Build-a-Bear fun!

One of Jaden's birthday gifts was a gift card to Build-a-Bear Workshop . . . he's never been before! So today was the day!

After picking out their new friends -- a dog for Lael and a bear for Jaden -- the first stop was to add the stuffing (Lael went first to show Jaden the ropes)


Next, they had to add a satin heart . . . but first, the store employee asked the kids to touch the heart to their foreheads (so their friends would be smart), to their noses (so they'd be cute), to their cheeks (so they'd be happy) . . . Jaden just thought she was silly!

After that, their new friends were closed up and ready for . . .

. . . an air bath!Next on the agenda . . . picking out an outfit -- talk about a hard job (particularly for Jaden)! There were just too many choices! Finally we were ready for the last step: filling out birth certificates for the new members of our family.

New friends in hand, we headed home!
Please allow me to introduce our two new friends . . . Dimples (the bear) and Sallie (the dog)!
Sallie got her name because the first time Lael ever went to Build-a-Bear Workshop, she made a dalmation dog named Dallie and she wanted her two dogs to have rhyming names.And where did Jaden get the name "Dimples"? Well, besides the fact that Jaden has the best dimples I've ever seen, that was the name given to this particular bear at Build-a-Bear Workshop, and Jaden liked it!

So, there you have it -- Jaden's final birthday celebration for this year (at least, I think we're done now)! Happy, happy birthday to you, Jaden!

Our trip to Inner Harbor

For Jaden's birthday (and an end-of-the-year field trip), we spent the day in Baltimore, MD. Our main purpose for going was to visit the National Aquarium in Baltimore. After a quick stop at the Visitor's Center, we were off to the aquarium.

We had such a great time enjoying God's awesome creativity! Here are just a few of the amazing creatures we saw:

This little guy is a "digger fish" that actually digs holes in the ocean floor with its tail -- the kids called it the "dancing fish" as it wiggled back and forth!

A couple of highlights of our aquarium visit were #1 - the rainforest room (since we've been learning all about tropical rainforests in our homeschool this month:

Everybody say, "RAINFOREST!"

Look! It's a bromeliad!

Jaden wanted to have his picture taken with the cock-of-the-rock mural . . . he recognized it instantly from the books we've been reading!
We even saw a sloth . . . but he was a little camera-shy! But Lael isn't ;)

A second highlight - the dolphin show!

(We sat in the "splash zone" at the kids' request, but didn't get splashed!)

They are such amazing creatures!

After leaving the aquarium, we decided to take a paddleboat ride -- getting an entirely different view of the harbor!

Daddy got quite a workout as he chauffered us around the harbor during our half-hour rental of the paddleboat!Then, since we were in Baltimore anyway, we decided to see if we could find Charm City Cakes (of Food Network's "Ace of Cakes" fame) . . . and we did! However, somehow, it didn't look the way we envisioned it would -- I guess things are always "larger than life" on television . . .

Thus ends our account of this latest field trip . . . hope you enjoyed it!

Our big boy is five years old!

Our wonderful son turned 5 last week . . . I've been reminiscing alot about the past five years -- how much life and joy he has added to our lives! I can't imagine our family without him!

Happy birthday, Jaden! You bring us so much joy!

Quote to ponder

Life is like riding the bus . . .

it requires change.

So embrace it!

Celebrating Easter and Passover

We had a wonderful time during the Holy Week focusing on the love of God and the sacrifice of our Savior. We incorporated a couple of wonderful books into this week of celebration and remembrance.

Mrs. Katz and Tush introduced us to Passover and a yummy dish called kugel (more about that later).We used Benjamin's Box along with our Resurrection Eggs to remind us of the significant events of Holy Week in the life of Jesus.And The Legend of the Three Trees is a beautiful story which reminds us to trust God with the dreams that we have for our lives . . . because His plans for us are so much better than those that we have for ourselves!

On Thursday night, we had a mini-Passover of sorts. It wasn't a full Seder meal; I hope to try that next year. We had watched a program about Passover and some of the symbolism of the different aspects. We began by washing our hands . . .

. . . and then we enjoyed a meal of matzo, kugel (ours had cheese, noodles and raisins -- it sounds kind of strange, but it was so yummy!)

. . . applesauce and latkes (we used Rachael Ray's recipe, which you can find here -- it was YUMMO!). Jaden tried the bitter herbs dipped in salty water and decided he didn't like that part so much! (Lael wasn't quite so brave.)

Friday morning we had a very special time together as a family sharing communion and washing each other's feet.

Then Saturday, after an Easter egg hunt at church, we got together with Daddy's family for an Easter dinner. Making that time extra special was the fact that we were able to see cousin Carrie again! She's grown alot in the past three and a half months!

Isn't she sooooo cute! (Okay, both girls are cute!)

Easter Sunday, Lael and Jaden were part of the children's bell choir.
And here we are!
The Martin men . . .

. . . the ladies of the house,

. . . and here's the whole family!

We pray that you had a BLESSED Easter and that you are walking in RESURRECTION POWER! Jesus is alive!!!!

2009 Homeschool Share Blast is coming soon!

That's right . . . it's almost time for the 2009 HSS Blast! I am so very excited! If you've been around and following my blog for a while, you know that last year I submitted two units for publication at Homeschool Share . . . you can check out the blog post where I shared about that here.

Well, it's time for this year's blast . . . what will I do this time? I have no idea yet, but I'm thinking and looking at my library to see what might jump out at me! Stay tuned to find out what I decide to do!

Interested in learning more about Homeschool Share? Check out their website! (Try it . . . you'll love it!) Want to find out more information about this year's Blast? Just click on the Homeschool Share Blast button on the sidebar.

Another homeschool mom shared this today (thanks, Kelly!) . . . such a good reminder!

Life is short . . .

Break the rules . . .

Forgive quickly . . .

Kiss slowly . . .

Love truly . . .

Laugh uncontrollably . . .

And never regret anything that made you smile.

Life isn't about how to survive the storm, but how to dance in the rain.

Cool science experiment!

This week we learned a little about Passover, and one thing we talked about was the difference between unleavened bread and the bread that we eat . . . which naturally led to a discussion about yeast and how it works. So of course, we did an experiment to see first-hand:

The materials we used were quite simple: empty water bottles, warm water, sugar, yeast, balloons and rubber bands.

We filled the water bottles 2/3 of the way full of warm water, added some sugar and shook (with the lid on) to dissolve the sugar into the water.

Next, we added the yeast and then put a balloon over the opening. (I wrapped a rubber band around the balloon for added peace of mind!) Then we GENTLY swirled the bottles to mix in the yeast.

After that, it was time to head outside to place our little experiment out in the warm sunshine!

And here's what began to happen . . .

It was pretty cool to watch the balloons expand over the span of 15 or 20 minutes!
While we were waiting, Jaden showed us that HE could inflate a balloon much faster than the little "yeast guys" ;-)
And here's the end result: Lael's experiment . . .
. . . and Jaden's

We decided that, for being little guys, yeast is pretty impressive in what it can accomplish -- whether that's inflating a balloon or causing our yummy bread to rise!