SUMMER!!!

Well, it's finally beginning to feel like summer around here!

The weather is warm... okay, maybe HOT, because you know Oklahoma... there's no such thing as nice weather. It's either COLD, HOT, or SEVERE STORMS :-) But we are definitely enjoying the warmth and the beauty of the outdoors. And I love that I don't have to tell my kids to go outside...they beg to play outside as soon as their pretty little eyes pop open in the morning!

Another reason it feels like summer is because our school is taking a break! Woohoo! Three cheers! One for Zora, one for Lily and one for MOMMY!!! Seriously, we all need the break. Actually, we will do a little bit of work every morning after breakfast because I don't want their brains to turn to mush, but we are finished with our schedule and all of the curriculum they needed to finish for the year.

And finally, we know it's summer because we are busy, busy, busy with activities! We have been to school programs and park playdates, and now we are looking forward to swimming lessons and church camp!

WELCOME SUMMER!!!

Incredible Pizza

Normally Incredible Pizza is a place that we visit rarely because we like to consider it a "treat" for the girls. However, it just so happens that we got to go there two weekends in a row.

We went last week with the Fielden family and had a blast. We also had "Jake-Jake" with us so it was fun to watch him as well. Here are all four of the kids enjoying one of the "rides".

Zora drives a racecar

Lily drives the trainZora, Lily & Jake on the carousel

After a few of the "bu-tend" (Lily's version of "pretend") rides, we went and had some fun on the real rides! We rode in the racecars. Trev drove Addie, Jenny drove Lily and I drove Jake.

Zora wanted to ride the bumper cars instead, so we let her bump Joel around a little.

After all the games, we just had to indulge ourselves in a little bit of dessert. Jake thoroughly enjoyed his ice cream!

Then, this past weekend we were able to go again for my nephew's birthday party! Gotta love that!

Now, for one last pic... the only reason I'm including it in my post for Incredible Pizza is that we saw this on a car in front of us on the way to eat there. I've seen many yellow ribbons supporting many honorable causes, but this had me laughing uncontrollably. And just to make it clear I mean no disrespect to midgets... I just found this car magnet hilarious and had to take a picture!

11 Years

Today I celebrate 11 years with the love of my life. We have truly experienced "for better, for worse" and it's made our bond even stronger. I'm so grateful and blessed to have someone who loves me for who I am despite all of my quirks, someone who works harder than anyone I know so that I can stay home with our children, and someone who has such a loving, tender spirit.

Happy Anniversary, Joel!
I love you!

ZL Photography

My kids love to take pictures. They like to be the object of the picture, but more than that they LOVE to be the photographer. It is an obsession with them, especially Lily. Recently I found our old camera and we gave it to the girls to use. Here are some pictures they have taken... some that just crack me up, and some that I love!

Pictures by Zora

This is one of our friend Casey. Zora likes to POSE her objects... poor Casey!

Silly Lily!

Lindsey... one of Zora's favorite dolls

Unsuspecting Lily...
I love this one...
This is what she looks like when she first wakes up every morning!

Pictures by Lily

Lily doesn't usually pose her objects.
She likes to capture things "as they are".
She also likes to take pictures of unusual things.
She definitely has her own point of view on life!

Lego Train

I absolutely LOVE this next pic...

Fire pit

Lily even took my new profile pic :-)

Birds on a wire

Here is one instance where she chose to pose.
These are the kids in her class she was teaching.
It was picture day :-)

Lily's Self-Portrait

She also recently was the photographer for our science experiment.

Here is one of her most recent photos.
She wanted a picture of me getting ready.

Before she successfully took the above picture she was trying to get a photo and was very frustrated because it wasn't taking pictures correctly. I realized that the camera was still set on "video" from the day before when we had been at gymnastics. Here is the video of her getting frustrated and me helping her. This video makes me laugh so hard. Listen to her response after I say, "Honey, I think you've got it on video"...PRICELESS!

I'm sure there will be many more pics from ZL Photography... it's just a matter of time :-)

Gymnastics Videos

Here is a quick update on the girls' gymnastics. We only have two classes left and then we are taking the summer off for other activities like swimming lessons, church camp, and just good 'ol fun!

Enjoy the videos :-)

Mother's Day

I have to brag on my family for all of my special treatments I received this year for Mother's Day.

First, on Friday night my mom and step-dad treated me by watching the kids all night so I could have a little bit of "quiet time". Then, on Saturday my husband washed and detailed my car for me. What a treat! :-)

On Sunday morning, I was awakened by my husband and girls with a yummy breakfast in bed - pancakes, fruit, fruit dip and milk. They also greeted me with hugs, kisses and a few gifts.

