Smorgasbord of pictures

Helping us with a garden was our Christmas gift from my parents while they were here at Christmas. It is now the end of February and we are in full spring in the deep south so we have plenty growing already! I have looked forward to the day we could have a garden in our yard so I will share the progress of growth soon! 

Bailee and Tessa on Facetime

Receiving a letter from Charlotte

Bailee and Brynn 

I am so grateful Bailee has such good friends near and far and she really values those friendships. The Vest's came for Thanksgiving and the girls picked up right where they left off and then later they were very cute chatting on Facetime. She wrote a note to her friend Charlotte in Tennessee and was excited to get a reply in the mail! Bailee and her friend Brynn do tumbling together and Elise is in class with Brynn's younger sister Teegan and all four girls get along so well!   

Bailee and Tessa Thanksgiving 2016

Elise and her sweet friend Avery Bartholomew headed to their first day of primary.

Elise's first day of primary

I love that Bailee is learning to read and write and putting her skills to good use ;)

 For a week in January we were put in a different house so that maintenance could finish some extensive work that needed done in our attic. It was the same layout as our house and the girls thought it was fun to stay there because they said it was like being in a hotel. We are so grateful to be back in our house but it was so nice that we were able to be in a house while the work was being completed!

Fun at the trampoline park with friends!


Mardi Gras is in full swing around here! We didn't venture to any of the big night parades but participated in the children's parade at Lynn Meadows Children's Museum where we have a membership. The girls loved throwing beads out to the kids! They also went to a city children's parade where they received many beads, toys and candy. Before coming here I had a very vague understanding of what Mardi Gras is and I have since learned that it started because of French settlers who came to this part of the country and missed the Carnival events of France so they kept it going in this area. The schools close down for a couple of days and there have been multiple parades every weekend in cities all around us! We visited the Biloxi Mardi Gras museum with our homeschool group and the kids all got to try on different Mardi Gras costumes.  

Riding their bikes in the Lynn Meadows Children's parade

 

We finally visited the Biloxi Visitors Center and learned more about the history of this area. I learned that Biloxi is considered the Vegas of the south because of all of the casinos and at one point in time this was a big destination for people to vacation at the beaches. I think the issues with oil spills and off shore drilling changed that but it was really neat to see pictures from long ago with the beaches full of people. 

Bailee loves finding new trees to climb and Mississippi is full of them!

In addition to our home school group on Monday each week, we also attend a Nature Club with other families on base each Wednesday. Two moms put the group together for preschool aged children to explore this area and they have gone above and beyond to plan the activities. The following pictures are from two events in the last month. One was at the Gulf Island National Seashore where we saw an alligator, some turtles and had beautiful walks through the trees. 

The second activity was an animal rescue group that came and shared all about the local animals that they rescue in the area and they even got to touch some of them. I learned more about armadillos and what to do if we see one on the road, but I hope I never have to worry about taking care of one!

Bailee

Harry Potter book #2 complete!

 I wrote before about Dave and Bailee reading Harry Potter together and tonight they finished the second book! We had the missionaries for dinner and Dave drove them home afterward, but had told Bailee that he would read more to her at bedtime. While waiting for him to get back she colored, did a puzzle, helped clean up dinner... she was anxious for him to get home to read. They finished it and are ready to watch the movie tomorrow! It has been really fun for both of them to have a special thing to do together.

      The night of January 14th, I took Dave out to a restaurant called Half Shell Oyster House in Gulfport to celebrate his 31st birthday which was the 15th. Little did he know it was a bit of a decoy for his big birthday surprise but turned out to be an amazing dinner too! He had to work the following morning (his birthday) at 5:45am so he was ready to get home and go to bed but I needed a good excuse to keep him out until 10pm when Leslie (his mom) would be arriving at the Gulfport airport. I am not the best at keeping surprises so it was really exciting to pull one off! After stalling him at Walmart for a while, I drove to the airport a couple of minutes away and his confusion quickly turned to excitement once it clicked that we were there to pick her up! The girls also had no idea she was coming so they were surprised to walk downstairs and see her sleeping in the living room on Sunday morning.

Sorry girls for the bright sun!

      We had a great week and the girls loved having so much attention and time with Grammie! 

We spent our last full day at the Audubon Zoo in New Orleans and it was a really great zoo. They had everything separated by continents and did an excellent job adding a cultural feel to each area. 

I thought this picture Bailee took turned out pretty artsy.

This guy was really entertaining as he sat up on his rock picking his nose and eating whatever he could find in there. He was a lot closer than the picture makes it appear which I am not used to for a gorilla exhibit.

 The area dedicated to the South had the most detail and was really interesting. We saw a white alligator (not albino) and learned about how they are really rare and were first found in Louisiana and the gulf coast, also the difference between a white alligator and an albino. I love learning about the history of the south and embracing the unique culture which they did a great job portraying at the zoo. 

 The girls asked Grammie to be their teacher so she was telling them all about the Crane that was flying around on the water behind her. 

Bailee was practicing her picture taking skills at the end of the day and did a pretty good job keeping the pictures clear. 

Bailee's loose tooth

She is still working on it, but she has her first loose tooth and now a second one is starting to wiggle!