Where to begin?

So...it has been quite a long while since I've had the gumption to write anything. My work has been very successful, but I am definitely working full time these days--which means that there isn't much time for blogging. It is a struggle to just work (even if it is at home) and be a mom. The good (bad) news is that Joe lost his job so he is able to help me out for now. He is working on finishing his Master's Degree and hopefully switch job fields to one that isn't quite so volatile. The good part is that between his unemployment and my job, we're getting along just fine. It is also very nice to have him around to keep kids quiet during my meetings and what not. It is somewhat odd to be the breadwinner for the first time in our marriage, but nice too, haha. What else? Oh yes. We moved to Idaho. LOL. Sigh...too much to explain there. But we live across the street from my sister Emily and have been enjoying it to the fullest (especially the kids).

All in all, we are doing well. I cannot guarantee frequent blog posts (unless I can add that to Joe's honey-do list, haha) but I'd like to try to check in now and again. For now, I'm going to throw up the few pictures I have and "start anew." These pictures are from spring break. We did a unit on anadromous fish with Grandpa. He taught us about the fish lifecycle and we did a fun activity where we drew the different stages of the lifecycle onto ginormous cubes. We then spread them out in my house and the kids rolled to find out what would happen (die, move on, go back, stay put, etc) according to the actual probability of what would happen to the fish at that stage in their lifecycle. The kids were pretty amazed at just how hard it is to make it all the way to the ocean and back, spawn eggs and die. Not too many of them made it all the way. I also have some pictures of a little backyard carnival that we put on for the kiddos. Not too many pics because the old camera battery died, haha. Oh well. The pictures are completely unedited and out of order, but I was too lazy to fix them. I'll try to take more pictures during our summer adventures!

The kids finish school this week. Ammon will be going to high school next year! Eek...and life moves on.

Brielle and Karl bob for apples at the carnival. The carnival was actually pretty sweet. We had the kids each pick an event and they were totally in charge of it. This was Karl's

Bekah and Ella watch...these two are pretty funny. They are kind of arch enemies--except they love each other too. I could have a whole post just about their weird relationship

Hannah Bay did a fishing game...and then my camera died. You'll have to miss out on the rest of the events :)

This is at the end of our anadromous fish lifecycle thing. Grandpa had charted the data and we were checking out the results

Every watches anxiously to see if Hannah will become the first one to make it through the entire life cycle

Hannah made it to the estuary

I think this was the beginning. We started and ended in our rec room (just as the fish return to their spawning grounds)

Random picture out of order from the carnival :)

In these pictures, the kids colored the pictures that we put on the sides of all the "dice" for the life cycle of the fish

Caleb colors the eggs, I believe :)

We had some pretty great pictures of dams and dead fish

We had printed off actual pictures of each of these stages for the kids to try to copy