Kansas City
Last weekend, Dad took Landon and I down to Kansas. I participated in a college competition on Saturday, then traveled to Kansas City for the night.
In Kansas City, we went to an amazing museum that featured the cargo of a pre-civil war ship, the Arabia, that sank on the Missouri River in 1859. The river shifted its position and left the boat buried 45 feet underground. About twenty years ago, five ambitious treasure hunters decided to try to dig up the ship. Though it turned out to be a much bigger task than they expected, they succeeded, and what they found is displayed in the Steamboat Arabia Museum.
The museum guide referred to the ship as a nineteenth century Walmart, as it carried enormous quantities of everything used in 1859, both necessities for daily living:
… and non-necessities:
These beautiful buttons are all that is left of hundreds and hundreds of fine ladies’ dresses. Animal fibers like wool and silk were able to survive 130 years submerged in wet earth. Plant fibers, such as the cotton used in dressmaking, could not. Now we can only imagine how beautiful the dresses must have been.
Archeologists have been working on preserving the cargo of Arabia for twenty years, and they still have fifteen years until the entire collection is finished. Every artifact has to be stored in a freezer until it can be cleaned and preserved, or else it will deteriorate beyond recognition. This is the lab, where you can watch the restoration taking place right in front of you!
This is a full scale replica of the wheel of the Arabia:
Landon and I in front of the real anchor:
Front of the ship:
Landon obliged me fifty-one cents so I could add to my collection of penny souvenirs. I’ve been collecting these ever since I was little, and I now have thirteen coins from six states!
New Year’s Eve
Our family celebrated the end of 2012 with a parade of tasty treats. Shrimp was my favorite:
These pickles wrapped in cream cheese and corned beef were picture perfect:
Mmmm… Cheese!
Daniel’s favorite food was fruit pizza, which disappeared too fast for a photo. : )
Priceless
This picture was the result of Daniel not being a very nice photography subject. He would only sit still for three moments at a time, then jump off the couch begging to see the picture. I snapped this one when he was supposed to be sitting. Usually pictures of moving three-year-olds are blurry, but the great light from the large windows behind me made this one a keeper!
Halloween
Dominic thoroughly enjoyed the excitement of Halloween. Even though he didn’t get to go outside, he was kept busy watching out the window for the trick or treaters. When the approached the door, he would run to greet them as fast as he could. 
Maria in costume:
Alexander, Legolas from Lord of the Rings. (complete with pointy ears)
Johnathan, a righwraith from Lord of the Rings:
“Arrrrggh!”
Daniel as Gimli the dwarf from Lord of the Rings. Somewhere he misplaced his beard.
Before we went from house to house, I reminded the boys to say ‘thank you’ after they received some candy. from that point on, every time someone put candy in Daniel’s bucket, he said, “Thank you!” then immediately called to where I was standing on the sidewalk, ” “Pumpkin, (his nickname for me) I said thank you!” That made a lot of people laugh.
The boys’ pumpkins:
Relaxing with the Chickens
It has become a nightly ritual now to hold the chickens for a few last minutes before bed:
Daniel and Marigold:
Joseph and Nutmeg (Joseph is particularly fond of holding the chickens):
Alex and Beatrix:
Trip to the Butterfly House
Our local butterfly house recently added a marine cove where you can pet stingrays, sharks, and crabs.
This is a hawaiian plumeria flower, and it is supposed to be very difficult to grow in the northern latitudes (even indoors). The volunteer informed us that it is unheard of to see one blooming in this part of the country!
Dominic learned the sign for butterfly while we were there, and found plenty of times to use it.
The picture below shows a good example of butterfly wing iridescence. The patches on the black butterfly’s wings are white, but when light shines the right way it becomes blue. You can see the tinges of blue in the picture.
Joseph kept me busy running from one side of the room to another as he almost screamed, “Sarah over here! there’s a butterfly over here! Take a picture quick!” I would have missed this lovely butterfly without him. John was carrying an identification chart, and he told me it is called a Julia Butterfly.
We stopped for ice cream afterwards. See Dominic’s chocolate moustache!
Wedding Family Tree
For Mom and Dad’s eighteenth wedding anniversary last week, Landon, Maria, and I put together this family tree as a present. Maria cut the ribbon, Landon did the calligraphy, (Boy, did Landon improve his calligraphy skills. He ended up rewriting the first names at the end, he was so much better) and I drove to Hobby Lobby for the materials (oh, how I lu-uuuve my drivers license).
A big thank you to my Grandparents who went through thick photo albums to find all of the photographs!
Boys in the Garden
Joseph helps me water some lilies I transplanted last fall.
John plays with one of the many snakes that like to sunbathe underneath the black plastic in the garden.
Daniel making mischief helping in the garden:
Pictures from Minneapolis
We spent the last weekend of February in Minneapolis. Dominic was pretty excited about the hotel where we stayed, and he crawled over every inch of his new territory.
When we arrived at the hotel, we had Chinese food delivered to our rooms. (Daniel ate as he was getting into his pajamas)
The next day, we went to the aquarium underneath the Mall of America.
We petted starfish and sea urchins, and neither of them felt like I expected. The starfish were velvety and squishy. Sea urchin spikes were not sharp and pointy, and they were much softer and more pliable than I thought they would be.
Daniel was way too scared of the starfish to even put his hands in the water, but he was very impressed by the sharks, manta rays, and sea turtles we saw.
