When we met our friends here on Sunday night, we didn't see this beautiful garden until we drove out of the park. We decided to go back today to tour the garden and have a picnic lunch.
Jared is such a protective big brother.
Caleb loved the yellow flowers.
Just a little thirsty!
Jared wanted to go take a peek inside the conservatory, because it's one of the rooms in the board game Clue. No suspicious characters in here--just these cuties!
We laughed when we saw this plant. It's called Mother-in-Law's Tongue.
If you think this looks gorgeous, you should smell it!
Gracie was happy to find a large, pink flower.
And Caleb was happy to find his favorite color, yellow.
Lily prefers purple, but there were none. She almost looks bummed out in this picture.
Here in the Japanese Garden we stopped to look at the fish swimming in the pond,
and then found a nice waterfall.
We crossed the little stream on these stepping stones. Yes, this made me nervous.
...we moved up to Spokane! And what a year it has been! We've come to love this city, because it has somewhat of a small-town feel to it, with all the benefits of living in a big city. We're starting to run into our new friends in grocery stores and at parks--something I thought would never happen.
One of the benefits of living in a largely populated area is that I'm able to attend MOPS! We went for the first time this morning, and everybody loved it. Look what Caleb did in his class. I had no idea he could write his name! He told me that his teacher helped him with the "B" because he ran out of room.
I realize these pictures have nothing to do with our move up to Spokane, but I couldn't resist taking them while the girls were helping me make brownies just a few minutes ago.
We call this "sneak-a-bite." Want some?
Last month I attended a home school co-op meeting at church. There I sat in a room with very talented moms who offered to teach painting, pottery, knitting, cake decorating, music, sign language, Spanish, P.E., etc. I left the meeting feeling very discouraged, because I couldn't think of anything to contribute to this group. I don't do any one thing exceptionally well. I'm a teacher, but these moms needed extracurricular activities for their children. Phil told me not to be discouraged, but to pray about it, because I am who God made me to be.
Within the next couple of weeks, something just kind of fell into my lap. A couple of friends approached me. One asked for advice on how to teach her 4 year old daughter to read, and another needed ideas and activities for her preschool-aged children. The answer was so obvious!
This Friday I'm hosting my first preschool co-op right here in my home. So far we have 16 children! One of the moms taught preschool before she had kids and she's very excited to contribute. I have no idea how big we'll get, but I'm so excited to start this! I'm also very thankful for the opportunity to share our beautiful yard and play structure with other moms and their children.
We spent the afternoon with friends at a beautiful park near Phil's school.
Weee! Caleb decided to slide down the ridge between two slides.
Here's my sure-footed girl, once again.
It looks like Lily's not so sure!
Jared encouraged his siblings to make sand angels.
We also fed the ducks in the pond.
Isn't this a gorgeous garden? We saw this as we drove out of the park. Phil and I decided that we're going to have to go back and walk around with the kids before the weather turns. It took our breath away! If you look closely, you can see a couple getting their wedding photos taken. As we drove away, Jared said, "I want to be wed here."
This morning we drove out to Bowl and Pitcher State Park. It's just a couple of miles from our house. We had to cross this swinging bridge to begin our hike through the woods.
Once we were over the bridge, we sat down and drew the bridge in our journals.
Off we go into the woods. For some reason, all but Lily wanted to veer off the path and explore. They definitely take after their daddy!
Lily and I took our time while the others went on ahead.
A few tired hikers waiting for lunch.
We enjoyed snacking on the yummy maple cookies we made after dinner last night.
Phil taught the kids to find a tree and stand by it if they got lost. Here's Gracie standing by her tree and praying. Not a bad idea!
The kids played in this "cave" after lunch. It was a nice, cool spot to rest.
Gracie did so well on the hike. She was very sure-footed!
We tried our hand at spin art this morning by using a salad spinner.
The kids chose their colors...
...and then spun away! Sorry I didn't use the flash on my camera.
Didn't they do a good job?
I walked by the fridge yesterday and found Lily singing and organizing our ABC magnets. She was able to search for and put in the correct order letters A through E. I love this girl!
...or, "How I Almost Died in WalMart Today!"
That was the other title over which I was vacillating.
Here's what happened...I was looking at bulbs in WalMart this morning, and all of the sudden, my neck started to itch. I rubbed it, and continued to look at the bulbs. Then my neck started to feel prickly, so I rubbed it some more. Then I started wheezing. My thought at that point was, "hmm--this is the sensation I get when I eat too many dried apricots. AHHH! this is the sensation I get when I eat too many dried apricots! I'm having anaphylactic shock!"
At this point, I could hardly breathe, because my throat was closing up. I went to the health and beauty aid section and found a mirror. I literally watched my neck turn from red to PURPLE! I zipped up my fleece so no one could see my neck, quickly paid for the items in my cart, and ran to wash my hands and neck. I don't know if it was from touching the daffodil, hyacinth or tulip bulbs. It took about 10 minutes of being outside in the fresh air before I started to breathe well again. I know...could this get any more dramatic? Probably not. And why did I stop to pay for my items? I have no idea. People do strange things when they're dying.
So I'm not going to plant bulbs this fall.
