Nothing Earth Shattering

 I almost didn't post anything because all of my pics recently have been just our normal routine of homeschool and meeting new friends. So there is nothing earth shattering.  This was a picture during history class. In our study of Egypt, we studied about the Israelite slaves.

So, for a hands on example the kids made bricks just like the slaves did.  Katherine was mad at her clay because it didn't mix easily with the grass.  I think she was glad that she only had to spend 15 minutes making 1 brick instead of an entire day making thousands.

Regan had hers ready to bake in the sun.

We did squeeze in a Monopoly game...well, some of us.  I love the hand positions....it must be a family trait :)

OK, this is so I can say I have posted a pic of BOTH our kitties.  Poor Charlie...Gracie gets all the photo ops.

Katherine brought her skates with her so that she could have some skating fun while I was waiting for Lauren to get out of her dance class.

She made many new friends during that time and so I took all the kids back to the same area later and it was a good time meeting lots of new friends.

Regan wanted proof that she won the last game of Monopoly.

Hudson got to open an early birthday present. He is getting so excited...Actually, I should say he has been and still is so excited.

Lauren "mailed" this picture to Santa this week.

This was one of may favorite homeschool pics this week.  Hudson discovered the Fisher Price MP3 player that was Regan's when she was three.  It has preloaded kids songs and he loves it.  He was listening to music and practicing writing his letters while the older two in the back dis some of their work and the cats were both sleeping next to them.

We tried a new restaurant by our house with some of our friends.  It was good, but a little spicy.

I was particularly intrigued by the "hat" in the middle of the table.  They had a stone bowl in the middle that they dumped some kind of broth and fish in. They covered it with the had and then turned it on.  The steam went flying.  It didn't take long to cook at those temps.

Speaking of temperature, I know it's October and that means fall, but really?  It's still in the upper 80's with lows in the low 80's and people are already wearing two layers?  My kids and husband say that the boy has 3 layers on, but I am giving him the benefit of the doubt. I was sweating just looking at him.

And because this is the way she rolls :)

Yes, Auntie Em, the Five Little Monkeys book that you gave us when we moved 5 years ago is still well loved and used often.  It is now Hudson's favorite book, too!

Look we we found! Capri-Sun!  There was a little stand set up outside Lauren's dance selling them by the box.  We bought one of the "normal" flavors we saw...pear!  The box of 6 was gone in a heartbeat!

This is the field that our kids made so many friends at.  I know it just looks like my kids at the moment, but it fills up quickly!  I was especially glad that Benjamin found a little friend and had such a good time.

Motorcycle Mamaw :)

I think this has to be one of my favorite new pictures! :)  I think my favorite quote from the day was when the driver kept trying to give Mamaw her helmet (Katherine and I were already on another motorcycle taxi) so I told Mamaw to get the helmet and she says, "THAT is supposed to save me!?"  Well, I agree that the helmet would do no good.  They remind me of the baseball helmets that they used to serve ice-cream in at baseball games.

When they dropped us off at our apartment, I made the comment that it was very relaxing riding home on the motorcycle. Mamaw disagreed.  She says never again.  Papaw was impressed that we got her to ride, but your options at rush hour is either wait 40 minutes for a bus, walk, or motorcycle (most taxis are already taken).

Second quote of the week..."Don't call me Hudson. I'm Spiderman!"

Doing a little art with primary colors and straws.  They weren't sure this was considered art, but I assured them that it was and it was also fun.  :)

Oh, I just love this girl.  She may be shy, but she has always had a style of her own and doesn't care what others think about it!

Yes, she is wearing the bunny hat and "flying" a kite as she runs through our complex!

We still have Charlie, but the "baby" gets more pictures right now because she is growing so fast and so cute.

Hudson wanted to eat a fish sandwich like his big sister...he insisted on a picture to document the event.

We like to go on family bike rides from time to time.  Lauren has been struggling on most all of our trips, short and long, because her bike was too small.  Our favorite bike store had a new one that was her size this week (and for a good price) so she got a new one on our way out for a family ride.

I couldn't believe how much of a difference it made.  She was so much safer and had complete control of her bike.  I like to ride in the back to make sure everyone is safe and doing ok.  I did try to get some pictures of everyone riding through town, but it can be difficult because my big kids are faster than Lauren.

We literally went into all over town.

We stopped a couple of times for different reasons.  We stopped here because at this time of day there were no people here in this big open court.  Normally, there are tons of people dancing and playing here.  The kids thought it was fun to ride really fast in circles.

 WE stopped to play on all of the exercise equipment...

...they like to hang upside down

Near the end of our ride, we tried to get a family selfie onto of one of the bridges. I think Lauren was near the end of her limit by this point.  This was her first "real" big kid ride.  We rode 6+ miles this trip.

I think Hudson was the only kiddo not tired at the end since he just got to ride on the back :)  Lauren wanted to know if I had anything for her leg...apparently her muscles were tired, but she kept up and never complained.

Ok, I'm sorry. I just couldn't do it.  We were served this lovely dish when we were eating with friends this week. My kids wanted to know why people were eating bugs. Jonathan was brave and ate one, but I just smile and told them that I was "too scared" which got me out of it :)

Mamaw and Papaw came bearing gifts...Monopoly! A Sheddan Favorite!

A 5 hour game of Monopoly ensued...and true to history, Papaw came out the winner! :)  These kiddos are determined to one day beat their Papaw.  I was tired just watching.  That is some determination.  Haha!

Morning Bible time...I love this time for many reasons, but this picture sums it up well.

A little PE time to break up the school day...

