A homeschool "win" moment... I was at Sam's Club. My kids, while watching a movie (How to Train Your Dragon), paused the movie, took this picture, and kept on watching... so they had proof.
Why? Because of the grammar mistake in the captioning, that's why.
I dropped my kids off at Stake Conference (the Saturday evening session) to meet their dad and attend with him. The younger 7 and I drove around the temple before going home, as I could not attend with every other 12 and up member I know being AT Stake Conference :)
We'll take turns. They all gave me great reports of what was covered. Life is good. I got to talk about the temple with my younger children.
17 kids at the zoo, ages 17 and under... however, one of them was still strapped to me when I took this picture. Getting together with friends is wonderful! Jules couldn't take her eyes off the giraffes behind her... they were unusually close!
Benjamin is practicing his face painting, for his new job. He'll start mid-May. You can see him in the background experimenting practicing on someone else...
This is what happens when everyone's socks fall apart at once... and Target has a Buy 2, get one free sale on Hanes... I think I had to make one more trip after this for a few more things, but this is the bulk of the purchases.
Happy Easter! Here I am with my 4 daughters, all dressed in our Sunday best with new white sweaters and hair things. Aren't they gorgeous? Ginny is still tiny on Emilie's lap, while Juliana is definitely filling up my lap, and Liberty is sitting next to me and getting so grown up!
Benjamin is auditioning for a job as a Body Artist at Worlds of Fun with Kaman's Art Shoppes, the same company Michael works for as a Caricature Artist, also at Worlds of Fun. Here he is after learning some airbrush techniques and face painting. (someone else did this to him, he did it to others...)
The older three were with Dad at the temple for Youth baptisms. Nathanael was at 11 year old scouts. The youngest (how many does that leave?) 6 were with me and we decided to go on an adventure. (I'm holding Ginny) This was in the park near the big fountain off Vivion and Oak. Love the fountains of Kansas City!
Emilie and Juliana's birthday! Happy birthday to half of my daughters. Emilie turned 14 and Jules turned 2. This is her "show us a happy face" face... not her normal smile.
Here are my three youngest daughters with bright pink in their hair. Juliana wanted two bows in her hair because Liberty had two ponytails in HER hair... will it always be like this? :)
My 3 oldest sons and my husband barely home from Priesthood Session for General Conference for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Learn more here- LDS.org General Conference link.
Benjamin working on his Personal Fitness Merit Badge... our exercise bike that is great for cold snowy days... or extra hot days, which are NOT happening yet. Or late at night when we're not going to be outside.
Here are the cards from our Family Home Evening lesson preparing for Conference. They have some fun facts and quotes from our Apostles and First Presidency. This is a perfect height for most of the newer readers in the house...
Here are most of Tom's family at the temple to do some family names. It was a very special experience, not to mention just cool, to be in a sealing room in the House of the Lord with that many Valencics.
I can't believe my baby boy turned 6! It seems like only yesterday I was having my 5th boy within 7 short years... and only 15 months after the last one! Christopher is an awesome kid. He is trying new things every day and loves sharing them with us. He has tons of energy and taught the entire Nursery class to run back and forth across their classroom doing races... but that was 'years' ago. He has a little more control now, haha. Here he is picking up confetti off the floor from his birthday card...
Nathanael turned 11 today! I think he had a good day, and we had a lot of fun as a family celebrating his birthday. We love having this kiddo in our family. He always has a positive way of looking at things and can really make you think. He loves art and music and Scouts. He is growing up way too fast but we are also very excited for him to try new things this year!
Nathanael got to go to "11 Year old Scouts" early. Otherwise, as he turned 11 ON his usual day to go to Cub Scouts and the Scouts met a day earlier, he would have missed Scouts entirely this week. He was so excited!