New stairs (warning: house pics)

After a little stress, we have new stairs! Mark hired a contractor to put in new windows, and he pitched an idea for new stairs. Here is the evolution: Original pic (unbelievably steep stairs with little clearance). Notice that these stairs end before the doorway on the left. No stairs!!

Finished stairs that go beyond the old doorway on the left. Mark can even walk down the stairs without banging his head. Amazing!

Ahhh...finally...quality friends

I know I am super picky about friends. It's just the way life is going to be for my kids. They won't have a lot of friends, but the few that they have will be quality. Today we are having a play date with the other homeschooling family. Their 9yo boy plays amazingly well with Jonah, and they have a daughter the same age as Anna. Perfect! Their 12yo daughter has babysat Eli & Sarah a few times too. If only the had younger children too. Here are the boys in action: And the girls:

Just a cute pic of Sarah

Yes, the van is a little dirty. Remember that our new house is on a gravel road. We are country now.

The boys have a reputation

Our neighbor found a snake under her steps last week, and guess who she called to remove it? Yep, the neighbor boys. Jonah scared it out of hiding and Eli grabbed it. Who needs a husband when those boys live next door? Maybe the boys should think about advertising pest removal services.

We have one of those kids

Jonah has been determined to save his money for a skateboard and here it is. It's definitely right up his alley. I just hope he doesn't start sporting a skateboarding persona.

New shoes

Yes, they all needed new shoes at the same time. Here are their shoe sizes 7yo Anna = 13.5 5yo Jonah = 11.5 2yo Eli = 11 (that's not a typo)

She PASSED!!! She PASSED!!!

Anna passed her level 3 swimming test. Woo! Hoo! She has been working so hard - even going to the pool early to practice. She easily passed all the skills individually, but we all thought she didn't have enough endurance to pass the swimming portion. She had to swim across the pool using the front crawl, tread water for 30 seconds, and swim back using the back stroke. She tried valiantly swimming across, but she just doesn't have the endurance to swim across the pool without stopping numerous times. We thought for sure she wasn't going to pass. But, amazingly, her teacher passed her anyway. Now, the little worry wort is worried about being in level 4. She'll be another year bigger and stronger by then, so I'm sure she will be just fine.