Happy Easter 2014

Another great Easter at the Gammons house.  We started the day with our second annual sunrise service.  For the first time since we've lived in Minnesota, we didn't have to wear our winter coats to church on Easter.  We spent the whole day outside.  I had a nap in my hammock.  The cousins came over.  All in all, a great time.

My favorite picture is the one of all the boys.  I hope to repeat that every Easter.

Nathan Does It Himself

Nathan loves ice cream, but only if he's doing it himself.  That's pretty much the way he is with everything.  He would rather forgo the ice cream than have you help him with it.  He pretty independent.  Just give him a spoon and let him go.

Amanda and Nathan Go to Michigan

Recently Amanda and Nathan went to Michigan for a funeral.  It was quite an adventure.  They had a good time seeing family, eating Chicago pizza and hanging out in Chicago O'Hare airport for five hours (see pic below of the airport play place) while their flight was delayed.  Here are some pictures of their time.

Matthew Before and After

Matthew recently got his braces off and got a cool new green retainer.  Molly is very jealous of his new hardware and has been telling us that she wants a retainer too.  Here are some great shots of Matthews new look.

BEFORE

AFTER

WAY BEFORE

What a difference modern orthodontia can make!  It's been really fun to watch Matthew go through the process.

FL '14

This winter has been long and difficult.

Like most years past, Amanda began looking for flights to Florida and/or California in January.  Like most years past, we decided that we just couldn't make it work this year.  Then my brother texted me and said that he had spring training tickets to the Twins and that they included passes to on-field batting practice.  We had to make it work.  So we bought flights and began to plan.

When we got there, Tricia and Alex and their family surprised us.  They had driven down and were staying with Joe and Carrie.

So we had lots of cousin time.

As always when I'm in Florida, I wanted to spend my time either at the beach or the pool.  We got to do a lot of both.

The Twins experience was great too.  The boys got autographs from Tony Oliva, Jason Kubel and Joe Mauer.  The day was so hot though, that after watching batting practice all morning, we only made it through the third inning.

We were so thankful for the chance to get out of the snow, see family, relax and be together for a whole week.  FL '15, anyone?  We'll see.

Experts' Night

One of the things that you miss with homeschooling is the chance for our kids to present some of the things that they are excited about or have learned to a larger group.  One way that we have recently scratched that itch is through our co-op's experts' night.  It was a fun night for the boys to be able to make a collection of their knowledge and present it to parents and other kids who came to their table.  (Think science fair.)  Ben and Matthew focused on hermit crabs.  Caleb focused on coin collecting or numismatics.  It was a lot of fun to watch them all interact.  Great job fellas.  You must have a really great teacher!

Caleb's Recital

It's been too long.  I'm back though with a few posts.

Caleb had his spring violin recital last month and it was great.  It is wonderful to watch his progression.  Check out the two videos below.