Field Trip & Eye Exam

A while back, I joined a homeschool group in the area through Facebook. There have been a lot of weekly opportunities to meet up, but with moving and sharing a car with Zac, the timing was off. I was invited by the group to meet up at the Mississippi Museum of Natural Science this morning for a free event to learn about the environment and preserving wildlife habitats. I got the kids up at 7am, brought Zac to work, and headed to the museum.

We were entertained by a group of rangers, singing songs about weeds and habitation. The big kids were so tired this morning, they looked so unenthusiastic for the first half-hour. After meeting Smoky Bear, they perked up a bit and enjoyed the rest of the tours. Jac's favorite part of the museum was the bug exhibit. He was able to touch a few beetles and a giant (dead) hornet. Leah enjoyed petting the snake, Miss Rose, though she did feel a bit weird about it. I touched it, too, and it was like touching water, but without getting wet. Elias had the most fun with the fish. He pressed his little nose against the glass and willed the fish to be his friend, then poked his bottom lip out and burst into tears when it was time to go "bye bye". It was a nice trip. The big kids found it educational and hopefully, there's another trip in the near future.

We stopped by the nursing home to visit Dad for a few minutes. I woke him up from a nap and he managed to eat a bit. He's so ready to get back home. Mom said he should be discharged on the 10th. 

I brought the kiddos back home to eat lunch, then we headed back out for their eye exams. Jac needs upgraded lenses since his current glasses are growing blurry and Leah's eyes haven't changed at all, but she only needs hers for reading. Both are getting new frames, though. Elias will need to start getting his eyes checked in about a year. After their appointment, we were just in time to pick Zac up from work and bought a few things from the grocery before finally getting home.

New house!

We're officially home-owners! Friday, we met with the previous owners and signed a few documents, were given the keys, and started moving. I've nearly got everything out of boxes. This house is perfect, everything has a place! And everything fits. It's crazy. My only concern will be where to put the litter box once we buy a washer/dryer. It feels surreal. I still can't believe it.

Postponed

Our moving date has been pushed to Friday, the 28th. Grr. But, we learned the appraisal was wrong and we'll be saving $400, so that's good. Meanwhile, we (im)patiently wait to get our Uhaul, new sofa bed, and dining table before going to our home. Six days and counting...

Easter 2017

The church hosted an egg hunt on Saturday, so we brought the kids along to enjoy the day. It was technically Elias' first egg hunt and this year he was able to walk around and pick up eggs (though, he was more interested in pine cones and flowers, as well as breaking his eggs open to eat the candy right away). We spent a good bit of the day in Pearl. I had choir practice at 2 Saturday afternoon, so after grabbing some lunch, we headed back to the church. A bit later after the rehearsal, I stopped at Walmart to get Easter-ish shirts and we headed to Jackson to get pictures with the Easter Bunny. We managed to get a free picture as the photographer ran out of SD cards and we were encouraged to snap as many pictures with our cell phones. Lucky! And they came out cute, too. We stopped by the park to eat lunch and watch the ducks. The big kids even spotted two separate duck families with their ducklings. We ended our busy Saturday with egg-dyeing and leftover pizza.

Sunday morning, we went to church. I sang my solo in the cantata (and I really didn't feel as nervous as I looked) and had to get to Walmart because once again, we forgot to buy candy for the Easter eggs. So the Easter bunny was late hiding the eggs, but managed to get it done while the kids were distracted. It was a super relaxing Sunday, even after moving a few more boxes downstairs. We've got one more week until we move into our new home!

Passover

Zac and I attended a Seder Passover meal at the church based on Jewish tradition. Seder tradition is to tell the story of the liberation of the Israelite slaves in ancient Egypt, as well as eating symbolic foods such as Maror and Chazeret (bitter herbs), Charoset (a fruit and nut mixture), and Beitzah (a hard-boiled egg).

It was fascinating, to be honest. Even the kiddos enjoyed it, which was unexpected as that horseradish was not at all savory. I do hope we can partake in it again next year, though.

April

Zac and I hung out with the kids this weekend. We picked up doughnuts for lunch and drove by our future home, mainly calculating distances and different routes. Three more weeks!!!

The weather was nice enough to keep the windows down, though it did reach about 90 degrees before we headed back to the parents' house.

We went to Khol's to look at housewares and bedding sets. Leah ended up with a blister from her sandals, so I brought her into Target with me to get some slip-on sandals (no blisters, guaranteed), then went to PetsMart to look at fish and critters. I also stopped by Babies R Us because I have a feeling Elias will need a leash harness before long...