Mini-Vacation

After church on Mother's Day we left for a quick getaway to Orlando. We haven't taken much time off lately and it was so nice to getaway from the normal swing of things.

Arabian Nights was running a special Homeschool Rate so we attended the show. All the kids enjoyed watching the horses. They have changed the storyline since last time we went there. We were very glad about that.

Katie had a mouth infection during the trip. The poor thing could hardly eat and was quite miserable. Luckily she started to feel better on the last day.

We used our Give A Day, Get A Day passes that we had earned back in January. All we had to do is buy a ticket for Ty. What a great deal!

Emily and Sarah got started in Pin Trading this time. They loved trading pins with castmates and were always improving their collection.

Emily's new boyfriend?

Emily and Sarah used to hate 3-D attractions. They were terrified to watch them. This time I made them try Philharmagic and thy both loved it!

I was driven by Katie! (We hit the rails alot)

Ty enjoyed being the navigator.

We had a great time and can't wait to go back to Disney.

King's Kids Jamboree

Tonight was one of my favorite nights of the year.

King's Kids is our Wednesday Night Program at church. Mark and I are in charge of the program and it has been such a blessing to us. Most years Pastor Sutton runs a Jamboree where we compete against other area churches. It is an all day Saturday event. Due to some scheduling difficulties it was decided we would not be having it this year.

After some discussion we elected to have our own Jamboree. It was a different not to have 3 or 4 other churches, but still turned out to be a very nice night.

Here we are with our King's Kids. Emily won 1st place in the Bible Memory Contest. She was thrilled! This is an event that she spent a lot of time on. Sarah was heartbroken to finish 4th. (She forgot a 'the'. ) She had about 30 more verses ready to go. When we got home she told me she was so happy for Emily to win, because she still has 3 more years to try to win it and Emily only has one.

We work with several amazing helpers. They make our lives so much easier. Our King's Kids workers tonight were Patty, Scott, Bonnie and Gina. Jenna and Angie always work with us, but were unable to come tonight. Here is our group from tonight.

Emily, Sarah and Hannah were awarded journals and pens for memorizing all of Psalms 96. These are 3 hard working girls!

Alison and Baileigh did a great job! Allison won the Quiz Bowl Competition. It was a hard fought match. Emily ended up 2nd and Sarah 3rd.

Here are our 5 quizzers. I don't think Mark ever finished one entire question. They were up and ready to give the answer quicker than most of us processed what he was saying. I'm so proud of all of them.

We did 6 different relay races. 3 were Bible based and 3 were just fun.

Sarah on the scooter relay.

Brooke working on the Beatitudes Matching.

We invited the parents and family to join us dinner before the Jamboree started. It was a good time of fellowship.

One of our races was the Jelly Bean Race. The kids had to use a straw to carry a Jelly Bean to a bowl. Many of them ended up on the floor and the kids had to get it from there to the bowl.

Our King's Kids Girls (we are missing Bethany. She was unable to make it tonight.)

This is the the poster we made to memorize Psalms 96. I had planned on learning it with them, but I didn't quite make it. The girls put lots of time in to preparing for the Jamboree this year. We are so happy to see their dedication.

Mother Daughter Banquet

Last night was our church's mother daughter banquet. It was an extra special one for me. Mrs. Judy started by reading a letter that was given to her. Little did I know that Emily wrote the letter. Here is Emily's letter:

Dear Mrs. Judy,
Hello! As always I am sure you are going to have a Mother of the Year and I would like to nominate my mother. She loves and cares for us kds with all her heart. I don't know what I would do without a mom like her. Whenever I need her she is always there. Not just that, she also teaches us so that we can have a good education with a bible based meaning. She is also a very Christian women who loves God and her church. So the Dillehay children hereby nominate Mrs. Tabitha Dillehay for the Mother of the Year.
Love The Dillehay Kids

I was surprised and thrilled to get the beautiful letter. It is always nice to be honored, but I think the letter is what I will treasure the most.

Unexpected Treat

Tonight my mom called and asked if all 4 kids come over. We hadn't ate dinner yet, so she thought Mark and I could go to dinner. We were thrilled and jumped at the chance.

