Friend's Birthday Party

Both Alex and Sabrina were invited to a birthday party for Katelyn, who is 11. It was going to be at a park, but the weather didn't cooperate so another friend hosted it at her home.

The kids brought Nerf blasters and had a blast playing indoors.

The kids also played basketball outdoors.

They had a great time and did not want to leave.

Marie-Anne

Nursery

Sabrina absolutely loves doing nursery. The toddlers love her and she loves them. She has recently started watching before service starts to give parents a longer break. And we agreed she can be in nursery for the entire service once a week.

President's Volunteer Service Award- Gold

Alex has earned to President's Volunteer Service Award- Gold Level for completing 100 hours of community service in 2018. We are very proud of him for all of his hard work.

Marie-Anne

Life Skills- Ironing

Marie-Anne

Roller Skating Class

Alex has learned a lot in his roller skating classes. When he started taking classes he could only skate forward. Now he can do Jumps, Forward Scissors, Backward Scissors, Spirals, and several other tricks. He still has trouble with regular Backward Skating, but he is working on it. Besides all of that; roller skating is good exercise and it's fun. 

Marie-Anne 

Game Night

While Alex was at the teen game night, we went to Dairy Queen then had our own game night.

We played Dinosaur Tea Party, which is a guessing game similar to Guess Who, but with more players and a few twists thrown in.

Marie-Anne

Homeschool Group- Teen Game Night

A family in our homeschool group graciously hosted a teen game night. They are a great group and had a whole lot of fun together. They played Apples to Apples, King of Tokyo, and Super Fight.  

Marie-Anne

Homeschool Group- Service Club

I am the founder of our homeschool group's Service Club. I've had the idea to start a Service Club for years and now I have the opportunity to actually make it a reality. The Service Club is open to students of all ages. At least five families are getting involved in our first act of service. 

Our first act of service is writing thank you letters to Veterans with the option of visiting the Veterans' Home next month to hand deliver the cards. 

Last month Sabrina thanked a Vietnam Veteran. He had tears in his eyes as he asked me if I knew how long he had to wait to hear those words. We want to make sure that others know we are indeed thankful for their service to our country.

Marie-Anne

Trampoline

Marie-Anne

English Second Language Class

Alex and Sabrina played CobraPaw before the students arrived. They had already helped to set up for class.

Sabrina helped me with the younger kids. She helped set up, turned on a Magic School Bus DVD, and played with the kids.

Alex again helped out greatly in teaching. We both went over print outs on reading comprehension and speaking practice with the students.

Marie-Anne and Frank

Homeschool Group- Game Day

We had a lot of fun at this month's game day. The kids played Apples to Apples Freestyle, Super Mario Brothers Card Game, Bugs in the Kitchen, and Dinosaur Tea Party.

Erica and I played Pandemic and Scrabble. We also played Super Mario Brothers Card Game with the boys while the girls played Bugs in the Kitchen. 

Besides just being plain fun, one thing I like about game day is that we get to play new to us games. They had games we had never played and we brought games they had never played. Actually, we brought one game we had never played either. 

Marie-Anne

Homeschool group- High School Biology-Dissections

Alex has an excellent Biology teacher. She invited the class to come to her home to do dissections that they did not have time to do in class. She finished up the worm dissection that they did not complete in class.

The teens dissected clams. Mrs. Jessie gave a lecture on clams and showed the teens several short videos about them. There were two of each specimen so the kids rotated who observed, who dissected, and who cleaned up. 

They also learned about starfish and dissected a starfish. Sabrina mostly played a game with the teacher's husband, played with the dogs, or jumped on the trampoline. Still Mrs. Jessie took the time to explain things to Sabrina when she did come by. 

 I love our Co-op! My public high school did not do dissections. Sabrina is in elementary, yet her class  has already dissected worms and owl pellets. Of course, Alex's class went into much more detail. Both teachers plan on more dissections.

