Did someone say school?

One month left. Well, a month and a half, maybe.

Sometimes I wonder if our lack of structure is a hindrance. Some days we have school all day. Some days, I let them play all morning. Some days it is a combination.

Summer won't you hurry up, please! (um...maybe you didn't get that softball cheer reference?)

some pictures!

Evie feasting on yummy carrots. Photo credit to Abigail!

Cookie Time! The girls were so excited when the cookies came in!

Cheesey, Emma- Need I say more?

Daaaddddddyyyy, Please help us lift this very, very heavy box marked
"Very Heavy, DO NOT LIFT!"
......April Fool's!

123

A fellow blogger 'tagged' me for 123 a while back.

The basis of 123 is to grab a book near you (or nearest you) and write the first 6 sentences from page 123- with liberty, apparently, from page 122 if need be. Then, I get to tag 5 people who should post a 123 of their very own. So!

The good part first- I tag:

Grandma Moore, Eva, Lalena, Mandi and Esther
(cause you're the ones who blog!! :) )

Here's mine!

The Ragamuffin Gospel by Brennan Manning, pg 12(2)3.

"The movie Amadeus was a remarkable film centered on two powerful and contrasting figures, Salieri, the court composer to the Emperor, and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, the brash and conceited young genius.

The limited, uninspired Salieri lives with a raging jealousy for the limitless, God-given talent of Mozart. Yes, after every laborious score that he writes, he whispers "Grazie, Signore", Thank You, Lord. This song of Salieri lies at the heart of our response to the graciousness of God and the gospel of grace.

Grazie, Signore, for your limps twisted in love to accommodate my sinful self, for judging me not by my shabby good deeds but by your love that is your gift to me, for your unbearable forgiveness and infinite patience with me, for other people who have greater gifts than mine, and for the honesty to acknowledge that I am a ragamuffin. When the final curtain falls and you summon me home, may my last whispered word on earth be the wholehearted cry, "Grazie, Signore".

the poopsmith------------------------------>

Over on my sidebar, check out "The Poopsmith Song".

It is a little glimpse into the music playing in our life and the issues at hand ;)

whale watching

This is 2 of the humpback whales!

Monday Morning

Can you feel it? Monday Morning! It is chilly and foggy and a little groggy here.
The weekend was beautiful. Bella had a softball tournament all weekend- her team did really good. And it was HOT. Around 88 with no shade in the hot Nipomo dust. The girls had fun- Bella with her team and Abi and Emma in the stands with all the younger siblings.

And today is Monday and we have to hit the books! Last week we finished Language Arts, Phonics and Math- the next couple of months we'll focus on Science, History, Music and Art. It should actually be pretty fun.

horrible blogger

I know, right?! I am a horrible blogger lately. Sorry about that. If you even still check!

So, lately. We went Whale Watching on Thursday with CAVA. Whale watching was AMAZING. No- AMAZING. So, pretty much that is what this entry is going to be all about.

I know that we will never forget this trip. (Especially since I took and bunch of pics and video...So, even Evie will think she remembers it!!) But seriously. We saw a group of 3 humpback whales. They are apparently not even supposed to be in the area until summer, but for some reason they are here feeding on their way to Alaska. The 3 joined up with 2 more for a total of 5 humpback whales flipping their tales and spouting their holes. At one point, we were on the right side of the boat (everyone was running back and forth in a frenzy looking for where the whales would surface) and I told the girls we should go sit in our seats for a while. Right when we sat down, a whale popped up about 15 feet to our left right in front of us. We had an amazing view. I took some video which I will try to post soon. The whales were so close that the captain claimed they were "people watching". He said that they don't come as close as they did unless they are curious. Pretty cool. And next time you see Abigail, ask here how whale's breath smells! Because they were so close we could smell the (NASTY!!) smell from their blowholes after they blew out the air!!

And that wasn't even the most amazing part. That came on the way back. We ran into a group of at least 20 dolphin playing- so the captain circled a few times. The dolphin were swimming with the boat, under, in front of and beside. They would swim along, we could see them under the water, and then they would jump and swim back and forth in the wake of the boat. At one point about 5 dolphin jumped all at once- and it was literally about 5 feet from us. We were so close to them that we could hear them chirping to one another and see the scars and markings on their skin. It was so incredible. Isabella is now in LOVE with dolphins.

And after, the girls and I walked the waterfront of Santa Barbara, went to the Ty Warner Sea Center, touched a shark, some sea stars, sea cucumber, watched a movie about shrimp (who knew shrimp were so aggressive!), tested some ocean water, and browsed the gift shop. After getting some ice cream we headed back to the car and thoroughly enjoyed our unforgettable day out on the sea :)