Bringing Up Girls by Dr. James Dobson

WOW Worship CDs

My favorite gifts are the homemade ones. I received numerous homemade cards that were absolutely precious, and Zora put $1 in one of her cards :-) Lily also gave me a small bottle of lotion with her cards.

When we got to church I got two more gifts. My mother-in-law had taken the girls to The Purple Glaze about a month ago and they each made me a vase. My MIL brought them to church for the girls to give to me. They are absolutely precious.

Zora painted the purple one and Lily painted the yellow one

When we got home from church my husband ordered me to cuddle on the bed with the girls. As we cuddled he fixed an amazing lunch... steak, corn, scalloped potatoes, and steamed veggies. If we had gone out to eat that lunch would have cost a fortune - it was truly the most delicious steak ever! So I got to eat a very yummy lunch in my nice, comfy robe :-)

My only disappointment from Mother's Day is that I didn't get a picture of me and the girls! The day flew by and the girls were already in bed before I realized that we never took one. Nevertheless, the day was perfect because I spent it with my wonderful hubby and darling girls :-)

bubble-ology

bubble-ology: the study of bubbles!!!

This week we prepared for a science project that we were going to present to our T.I.E. Homeschool group. I searched the internet for a fun science project that I thought she'd be interested in and that would also be educational. I found a GREAT website that every parent should bookmark! It's called Science Buddies and it is a wealth of great science information and some great projects/experiments as well! All you have to do is enter your child's grade level and how much time you will need to complete the project, and then it will ask a series of questions to find your child's interests, then viola! It gives a list of experiments your child will enjoy, with every bit of information you need to successfully complete the project!

So, I found a great one for Zora...bubble-ology...and she loved it!

First we talked about the strength of the water molecule bond and how another agent must be added to water in order to "weaken" or "elasticize" the water molecule bond and produce bubbles. We determined that soap/detergent was the perfect agent. Then, we questioned if some other agent could be added to make even better bubbles.

Our experiment was this:

Jar #1: water only
Jar #2: water + detergent
Jar #3: water + detergent + glycerin
Jar #4: water + detergent + corn syrup

We set out to determine which made the best bubble solution! We did this project as a family so we determined our jobs:

Joel: timekeeper
Tara: bubble blower
Zora: data recorder
Lily: photographer

The next step was to blow bubbles from each solution and catch the bubbles on the wand and then record how long each bubble lasted until in evaporated ("popped").

We did 10 sets of data from each jar. Then we went inside for Zora to evaluate our results. First, she made a bar graph of each set of data. Then we determined the minimum value, maximum value and average value for each set of data. She then used the information to determine which bubble solution was BEST (for strength/endurance)!

The results:

Jar #1: water only:
NO BUBBLES

Jar #2: water + detergent:
WEAKEST SOLUTION

Jar #3: water + detergent + glycerin:
STRONGEST SOLUTION

Jar #4: water + detergent + corn syrup:
MEDIUM SOLUTION(but it had the biggest bubbles!)

huge bubble from corn syrup solution!

Today Zora presented the information to our T.I.E. group. I had to help her present it because her nerves got the best of her, but she did pretty good nonetheless :-)

If you would like to make your own bubble mix here is the best recipe according to our experiment...

1 cup water
2 Tbsp dish detergent
1 Tbsp glycerin

We even made a home-made bubble wand out of a pipe cleaner and it worked great!!!

Happy Bubble Blowing to All!!!

Surprise!!!

My Granny had her first surprise birthday party ever - for her 80th birthday!!!

We went down on Friday afternoon and spent the night with my cousin's family. We always have a blast with them! On Saturday I rode with my cousin to pick up the cake - which was adorable - and then we decorated all afternoon. It was a lot of fun and it ended up being very beautiful.

While I was walking around taking pictures of all the family who had gathered waiting for Granny, I realized that our family quite possibly has the cutest kids on the planet. Let me introduce you to them....

NORA JEAN

NOLAN

NATHAN

CANAAN

LINCOLN

LILY ANN (with little Tru)

JAKE

CAYLIN

CAMRYN

ALLI

These are all of the great-granddaughters...
Camryn, Nora, Alli, Lily & Zora

So after all the family gathered we waited for Granny. She hasn't felt great lately because she is on chemo pills, but we managed to come up with a good enough story to get her out of her house and to my cousin's house. We all hid so when she came through the door and we all jumped out and said, "SURPRISE!", she was truly shocked!
She was so grateful to see everyone and have everyone gather for her birthday. Of course, you can't have a party without some presents...

...and every party also has to have delicious food, of which we had plenty! The kids really enjoyed the end of the party because Gina brought out some rice krispie treats for them to decorate with icing.


Our family is so blessed to have such an amazing woman. My Granny has been such a blessing to so many people over the past 80 years. I'll finish with the video of her birthday song.

We love you, Granny!