Marie-Anne 

Preparing for a 5K

The guys ran 5K today! They have about a month and a half before their first 5K race. I am confident they will beat their time goal.

Sabrina and I took Chloe on a short walk.

Marie-Anne

Friend's Birthday Party

Alex and Sabrina were invited to a friend's birthday party at Flippin'Out Xtreme. They were already friends with most of the other guests so they had a whole lot of fun. I am also friends with most of the adult guests, there was only one lady I did not know.

The two hours went by really fast, too fast actually.

The party was on a guest's actual birthday, so we sang to him and surprised him with gifts too. (The hosts did not know that when they planned the party. I thought the way they handled that was very classy.)

Marie-Anne

Ronald McDonald House- Cookie Crew

Today we baked Snickerdoodles for the Ronald McDonald House. The volunteer coordinator praised the kids' cookies and told them that several families had asked for the recipe. We have given numerous copies away. We found the recipe online it is:   https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/10687/mrs-siggs-snickerdoodles/  

 Sabrina made a few Caring Cards during the downtime.

We cleaned up pretty quickly because we were only able to stay for two hours today. Also the Ronald McDonald House only wants 6 dozen cookies; Alex and Sabrina had 5 dozen with only making one batch each. I suppose that means we will no longer be staying for the full three hours.

Marie-Anne

Homeschool Group- Co-op

The kids played a game during Chapel. The game tied in with the lesson they were learning. An added bonus was that it burned up some energy. 

Sabrina's science class dissected owl pellets. They found lots of skulls in them. I think it is great that she has such a wonderful science teacher. I never did anything like this in school. 

Alex's class dissected worms. I will add pictures once I get them; I teach a class during that time.

Marie-Anne

Nursery

Sabrina has recently started watching the toddlers during prayer meeting and while nursery workers are doing song service. She also helped do nursery for the evening service this past Sunday.

Marie-Anne

Fabulous Forty

I had a wonderful trip and a wonderful birthday. I am so grateful for all the kind words and gifts I got. I'm looking forward to what adventures this next decade will have.

Marie-Anne

Flagstaff, Az- Day 3

We spent the morning sledding then left for home.We had such a fun morning. In fact, the whole trip was very fun.

Marie-Anne

Flagstaff, Az- Day 2

Alex had planned for us to spend the morning sledding and playing in the snow at Crowley Hill. We were excited as we loaded up in the car. Then we drove and drove and drove and left Flagstaff behind. We were on the highway. We did not pass any of the landmarks we were supposed to pass. That's how we learned that Alex needs to learn to read a map. 

We headed back to Flagstaff and found the right road. Then we drove and drove and drove some more. Alex kept telling us it was a little bit up ahead. Finally I asked how far a little bit up ahead was; a few minutes before we actually got there. It was closed. Yes, closed. 

We stopped at a trail on the side of the road, but sledding wasn't allowed. The kids played in the snow for about 15 minutes. We drove an hour and a half for 15 minutes. At least I got some nice pictures. The kids got to make their first ever snow angels. This was their first time to play in the snow for two years, (but it wasn't nice and powdery then).

Next we visited the Pioneer Museum. Sabrina did their version of the Jr Ranger Program. It is a neat little museum. We learned quite a bit about the area's history.

We also did our first ever trail ride! I haven't been on a horse since I was 17. This was Alex's first time riding a horse without a lead rope. The guide held a lead rope for Sabrina's horse. The kids have only ridden a few minutes at a time before with a lead rope. I think Sabrina had only been on ponies before, never a full size horse. 

Our trail ride was an hour long. We rode through a beautiful forest where the snow was unmarred. We only saw animal tracks now and then. Other than that it was pristine. We all had a whole lot of fun.

Later we went sledding at the park near Lowell Observatory. This was the second time the kids have been sledding, but the first time they went down a big hill. They absolutely loved every minute of it. 

For dinner we went to a 50's diner called Galaxy Diner. 

Thus ends Alex's portion of planning the trip. 

Marie-Anne