Trampoline!

Since we moved in, we've been trying to figure out whether we wanted something for the kids to play on in the backyard, and what. We had a slide and swingset combo in Florida (that had been given to us by some neighbors when they moved away), but we decided to leave it with another neighbor rather than move it to Montana with us. It had been nice in Florida, but Drake (who's going to be 8 this summer and is getting pretty tall) had really outgrown it already. We thought about buying or making a really big swingset, or getting a big slide, or building some type of play structure, and finally, after weighing lots of pros and cons, we decided to get a trampoline instead.

Yesterday was the big day - we went to Sam's Club and bought one, and got the bottom part put together. This morning, we got up and put together the net part, and attached it. I realized that trampolines are a lot more time consuming to put together than I had anticipated! But it was worth it! Look at all the smiles...

Levi doesn't like to stand on it when other people are jumping, because at barely 30 lbs., he gets tossed around a lot!

But he loves to be held while Adam or I jump!

So much fun!!

But very tiring. I'm so out of shape. This is good for me!

Drake can really jump high!

Levi decided he doesn't mind jumping like this either (holding on with two hands, facing out, and being held close to Dad or Mom's body).

Jump boys, jump!

. . .

So who wants to come for a visit?

Art class pictures, continued

Okay, so here are some pictures I took last week at art class when they were doing sculpture...

Drake and Levi showing me their favorite wagon from the huge wagon display at the museum.

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The art class was held at a western art museum in town, which is an awesome museum, by the way. (We toured it last week after class, and it's got all kinds of Native American stuff and early European settler stuff, and much of it is hands-on.) The class was held on Thursday mornings, and was specifically for homeschooled kids. The price was awesome, I just have to mention that, because I still can't believe how much it cost. $10 for all 5 weeks! And the instructor gave us permission to tour the museum for free while we were there! It has been really fun for Drake; he's looked forward to going every week. The instructor mentioned today that she's hoping to offer another class in the fall, so we'll definitely be watching for that!

Sculpting a bar of Ivory soap.


All the sculptors hard at work.

This class has been a great introduction to various types of art!

Art class pictures

Betcha thought we dropped off the face of the earth, huh?

Almost, but not quite. Here's a brief synopsis of our lives for the past, oh, 8 or 9 months:

• Packers and movers came and got all our stuff.
• We drove two vehicles for 5 days and finally made it from Florida to Montana. Fun trip, actually!
• We stayed in TLF (Temporary Lodging Facility) at the base for a month while we purchased our first home. (Short description: built in 1948, hardwood floors on main level, almost 2,000 s.f., counting the partially finished basement, 2 bedrooms upstairs and one down, 2-car garage, breezeway connecting house and garage, corner lot, fenced backyard, nice older neighborhood with lots of big trees, across the street from a Catholic school. I know, I know, I should post some pictures of the house, but that will have to wait until another day!)
• My mom came while we were still in TLF and watched the boys while we closed on our house, and stayed to help us unpack. (She even painted our living and dining rooms before our household good were delivered. It was such a blessing to have her help, and her company, on Adam's first tour out in the field!)
• We found our wonderful new church.
• We moved into said new house.
• Both of Adam's sisters and their (7 total) children visited for Thanksgiving, a couple of weeks after we moved in.
• Drake started Awana here.
• We started our first remodeling project - adding a 2nd bathroom in the basement.
• My parents visited for Christmas.
• We pulled out gobs of hair over the bathroom project.
• Adam and the boys fished all winter. A lot!
• We learned to finish drywall and texture walls.
• Drake took swimming lessons.
• Levi turned 3 in February and had a dinosaur birthday party with lots of new friends!
• Adam's dad visited for a few days.
• We learned to lay linoleum tile.
• More (plumber-oriented) bathroom drama.
• We moved 8 smallish poplar trees from our backyard to our friends' yard to make room for a garden. Fun day!
• Drake took more swimming lessons.
• My sister and brother-in-law visited at the end of March.
• I was diagnosed with Carpal Tunnel Syndrome and have started wearing wrist splints and going to physical therapy twice a week. Not my favorite thing, but I am really thankful that the pain is decreasing after almost a year!
• Drake started a 5-week art class at a local art museum.
• Drake had his awards ceremony for the close of the Awana year, and was awarded for finishing his book, his review, and his extra credit for the year. Excellent work, Drake!
• We tilled and fertilized our new garden space, and realized that it was probably an old garden space, once upon a time, because the soil is excellent!
• We had warm, gorgeous, spring-like weather.
• We drove to our hometown in Washington for a few days. (Drove...wow...it's awesome to be so close!)
• We decided that we hope to never see our plumber again. Ever.
• We got snow at the tail end of April. And just when it had all melted and started trying to warm up again, we got more in May.
• We took the first few showers in our fully-functional new bathroom. Yay!
• We took a trip into the Rockies with some new friends and saw all kinds of animals and cool stuff, discharged weapons, built a fire, etc.
• I just discovered the showerhead is leaking, probably from where it connects inside the wall, after probably 4 or 5 showers. Grrr...did I mention how much I love that plumber?
• And through all of this, my daily life has consisted of homeschooling Drake, childrearing in general, meeting new friends and getting involved in stuff, and getting used to Adam's schedule, which most of the time hasn't been too bad. The good thing about his new job is that he really likes it!

So, that was the Reader's Digest Condensed Version. Drake's art class ended today, so I'm going to post some pictures of that, hopefully getting back into the swing of blogging occasionally. So without further ado...

Drake at the kitchen table with all his projects from art class. (Except the soap sculpture...I forgot to include pictures of that. I'll post again in a few minutes with some of those pictures. I am NOT about to try to add them because I've been fighting Blogger for over an hour already, and it doesn't want to let me move any pictures or text around!)

The cover of Drake's portfolio

Drake's collage, made from a rubbing of the sole of his shoe and magazine clippings. (Drake says the shoe rubbing is a monster and the magazine clippings are his habitat.)

All the goodies he made. Each week was a different topic: drawing, collage, painting, sculpture, and then today was supposed to be pinhole camera, but because of the weather it had to be changed, so the kids got to paint a ceramic bison!


Another view

Cool bison!

Making a charging-bison face.

And this one is totally unrelated, but I just wanted to throw it in anyway! I took it this afternoon after Levi woke up from his nap. They were playing Lego Star Wars together in the basement, very intent on their game!