Quilting Retreat 2

We enjoyed attending our second quilting retreat and did lots of sewing.

Hannah enjoyed sewing with Leslie, a family friend from Modesto.

 Mary finished her quilt top and did the quilting herself. I was able to finish the project I started at the first quilting retreat too.

George's Falls Adventure

We decided to hike to George's Falls for a picnic lunch. Even though we had heard there was a lot of debris in Sherwood after the big snow storm, it was pretty shocking to see all the branches and trees down.

As expected, there were also trees and branches down over the trail.

We climbed over, under, and around a number of trees.

It was quite the adventure. David lead the way through most of the time, and the kids had fun trying to figure out how to navigate each obstacle. 

Eventually we decided it was taking too long, so we didn't go all the way to the falls.

 We found a pleasant spot by the river and enjoyed our picnic and wading there.

Fun in March

David and Mary both lost a tooth in the same week.

Dad and Mom kicked off the celebration by coming up for a visit the day before my birthday.

Joshua smoked meat, so we had a feast for birthday dinner.

Abby made Hannah a crown after church.

Hannah's clavicle fully healed, so no more brace or restrictions.

Mary lost another tooth, so now she and David are missing the same front tooth.

The kids found a bare spot of ground under their pile of leaves and decided to plant a garden there.

A Full House

The kids and I went to visit Dad and Mom while Joshua was at the CCCA conference, and the Trevino kids were staying with them too while Jonah and Michelle were at a different conference. Mom had quite the group for a bedtime story.

Mary enjoyed doing her school at this little desk in the sewing room with Emery.

We helped Dad pick up wood from his neighbor's house and stack firewood.

Snow Family

David and Mary decided to build snowmen and made our whole family: David, Joshua, Hannah, me, and Mary.

Winter Camp

It was strange, but beautiful, to see the snow almost level with the dining room window.

The kids did lots of exploring.

Winter camp was this weekend, so during free time Saturday afternoon we headed out to see what was going on. Hannah liked to make snowballs and put them in her pocket.

The kids had lots of fun having a snowball fight with Joshua.

They also enjoyed sledding and warming up by the fire in the snow afterwards.

Sunday afternoon when the campers were gone, we hit the slope again for some more sledding. Hannah did her exercises.

The Big Storm

There was a big storm predicted to hit camp early Tuesday morning, and since the kids and I had two early morning appointments in Fresno this week and were already planning to visit Dad and Mom, we left a day early to beat the storm. There were a few flurries of snow as we packed the van Monday morning, but we only got rain on the drive. The storm hit as hard as predicted, and Joshua kept us updated with pictures as the snow fell.

It was much more snow than we usually get in one storm, and more than Joshua or I have seen at camp.

Meanwhile, the kids and I were enjoying rain in the valley. During a break in the storm, Dad took the kids down to check out the creek. We were disappointed to miss all the snow at camp, but thankful not to miss our appointments and glad to spend time with Dad and Mom.

It snowed even more on Thursday. That evening, Joshua went snowshoeing down to Sherwood.

By Friday the storm had passed after dropping about five feet of snow on camp.

We returned home early Friday afternoon.

Some of the staff were working on making sled runs for winter camp, which started Friday evening. We were glad to help test them out.

Valentine's Day

Everybody likes pink heart-shaped pancakes for Valentine's day breakfast.

The girls dressed all in pink and called themselves the Valentine's day twins.

 They all liked the new bears from Grandpa and Grandma Kerr.

Hannah's First Person Drawing

Hannah drew her first picture of people. She said it was her, Mary, and David.

 Then she added me and lots of rain.

David's Birthday

David requested chocolate creme pie for his birthday dessert as long as we could decorate it. We decided to frost it with whipped cream, and I was pleased with the results.

David liked it too. We had lots of fun celebrating with him.

 It was so cute to watch Mary and David exclaiming over and examining his gifts.