Update! Finally!

I'm so behind in blogging!  Sorry!  I just downloaded lots of pics off my iPhone, and here they are!  It's kind of a random snapshot of what we've been up to lately, but it will have to do til I can find time to organize pictures from two iPhones and a camera!

The girls have a turtle friend in our neighborhood retention pond.  They named him "Turdy."  Lovely.  One time Katie almost caught him!  He seems really tame.

One of our walks to DQ...as soon as it was warm enough, we started our walks!  New this year - no stroller at all!  Jessica can walk the 4 miles all by herself now!  Our community garden plots are only a few blocks away from DQ, so we will be making lots of trips to water and harvest this summer!

Also new this year - all three girls can ride their own bike throughout our neighborhood!  This is a huge breakthrough!  We just got Megan a new bike with gears on Friday (actually, we got Katie a new bike, and Megan got this white one).  So now Megan can ride this bike on our long rides to the cider mill (8-12 miles round trip depending on where we start).  Jessi will still be on the tagalong behind me for long rides, b/c that would be too much pedaling for her tiny legs.

Our crabapple was glorious this year, if a week later than usual.

Jessica made this beautiful artwork for me for Mother's Day.  We moms were treated to a really nice classroom visit.

Jessica with a ball python!  This was after one of our homeschool nature classes.  Jessi knows all about wildflower ID now...counting petals, determining alternate or opposite leaves, toothed vs lobed leaves, etc!  She tagged along on another one of Katie's class this past week, about ecosystems, and got placed in the 1st and 2nd grade group.  She said she knew most of the answers - she knew we breathe oxygen, and that it comes from plants.  On the nature walk, she knew most of the wildflowers thanks to this class.  And in the pond, she knew all about the frog lifecycle, thanks to our back yard!  What a smarty pants!

Katie with the python.  She also learned a ton about wildflower ID, and was so interested that I got her the ID book and a 10x lens to examine flowers.  She loves it!  In the ecosystem class this week, she said she knew nearly every single answer in the class part AND the nature walk part.  It was great for her to "see" ecosystems in action, and to put her book knowledge in action.

Katie is taking an art class at a local art center.  In this one, a photocopy of a famous work of art is torn in half, and the students have to learn how to mix colors to get the right shades.  I think she did great!

Beau helped Katie with her science chapter one day, while G&G C were at Holy Family with Meg and Jess for Grandparents' Day.

We got Mom C. these pretty fuschias for her front porch.  Hopefully they attract lots of hummingbirds!  We have hummingbirds now, does anyone else??

Last weekend, Megan's team was VERY short of players due to First Communion at the big church in our city.  So we suited up Jessica as a substitute.  And she played - and played GREAT!  She was a good little defender, and even played forward for a few minutes.  She was fearless, going after the ball no matter who had it.  It was the cutest thing I've ever seen!

Go, Jessi, go!

Here's Katie's newest painting project - a still life (in the background).  This is the start, she will touch it up quite a bit this week.  They usually spend 2-3 weeks on a project.

On Friday, Meg had a half day, so I took the girls to the zoo in the afternoon.  It was our first zoo trip of the year!  Here they are in the aviary.

And squeezing each other on the turtle by the reptile house.

On Saturday, we all did the Komen Race for the Cure 5K in downtown Detroit.  Chris ran with Meg & Katie, and they finished in around 35 minutes!  Not bad for their first 5K, and being only 8 and 11!  I walked with Jessica, and we didn't keep track of the time.  :)  Jessi borrowed my headphones, and jammed to Carly Rae Jepsen's Call Me Maybe for most of the walk.  She occasionally sang some Taylor Swift, too, but her best singing and dance moves were to CMM!

After the walk, we did our usual routine after the race: we picked up some shrimp dinners and wing dinners from Happy's (a Detroit dive), and we picnicked on Belle Isle.  Much of the island was closed off for Grand Prix preparations, but we made it to the aquarium and conservatory.  Then we had to race home for TWO soccer games!  What were we thinking?  Poor Katie & Megan were soooo tired, but Katie played almost the whole game on defense, and Megan scored four goals in her game!

Today it was super hot - 86!!  So we broke out the sprinkler for the first time of the year, before two more soccer games this afternoon.  Megan got 2 goals in her game, and Jessi got 7 goals in hers.  We are all pooped after a long, hot weekend in the sun, but boy do we love this weather!

I will try to get Megan's First Communion pictures posted soon.  Justin took a ton of great pictures for us, and we can't wait to show them off!