Waterman's Family Farm

If you didn't already know, my parents are a little bit carnie. When I was a teenager we started doing pony rides at company picnics and birthday parties, then we bought a couple of bounce houses, and it grew into something way bigger than we ever imagined. Eventually they sold off the pony part of the business to another homeschool family. Then the bulk of the inflatables they sold to a business owner from Chicago. Now in semi-retirement, my dad still has a few pieces of carnival equipment that he takes to festivals, including Waterman's Family Farm. We love to take the kids there in the fall and frankly, the best part is we get to do all my dad's stuff for free.  ;-)

Pinterest Science

I'll admit this year has been a little lacking in creativity. I have had very little energy for crafts and science projects for/with Nate. So on the last official day of school Nate had a friend over and we tackled a couple of fun science experiments that I found on Pinterest ages ago but hadn't gotten around to actually doing.  Here is what we did:

Marshmallow Catapult 

This was pretty successful. Though some of the marshmallows were a little on the soft side and had a hard time holding the skewers. But they did have a good time catapulting the mini marshmallows across the room.  ;-)

Optical Illusion

Each boy drew two pictures that went on opposite sides of a pencil. They would spin it between their hands and (ideally) they would be able to see both images together. Originally they drew with colored pencils and we found that it was too light to see when spinning. So, they went over their pictures with crayons to darken it and that made a big difference.

Milk Science Experiement

This involved making food coloring move around in the milk. The boys loved this one so much that in the end their bowls were a murky mess of colors!

Popsicle Stick Chain Reaction

We kept having premature chain reactions... but it was still pretty cool. 

The boys had a great time with all of the experiments but I will say that they didn't take up near as much time as I thought they would. Because we had just the two of them, we kind of breezed through them quickly and eventually they ended up playing games on the Kindle.  

Thankful for good friends!

Hearts at Home Mom's Weekend!!

Another March... another Hearts at Home conference for this gal! This marks my third Hearts at Home conference and I have loved each and every one. I mean, what is not to like about a weekend away from home with your girlfriends where you basically go to "mommy-classes"?

The theme this year is "Love Your Life". Whew... frankly, not always an easy task around here! But it was refreshing hearing stories from other moms and being reminded that its not always easy for anyone to love their life. But with His help we can love the phase of life we are in no matter what phase that is.

We made goodie bags for the weekend with special treats including shirts that I'd freezer paper stenciled to go with the conference's theme.

 

Hearts at Home is promoting the soon to be released Mom's Night Out movie. Sarah Drew (the lead actress in that movie, and of Grey's Anatomy) shared about her mom's powerful reaction to the movie. I saw a screening a couple of weeks ago.  SO good!!

 

The featured comedian and mc for the weekend was Sally Bauke (pronounced bow-key) was a delight! She was so thoroughly entertaining she kept us laughing the whole time. I thought I might actually need one of the piddle pads she kept referencing.  ;-) 

 

The keynote speakers were Dr. Kathy Koch of Celebrate Kids and Angela Thomas. Each of them has a unique testimony that reached our hearts. God is seriously using these ladies for His glory. What a blessing it was to hear them share this weekend! Such wisdom and heart!

 My girl Lehi and I were pretty excited to meet MoneySavingMom! Her workshops were so great.  She has such practical tips for organizing your life and saving your family money. We're going through her new book Saying Goodbye to Survival Mode together.

 

Once again, this was a weekend to remember that I am thankful to have shared with these lovely ladies! Its a time of learning and fellowship. Its a time of tears and laughter.

 

 Personally... I think Hearts at Home should be quarterly.  ;-)  Waiting a whole year for another Hearts at Home conference is too long!

Belated Birthday Party!

I probably don't mention this enough... but I am blessed with some really wonderful friends!
for my 31st birthday two of my best gals blew me away with a surprise luau party that was off the hook! 

I think they must really like me or something because they totally came through again this year!  They put together a restaurant hop girls night out this year that was SO fun!

 We started the night out at The Claddagh for appetizers (one of my favorites) and then made our way over to a local pub called the Black Swan for dinner and desserts.  We had such a great time of food and fellowship and lots and lots of laughs!

I am so thankful to have all these ladies in my life! God truly uses each one of these ladies (and others not pictured) to work in my life.  I love them all!!


Wishing to be friends is quick work, but friendship is a slow ripening fruit. – Aristotle

The Fault In Our Stars

My sweet new cousin-in-law and I are nerds.  In the best way.  ;-)  We both read young adult fiction.  And technically, we're not young adults anymore... just regular adults.  Anyway, we read The Fault in Our Stars by Indianapolis' own John Green. (Which is soon to be released as a movie!) Its about two teens battling cancer and the struggles they face.  Its deeply moving and takes you on a roller coaster ride of emotions as you read it.  I am eager to see it come to life in the movie.

**added the trailer that was just released!!  AH!!  Can't wait to see it!

One cool thing about the book is that throughout John mentions locations around the Indianapolis area.  We were inspired by this fan's The Fault in Our Stars Photo Tour and decided to take one of our own. So we spent an afternoon going around town to different spots that were in the book!

Castleton Square Mall Food Court - super exciting start.  ;-)

We had a late lunch at the wonderful Three Sister's Cafe.  I mean, what is a girls day out without some really great food?  ;-)  Plus it was another Diner, Drive-in & Dive place!

The ruins at Holliday Park

The Funky Bones sculpture at the IMA's 100 Acres


We had such a fun day getting to know the city and each other better.  I am looking forward to many more outings together in the future!  And I'm pretty sure we're going to see the movie together.  ;-)

Fall Break Fun

We had a fun fall break trip with just Nate, the hubs and I. We drove all night to Georgia where we visited my sister and her hubby and 1yr old. 

Nate was totally stoked to go to the Lego Adventure Center in Atlanta.  He said it was the best ever.

The next day we went to a local fall festival with my cousin's family. 

Then we went to Myrtle Beach for rest of the weekend.  Can you tell Nate was excited to see the ocean for the first time?  ;-)

Thankful we were able to have lunch with Isaac's cousin's family!

What is a trip to the pier without a pix with a fake dead fish?

On the drive home we pulled over to look at a cotton field!  Totally counts as a field trip.  ;-)

Thank goodness for audio books and game boys to help occupy this guy on the 20+ hours we had in the car that weekend!  What a blessing to have some quality time with our oldest son!