Grandpa Brian (and Amy's Farm)

At the very end of January, my dad was able to come down from Oregon for a visit!  We mostly just hung out, watched the Superbowl, and did ordinary stuff, but we did go to a farm the Wednesday he was here.  We went with a couple other homeschooling families, and it was awesome.  Amy's farm does educational tours, so everybody got to pick vegetables, learn about farm animals, feed pigs and chickens, brush horses, and basically get really dirty.
    

    

  
Elise and Connor went to Daisy and Cub scouts, as usual, and we did park day on Friday.  Evan got an early birthday present (that he helped pick out) the last night Grandpa Brian was here.  It was a football and a microphone, which pretty much sums up Evan's personality!
  

  

  
Our fridge broke, so I gleefully went out and found a huge french-door freezer-bottom model to replace it.  I measured the space very carefully, but the day before the guys delivered the new fridge, I realized that the space between our countertop and the wall was too small to get past (the old fridge barely squeezed out.)  We stored the new one in the hallway for about a week, and were finally rescued by friends, who helped us lift the enormous thing over the counter to it's permanent home.  It was worth it, though.  The fridge is awesome.
  

  

    
I forgot to mention that Evan started Primary at the beginning of the month.  I've had the privilege of being all my kids' Sunbeam teacher so far!  I swear they get littler every year.
  

  
Lastly, we did our growth chart measurements and picture for 2014.  Someday I plan to print out all the photos and glue them to the growth chart, but it hasn't happened yet.

    

  

  

Vasquez Rocks, and Other Stuff

Shortly after the new year, we joined some friends for a trip to Vasquez Rocks.  Corinne and I climbed around near the parking lot, but everybody else explored the boulders and had paper-airplane contests.  Connor especially liked the paper airplanes.
  

  

Three-Inch Vertical Ascent

    

Eating Rocks

Airplane

 
As usual, we worked around the house, did school, taught Joy School, and went to the park a bunch.
  

  

Getting the mail is a big privilege.

    

Asleep on the Chair       

  
One Saturday, we met Aunt Helena at the Santa Monica pier and went on a bunch of rides.
     

  

    
Connor and Elise made these cubes at school - they're supposed to illustrate Bible stories or scriptures.  I was impressed that Connor could do Matthew 6:24.  We've been working on it and a handful of other scriptures at home.
  

Connor: Side 1

Connor: Side 2

  

Elise: Side 1

Elise: Side 2

  

Corinne was a big fan.  I had to move them elsewhere.

New Year's Eve

Connor, Elise, and Evan contributed to our holiday decorations with these projects they made at school.  These hung on the sliding glass door for a couple of months, actually.
  

Evan's Hands-and-Feet Reindeer

Connor's Nativity

 

Elise's Nativity

 

  
We stayed close to home the last week of 2013.  Evan had his last days of nursery at church.  During one of those Sundays he made this block tower which he named "downtown."  The nursery leaders were impressed enough to take a picture.
  

  
On the 31st, we got together with our friends for an early New Year's party (it was on New York time, roughly, so we rang in the new year around 9pm.  Evan discovered the drum set in the playroom upstairs, so he stayed out of trouble for at least 45 minutes!
  

Happy 2014!

  
After the party, our family headed to Pasadena to look at the staged Rose Parade floats.  Before we got to the staging area, however, we drove the parade route, and got pelted with shaving cream tortillas, marshmallows, and silly string by everyone camping out overnight.  The kids could have driven like that for hours, but we eventually made them come see the floats with us.
  

Notice Corinne's floppy head.

Silly string doesn't wash off easily.

  
And these were just two pictures I liked:
  

Evan, Sleeping with his Eyes Open

 

Helpers