Tennessee!!!

We took our annual road trip to Tennessee at the end of November, perfectly planned around the Rock N Roll Nashville 1/2 marathon.  However, after all of those hours in the car....we lost control the last 45 minutes.  Everyone was belting out the Frozen soundtrack, and there was no stopping them.

 We finally made it, safe and sound and spent the first day playing outside.  The four wheeler was the big hit.

 Nicole finally talked her daddy into letting her drive.  She was a natural

 The guys (and maybe some girls) had fun getting some shooting in :)

 Learning how to shot a .22

 Nicole and Susannah came shopping at Dollar General for Hannah's birthday.  They had a great time.

 Sweet little Hannah shared her 8th birthday with us.  Isn't she adorable?

 We ate at the famous Pancake Pantry, where there is always a line around the corner.  It was delicious.  I didn't listen to my friend and ordered pancakes instead of french toast.  I regretted it the rest of the day.  That french toast was amazing!

 We spent the afternoon at the running expo.  It was so much more fun this year compared to last.

 Jeremy ran the 1/2 marathon (13.1 miles).  Nicole and I ran the 5K (3.1 miles)

 There is a cool wall where you write who you run for.  I put my sweet friend Ashley, who is on the waiting list for her second double lung transplant.

 The special picture of grammy and gramps with ALL of their grandkids

 We got to visit The Parthonan...in Nashville, not Greece :)

 All of the cousins, aren't they cute?!?

 Hannah's birthday cake at the restaurant.

 Hannah made a great sign for Jeremy.

 And then one for Nicole and I.  Unfortunately, the rain ruined her sign and she couldn't use them.

 The racers.

 Just a few of the 5K runners.

 We finished!  Praise the Lord!  It wasn't a PR, but we finished :)

 There's Jeremy, a bit past mile 9!

 Me and my crew, cheering the runners on their last tenth of a mile.

 The kids spent a lot of their time in this fun play room, playing wii and talking about Star Wars.

We took a "side" trip to Ohio to see my grandma.  Nate's not really drinking a monster here, but it was a funny picture.  We were starting to go bonkers again.

 After a six hour drive, we finally made it Grandma's!  Nicole spent almost every moment sitting next to her.

 We also enjoyed some of the OSU vs Michigan stuff at my Aunt's

 We love grandma!!!

 We got to swing by our friends' house in Louisville and say hi for a bit.  It's fun to have friends all over the country :)

 One thing I'm "known" for as Aunt Michele is taking silly selfies with my nephews.  Somehow it's helped to break the ice with them.  I slowly worked with George all week, and the last day, he finally let me spend some time with him and take silly pictures.  Here are a few of my favorites.

 I finally got a smile!!!

It was a seriously fun trip.  It's always great to see them and spend time with them.

sad man?

Nathan asked me why this man is sad. I told him that this was the way people posed for photos or paintings, with just their "normal face". 

His reply: " Or he found out he was on a small dollar bill and not a $100 dollar bill". 😂😂😂. Yeah- maybe that's it!

Last two months of school

The last two months have been a whirwind.  We had several events with our Classical Conversations community, as well as our other local homeschool group.  This first set of pictures are from our CC Geo/Science Fair.  It was a wonderful evening!  Nicole did her project on Emperess LeiZu, from China who is credited with discovering silk.  She had a cute display, including a lego garden, flavored tea, and a sweet little empress costume

 Hannah's project was on the 10 plagues.  She made a diorama and had unleavened bread for everyone to try.

 Little man's display was on the history sentence about The Kush.  He even had a little area where the children could "mine for gold" (sprinkles) through the flour.  It was cute.

 Our last day of CC included a compass walk.

 Of course, there was a prize at the end.

 We were very excited for these 5 kiddos who achieved Memory Master Status.  Classical Conversations, cycle 1 Memory Master proofs today. They had to recite, from memory:
161 Timeline facts
US Presidents
24 history statements including people, dates, locations, events
120 locations of geographic features in Africa, Europe, Asia, the Americas and the Old World.
24 science facts and lists
English grammar including prepositions, helping verbs, and linking verbs
Latin Noun Declensions
Multiplication tables to 15x15,basic geometry conversions, units of measurement, and mathematical laws.

It takes an hour or more to complete the proof, and months of studying. Our whole community is so proud of these kiddos ( and the many others that I am hearing who became subject masters). All of the kids in this picture are 9 years old.

 Our end of the year ceremony included a super fun photo booth.  Check out this little Egyptian queen.

 This looks like a Roman Soldier guarding a sweet princess, haha!

 Here are my people, hahaha!  I love these silly friends!

 My great friend, Jami....she's always been there :)

 These super silly friends are some of my favorite people.

I couldn't get these photos to move up.  The cool thing was...we could use the same projects for another homeschool project fair a weeks later.  And, Nicole used her research for a big research paper.  

 Hannah was actually interviewed by a newspaper at this event.

We had a really great school year.  Our busyness has slowed down, but we are still in full school mode around here.