I think my kids are FISH!

I know it looks as though the daddy photographer didn't get any swimming time, but he gets his fair share. We just need to catch him on candid camera. Just click the photo to see it in full size.

Beach Bums!

Well, when you have 18 children (it feels like it sometimes), and you have no money, is there really a better way to spend an afternoon than at the beach? Sure you could get stung by a jellyfish, eaten by a shark, or pulled out to sea by the rip tide. But let's face it...we have become beach bums to the core and are loving every minute of it. We head out to Torrey Pines Beach any chance we get. None of us have picked up surfing, but we can get tossed around on a boogy board with the best of them. At some point, I will invest in a sports lens for my camera and get you all some action pictures of Jaxson riding the waves. He is growing up faster than I know how to deal with. Here are some more pictures for your viewing pleasure...and yes...they do speak louder than my poor grammer. Enjoy!

Family Fun

Family Fun Day was a lot of fun! The pictures speak louder than words.

A beautiful Evening

On Thursday evening the kids and I met Brady at the beach with a picnic dinner. It was such a beautiful evening....the water was so warm, the sun was setting and the dolphins were playing just past the surf. It seems as though sunset is the dolphins favorite feeding time, so that's always the best time to see them. That night they were actually jumping completely out of the water! They are so beautiful. Jax and Brady had fun catching some waves.
I think that this afternoon we are going to go again and hopefully drag Jer and Jess with us.
Everyone have a great weekend!
Love, Lani Brady Jax Ellie Ray and Vance

Janelle and kids June visit

We had a fun time with Janelle and the boys this past weekend. They got here on Saturday morning (early!) and we all had pancake breakfast. Saturday's are "pancake day" around here. Then we relaxed at the pool for a while, picked up some pizza and took it to the park for dinner. On Sunday we went early to Sea World and spent the day. On Sunday evening the kids watched a movie while we relaxed. Janelle and I were undefeated on the weekend in Sequence against Brady and Scott! :>) We're the champions!

M's Win 6-5!

Yes it's true. We swept the Padres in three one run games! It was a great come from behind victory in Friday night and we had a blast cheering on our team. (Among 44,000 Padres fans I might add)
We had awesome seats along the third base line- it was a fun evening.
Go Mariners!

Thoughts on School

I've been thinking about and compliling the materials I need for Jaxson's first year of school. Here in California you have to actually join what they call an ISP, Independant Study Program in order to homeschool. Basically, all that means is that you are "enrolled" (you pay an annual tuition) in their school and they help you keep attendance records and a permanent grade record for your child. If you are ever contacted by a truancy officer you have them contact the ISP and confirm that your child is enrolled and attending. They are also required to keep a regular school file for your child, with immunization records, a school entry doctor's report, a planned course of study etc. There are an awful lot of hoops to jump through here, something that I'm not used to.

You are required to teach school for 180 days a year, 3 hours per day.
The private ISP that we are going to join is called Christian Life Academy. I like them because they have online reporting which is very convenient for me. I will also be joining the Homeschool Legal Defense Association and hopefully a good homeschool group.
In spite of all the hoops, I'm very excited to start on school this fall. Jax is so ready to learn, and the curriculum I will be teaching is a lot of fun and incredibly well rounded. It's called My Father's World 1st Grade (www.mfwbooks.com) and consists of a lot of hands on learning and whole book teaching. It's a Unit study type of curriculum, written for using singly or with multiple children on different levels and it uses a lot of Charlotte Mason's methods. We're going to let Ellie join in where she wants this year (she will enjoy the Bible stories, activities and science projects, I'm sure) and next year she will start Kindergarten and do the Adventures in My Father's World Second Grade with Jax. This year they will be focusing on the Bible, Genesis through Revelation, and next year they will be learning American History, State by State. We're looking forward to it.
Jax and Ellie have both been learning the Presidents of the United States this year and they are up to #4, James Madison. It's amazing how much they can absorb right now! We don't work on them much, we just go over them a couple of times a day and each time we add a president we hang his picture on the wall. They are having fun with it, and it's been fun for me to review them.
So anyway, just wanted to share what we are planning for school next year for anyone who may be interested! :>)
Hope all is well with all of you....all.
Love, Lani

PS. Preparing for the big game on Friday!!!! Don't forget to watch for us!

Forgotten Fisherman

Lani forgot to mention the greatest catch of the day when I pulled up a MONSTER starfish from the Ocean floor. It takes skill that few have yet to experience. It all started with a simple jig and some squid on the hook. I dropped my line about 50 feet and bounced my jig off of the floor about 3 times. Suddenly, something took my bait as if it hadn't eaten for a year. It was a fighter....which surprisingly didn't drag me overboard. I wasn't going to give up, because I was sure that it had to be a shark or something cool like that. After reeling for an extremely long 30 seconds, the fight was over. The shark took my hook and planted it on this poor starfish. Some joke. Still, I am the only one I know that has successfully brought in a starfish using a jig and squid.

Fishing in the deep blue sea....

