Four years ago, this was our cute but crazily insane mutt!! It is amazing that that much time has gone by!Now, she has calmed down quite a bit, and has learned life with little ones and craziness all new!

Today was our first official day of homeschool for the 2017-2018 school year. We have a lot of exciting things planned!I can’t believe how much William has grown in a year! He is going to pass everyone up really soon!Lucy LOVES to pick on Alex. (I see issues ahead with the two of them.) They are both very strong willed, and like to get THEIR own way. Alex is sure trying really hard to be patient though. Even when she photobombs his pictures!While she napped, protected by Gypsy, we took the opportunity to create some messy science experiments. We will definitely change science to Tuesdays/Thursdays for this year, since that is when she will be at school. The boys are dying to do “dangerous” things!

Since Lucy has started preschool, we have tried to keep her on a similar routine with school. Now, she prefers to nap at noon, and must have her nap mat. Sure makes things easy on me! 😉

We finally had the chance to go play with Maedreigh today. It has been a VERY long time! Lucy loves Maedreigh SO much, we just do not get to see them very often because they are so busy. Unfortunately, total Mom fail! I did not get any pictures of them together. I always want to be in on the action with them and neglect the camera.Lucy played so hard, she crashed just out of their driveway, and slept all the way until we left for “Meet the Pirate Night.” Wylie sure has some awesome traditions. Tonight was the night they showcase all the Wylie High Teams. They also had games, bounce houses, and loads of goodies for the little kids. Lucy loved these cookies that were as big as her head! (Thank goodness she barely ate 1/4 of it! I think most of it landed on the ground.)Natalie met up with Sabrina and Emma. Of course we barely saw her after that.  ;DHere come the PIRATES!!!

Today we had our first field trip of the school year with SELAH, even though we personally have not started school just yet. It was a bit of a drive to the Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center for us, but it was absolutely beautiful and a great start for us!These catfish could not get enough food.eEen after all the kids had fed them, they still wanted more!The boys were such fabulous helpers with Lu. If she couldn’t see something, they made sure she could. I just LOVE watching them together!The kids got to watch a dive show as part of our tour. The crazy part was when that gar right in front, turned and snatched the ziplock bag of fish right out of the diver’s hand. He swam off as fast as he could, then shook all the fish out. The diver said he has been bit by every one of the fish in the tank. (I would NOT want that job!) The poor little girls were so sad when they let live goldfish loose in the tank. The boys and I were amazed at how true the fish stick to their natural diets, even in a tank. the fish would only eat a specific thing, and would not go after what the other types of fish would eat.All the wild animals that can be seen from the trail.This beautiful butterfly loved flying with us as we walked.Lucy trying to “fish.”The kids were allowed to pick one prize from the gift shop as we left. Alex chose a hatching snake egg. William chose rattlesnake eggs. I have NO IDEA what I was thinking when I let Lucy choose Play-Dirt! Biggest mess ever! At least SHE enjoyed it. It will be a long time before we play with it again, and it will definitely be OUTSIDE!