National Archives Museum

We wrapped up our study on our founding documents - the Declaration of Independence, Constitution, Bill of Rights - so we made a trip into D.C. to visit the National Archives Museum to see the originals! It is such a gift that we live so close to our nation's history, and that we have access to all of this cool history. 

I have to say, the fact that the museum is filled with a bunch of old documents, they made it as interactive and interesting as possible. At least, I thought it was fascinating, even if it wasn't the kids' favorite. But either way, it was still cool to see the pieces of history that we learned about in school. It seemed pretty historic to be seeing them as we just celebrated our nation's 250th birthday. 

The Constitution

Maddie with the 19th Amendment {women's right to vote!}

Emancipation Proclamation

Declaration of Independence

We are so grateful for the freedoms that were so hard-fought for in our country. And I absolutely love learning with this crew!

{iPhone Rewind} :: June

I love this end-of-school-year tradition to pick strawberries at Wegmeyer Farms :)

Our deer friends are back, and they're scoping out our hostas! 

We wrapped up another great season with these soccer stars!

Aiden had a great trip to the dentist!

We started a summer watercolor class, and the kids are loving trying out some new art skills :)

And our little Chippy is back! The kids love seeing our little friend every morning :)

Our sweet girl had a couple of teeth extracted, and she did great! She was still a little loopy on the nitrous oxide and when we got to the car, she looked at herself in the car window and said, "I feel so funny, but I look so normal!" Sweet girl. 

We loved celebrating Mike for Father's Day with gifts, cards, and an ice cream taste test. We love our favorite guy!

The styrofoam ban in Virginia makes Sonic drinks so, so sad...

She's back! And she found the hostas in our backyard haha

Just playing a little "Alamo," rewriting a little bit of history...

{iPhone Rewind} :: May

Mike got to spend time in the Netherlands with some of our missionaries, as well as visit a church in Belgium. It was a great trip, and we look forward to continuing/deepening relationships in both countries.

We learned about the Tabernacle in Bible, and we were able to build it with a Bible Bricks set! I love Eli's complete focus :)

The kids were in charge of watering the lawn while Daddy was out of town...and it went about as well as you would expect. It was mostly Mom redirecting the water flow and reminding them that the water actually has to go ON the lawn, not their bodies :)

Kids are the BEST #nomercy

I had a sweet Mother's Day with cards and flowers and my favorite people :)

Mr. Jesse and Ms. Linda came into town!

His head was cold. Haha. 

We wrapped up the ministry year with our 2 Corinthians study. I love these ladies, and I am thankful for their diligent study.

We just had cold weather and then made it all the way to "feels like 97." A nice warm day for a soccer game. Then it rained, and we were back in the 50s. Gotta love Virginia weather.

We wrapped up our school year! I am so proud of these three and how hard they have worked this year.

Love them.

{iPhone Rewind} :: April

We got a new expansion pack for Carcassonne, and everyone was excited to dive in! :)

Maddie and I got to visit the Goat Farm again this year, and we had such a fun time with the sweet babies!

Love spending time with my girl

"Look, Mom. I'm a robot!"

The boys have been making bird feeders at Relay Boys

They have also been LOVING playing Laser Tag at Relay Boys :)

The kids were so helpful and decided to clean up all their bikes/balls/outside toys in the garage! I was so impressed :)

White House crafts in anticipation of our White House tour!

Braiding Maddie's hair

Free Cone Day at Ben & Jerry's!

Our little fox friend was hanging out in the cul-de-sac again

Aiden was SO excited to get a watch. He asked, and asked, and asked for one...and then he waited, and waited, and waited for it to arrive {all 2 days of Amazon Prime shipping haha}. 

Wisdom from Grandma made it to Mike's sermon :)

Quick snapshot from the soccer sidelines

When you take a ball to the face and take it like a champ until you walk off the field and just need a Mama snuggle for a minute

White House Tour

We had the opportunity to take a tour of the White House today! We recently learned about its construction and first tenants in history, so I reached out to our congressman to schedule a tour.

There was a lot of construction, since the former East Wing was demolished this past October, in anticipation of the President's plans for a new ballroom. Our tour included the North Portico, the Entrance hall, East Room, the Blue Room, Green Room, Red Room, and the State Dining Room.

We also visited The People's House to learn more of the history of the White House and more about the parts that we didn't get to tour. It was really interactive, and the kids enjoyed pretending to sit behind the replica Resolute Desk :)

It was a fun morning, and we really enjoyed walking through the halls of history!