On Sunday, Jaxson and Brady went fishing with Mom and Bill. Jaxson got to use his special lure that he got from Papa Bill. He helped Papa reel in a barracuda (the long one) and he caught a scorpian fish (red rock cod). They had a great time.
On Memorial day we cooked the fish they caught and made fish tacos.
Not too much is going on this week, I have some catching up on house work to do. We are having company on Saturday and then next weekend Janelle and the kids get to come down and spend a couple of days again while Dave is in Mexico. Next Friday (the 8th) we are going to a Mariners Game!! Wahoo! We're taking signs so watch the game if you can and you'll probably see us! I think it's a 7:05 game. Thank God for interleague play! :>)
Well, I need to make my way over to the laundry room and get the clothes out of the dryer.
Love and miss you all, Lani, Brady, Jaxson, Ellie Ray and Vance

Of Mother's Day and Legoland

Happy belated Mother's Day to all of those mothers out there! I had a very nice Mother's Day. Brady and the kids made me a wonderful breakfast and served it to me in bed. Jax woke up early with daddy and went to Starbucks to get me a coffee. Then, after church Brady gave me a whole day to myself. I went to the beach and read a book, then ran a few errands. It was a lovely day.
Last weekend was a Daddy and Son day. Some people from our church up north had given us two free tickets to Legoland in Carlsbad. Brady and Jaxson went and spent the whole day, from opening to closing and had a "grand ole time". He rode every single ride in the park, even the big roller coasters! He got to drive a car and a boat by himself, he put out fires on a fire engine and had a few water fights on a pirate ship. One of the highlights for Jaxson was that for lunch, he was allowed to have pizza, CHEETOS and his OWN SODA!!!! :>) It was a day he will never forget, thanks to the Kings!
We've had a busy couple of weeks. Brady's working as hard as ever. I'm looking forward to a special time this week when my Mom is taking the kids for a couple of days! She's giving me the gift of a little vacation time! I need a little bit of a break and I'm so thankful that my mom is so helpful and willing to give it to me. I'm going to do some projects that I've been wanting to get done, but mainly just sleep in and relax! Wahoo!
Well, now to get on with my day. We miss all of you, be sure to keep in touch!
Love, Lani Brady Jaxson Ellie Ray and Vance

Lazy days of Summer....In May

We're having some lovely Santa Ana's here, which means heat wave! It's been in the upper 90's all week. So we've spent the last few days at either the beach or the pool. Today we packed up a lunch and headed to the pool at about 11 AM. We're very fortunate to have a really nice salt-water pool basically right outside our door. We're also very fortunate that pretty much everyone here is gone until 5 or 6 PM, so we get the whole pool to ourselved until then! :>) Now I've laid the kids down for naps, tired and worn out from swimming and here I am.....
On sunday we celebrated an early Mother's Day for my mom since she'll be out of town this weekend. We packed a picnic lunch and went to the beach. It was a nice day. We also had the special treat of Fernado Ortega leading our worship service at our church on Sunday. We enjoyed him very much.
Well, now I think I'll sit down with a book and perhaps take a little nap myself..... mmmm that sounds nice.
Have a wonderful week!
Love, Lani

Just me and my boys

This is a picture of the kids at Sea World. The polar bears are one of thier favorite exhibits, especially in the morning when they are up and playing around. Also a picture of Brady and I attempting to fly kites with no wind! :>)
Today Ellie is at grandma's having an overnighter, so it's just the boys and me!
Yesterday we went grocery shopping and Jax was my big helper. He really has gotten to be a very capable and respectful young boy, he helps a lot with the shopping and then helps me haul all the groceries into the house. He also is very capable in helping out around the house, doing his chores and helping with the baby. I'm very proud of him.
Last week we went to Sea World and mommy forgot sunscreen and of course, all of the kids got terrible sunburns. But it was a good day, we took Grandma Bessie with us and she had a good time.
Today is a bit of a rainy day so the boys are going to eat lunch, take a nap and then perhaps watch a movie.
I'm working today on my Menu and Meal Planning project that I've been working on all week, trying to be more organized as usual. We'll see how long it lasts!
I hope everyone has a good week this week.
Love, Lani

Another week in the books....

Here are a couple of pics that Janelle sent of the kids. They were taken when Janelle and the boys came to visit a few weeks ago.
It seems like we've had a busy week this week. On Saturday we did take the kids to Seaworld in the evening. We sat where DADDY wanted to sit during the Shamu Rocks show and in spite of his insistance that we would not get wet, we of course did! :>) But it was still very fun.

On Thursday, my grandma Bessie came to town to visit for a while. Yesterday, she and my mom, along with the kids and I, went to the Scripps Aquarium. Afterwards we stopped and had an early dinner at Denny's. Than the kids and I watched a movie since Daddy was working late. Today, I've been doing laundry and making granola. I was thinking about making a tortilla soup for dinner even though I normally don't "make" dinner on saturdays because I claim it as my "day off". But tortilla soup just sounds really good. It's still a bit rainy and cloudy and soup always sounds good to me on rainy days.
Now why is that......

Well, Hope all is well with all of your families.
Thanks for keeping in touch!
Love, Lani

My beautiful hour......

They're all asleep. Which means one beautiful hour to myself.
Not that I'm doing anything important. I'm actually sitting on the couch, eating tortilla chips and watching "Philadelphia Story". I love that movie. Can you get a better combination than Katherine Hepburn, Cary Grant and Jimmy Stewart? I think not.

Today is Saturday, Mommy's day off. :>) When Brady get's home from work we are probably going to take the kids to Sea World for the evening shows again. I think that we are going to play hooky from church tomorrow (gasp!) and watch the service online. We are really really really needing an actual day off, where we go nowhere and do nothing.

Well, I suppose I should sign off for now.
Have a wonderful weekend!
Love, Lani

Funny Girl....

Just a cute little ante-dote.
Yesterday while the kids and I were at the playground we were doing "Jumping-Jacks". I thought nothing of the name until this evening Ellie started saying, "Mommy, look at me! I can do Jumping-Ellie's!" She thought that we were doing "Jumping-JAX" yesterday! They say the funniest things sometimes......