Fun with Friends

One of our favorite things about homeschooling is the ability to set our own schedule. We use My Father's World for our main curriculum and it is set up for light Fridays. This enables us to take field trips, check out the zoo, work an auction or visit friends.

This particular Friday, we visited our good friends the Mashburns. They recently welcomed a new baby into their family. Somehow, I didn't manage to get a picture of baby Arynn. You'll just have to take my word for it that she is adorable!

The weather was beautiful and the kiddos spent most of the day outside. The highlight of their play was building a "ramp" for riding bikes. The way the kids carried on you would have thought they were jumping the Grand Canyon. :-)

Another highlight was playing on the swing. Mr. Jake attached a swing the a large tree out front.

Madisyn took the time to push Henry and my future daughter-in-law in the swing. We haven't determined which son, she'll marry but her mother and I have plans. ;-) (The Mashburns have 3 girls and 2 boys, so 5 of my future in-laws are covered.)

Don't they look like they're having a blast!?!

 

Little Libby got to enjoy some time outside with big brother.

 

Then Ben and Mary Claire had a good time wit Madisyn pushing them.

 

 

These two little princesses did not seem to get the point of a play date until the last 30 minutes we were there. They fought over every toy. If each one of them had one, they wanted both. As soon as I said it was time to get ready to leave they became best buds and shared everything! Oh, the mind of a two year old!

 

We always have a great time with the Mashburns and can't wait to visit again! Princess Liberty declares that a visit very soon is in order!

 



Homeschool Day at the Capitol

 Last week we participated in the Education Alliance's Homeschool Day at the Capitol. We joined over 750 fellow homeschoolers at the Capitol building in Little Rock. Part of those homeschoolers we joined were our good friends, the Mashburns, and some new friends, the Tims. We had a great day.

 After registering and dropping off goodies for our State Senator and Representative, we headed for a tour. The stained glass version of the state seal was interesting to some little girls.

 Part of the tour included visiting the State House and State Senate galleries. Ty had a front row seat and participated well in the discussion by our guide.

 

 The Governor's reception room was beautiful. You know you have more that the average number of children when discussion at lunch turns to how much all three families would love to have the conference table for a dining table!

 We ended our time on at the Capitol complex with a visit to the beautiful golden doors. The doors are made of bronze. The have greatly appreciated in value so much the the public is not allowed to enter or exit through those doors. Griffin was a bit dramatic. It was a chilly, wet day but it wasn't near as cold as he likes to act.

 

Turning Ten

We decided a few years ago to have small, family type birthday parties for most of the kids' birthday parties. The exception would be when they turn 1, 5 and 10 (we will probably do 13, 15, 16 or 18 but haven't decided for sure). Turning 1 will still be a smaller affair but we'll decorate, invite a few friends etc. Turning 10 is exciting!

Even with me trying to convince her otherwise, Madisyn insisted that she was indeed 10 and she has been looking forward to a party for at least 3 years! We settled on a cowgirl theme and fixed things up in pink and brown.

Her birthday was on a Sunday this year so on Saturday afternoon we had about 35 people over to eat burgers, be-dazzle horseshoes, make horsey sun visors, play pin the tail on the horse, join in some games of pitching horseshoes and eat three different kinds of cake!

Madisyn even helped make the cupcake toppers. She loved having a project to share.

We had kiddos ranging from 2 months to 29!

The girls had a great time decorating the horseshoes and Madisyn enjoyed doing something "girly".

The boys tended to do the more manly activities of driving the tractors and car.

The big "kids" did let the smaller ones throw a few horseshoes. ;-)

My birthday girl with her cake. I still don't believe she can possibly be TEN!

She had a great time opening gifts and is very thankful for all the gifts she received.

We ended the evening by busting the pinata.

So I could send everyone home on a sugar high!

I'm incredibly thankful that God blessed me with such a wonderful daughter. She is truly my right hand. Her brothers and sister adore her and she is always willing to help. What a blessing Madisyn is!

Going Down Town

After we left the state house, we did some walking downtown.

It really was quite neat to walk up and down city streets. The kids spotted policemen in cars, on motorcycles and on horseback. We looked for some on bicycles but didn't see any.

Once the crowd cleared out, we headed back to the the Riverfront park. It's really a neat playground. The slides and tunnels are multi-level. It's a little hard to keep up with kiddos though. I DON'T recommend going alone! I'm one of those overprotective types who likes to be able to see my children when strangers are walking around.

Daddy even got in on the "fun" of climbing up and down the tunnels.

Ben worked extra hard at his play. He always took the hard way back up the slide, took the longest tunnel around and of course needed help getting up the rope ladders.

We had to take a little break for baby feeding and I got this picture of Madisyn. I love it. She does look more grown up that I think she should but it's a good picture nonetheless.

To conclude our trip we walked out the on the pedestrian bridge. It's an old railroad bridge that has been redone. You can actually walk across the Arkansas River. Madisyn was not sure that she wanted anything to do with it but she wasn't about to stay behind either!

Ben wasn't really sure about the bridge and don't you just love the look on Madisyn's face!

The view from the bridge is spectacular!

Now for those crazy Mashburn kids ;) - They had no problems with the bridge. Their parents must be a little more adventurous!

By the time we left, the boys were willing to venture to the sides and look around. You can see where Madisyn (and Kent!) stayed the whole time. :)

The Old State House

After our visit to the Steam Engine, we headed downtown to check out the Old State House.

They have a wonderful kids "discovery" room. The theme of the room is political train stops. They had a HUGE train set, dress up clothes from the 20s and 30s and the rear of a caboose for waving to your hopeful supporters.

The boys enjoyed the engineer outfit.

Griffin was quite a bit shorter than the other kids and he could barely look over the railing.

Madisyn thoroughly enjoyed dressing up!

We went through the exhibits. Griffin started to write a letter at the 1920s exhibit.

Ava enjoyed her Momma's sunglasses. You have to do something to stay entertained when you can't read!

The boys were all fascinated with the police exhibits.

I think they were on the wrong side of the bars! LOL

Ben and Austen found a great window with a view {of the construction crew below!}.

Here's a shot of turkey #4.

She looks like a hardened criminal, doesn't she?

I think Austen was having too much fun behind bars.

The State House has beautiful grounds. We really enjoyed the fountain.

The kids also enjoyed checking out the cannon.

Say Cheese!