Hyak Sno Park

Monday Daddy took the day off work so we could FINALLY go to the snow!  Several of the kids' Christmas gifts were snow gear so that we could go play in the snow.  We just now got to go.  We went to Hyak Sno Park.  We were the only ones there for the majority of the two hours we played.  They had a great time sledding and tried to build snowmen but the snow wasn't wet enough and kept crumbling.  We threw snowballs at each other, sledded and climbed, sledded and climbed, sledded and climbed.  They had a great time.  Two hours was about the limit though because then kids started getting upset too easily.

And here is another random picture I forgot in the last post.  It's been the perfect weather for a campfire so we had a fire!  We thoroughly enjoyed it.  Though it does make me want to go camping even more. 

It's Been a While...

 First we got Tido, obviously that's the post that's been up FOREVER but here is Carson with Tido!

 We switched stools by the island so ALL the kids could sit there... they love it.  It's so cute to watch them.  They all have their designated spots (by them).  They always have to be in this order!

 February 9th we actually had enough snow to play in!  The kids made snowmen and had a snowball fight.  They LOVE the snow!

 Now the big news.  March 3rd we started homeschooling.  Yes, homeschooling.  I have always been one to quickly say "I couldn't do that" and practically run from the idea.  Well, my sister and one of my best friends homeschool and I couldn't get it out of my head.  Kayda was having a hard time going to school again, the kids were sick like crazy, plus the fact that they're gone for 6 hours and then still have an hour worth of homework, and the kids want to start sports again, Carson is lonely, Kayda had already met her grade one requirements and Dillon's teacher was telling me he knew less than I have seen him demonstrate... It was just too much.  So I was thinking about it pretty much every day.  Then all the sudden it worked out to get a table so our old table went in the dining room, suddenly I Have somewhere to devote to "school".  Then we got some free fencing from someone who's fence blew down so we were able to make a dog run so the kids can go outside all the time without having to worry about dog poop.  I realized that the couple of sick days we tested it out that I felt better too.  I decided to give it a go, after all there are only a few months left of the year anyway.  It has been WONDERFUL.  We do school for a few hours a day.  Then we just get to be together.  The kids are playing better together and being less demanding, even fighting less.  They are also helping me with projects, we've been working outside a lot so we've been learning about bugs, soil and plants.  The kids have always loved helping me in the garden but now they get extra excited about the bugs they see and go on about how that bug helps.  It also means I have more patience for other kids.  Weird as that is, more time with all three of my kids and I get MORE patience.  Weird.  But now, whenever the weather is nice pretty much all the neighbor kids come to play.  Just Friday we had a total of 7 extra kids playing at our house (usually out front).

One of the best parts is watching how much Carson and Dillon are bonding.  They play together HAPPILY almost the entire day.  It's been so great for Carson.  It's been great for ALL of us actually.