Both boys are playing baseball this season.

Charlie is playing t-ball for the Rockhounds.

He obviously loves the batting helmet...

almost as much as the kid behind him loves his glove.

Machen is playing for the Giants and

pitched for their game on Saturday. Wow,

talk about PRESSURE. Yet, this is what

I love about sports - these pressures that give

them small tastes of manhood.

End of the Year Party

We had our end of the year party with CC...

Charlie with his buddies

Dem performing a geography song

And all got awards for participating - EVEN

the nursery kids. And who ran up first?

Only another week of school and we'll

all be playing outside like 5 year olds...

Dance

Amelie finished another session of dance class this week.

My only regret is not videoing her performance. And it

was just that... Let's just say, she's very enthusiastic.

Those curls match her sassy personality well.

CC

This school year we were a part of a group called "Classical Conversations."

We met one day a week for memory work, art, science

and Machen had a writing and grammar class in the afternoon.

It was a huge blessing to our education this year.

I had the true privilege of teaching the 5 year old class

and discovering my love for Kindergarteners.

Levi, Bijou, Joseph, Amia

Naomi, Rhys, Judah and a budding artist.

Demaree and her AMAZING tutor, Dione.

Proving a science experiment.

Machen and his tutor, Mrs. Palmer

(bless her heart, a class of ALL boys).

Our whole campus (64 kids!)

And for posterity sake...

During Machen's grammar class, Amelie

did NOT want to go to the nursery, so I told her she could lay down

on the rug in the corner of their classroom.

And every week, she'd curl up with her blanket and take a nap,

not minding the noise of the class. Only child #4.

Regal Wine

Several weeks ago was "take your child to work day."

John said they were doing something at Regal and before he could finish,

I said "yes, please take them."

John works for a wine importing company, Regal Wine, so the kids

were excited to learn more about just what exactly Daddy does. :)

So Machen and Demaree got to spend the day learning about how wine is made, sold, and helps pay our mortgage.

One of the very cool things they did was design their own wine labels, complete with a story. John explained you want

to have a catchy label with a interesting story that captivates people. The kids were all over that...

Machen's work: Old Friend

The tasteful one -

"The tasteful one tastes and loves all wine. He tastes more than anyone could.

He makes amazing wines. His wines are worth buying. "

Then we have this new fabulous wine maker...

Spain Bran - This is from the Beautiful town of Spain.

this is white wine. you will love this!

Dem Dog - This Dog saved a cat even though he hated cats

Machen at dinner noted with disgust at the bottle we were drinking:

"This wine doesn't even have a story."

There was a little girl

BY HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW

There was a little girl,

Who had a little curl,

Right in the middle of her forehead.

When she was good,

She was very good indeed,

But when she was bad she was horrid.

Longwood

Friday was National Gardens Day, so we snagged some

free tickets to Longwood Gardens, a small trip down the road.

Providentially, we ran into our new friends in the parking lot,

so we had an especially lovely day.

These two have become fast friends...

and argued over the map constantly...

hmmm.

Trying to take a picture with eight kids?

We opted to go for humorous.

In the end, the grumpy 3-year old was out.

Fast friends...

After Family Worship