Getting school room ready and first day pics

Dave and I decided it was time to dedicate some space officially to school.  I removed my big huge cabinet of a desk which wasn't needed for me anymore, and we bought 4 desks, 4 chairs, some overhead storage, and some corkboards for the kid's walls by their desks.

Eli had so much fun helping me assemble his desk!!

bang!

"I know what to do mom, don't tell me." by the fourth desk leg.

Violet checking out her new space

Eli checking out his school books.

6th grade.  She's studying history from Resurrection to the Reformation

4th Grade.  He's studying the beginning of history to now in big segments, starting with creation/flood, then Egypt...etc.  

2nd grade!  She's studying early american history - Pilgrims and settling of the colonies!

little ELI starting KINDERGARTEN!!!  His book guides him through basic Bible stories for kids, as well as kindergarten level writing, reading, and math.  He loves it and is doing so well!

"The room" redone.  

God sent the flood as a promise He would never flood the earth again.

Reappearance of an old favorite toy

Kids drug out the box of train tracks!  This huge creative track was a ton of fun, but I had to put them all away because of too much fighting.  They claimed portions of the track as their own, fought over whose train was where, who got which train, etc...it was pretty bad!   Fun toy, but they couldn't handle it. It only came out for 2 days, it hasn't been out since this day.

"Vanessa stuff"

I showed her how I french braided and she picked it up so quickly! 

she also finalllly got to be a patient and get an X ray taken of her mouth at Rachel's office.  Cassie did a great job with her.

Aunt Rachel doing what she loves most!  No concerns about her mouth, just a note that she's later than most kids in losing her teeth and getting new ones in.

Solar eclipse Aug 22, 2017

We made a last minute decision after our weekend with the Davis family to travel further south to St. Joseph, MO to be in the path of the solar eclipse.  We stayed in Des Moines on Sunday night and drove down to St. Joseph the morning of Aug 21. 
We ended up being stuck behind some pretty thick clouds, but got some decent views through our eclipse glasses at the moon partially covering the sun before and after the event.

The most awesome and eerie experience was during the 2 minutes of totality when it went completely dark.  The daylight disappeared, it seemed like nighttime, crickets chirped, and all fell silent.  Then like a light switch, it became bright again. 

It was soo neat and totally worth experiencing that, even if we didn't SEE it. 

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screenshots of what my phone told me the moon/sun were doing behind the clouds

"the moments of darkness" at 1:06 pm in the afternoon!!!

the sky was daaaark!  Streetlights came on automatically.

Visit to Davis cabin 2017

We participated in a tie-dye shirt project that Mama Row set up with a friend for our family.  All the shirts turned out so great!

Davis vehicle adventures

Violet kneeboarding!

Eli loved tubing!

Paige and Vanessa loving the little loft space to hang out

Skylar called Violet "piglet" 

swimmin' in the middle of the lake - so nice!

Violet holding Samantha

me with Paige and Skylar - those girls know how to pose for a photo

Eli's favorite part of the boat.  He loved the bumps going over waves!

whole group!

Jacob and Eli

Samantha and Violet

the girls!  Vanessa, Paige, Samantha, Skylar, and Violet

the boys! Jackson, Jacob, Eli, Calvin, Jesse

Adventureland 2017

Dave took the day off work so we could go to Adventureland on a weekday instead of a busier weekend.  It was a fantastic day (even though we dodged rain and it cut our waterpark time down).  We made some good memories.

The rain got us to attend a magic show inside which we really enjoyed!

Gotta go around on the carousel to start the day!

It is hard to take a selfie up in the sky when you're wiggling around!  This is the ferris wheel.

View from the top of the ferris wheel

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spinning saucers!

Calvin is always happy when it comes to food

Eli loved bumper cars...I don't know why he put on this goofy face.  

the magic show was fun! Calvin go to help up on stage for one act.

funny quote of the day after we left and got supper at a pizza place before we left Des Moines.  He had SO much fun.  He kept wanting to go back on the rides "that made his tummy feel weird".  A little thrill seeker!

Our favorite moment was seeing a pic of Vanessa's terrified face while riding on The Monster.  She even went on it twice "so she could take a better pic". HAHA!!