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"So Frequently we mistakenly believe that our children need more things, when in reality their silent pleadings are simply for more of our time."
***President Thomas S. Monson (Ensign May 1994)
We went to the Virginia Living Museum today.
They have lots of fish and animals to see. All of them are native to Virginia, so that's fun to see the different animals and fish from this area. Virginia is divided into 5 different regions and this museum shows what kind of animals and fish there are in the different regions. Noah loved the fish!
We all had a good time and we learned some things, too!
I love watching my children learn especially the little ones. They get so excited and you can tell they feel so smart about it, too.
I also love that Myshel and Vance are getting older and I can joke and have fun with them in a different way. It's fun to see them learn new things, too. Sometimes with Vance it's like I can see him processing it all in his mind. He loves animals and science, so this was the perfect place for him. I love having opportunities like this. This is one of the many things that makes being a mom a lot of fun!
Noah and McKaylie
It's sad, but true.........their father's gone ...........their mean mother makes them scrub the floors on their hands and knees.................she just works their little fingers to the bone..............and all they can do is wait for their prince/princess "charming" to come and rescue them.......................it's almost heartbreaking, really.......................
Aren't they cute. I asked them to wash the kitchen floor with ammonia and water and this is what I found a few minutes later...............they said it was because of the smell.
Souda Bay, GreeceChad sent me this picture from when they were in Greece in May. I wanted to share it since it was so beautiful.
***you can click on any of the pictures in my blog and see them bigger
Vance applied to the same school that Myshel goes to, The school of International Studies at Meadowbrook. That's quite a title, huh. It's a lot like a magnet school. It concentrates on international and military studies. It's much smaller than all of the other public middle schools out here and we've loved having Myshel there. It's acceptance is on a lottery system. They basically take all the qualified applicants and "draw" 100 names and they're the lucky ones that get to go there. We've been hoping and praying that Vance would be one of those names "drawn". Unfortunately, he wasn't. We found out this week that he won't be going to Meadowbrook with Myshel. We're very disappointed. The school he'll be going to isn't a bad school, I just wanted something a little better for him. I also didn't want to have 3 kids in 3 different schools. That means, 3 different PTA's, 3 different activities that fall on the same nights, 3 different start times. Yep, that's right, schools have staggered start times out here, so Myshel will start school at 7:30AM, Vance will start school at 8:15AM and McKaylie will start at 9AM. That could prove to be interesting. Vance's school is also the furthest away, which I also don't like. There are some benefits to him going there. In many ways it could prove to be great; so, I guess we'll try and concentrate on the positive things.
As a kind of summer project, the kids and I decided to make quilts for their beds. Each one gets to pick out their own material and Myshel and Vance got to "design" the look of theirs. Myshel and Vance are getting better at sewing, so with a little help they'll be able to make their quilts pretty much on their own. They both even know how to tie a quilt! Obviously, this is McKaylie's quilt. She was the lucky one to get hers done first. I did most of the work on this one, but McKaylie was sure to supervise every chance she got. I really like the way it turned out and so does McKaylie. We even had enough material left over to make a matching pillowcase. (We actually have lots of homemade pillowcases at our house, because that was the first thing that Myshel and Vance learned to sew!) The kids are having fun designing and sewing the quilts and they're not only learning about sewing and quilting, but they're learning some math skills, too! Sneaky, aren't I?!
Last night we went to the Virginia Aquarium. Our housing had it reserved for just it's residents.(Whoever said that privately owned military housing was a bad idea is nuts, Lincoln Housing has been awesome for us so far!!) Again, they had all kinds of crafts and fun things for the kids to do, 
in addition to seeing the aquarium for free! We could have even seen an IMAX movie free, but it wouldn't have left us much time to see the aquarium, so we decided to skip that part. We all had a good time seeing the all the exhibits and the sharks, sea turtles, fish, crabs.................the list goes on and on. The kids got to be silly 
at times and they love that. And, of course, we got to touch the sting rays. The only part we didn't get to see was the trail outside and the south part of the museum with the river otters. I guess we'll catch them another time. It was fun to be there at night and to be there when it wasn't so crowded.
OH NO!!! SHARK ATTACK!!!!!!
Some of these victims don't look all that worried!?!?
It must have already swallowed the two little ones!
My kid's favorite part of the Virginia Aquarium is the Ray Tank. They love touching/petting the sting rays. Last night when we went to see the rays, the first time, we were the only ones in the room. It was really neat to be seeing them swim and touching them without out all the noise and commotion of other people around. They seemed to really like Myshel. They would swim over to where she was and swim high
enough in the water so that she could touch them. I think this is probably my favorite part of the aquarium, too.
You can't see it too well in this picture, but Vance is actually touching a ray here.
Myshel showing off her magical "touch"
McKaylie and Noah watching the rays underwater through a little window in the side of the tank.
Me and McKaylie trying to get them to come and see us. (In truth, McKaylie wouldn't touch them even if they did come by her)
We went to the Virginia Living Museum today.
They have lots of fish and animals to see. All of them are native to Virginia, so that's fun to see the different animals and fish from this area. Virginia is divided into 5 different regions and this museum shows what kind of animals and fish there are in the different regions. Noah loved the fish! 
We all had a good time and we learned some things, too! 
