GrowlingToo cool!
Taking a break.BIG GIRL!

The kids are outside everyday. The weather is just perfect. As you can see, Launa has learned to climb to the top of the play structure. She just needs to figure out how to get down!

Flower Girls

Took a few pictures outside of the girls smelling flowers.

My little builders

The kids went to Lowe's today and made fire trucks out of wood. They have a workshop every second Saturday so we thought we would check it out today. They had so much fun. Launa had to stay in the stroller. She checked out the lawn mowers on display while we built.
Next time they will get Lowe's aprons and each time they complete a project they get a patch. We will take pictures with the aprons when we get them. They ran out today. There were tons of kids there.
Drue built hers 95% by herself, Lukas 50% and Samuel about 10%. He wore his safety goggles for a while. He kept randomly grabbing the hammer and hammering things, so it had to be under constant supervision for the rest of the time.

The Zoo

We visited the Wildlife World Zoo by the house today with our school group. The kids were so excited. When we told Samuel we were going to the zoo he said, "I lub monkeys." As I put him to bed tonight he said, "I go to zoo again."
Lukas enjoyed feeding the giraffes. One licked his hand. Drue chose not to feed them. She is not as adventurous as the boys. Samuel took his picture beside an emu. He is singing so his mouth is open. The Wiggles have a song that says, "Mooove like an emu moves." That is what he was singing while I was trying to take the picture. The boy LOVES the Wiggles!
We took our friend Isabel as she is on Fall Break this week and thinks she should be at our house whenever she is not in school. She has become our 5th child. She goes home during the school week and spends the weekends and school holidays with us. Drue loves having a "big sister" around. They were in the middle of the aligator tank when Lukas slipped in, bumped Drue's leg and scared her.
There is another family from church that are involved with AZVA and they walked with us at the zoo. They have a 5 and 3 year old daughter. Each of our kids, besides Launa who stayed in the stroller, had someone to hang out with. It was a wonderful day.

What's Happening

Well, my original intention was to blog each week. That has not been happening. I have tried to only blog when we have some interesting pictures and stories to tell. However, I just realized that sometimes I just like reading about what is going on in the lives of the other bloggers I read. So, this will just be an update of all of us and then I will post pictures from our trip to the zoo.
Drue and Lukas are moving right along in their schooling. Drue should be complete 4th grade and Lukas complete 1st grade by January. Drue was just involved in a writing class with other AZVA students on Monday. She enjoyed being with other kids her age and a teacher in a regular class like setting. It was only a 3 hour class though. And they were allowed snacks while the teaching was going on. She completed a weeks worth of writing assignments in a 3 hour period. Nice for me. Fun for her. Lukas hasn't participated in one as he doesn't really show an interest. He went with Dad that day to get the car fixed. It was good for both of them. Lukas earned $5 picking up dog poop for Papa at the shop. (Our life sounds so glorious!) He was so excited. I later found out that he only picked up a few pieces and made his cousin Nick do most of the work. Hopefully, Nick made more than $5.
Samuel is doing so well on the potty. He still struggles sometimes with using the potty in other places, but if bribed with enough candy, he will do it. No accidents at home and he has mastered both functions on the potty. (So much poop talk in our life.) Samuel has also mastered the computer. School goes so much easier for the rest of us since he has learned to find his own websites and play every game. He loves the Wiggles and PBS websites. It's amazing how much that boy can do with a computer at 2 years old.
Launa has developed a temper and a love for picking on Samuel. She has discovered that biting and scratching him is a great way to keep him off of her, for a few minutes anyway. While waiting for Drue to complete her writing class, Launa laid on the concrete kicking and screaming for about 15 minutes. I was sooooo proud!!! In this past week she has started trying to talk. We were watching and Old McDonald had a Farm video and she said /k/ for cow and a really wierd noise that ended in /k/ for "oink". I think she said "duck" today at the zoo. She is changing so much everyday.
Lance and I are hanging in there. We don't really do anything too exciting. Cook a little food, discipline a kid, take a nap (in shifts), read, have a quick conversation between the preceding things. That is our life in a nutshell. I am in the process of planning another road trip to Florida. Our hope is to be there the last 2 weeks in December. We will try to hit a few attractions, friends, and family along the way. We are also trying to find an affordable motorhome to purchase to make the trip a little easier. We will have to get some schooling in along the way and a table in the back would make it a lot nicer. I found a Wiggles indoor playland in Texas just outside of Dallas. I think that is a definate stopper! Lance was not as excited as the rest of us.
I think that is all. I will now post pictures and a few words about the zoo. Of course, it will be on top of this one.
I will try to get back to once a week updates although they may not include pictures.

