Snow in the South

All morning long the sky was white with falling snow.  Although we got less than 1 inch, it was still so much fun for the kids!  Sometimes when the wind would blow the snow, Enoch would say, "Mom, maybe we're going to have a blizzard!"  (We just finished up the Little House series by Laura Ingalls Wilder, and they had a LOT of blizzards!)  To make the day even more special, we had snowman pancakes for breakfast and hot chocolate to warm up after our time outside.  Here are some pictures of our time outside:

 Alaythia mopped the street (to keep the snow off, of course)

 Karis shoveled the snow for a few minutes.

 And Enoch swept the snow.  

He also managed to escape outside pant-less earlier this morning, and he swept all of the snow off of our picnic table so that he could bring it in and show the girls.  I have no idea how he didn't freeze, but his enthusiasm was certainly not dampened by the cold!

My three big kids posed for a picture right before Karis demanded to go inside because she was cold.  :)

 And little Zoe made it outside after her nap.  She thought the snow was fun to hit!

Isn't she a cute little baby bear?  I just love sweet little babies in snow suits!

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Getting Outside in the Cold

It has been rather cold this week down South (I know, I know, it is January, so it is supposed to be cold... but still!), so the kids and I have stayed inside almost everyday except our errand/therapy day.  We've had a lot of fun doing school work together in the mornings, and we've managed to keep the house tidy, but we were all a little stir-crazy, so this morning we went out and played.  After putting Zoe down for a nap, the big kids and I went out to rake and bag leaves, and it was SO good to get outside!  The sunshine was bright and cheery, the wind was busy somewhere else, and it felt great to break a sweat from raking!!  Here are some fun pictures of the kids playing in the leaves:

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Playing Baseball

The kids and I have been enjoying playing some baseball over the past week.  Enoch likes to spread out some cones in the yard as bases, and then each kid takes turns hitting the ball and running.  The girls never run all of the bases, but Enoch sure does!  This has been a really fun way to practice taking turns while getting some energy out.  :)

And this last picture is one of my favorite parts of our game... the kids all encourage each other so much.  It's hard to tell from the picture, but they're clapping and screaming, "whooo-hooo, Karis!!  Run, Run, Run!!  Good job!"  

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Refuge in January (edited)

Just a few pictures from our latest nature refuge trip.  We all love going out to the refuge so much!  This time we didn't see much wildlife, but we did hear quite a few birds, and we saw plenty of ducks swimming on the water as we drove in.  The kids really enjoy the boardwalk (and I do too since it's pretty safe for even the littlest ones), so we played there again this time.

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Staying Warm and Dry

It's been feeling more like winter lately, with highs in the 50's and a chilly wind blowing the remaining leaves off of the trees.  We've also had quite a bit of rain over the past week, so as a result, we've mainly been staying inside.  Hugh's gotten pretty creative though, and he made us a nice little play area out in the garage and even added a space heater.  The kids love these tents/tunnel!!

We've also been doing more reading.  Enoch recently discovered a set of "coffee table books" Hugh bought a long time ago: carnivores, geography of the world, and monuments.  He reads each of them at least once a day, noting different things each time, always eager to show one of us what he's discovered.  :) 

And when we have braved the cold or rain, we've tried to dress appropriately.  Though sometimes I wonder if our family up North would laugh at us dressing in so many layers for a 50 degree day.  ;)  

Thanks to Gramma Patti for the matching hats!

 

This is my jacket from high school... He's pretty sure it's his though now b/c it has a hood and comes down right to his boots... to keep all of the rain out.  :)

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A Camping We Shall Go

The boys decided to take advantage of the truly Fall weather this weekend by camping outside!  They put the tent up in the backyard, they managed to sleep there all night, and they seemed to have a lot of fun in the whole process.

Now, the next question is, how will our little girls do in a tent outside??  We may not answer that one though until Spring.  ;)

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Homeschool Field Trips

For the past month I've been trying to be intentional about taking weekly "field trips" with the kids... going somewhere out of the house just for the sake of having fun and engaging with the world around us.  So far we've visited: the nature refuge (twice), a local park, and an orchard to pick muscadines.  We've all had so much fun, and I'm thankful that homeschooling allows us this flexibility and freedom!  Here are some pictures (though I don't have any pics of the park):

 This was a baby gator we saw on our first visit to the refuge.

And a beautiful white bird.  We also went and played in the nature center, which had some fun displays and a few sensory objects that the kids could touch.  Since we've been reading some of Thorton Burgess' books, Enoch noticed a few of the animals on display and asked some thoughtful questions.  

 

On our second visit, we got to watch this man catch a gator on his pole and reel it in to about 10' away from the shore.  Then the gator got angry and fought back hard, breaking the line.  

Can you see the gator swimming away after escaping?

We also saw some deer on our second trip to the refuge - 2 babies and one mama.  The mama is in the photo below.

Karis was happy to be outside!!!

  

 Our trip to the orchard to pick muscadines was also a lot of fun.  We went to Reese's Orchard, and Mr. Reese was sweet enough to walk with us through the field and show us which muscadines were ready to be picked.  And my were they delicious!!  

There were also butterflies galore, and the asian pears were tasty.  

Enoch pretended to be a bear, tromping through the forest.

 

And here's a picture of Alaythia after a game night we all went to one evening.  This is one of her favorite places to be, and she is more and more becoming a Daddy's girl.

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