Here I am playing catch-up again! Where did the month of May go? Boy oh boy did it just fly by! Wow!

Here is a beautiful reminder of my fun volunteer experience with Mrs. Kuntz this last school year. Since I am certified in Utah right now I can count up to 25 volunteer hours a year toward my training hours needed to renew my certificate. I enjoyed working with Mrs. Kuntz so much last year that I was overjoyed when I found out I could volunteer in her classroom this year and earn credit as well. Earlier in May the school held a Volunteer brunch for those of us who volunteer in the school. What a sweet gesture! They had yummy pastries and breakfast casserole and gave each of us a potted flower to take home. I have enjoyed my time working with Mrs. Kuntz and her 2nd grade class. She is always so full of smiles and good ideas. I am looking forward to volunteering again next school year. She will be moving to 3rd grade so I get to see all the wonderful ideas she has for an older group! Yeah!

The boys and I have been doing quite a bit of geocaching lately. We've almost gotten all the ones around Wax here, but there are still a few smiley's to claim! Here is a few of our most recent prizes.

Bug loves those little parachute guys that you throw int the air. LOL He also found some temporary tattoos. LOL Kaden traded for the turtle (for his little things shelf. I found a cool paper clip in one cache!

A couple of weeks ago we had some issues with the name calling. One of our neighbors has a

much younger sister that comes to play with her son and my boys sometimes. She is just the sweetest kid and so good about joining in and playing even though she is the only girl. Well for

whatever reason the boys were teasing her one afternoon and she got her feelings hurt. Well when she went inside, it got the best of Bug and he knew what they had done was wrong. So he came inside and told me about what had happened. Well she had already gone home so we didn't get to chat with her directly. The boys had already apologized, but after we talked about it I thought they needed to do a little more to show her they were sorry. So they decided to make her a card. Each of them sat down with markers and crayons and stickers and wrote her a sweet little note of apology. They gave them to her the next day when she came up and asked if she would forgive them. It was a sweet time of learning how to get along and how to treat others...

Here is another pic of our latest outdoor activities. LOL

The neighbor Mr. Larry has a mower with a trailer hook-up - the kids love to sit on it while he drives them around the yards. Funny!

I have been reading a blog called The Homeschool Post. I just love it...so encouraging and so much good stuff to read. Well I participated in the last Mom Swap they did. How fun...I am always doing stuff for the kids - but now I get to do one for me! I can't tell you how excited I was to shop for my swap sis and to be able to send some goodies to her. I got a wonderful package in the mail! Yeah!

My Swap Sis (see http://hsbapost.com/2011/04/11/april-and-may-swapperoni/ for more info) Suanna (http://family6-time.blogspot.com) sent me a spectacular package of goodies! I got a new wipe off board and some cool colored wipe off markers, a pie recipe book, some great stickers for the boys, an awesome piece of cloth for crafting (in my fav color blue!!!) and my fav candy - Haribo gummy bears! How she had time to shop and mail packages in the midst of moving I don't know - but she did a spectacular job!

Thank you so much Suanna!!!! You Rock!

Here's another highlight of our May - watching wrestling at Killer Tim Brooks pro wrestling night down the road from our house! The boys were so excited - we love wrestling around our house!

Here you can see all the kids up at the ring cheering for The Doberman!

More highlights when the Doberman was pinned!

Oh here he is - mad!

Here is one of the kids swaps!

We participate in the geo-box swaps at Homeschool Swapping Adventures (http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_143028255761047&ap=1). This is just to coolest thing and the kids just love it!!!

This one here came from Ohio. We got it right around Easter so it had Easter eggs with some goodies from the state of Ohio in them. They also

included a new water bottle, some buckeye seeds (awesome!) and lots of magazines, maps and information about the state of Ohio! I loved the ladybug - the state bug we found out!

Very informational box filled with lots of learning opportunities!

They also sent some Chili seasoning - we plan to make chili and have a learn about Ohio day! Fun!

Thank you to the Hines family for this awesome box!

Here you can see the Florida geo box we got last month. (I actually put these in the wrong order - oops.) This box was really cool as well.

We got a book about Florida, a table football game, some nice magnets and cool postcards! They also sent us a really neat bag that has the outline of Florida on it - I love bags and this one is especially big and roomy!

We also got some orange coconut patty candies (Daddy was a big fan of these!) And the bottle of orange blossom honey (which we polished off in no time) was a HuGe hit! So yummy!

Shells from Daytona beach and some real oranges from their very own orange tree where also in the box!

Oh and I can't forget the bug jars - the boys love these and I have to say they are probably the most used thing of any items we've received.

Thank you to the Alexander Family for this wonderful box of goodies!

Here is Bug's extra activity for the month of May. We signed him up for riding lessons at the Flying G ranch. Oh my goodness did he just take right to it! He had a ball and was so excited to go each week.

He learned all about saddling a horse and some grooming techniques.

He also learned how to mount and dismount as well as how to make the horse go and stop and turn and so forth.

Here is Beauty, Bug's first horse. He found out later that she is actually a mule - thus the reason she is so stubborn. LOL He had a bit of trouble getting her to go sometimes. LOL

Here is Mr. Ken chatting with the kids before their first ride. Ken and Dee are wonderful people and we really enjoyed working with them each week. They are so gentle and patient and very concerned that the kids know how to be safe around horses and have fun! He chatted with the kids about how God gives us dominion over the animals and it's important that we treat the horse with respect while letting the horse know that we are in control (as God wants us to be). It was awesome - he sang songs with the kids and prayed with the kids and just really had a great time.

They are hosting a horse camp at the Ranch House Cowboy Church and Bug is so very excited to attend! Lots of horseback riding, crafts, songs, devotionals and much more. I am so excited for him!

Well I think I will sign off for now...it's taken me much longer than I figured to get this done as I have had a least a thousand interruptions since I began. LOL

Until next time....love one another and hug your kids!

Wendy