Dad, Drama, Lemons, and March

My Dad drives truck over the road and arranged a trip here to visit us on Sunday after church.

Mini Chip sure enjoyed "driving" his big truck!

I think the boy was inspired to drive his train later! :-)

We celebrated Oreo's birthday with him and Uncle Nate.

The girls joined the Drama Club with our homeschooling group and attended practice on Monday.

Also on Monday, I went to a doctors appointment. I have run out of milk and I heard that there is a prescription medication that can help with production. Well, that is true, but it is not legal in the US. There is another one that is available in the US but Mr. Cookie and I feel that the side effects are too great a risk to try it. :-(

I have been drinking Mother's Milk Tea and taking herbal drops as well. That combined with prayer will hopefully see us through to abundant milk production.

I have been squeezing LOTS of lemons and freezing the juice to make super yummy lemonade in the REALLY HOT months.

The kids are still in horseback riding lessons on Wednesday afternoons and Awanas on Wednesday evenings. Busy, busy!!

 

We have started working on our JA Biztown unit and should complete it in time for the Seminars and Program later this year.

It takes all the strength he can muster, but he pushes his sister around on his train!

It is the end of March! Time flies so fast! Look out April, here we come!

Youth Day at Ben Avery Shooting Facility

On Friday, we attended a fieldtrip to Youth Day at the Ben Avery Shooting Facility here in the valley.

 I would have LOVED to bring my brother Rick and his boys to this Expo, I think they would have really enjoyed all the critters.

 This Cobra was sitting all pretty for us. I have never seen one in real life with it's parts out like that. They are usually in and all coiled up sleeping, but not today!

 Oreo and Chocolate Chip were so brave! They both held this snake. Notice how Butterscotch Chip is nowhere to be seen? That girl has her Mama's good sense to steer clear of the snakes. LOL!!

The girls were part of an Archeological Dig for fossils.

Meanwhile, Little Charmer (aka Mini Chip) hung out oh, so comfortably in his personal limo!

The only thing we missed was the Archery class. We arrived 10 minutes before it opened, but the signups were full moments before we arrived. :-(   It was a real bummer, but led to a really awesome thing that I will tell you about later.

National Geographic Live

We went on a fieldtrip at the Mesa Arts Center to hear National Geographic Live! My Wild Life with Mireya Mayor, a wildlife conservationist, talk about her adventures.

She has studied endangered primates, explored the rainforests of Madagascar and discovered a new species of lemur. She was really interesting to listen to. She is now expecting twins! Babies are sooo great!

We really enjoyed seeing the Mesa Arts Center also.
After the show we had the Williams family over for fun and games. Katie's friend Rachel even had a sleepover here.

Oreo turns 12!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY OREO COOKIE!!!!

You are such a great kid!
LOVE YOU!!

Freeze Drying Party

A couple friends and I had an idea to make a home freeze-dryer and preserve our own food that way.

So, we had a freeze drying party, of course!!

It was really fun!! We chopped so much fruits and veggies that day!! I did a little of everything from sweet potatoes to onions to strawberries to asparagus. Put it in a cooler with dry ice and ... we got the recipe from the internet. And, well, it did not work :-( So, not to be deterred so easily, we spent the remainder of the week trying this and that, and in the end... no go. :-(

We put the food into the freezer and it is still usable but it is most definitely NOT freeze dried.

We had such a blast doing it though, it was well worth the time, effort, etc. And now I feel like I know a couple awesome ladies better! :-) I am a blessed woman!

BUBBA's HERE!! + Sparks and T&T AWANA Games

It's been a busy week!

Peanut Butter arrived here on Thursday!

:-)

And the Cookie Brothers... well, they ate cookies together! LOL!!

And the silly girls... well, they went swimming!

 I know it may appear to be warm and sunny,

but it is CCCOLDDD!!!

Saturday the younger two girls competed in the AWANAS Games...

 See this AWESOME Sparky!?!

She's mine too!

She REALLY LOVED being Sparky and I think she will gladly do it again! Her favorite part was all the hugs from the little ones! She was the best Sparky ever! She danced and hugged and danced some more! She was AWESOME!!!

 Then on Sunday, my WONDERFUL friend Julie came to visit! Thanks Julie! It was so great to visit with you!! {{HUGS}}

 We went to another friends heated pool for a dip.

Mini Chip made a friend and LOVED playing with his orange ball.

 CUTE!!

Braving the waters... 

What fun!!

Our First Camping Trip in the Desert!!

CAMPING ROCKS!!!

:-)

It was alot of fun.

I set up a Geocaching and Treasure Hunt for the girls.

 The views were AWESOME!!

 This is our campsite. Uncle Nate's camper and ours.

More hiking!

We REALLY LOVE hiking!

And we never even came across a rattler, scorpion, or anything!

Shewww!! Thank goodness!!

:-)