This and that

 Last week was library week.  We were there 4 times!  We went Monday to get some books for school, Tuesday and Wednesday we attempted to go to story time and Wednesday afternoon Alison went to "tween craft time"...how is it possible that we have a tween?

Alison working on school while the boys wait for a failed story time

Yes, last week was a string of days that nothing I planned went as planned.  Instead of story time, the boys happily played at the library on their own and we checked out more books than ever.

We even went to the base library, which is much smaller than the public library but apparently it's the place to meet homeschool families.  I was asking the librarian if they had any programs for homeschoolers (I've learned to ask everywhere you go) and 3 other moms came up to me from overhearing our conversation.  It was fun to meet fellow homeschool moms and the library is hoping to start something up for us in the fall...keeping my fingers crossed it works out!

Taking Alison to "craft time" was a good glimpse of the public schools here.  She was the only white person in the room,  the only person that didn't speak Spanish, the only kid who actually listened/followed the not great English instructions for the craft.

This is how Maya helps me in the kitchen:

What?  Laying in the middle of the kitchen with a "When are you dropping food?" look isn't helpful?

We started talking about activities this week and found that the base offers some kids sports.  Basketball season is coming up and we decided to give it a try.  The kids are so excited about it, they asked if they could get basketballs to start practicing at home.  I love how much joy a few balls can bring to kids.  Every spare moment they've had this week, they've been outside "practicing".

We went to a dog park on Saturday, which was pretty monumental for our family.  Considering all of our kids have a general fear of dogs, it was a big deal to be in a place full of dogs running around.  The park was nice and all of the kids did great with the dogs.

Ha!  I'm just noticing that my picture has Maya sniffing the other dogs bottom...super.  Well, let's just say she had a good time too.

We tried to be outside as much as possible this weekend while it was "cool" (aka 78).  We found Castle Park, which is possibly the most fun park I've seen.

Can you spot Ben and the kids on top of the castle?

I made pineapple and watermelon sorbet for dessert, in efforts to feel a little better about our new habit.  In real life, Eli's smile was great...but not so much on camera.

We have been going to Kneaders after church the last few Sundays and we love it.  Now that church is morning and evening, it's nice to have an easy button for lunch.  This week, we brought it home for a picnic and so Maya could be with us (our sprinkler system had to be replaced and she had to spend too much time in the kennel this weekend). 

After lunch shenanigans involved feeding Maya leftover cheese from their sandwiches:

Colin and Maya spent the afternoon playing together.