Packing, Packing, Packing...We are up to our eyeballs in boxes. The packing has begun for our move back to TX. Hard to believe we've been here 2 years. One year wasn't long enough, 2 years was probably too long. We are anxious to be back in a bigger house with a yard so that we all have room to have our own space and the kids can run wild in the backyard without worrying about cars. Plus, we are ready to be back closer to our family so we can help out more when health problems arise. John is heading to PA to get us a minivan for our cross country drive back to TX. It will really be nice to have a bigger car since our kids are SO tall! Their legs both bump the backseats. Elliotts grow big kids! Ha!

The Queens Zoo...On Friday, Jacob went with the rest of his grade to the Queens Zoo in Flushing Queens. His favorite animal was the Zebra. The weather held out. It was a cloudy day but no rain so they all had a great time. Check out the zoo at http://nyzoosandaquarium.com/qz

In the meantime...Packing has begun at the Elliott household. The POD is due to arrive on May 12th. Sometime within a week or so after that date, we will start our trek back across these here United States back to God's Country (for those of you who don't know...Oklahoma and Texas!). We will really miss a lot about NY and it has been a WONDERFUL adventure. We've been here 2 years and we are looking forward to being back home closer to our family and friends and especially a bigger house with a yard...ha!

Trip to OK and TX...Well, we made a trip back to TX last week to house hunting. We got a lot of house hunting done and have narrowed it down to 4 houses. Now we are just number crunching before we make an offer on one. In the meantime, John's dad was hospitalized and so we spent several days up in Healdton to check on everyone and help out where we could. The kids got a huge kick out of mowing the backyard on our old riding lawn mower. Weeeeeee!!!!!!

Kenya Songs...Here are a couple of video clips from the songs Jacob's class sang today.

International Fair...Today was the International Fair at Jacob's school. Parents and children were each issued a passport. They then went from classroom to classroom visiting different countries of the world. Each country they visited, they got their passport stamped. It was SO cute. Each classroom had information about that country, costumes, music, songs, food, etc. The kids and teachers really did a great job. Jacob's classroom was decorated for Kenya. The other countries represented were England, China, Spain, Switzerland, Italy, Brazil, Mexico, South Africa, Egypt, Netherlands, Thailand, Ireland, Japan, and Jamaica. What a great experience for everyone to learn about so many places around the world!

Math Matters...John and Jacob participated in "Math Matters" at Jacob's school. It was a hands-on event that lets kids create games and teaching tools to use at home to help with math skills. The whole things was only an hour and a half but they had a great time. They signed up for 4 choices of workshops but got to attend 2 of them. Their 1st workshop was called "Card Sharks". They got their own deck of cards and learned card games that helped strengthen math skills. Their 2nd workshop was "It's Magical". The magic looked like this:

1 - 2 - 3 - 4
5 - 6 - 7 - 8
9 - 10-11-12
13-14-15-16

Write the number 34 on a small index card and give it to one of your students for safe keeping. Ask your students to select four numbers on the board. Circle the numbers. None of the numbers may be in a column or row of any of the other three. Now add the four numbers. Direct the student holding the index card to real the number you wrote. Your students will be amazed! Examine the board for other symmetrical cominations of four numbers which yield ta sum of 34. (Note the diagonals, the four corners and the four center cells). Have your students search for others.

(This exercise is only typed up for you mom's out there in case you are interested. Jacob thinks learning math using magic is cool!

NY Hall of Science...Yesterday, Jacob got to go to the NY Hall of Science in Queens with school. He had a great time and came home talking about bug DNA, bubbles, etc. They learn so fast! If you'd like to check out the NY Hall of Science, go to http://www.nyhallsci.org/ .

Last night, the kids got on a dancing kick. Jacob spun and twirled his sister all around the living room. She looked at him adoringly at her brother and called him "Her Prince".