Looking through the blog I realized that the last four posts have been about Eliza. More things have happened in the past four months than Eliza growing, although that has probably been the most exciting thing.
Because we homeschool I decided that we should throw a Valentines day party with our other homeschool friends. We decorated cookies and then the kids ran around and had fun.
This is where we found Austin and Alice later...
Jen and Ally are some of my dearest friends. I'm so grateful for these women!
One of Tanner's friends from high school invited us up to Pittsburgh for dinner. Several of his friends were there and it was fun for him to reconnect.
We celebrated the 100th day of school. The kids got 100 fun snacks and later they got animal faces because they didn't think getting their faces painted like an old person sounded very exciting. Or maybe they are just extremely politically correct and wouldn't want to be promoting ageism.
One week our Co-op had a book club for the book Poppy. We had themed snacks and Tanner helped me make a porcupine cheese ball. And then they dissected owl pellets; Mariah and Chet loved it. On the way home Chet told me "I still want to be a cowboy but instead of a jet flyer I want to be a mouse bones scientist when I grow up." May he always dream that big...Later a woman from a bird society came with an owl and falcon and taught the kids about birds.
When we had dinner with Tanner's friend MJ she had told me that we could come up to the Natural History Museum and she could get us in with her pass. That was one of the museums that I wanted to go to so I had to take her up on the offer.
I asked Austin if he wanted to be in this picture and he declined. Chet wore his fossils shirt specifically for this museum.
I told Chet to sit on the shell and pretend like he was riding a turtle and he excitedly replied, "No, how about I get under the shell and be the turtle!"
Mariah decided she wanted to see the jewelry exhibit and we had to walk through the Geology exhibit to get there. It totally brought me back to my Fourth Grade self when I had a rock collection. There were so many amazing and beautiful rocks there. Just another testament to me that God is an artist. The rocks were way cooler than the jewelry.
The bone digging was their favorite place in the museum. At the end I told them they could go to one more place and they decided that they wanted to dig for bones again.
At the end of the day we went to the art museum. A few weeks ago we watched an episode of Mr. Rogers where he goes to the museum and they show this painting. All the security guards looked at me like I was crazy when I asked them where that painting was. I was probably the most excited when we found it but it really was breathtaking!
I had to take a picture of this painting as well because that boy is Tanner's doppleganger. Tanner refuses to admit that he posed for a painting over one hundred years ago, but I know the truth...
Also, is it appropriate to take pictures of paintings in art galleries? I'm pretty uncultured so if anyone knows please fill me in. Even if it is, I probably would have still taken these two pictures. It was important. I love the culture that comes with living in a big city, but I hate traffic and love the mountains and nature. So we take day trips to culture ourselves.
Once Tanner's back was starting to feel better we took a trip to Columbus to go to the temple. I went on Friday night while Tanner stayed at the hotel with the kids. It would be the longest Eliza had gone without nursing. Tanner took them all swimming and as I drove back from the temple I envisioned a screaming baby and wired kids with a frazzled husband on the side. But I walked in to all kids asleep with Tanner relaxing on the bed. He had bathed them all and they were so exhausted they fell asleep with no trouble. That was the best night we have ever had in a hotel with children.
Tanner went to the temple first thing in the morning while the kids and I hit up the pool again. Once Tanner got back we went to the zoo. The kids got to touch some sea stars and a snake and we had a lot of fun watching the Gorillas and Bonobos. It started out pretty chilly but by the end of the day I looked like a homeless lady with jackets all over me.
Our Co-op group met at Chestnut Ridge for a pond study. As we got ready to leave for the co-op, my kids asked if they could wear swimming suits. It was about 40 degrees so I laughed and said it was way too cold for that. But once they started catching salamanders I realized swimming suits wouldn't have been a bad idea.
By the end Mariah's bottom half was drenched. She probably caught at least a dozen salamanders.
I knew it was time to go when Austin fell all the way in the pond. My oldest three rode home in their underwear and we cranked up the heat.
We lost count of the salamanders that they caught. Chet "forgot" to wear pants but in the end he was the driest of them all.
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