Hudson and Lauren love to ride together.  Hudson likes to practice going fast and  Lauren has been practicing her turns.

I'm thankful for a big table that we can squeeze ten people around and for a large family to fill it up!

This was one morning before school started.  Regan is on the couch trying to get ahead with her work and Hudson, Katherine, and Lauren are playing cars on the table.

I wouldn't have been comfortable sitting in a chair like this, but she doe shed work so well when she squats in the chair...too funny! I guess it's a homeschool privilege.

We went out to eat and Hudson got two of his favorites in one dish...noodles and soup!  The soup was about the same size as he was.

I stole this picture off of Auntie Em's Facebook post....the kids love getting to see Auntie Em.  I think Hudson was a little disappointed it was no longer just him.  He had Emily to himself for at leaf 10 minutes and then he had to share :)

First B-day Package and More

 Katherine had to go to the capital of our province to see the orthodontists because her retainers broke and it has been an ordeal trying to get them fixed.  We thought this was the trip to get them back, but they didn't make them right so it turned into a Mother Daughter date :)  I asked Katherine where she wanted to eat for lunch and she said Pizza Hut because she wanted a cheese pizza with stuffed crust.  I had a happy girl when I agreed to go there!  One of my friends saw this and said they loved it because you can see Katherine's heart through her smile. :)

 While we were there, she found a bunny statue. I think she would have tried to put it in her room if she could!

 The kids learned a few things about Egypt, and pyramids, and such this week....SO, they each chose their favorite doll or stuffed animal to wrap up as a mummy.

 The little ones made 3-D apples for art.

 We took a new family picture with our Tennessee shirts on :)  I guess it hasn't helped them on the field, but we still show our support over here :)

 Since it is a holiday over here (even though OUR kids had school) the kids wanted to do something fun. So, they each took some of their money for the arcade.  I have discovered that anytime we are going to go someplace during a holiday that I need to put my kids in their TN shirts...I could spot them anywhere!! :)

 The girls were invited to spend the night with a local friend.

 Regan is hiding her pillow because she was embarrassed to carry down the street. They had a really good time with their friends.

 Hudson came with me to drop them off.  On the way home, he saw this jacket and wanted to try it on.  How could you not try it on when the little guy is saying "Minions!" in the cutest little voice.  No, we didn't buy it, but I did let him get a new pair of pants for when the weather starts to cool down.

 Check this out!  One of my friends went to a wedding and this was the feast that they were serving to the guests!!! That is a lot of pig!!

 We took one day to go out with our friends.  Who ever let a typhoon stop the fun?  We did delay the "fun day" until two days after it made landfall, but we were still dodging rain showers all day long.

 We really didn't know we were hiking a mountain in the morning or we would have brought water with us.  Needless to say, we were quite thirsty by the time we climbed straight up the steps (according to my phone we climbed the equivalent of a 61 story building...my friend's phone said 100 flights) either way, that is a lot with no water.  Thankfully, someone brought oranges and we all split them.  It helped a lot! :)

 This is the view of our city from the top of the climb.

 Going back down was actually more difficult than the climb up.  It was steep and slippery!

 We enjoyed seeing the beautiful scenery though!

After a morning of hiking, we went bike riding in the afternoon.

 I'm glad we went with a group...everyone was able to help take a Sheddan kid with them :)

 Ok, Regan is bigger than all the adults, but we all doubled up :)

And Jonathan tripled up :)  Katherine is running on her bike trying to beat us

 I had Benjamin who did not want anyone to beat us and would pedal super fast :)

 We did stop at one point to take a family picture in front of the huge opera house.

 Like I said, we were running from storms all day.  They caught us a few times.  Hudson enjoyed looking at the ocean.  I look forward to him one day getting to enjoy a sandy beach, but for now we will just look at the water.

 In late afternoon/evening, we went to a palace.

 Inside we could see many things and a many things outside as well.  We walked the whole park.

 Regan and Katherine got potatoes on a stick.

 measuring a a tree...

 By the end of the day, this little one was worn out.  I ended up carrying her through the back half of the park.  WE were really glad to sit for awhile in the car on the way back to our house.

 One last group shot before we split up.  (We went home to have dinner while the rest of them went out to eat porridge.)

 Proud of these two for their work on their mammal poster project.  They could choose any mammal they wanted.  Benjamin wanted to figure out what kind of cat Gracie is...Ocicat, and Regan wanted to do an animal that she didn't know much if anything about....Tree Pangolin.

 This little guy is SO excited.  He got his very first birthday package this week!  He couldn't wait to go pick it up at the post office.

 So after school, we set off for the post office.  It's a good little walk, so Katherine took her scooter for Hudson to ride on in case he got tired.

 Everyone was surprised to see this box being brought out!  It's as big as he is! :)

What could be in a box that size? A tunnel!!!  It was so funny to see him open it.  He had no idea what it was, but all the other kids knew right away and were so excited about it...so naturally, he was very excited before he even knew what it was.  He didn't understand until we set it up for him and then he laughed and laughed.

 He knew what this was!!  Six dollars because he will soon be SIX!

 This super smart kiddo loves to learn! He is excited to have a BIG book!

 He also got a costume with muscles! :)

 Apparently, that means you can do taekwondo.  He has been counting down the days until his birthday (starting from THE DAY of Katherine's birthday).  His prayer was really cute that night at dinner.  "Thank you for the food. Thank you for my birthday comin soon. Thank for my prize. Thank you for we all like the prize. Thank you we all have fun. Thank you for Jesus name. Amen."  22 more days! :)