2nd Stripe

We started tae kwon do last month. Eric is loving it! He earned his 2nd stripe today. The first was for knowing all the training principles. The second was for knowing all his kicks.

First Day of enrichment

Tuesday was Eric's first day for the year.



On the above photo, I would like you to notice the top button. This is how Eric always leaves for play, church, etc.



My sweet boy, still so little. Again, I feel so blessed that I can see that!



At the morning assembly.



Getting ready to lead the Pledge of Allegiance.



Kiddo has a separate lunch and snack time. I always write a message from his family on his snack bag.




I also always put a napkin in E's lunch with a joke on it. He loves this. (I don't know why these pictures keep turning sideways on me. I uploaded them twice, and they turned sideways both times. Oh well.)



E and his buddy Zachary at the end of the day. Notice the top button now. E loves to button it all the way to the top, and always buttons it as soon as he notices it is not buttoned.

Today's meet

E did great today at the meet! He entered all 4 strokes for the 2nd time. He rocked the breast stroke again, taking 3 seconds off of last week's time and coming in 4th place.



Preparing to enter the pool for his freestyle. (love the shark eyes!)



Freestyle



Starting position for backstroke



Oh, elusive butterfly, we got a disqualification again. This time I think E just tired out. He was doing awesome, but a couple of strokes near the end, his wrists just didn't quite clear the water. But, you know what I am most proud of, this boy doesn't give up. He will try again and again. In the above picture, though, he was doing the stroke beautifully.

Meet 2

Sorry to take so long to post this. E was pretty sick for 3 or 4 days. So proud of him in last week's meet. Kiddo got a time in breast stroke!!!!! Last year he couldn't get the stroke down enough to enter. This year he got a time the first time he entered it. So proud of him. He works very hard at his swimming! Here he is with his ribbons. He got 6th in breast and 7th in back stroke. He disqualified in butterfly. He had a beautiful stroke all the way down, but forgot to do a two hand touch at the end. Great effort and so proud of him.

Swim Meet

E did such a good job at last week's swim meet. He took 8 seconds off of last year's freestyle time and 5 1/2 seconds off of last year's backstroke time. He did a great job this past week too, but I am waiting for them to post results.

Penguins

We finally got a chance to see the new penguin exhibit at the zoo. AMAZING! We loved it!







Sweet boy loved them so much, he kept hugging them through the glass.



They all had colored bracelets on. Eric named this one Rainbow Heart (can you tell we are Care Bears fans?).


I thought it was neat that Eric had on his Meet of Champs shirt that says Swim Hard, Swim Fast.


I asked Eric to turn so I could get a picture of his face. The penguin decided to turn to look too. So funny!

Lots of accomplishments

Whew! We have been so busy lately! Eric has had his end of the year programs for soccer, Christ's Kids, and Sparks (more on that later). In Christ's Kids this year, Eric had to know:

Level 1
1st Man and Woman
Jesus' Mother and Father
Days of Creation

Level 2
Books of the New Testament
Acts of Worship

Level 3
10 Plagues
Fruits of the Spirit

Level 4
10 Commandments
12 Sons of Jacob
John 3:16

Then once he completes his Christ's Kids material, he can begin learning verses. Eric learned 31 verses and received a medal. Learning all those verses was a lot of work, especially when he learns a verse each week for homeschool as well as several verses a week for Sparks.

Easter

We had lots of fun at Easter this year. Holidays seem to be getting more fun each year, and Easter was no exception. Eric had a great time!





E loves to read. He pulls toys and candy out of his basket, but what does he want to do before church? Read his book. He took it with us and finished it on the way to church.





We stayed after church for a potluck and egg hunt with about 40-50 church members.

Creek Exploring

We had a fabulous afternoon at a nearby creek! Eric had the best time exploring with Sean and his brothers!


I love, love, love this picture of Sean and Eric! I love their gap-tooth smiles.



Eric was so proud of the frog that he caught.

Cool Day at Pinnacle

So with the temperatures rising and snow melting, we decided to venture out of the house. We journeyed on up to Pinnacle for the homeschool day. Guess we were the only ones feeling stir crazy, because no one else was there. The program for today was supposed to be about the history of cooking in AR with a dutch oven demonstration. They didn't think it would work well in the snow, so they offered to do a talk on whatever we wanted. Eric thought for a while and was having trouble coming up with one thing, then I remembered the live reptiles and asked if they could do a reptile talk. They did, and it was wonderful! They pulled out all of their teaching materials and fed three of the reptiles (even let him help). Oh, I do love Pinnacle!


Showing E the three toes on a three-toed box turtle.


Feeling the backbone in an empty turtle shell.


Checking out all the stuffed real snakes.


I know this is a blurry pic, but I wanted to include it. Eric noticed that the baby alligator had no hole in his throat and asked about it. Alligators are able to close their throats. Great observation!


Watching a turtle eat a worm.


Feeding a larvae to a baby turtle.

Snow Cream

The consistency of this snow was perfect for making some snow cream, so I thought I would try it out. I asked Eric to sit at the table, but didn't tell him why. When I put the bowl of snow in front of him, this was his expression:


He had a mixture of excitement and confusion.

We made two batches, one chocolate and one vanilla. Eric did almost all of it by himself.






I think snow cream was a hit! He had a great time making it.

More snow fun

This has been the craziest winter! Lots and lots of snow. Well we have taken full advantage of our most recent snow fest.


E enjoying the blanket of snow that was dumped here for 8.5 hours yesterday.


Widgie loved it too! He literally went out between 80-100 times yesterday. He kept chasing off the black birds that were having fun in the snow. He wore me out with the constant in and out.


As soon as the snow stopped falling, we bundled up and went out. This was some super powdery, deep snow.




The above two pics show our latest snow game. E ran all over the yard. Then I followed his maze of footprints to find a circle he had drawn in the snow. He LOVED this!

Snow Pics Day 2

Here are some pictures from today. So much fun!




Our favorite part has always been snowball fights.



Now as a true Southern girl, I am ready to be done with the cold and messy wetness and get back to normal. :)