Homeschool Carnival

The town we are living in has a MASSIVE homeschooling community. Seriously, I don't know how else to describe it. There are so many activities and offerings, I feel like I could spend my entire week doing activities and not doing homeschooling at all! (So I've been very selective about what we take on.)

But today was a homeschool carnival for a local homeschooling "club." It started with a Facebook page I joined -- over 600 mothers and fathers are on this page alone just in our bedroom community! They hosted this carnival to kick the year off, and I decided to attend with all four kiddos. 

We had a FABULOUS time. I continue to be BLOWN AWAY by the kindness of this community, the behavior of the children, and the kindness of EVERYONE. We paid $5 to attend, and the kids played a ton of games, earned tickets, and then were able to pick prizes. There was face painting, a lego-building station, a Home Depot building area (where the boys each made a tool box), and even a place to play instruments with a music teacher. 

I'm really at peace with not meeting a lot of people. Chances are, we will only be in this area for one year, and I'm therefore being very cautious with how much I dive in. But the truth is, I'm meeting lots of people and seeing the same faces at all these events. I've also met a very sweet gal named Julie that has three kids very close in age to my oldest three. We have been pairing up frequently at events and really enjoying our common love for Christ and our children.

I am also really enjoying this whole take-a-picture-with-my-camera thing. Every time I think "Oh, I'd like a picture of that," I realize, "Oh! I have a camera on my phone!" Pretty amazing. (The GPS thing is equally amazing. How have I lived without that?) Here are a few phone pics I managed to snag:

Isaac loved all the games ...

... and loved collecting all the tickets. Thank goodness I wore pants with three pockets to help keep them all separated.

Abigail wanted to get her face painted and picked a tiger. I have to admit, she might be one of the cutest little tigers I've ever seen.

And what a fierce Batman!

Mom attempting to help the boys build a toolbox with the Home Depot guys. (Thank goodness Abigail was content to watch. Don't think I had it in me to try to do three.)