Forgot to post these from my birthday lunch at Nana's with the cousins

Sweet brother Isaiah giving Sissy a ride

The girls :)

Jordan is so sweet with Lily.  She just loves having another girl around.  Every time we get together, Jordan shows us with some token to give Lily, be it a toy, a bracelet, clothes... it is absolutely precious...  Here Jordan is pulling her American Girl doll Molly, and her real-life doll Lily ;)

 Who doesn't love a good puddle...

Lightening McQueen himself!

 My birthday present!  MULCH!!!

Boys love dirt.  Period.

One of the kids took this one while I was spreading mulch.  I love it...

I filled up the baby pool and gave them a bar of soap... they were covered in mulch!

A peek at the progress :)

SO much better than weeds and ugly red dirt!

My peaceful, happy place :)

A happy birthday, it was...

Sorry if you've had any problems... I tried to check my blog tonight and got an alert that my background from ShabbyBlogs had been hacked.  So, I found another sight for backgrounds... 

Lily asked that I share a tutorial on the benefits of yogurt for the skin...

as seen here

 here

 here

 and here...  any questions???

 Oh, and always go back for more, you can never have too much...

Today, we finished Isaiah's end of grade testing!  Big sigh of relief!  I've learned a lot my first year as a teacher.  I've made lots of mistakes with my little guinea pigs, but one thing I'm sure of:  my children are closer than ever before.  As a homeschooling family, my goal is certainly to challenge each individual child in ways unique to their needs, and to find and nurture their gifts... but, the thing I cherish most is watching them just be friends.  So far: mission accomplished :)

Excited as I start planning for next year...

so thankful that I get to do this...

Beautiful day at the Asheboro Zoo

Monday, we enjoyed a field trip to the zoo in Asheboro.  It's always a fun time :)  This time, we went with my two sister-in-laws, Meagan and Shannon, and my mother-in-law Anne.  The cousins had a great time running around together!  I love that my kid's best friends are family.  

POOPED!!!

Morning cuddles :)

 Nice Lily, very attractive...

Luke's downward-dog split... better than mine!!!