Neve - 2 Months

Somehow, my dearest newborn is already 2 months old and looks longer and longer all the time.  Whenever I see someone hold her I am shocked by how long she looks. She weighs 10 lbs 0 ounces!  And she is such a sweetheart.  I could snuggle her all day.

Spring School

This year in school we added a new student (Brooks) and added a few new subjects (Art, History and Science).  Basically Phonics/Reading/Spelling/Writing and Math are still one-on-one and Art, History and Science are done all together.  The kids learned so much and I can assure you I did too!
 

In addition to those daily activities, we also did several field trips.  Here are highlights from a few:

Griffon Family Farms

- Saw three ages of chicken and their different environment, color, sounds, and sizes

- Saw farm equipment and a semi-truck

-  Learned about corn and wheat production

 Botanical Center
-  Leaned about different textures, colors and uses of different types of soil and clay
-  Saw several varieties of plants and flowers
-  Review of seasons

Sheep Brain Dissection

-  All the kids got to touch a sheep brain

-  Learned about the size and use of a brain

-  Learned about the weight of different brains

-  Learned what different parts of the brain looked and felt like

Uncle Dan

My dad is a family man!  Growing up I knew with out a doubt that he loved me, my sister and mom.  He also had tremendous love for his brothers and sisters, and parents.  He is a very loyal man.  So you can image the sorrow that hit him, when his brother was first diagnosed with cancer and then just a few weeks later with kidney failure and then a few days later he passed away.  My dad was by his side for the last week of his life, comforting him and loving him.  I love my dad for that!  And certainly,  I loved my uncle too.  

My uncle Dan was a fabulous ball room dancer, an antiquer who gave us an antique china set for our wedding, and fabulous baker most known for his carrot cake.  His most notable legacy might be how kind he was.  He had a room full of friends at his funeral and most of them very very close, in fact close enough that over 100 of them visited him in the hospital. He will be missed by so many. 

The 7 of us filled up our mini-van and drove to his hometown of Fargo, ND to celebrate his life ... and of course to give my dad some extra hugs too!  

The kids spend a total of about 16 hours in the car round trip, sat still and quite for several events and meals, and were fairly good confined to a small hotel room at night.  They were great kids.  We did manage to get a quick hour of playing in the pool in and a few card games, before we came back to life here.  

I am sad for the accession that brought us there, but I am grateful that I got spend that weekend with family both close and extended and grateful for the pause button it forced so we could embrace and reflect on life and eternity.