What We've Been Up To

We headed to the Youth Center on post with our sweet neighbor so the girls could decorate Valentine cookies. 

 All the fixings

and the finished product

Meg and I ran the Heart and Sole race on post.  Meg biked and I ran.  Owen wasn't feeling well and wasn't about to wear this pink tee shirt.  Meg left me in the dust. I think she got tired of biking so slow so she took off and waited for me at the finish line.

 Off to pipe at the local Irish Festival in town.

 We headed to beautiful Beaufort for the day.

 Then we took in a quick trip to Parris Island.  We saw some recruits training and felt a little scared just watching.

 We tried a little art activity I saw online.  You use shaving cream, and food coloring.

 Swirl the colors into the shaving cream

 Take a piece of card stock (we used water color paper) and push it into the shaving cream

 It looks like this when you peel it off

 Then the magic happens -  you scrape off the excess shaving cream and hiding underneath are beautiful colors

and this is what you get!! Ta da!   We would get about 2 prints and then you simply put another layer of shaving cream and start again.

 Meg did one with two colors and it turned out super cool.  Side note on this little art diddy  - it smelt great, was easy to clean up and I picked up the supplies at the Dollar Store.  Win-win

 then we did a super easy science experiment, it involved bubbles and fizz so Owen was into it

 Time for a few pictures of a segment I would like to call:  TAKE IT OUTSIDE TUESDAYS
I've decided Tuesday are a great day to go on field trips.  Just to break up the week and help us explore the area.  We do our school work in the morning then head off about 1:00
This week I chose to take the kids to The Charleston Tea Plantation
We got on this super cool trolley to take a scenic tour of the plantation.

 and we're off.

 Tea Trees

 It was super cool hearing about the plants, the land, the history and then how the tea is made

 The setting was beautiful

 I really liked this trolley. It was worth the trip just to ride on this beauty... with the windows open:)

 Inside the gift shop they had all the free tea you could drink!!

 It was cool to see the factory

 Then we made a quick stop by the Angel Oak  - it is believed to be over 1,500 years old

Thank you Lord for making such beautiful things!

                                                 and of course I always seem to find those "hidden jewels" on the camera.  The one you think I should blow this up and make this into a canvas print to hang in our living room.  I'll leave you with these.

Look who turned 12!!

Owen whose name means "Well, born; warrior"

came in at 10 lbs 14 oz and indeed was "well born"

Owen is our "I love you" kid.  He says "mom, I love you" at least 5 times a day!! Sometimes more!

He is our history buff and loves hockey.  He is currently hungry ALL the time.  

Here are a few of his favorites:

Books - Harry Potter

Candy Bar -  3 Musketeers

Food - Chicken Pasta

We always tell Owen the story about how Pascal was taking f..o..r..e..v..e..r. getting ready on the morning he was going to be born.  We were late getting to the hospital and I was stressed because we were running late.  Pascal likes to tell Owen that he wanted to look nice when he met him!  The good things is the hospital was running late as well so it all worked out.  

and now this kid is 12!!

 New boxers!!

                       
Our family can never wait until the party to eat the cake.  We dug in as soon as we came in the door!!

 I'm not sure how much drumming practice is going on here

 the big 12!!

 P'tite Mom's birthday package from Switzerland!!

 Hooray for Swiss goodies!!

 Owen's one birthday request was to head to Mimi and Pappys!!

 Cake #2!! Mimi always gets a BIG one!!!  More cake ...hooray!!

 I'm always amazed at Meg's Play-Doh creations.  Perhaps we have a future pastry chef.

One of those art projects that came from Homeschool group and I was like....hmmmmm.
When I asked Owen about it his response was, "yea, you can toss that one mom."

 I think February is a tough month for homeschooling.  We are all just a little weary of routine and the days feel very monotonous.  So we are trying to spice things up a little. We headed out for a Tuesday Field Trip.  Here we are checking out Charles Towne Landing.

 This bear was so close to us but was sacked out sleeping!

Owen's favorite animal: the otter!  We sat and watched this guy swim for awhile.

 Owen said we needed one of these at our house for when one of them is in time-out!

 This guy had Owen doing all kinds of things....Look at the excitement on Owen's face.

 Here is Meg with the famous 700 year old tree!!

                  Time for a haircut!!

 Every morning when I am out running I pass this gentleman.  I call him "runner man".  This guy is in his 70's.  He always runs in shorts.  If it is below 30 he is still in his shorts but will run with gloves on. Anyway, I love seeing him.  We always greet each other and it makes me happy to see him.  When I want to sleep in or pass on running I think of "runner man".  I know he will be out there and so I lace up and head out.
Running is also my "chat" time with God.  I always feel better having started the day with a run.  and so between chat time with God and passing "runner man" I try not to miss a run.

 I picked up these brand new shoes for Meg at the Goodwill for $5.00!  I love thrifting.  I found Owen a Hogwarts tee shirt and Pascal some new running tank tops.   Just kidding!  Pascal passes on items from thrift stores.  It is just not his thing!

 You can find us on our bikes almost everyday.  I forgot to take a picture of the new bike basket my mom got me.  We've already been to the library and filled it up.  Was so excited about this!!  and we biked down to the tennis courts for a little tenny!  Meg's back wheel was a little flat so she scootered.  On the way back she wanted to bike so I scootered.  Owen said, "Mom, that's a little weird."  I said, "who cares!"  Well, apparently he did because he biked on ahead of us and met us at home.

Evening walks

and that's a wrap of all things Reber