Lego Club

The older two have joined the Lego Club with the virtual academy. We meet once a month and the kids get into teams and build assigned items with Legos. These are some creations they made at home before our first meeting.
Lukas' is the one with the red and white striped building. Drue's house has flowers in front.

2 Babies

Whenever we are holding Launa and Samuel wants to be held, he says "Two Babies". That means to hold both of them. Or if we are coming down the steps and carry them both he says "Two Babies". Here is a moment when they are playing nicely (without physical contact) on the couch. Normally they love to wrestle, sword fight each other or play chase around the house. She will be the toughest girl in town.

Just Like Lukie

Samuel is becoming a "big boy". He has been transplanted into a big boy bed and is using the potty (most of the time). His new favorite saying is "Just like Lukie". On this morning he insisted that I pour milk in his cereal (he usually eats it dry) just like Lukie.
Here is a photo of him and his big brother. Notice how close he feels he has to sit to Lukas. Lukas is learning the responsiblity of being a good example.

Prescott, again!

Well, we visted Prescott again. This may become an ongoing thing. Lance's grandmother moved up there just over a week ago and she has plenty of room for us to stay. The kids love hiking and searching for animals around her house. We only have stray cats in our neighborhood. Lukas went out on an adventure by himself at dusk and found a deer. It was "from this corner to that corner" away. That is how far he told us and Grandma. I think if was probably 20ft or so. He was scared and starting running and screaming. He came in the house and when he calmed down, told us he saw the deer. We all ran to the window and there she was. I was quite an experience. Don't see a deer in the backyard everyday. (Although, once I saw some in my backyard, but no one believed me!!!!!!)

County Fair

We visited the Yavapai County Fair in Prescott Valley on Friday. The kids had so much fun. They rode rides, saw farm animals, watched a sheep get sheared and a show by Ranger Rick from Animal Planet. Even Launa got to join in on the rides (she's on the bus). She laughed everytime the other kids would come around on the motorcycles.
They had an exhibit where the kids could be "farmer for a day". This is all of them collecting eggs from the chickens. (No, the chickens aren't real) The fair seems so much more fun when you're the parent!!!
Thanks Papa. I still remember going to fair with my grandparents.

Bunk Bed

The boys are now sharing a room. They have a bunk bed. It has worked fairly well the last few nights. Samuel kept falling out the first night, but has done well the other two. Samuel is excited to be sharing Lukas's room (and toys). He has grown up so much in the last couple of weeks.
I made Samuel's blanket due to the fact that I could not find a Wiggles Blanket at a reasonable price. It is purple, blue, yellow and red. His pillow matches. He loves it as only a 2 year old can love a blanket that his mother handmade! He feels so special.

She WON

Well, Launa won the battle of the hair! She would wait until she was in her carseat and pull her hairbows out, while laughing. And forget about keeping them in at home. She would go around the corner and pull them out. Lance keeps finding little rubber bands all over the house.
Anyway, I cut her hair the other day. She doesn't keep still long enough to get a good picture. These were the best I could do. She was sitting on Lance's lap, but decided to start bouncing and found it to be so much fun she couldn't stop. Her hair is blowing with the motion. Drue did manage to get her still by holding her, but only long enough for the picture. She is one bundle of energy.

Rain

We had some rain last week and the kids saw the perfect opportunity to play in the mud. Our friend Daniel was staying with us at the time. They had so much fun. It brought back many childhood memories.

BIG BOY!!!

Look who's going potty!!!!!!

Summer Fun

The kids were enjoying a much needed break from school. We have been working hard!
We went out tonight and cleaned out the pool and refilled it. They couldn't wait until tomorrow to get in. They always have so much fun in there.

First Day of School

We just had our first official day of school. We are members of the Arizona Virtual Academy. We can homeschool online with the Core K12 curriculum and the kids are labeled as public school kids so we get all the supplies, including a computer, for free. Well, for our tax money! It is a lot of work and will take a little getting used to for all of us. Drue has to complete 5 hours a day (not a problem). Lukas has to complete 4 hours a day. If we include all his daydreaming, he is really close! Right now we are focusing on taking assessments until they get to where they are challenged. So far, we are not challenged. It makes it nice to start a new system off with easy work.
We took a picture with their favorite teacher, mom. With the principal, dad. And one at their desks. We are awaiting our computer from the academy and then they will each have a computer to do school on.

Yavapines Camp

We visited Yavapines Camp while in Prescott. The youth from the church are there this week and we visited during rec. time on Friday. A few other families with young kids visited also. The kids had a great time.
The boys caught bugs and Launa tasted woodchips.

Prescott

We spent yesterday (Friday) in Prescott. It is beautiful up there! We attempted to get a picture of everyone in front of this tree, but Launa refused to stand there. She also refused to actually look at the camera. This was the best we could do.

Akers Family

Akers Family