My dad took Ty and Katie to indulge in their favorite cuisine. McDonalds! They had a good time with grandpa. I guess he had to finish their ice cream cones because they wanted to play. Sorry Dad!

My mom took Emily and Sarah to JoAnns to buy fat quarters and buttons. She brought them back to her house and helped them cut out and sew a purse. They turned out great! How neat to say that you bought fabric and made a purse all in one evening! I'm glad my mom likes doing fun stuff like this with my girls. I know they enjoy it.

Mark and I went to Roadhouse and had a delicious meal, but best of all we got to talk uninterrupted the whole time. What a treat that is!

Now we are settled in and watching a movie. What a fabulous Friday night and great way to start the weekend!

Headed to the Library

A basket full of books and headed to the library. Our family use the library a ton! All 4 kids love to go and check out books. Ty especially likes to ask the librarian for help. He is so thrilled when she is able to find a new space, robot or dinosaur book that we haven't seen before.

Normally I would be the on taking the kids to the library. Today I am loaded with appointments, so Mark is headed there. I love it that he has the freedom to be able to take midday trips with them. I know the kids enjoy the daddy time.

As a homeschooler it seems like most of the educational 'burden' is on the mother. While this is true, I enjoy having a husband that steps in and helps with anything that is asked. He is such a great Dad!

pics by the kids

We have a small camera that we let h kids use quite often. I love to look at it an see what pictre they take. Emily snapped this one of 'pirate ty'

You never know what you are going to find when the kids have the camera.

A Quick Visit to Orlando

Mark had to be in Orlando on Friday, so the kids and decided we needed to get away too. On our way up we stopped in Dinosaur World. They are running a special this month for homeschoolers, so we figured this would be good time to go. We all had a fabulous time. They have over 150 dinosaur sculpures and many other exhibits to see.

Sarah is sifting sand to look for fossils. We found lots of different kinds of teeth and some bone fragments.

While Mark was in is meeting the rest of us went to the Orlando Science Center.

Emily and Sarah in a flight simulator.

Hoping for a prince?

Katie-future mechanic?

We found a beautiful tree in downtown Orlando. It is a couple of hundred years old. The branches are so long and heavy that they lay on the ground. It was so beautiful underneath the branches.
On the way home, we stopped at Plant City to pick up strawberries for $2.99 a flat! Yum!

Book Club and other ramblings

We have been busy as usual here at the Dillehay household.

Tonight I attended my first book club meeting. We met at Melting Pot and had a wonderful time! I feel like we have a great group of ladies and will definetly enjoy our monthly meetings.

I've never made a 'bucket list', but on my list of "Grown up Things to do" I'm sure _Be in a Book Club_ is on there. I can't wait to pick up the next book and get started reading.

I dressed Katie for church in her adorable blue and white dress with a big white bow in her hair. She picked out the Ruby Red Slippers. I love her style.

Saturday at the Soccer Field

For part of our Spring Break we went to Carl Johnson Park. I remember going there as a kid with my mom. We always had so much fun at the beach, but my favorite part was the sandy, sleepy ride home. Naps after the beach are surely the best.

Wednesday we went to Grandma and Grandpa D's house to meet Kathi and family and Cousin Mike and family for lunch and swimming. The kids swam for hours and had fun with all of the cousins.

Ethan-4

We attended a birthday part of Julianna. She is 6 and had an awesome, messy birthday party. My kids had a blast and were glad to be invited to join the fun.

Easter at Mom and Dad's house

As Keela pointed out, Emily is moving to the 'older side.' Used to she would run off with Sarah, Kaylie and Kiara. Now she is hanging out more with Jonathan. My girls keeps growing up on me!

As we took pictures of the grandkids, we were trying to people on laps to fit everyone in the picture. Katie was so kind and offered her lap to Ty. Now logistically that doesn't work as he has a good 7-8 inches on her. We had to at least let her try and she was proud of holding her Ty.

The cousins-- This is the Easter that Chloe wore a Pull Up :)

My attempt at some Easter Pictures. The oldest 4 were very cooperative. Katie was...well she was acting like a 2 year old.

I love this picture!

We had an Easter Egg Hunt with our family and friends at Lakes Park. What a wondeful time!

Egg Hunt at Grandma June's house