Springtime

Well it is spring in Oregon which means crazy weather. Spring just seems to tempt us with so many beautiful days followed by these crazy days of cold and rain. Yesterday it actually hailed in the morning but by noon the kids were swimming in the lake - go figure. Our family is doing really well. We built 3 huge garden beds and have filled them with lots of veggies and we planted 3 bluberry bushes that the kids are really excited about. I still want to plant a few fruit trees. Can't wait for the harvest.



We are also in the middle of increasing our chicken flock. We have 9 chicks that are just getting ready to join our older laying hens and we are incubating about 12 other eggs that should be hatching soon. No "peeping" from the eggs so far - I am just hoping that I didn't do somthing to kill them! It is just amazing to me how hard it is to duplicate the natural process that hens do so easily.
We have also discovered a new hobby - Letterboxing.
Check out www.atlasquest.com
You look up your area in the serch engine and find clues to a hidden letterbox stashed somewhere in a park or on a great hiking trail. This has been a great way to discover new trails and swimming holes in our area and great parks and nature walks in town without having to go on the more extreme trails associated with GPS treasure hunts. When you find the hiden letterbox you sign in using a rubber stamp and then you can stamp your own book - kind of like a passport. It has been fun.
Our family continues to homeschool - this year has been a lot of fun. The kids are in the middle of Homeschool Hogwarts, a magical 8 weeks of science classes with a Harry Potter theme. This is our 3rd year of Homeschool Hogwarts and if you do not already know - or haven't guessed - we are totally addicted to the Harry Potter books. (Rich too!) This year the kids will be mapping mars, creating all sorts of potions in chemistry, learning about plant and animal biology as well as playing muggle Quidditch. We love it!
Here is a picture of Micah and her girlfriends - all in Ravenclaw House:



We are also continuing with the Eugene School of Karate. Eli and Kyra just advanced to a white belt with a black stripe, Gannon just got his black stripe on his yellow belt, Micah has her yellow belt and I just got my 1st blue belt!