Today we took an impromptu field trip over tot he dinosaur site/museum nearby.
We are starting a rock unit and this was a good way to introduce it and get some hands on activities in. Also I had a hunch I could find some rock collections in the gift shop.
There is an origami room there. Which to me was weird. Origami? Really?
Okay the dinosaur origami makes a little sense, but then sit down and make a crane or a swan? Hmmm...maybe it's just me.
Good news though, they had rock collections.
I did not mean to disappear for a week. Life happened. Life was full. We were trying to soak it all up. I think we did our best.
Here is last week in pics, at least from Thursday on:
We went to the indoor trampoline place with our friends. Loved this. It totally wore him out.
He mostly played dodge ball, which is the only explanation I have for his facial expression.
Another morning we spent some time at the park.
Do you see that look on his face. Priceless.
Some of our favorites at the street painting festival.
On the list for this week:
What's on your list?
We didn't have much planned for Easter this year. We had company staying with us, which was by far the best part of Easter, and Steve was working. I was planning on celebrating on Monday, but in the afternoon on Sunday Jack started asking about doing an egg hunt. Alex and I decided to pull off a last minute celebration.
Jack is the only one who hunted eggs, at least until I realized how much candy that would mean for him. Then I had to beg the older kids to hunt some.
The kitty even got in on the action.
We had the hunt, found the Easter baskets that the bunny had misplaced, had dinner and then watched a movie together. It was a great finish for our fun weekend.
Jack's face upon opening the door and seeing his best buddy that he hasn't seen since they moved six months ago.
We had an awesome weekend. Our very dear friends, who moved six months ago, came to visit and stay with us. We had a blast. I haven't laughed that hard in ages. My face still hurts from it. So good to see them again.
When I asked Jack if it was a big surprise, he said "Too big of a surprise."
This week we finished up our unit on ocean animals. Here are some of the things we did:
Today Jack told me he wanted to be a theoretical physicist like Einstein. At least we know something in sinking in!
Sometimes the only thing needed to change the mood for the day is a change of venue.
Shell sorting activity.
Learning about penguins.
Sunday craft, ribbon mobile.
A visitor?!?
We had a free weekend- no rugby, no lacrosse, just free time. We all needed that. Zac, Jack and the girls went for a day long hike. I treated myself to lunch, then came home to clean and organize my project space while watching a classic film. Loved every minute of it.
Today the weather was gray and a bit cold. I did my weekly errands then came home and forced everyone to watch the Muppet movie with me. I miss the old Muppets. This was close, but not quite.
On the list for this week:
And I think that is all. Oh, and enjoying the weather to the fullest.
Today was a rugby day. We are slowly starting to understand the game a bit more. Especially today since Zac helped ref the sidelines.
It's rough to watch. We spend the time on the sidelines going from, "Yay! Go!" to "Ouch! Ow! Are they okay?"
At least she loves it!
My latest project has been dying beads. The pic above shows what I've done so far.
These multicolored beads were dyed using food coloring. I only left them in for about 5 minutes at most. When I put them on a string the family said it looked like a candy necklace.
These are done with watercolor paint. Just me and my Crayola. If the first looked like candy, then these look like gumballs.
These red ones were also done with watercolor.
The only problem...I am running out of beads!
While we were at Grandpa's house last week, Jack was able to pick out some seeds for his garden. This past Friday, he planted them.
First he went through his stash and picked out what seeds he wanted to plant. He brought home a lot of seeds. Way too many for his four foot by four foot garden.
Then he started to read the packages and figure out how deep he needed to plant things and how far apart they needed to be.
Dad and Sweetie came in for a consult.
He was worried that Sweetie was going to use his garden as a litter box.
He was really intent on reading the directions and following them.
He brought out a ruler to help and had a few last minute questions before he got to work.
This year he went with all flowers. I can't wait to see it!
Spring is officially here. We are welcoming it with open windows and doors. We are also re-instituting the nightly walk. The bulbs are getting planted, the chicks are getting bigger, and the grass is growing. I can't wait.
We had another trip away this weekend. I hope that it's the last for a while, but alas it sounds like we might have another one this week. I'm thankful that Steve is working now, otherwise we would have two days away this week and multiple games on one day. We are a little travel weary. This weekend we hit a bad storm coming back and let's just say I'm thankful I wasn't the one driving. We also spent some time with my family. Jack collected a bunch of seeds from my dad, the seed guy, and is looking forward to planting his garden box. This year he is shooting for all flowers. I'm good with that.
On the list this week;
What's on your list?
I bought this lamp a few years back for around $5 at the thrift store.
After I had finished painting the room, I noticed that the shade color was too close to the wall color and it just felt kind of off for me. I had also just painted my bedside shelf an awesome turquoise color. It seemed like the next logical step was to pump up the shade. I turned around and saw the bag I sewed up a few years back and thought it would be perfect.
So after some deconstructing and a lot of fabric glue, this is the end result.
I love it! And it's going to get more use than that bag did!
Today we made the first of many visits to the garden center. We are hoping to start planting tomorrow.
We have two bedrooms painted, one left to go. I'm not sure when we'll do that. We are fighting some serious project burnout. It's all looking much better, but we also want to enjoy some of the break.
See the paint on her right ear? She just couldn't stay out of it. Sweetie is missing us all. Every time someone sits down she jumps in their lap ready for some love.
Okay, scenes from the weekend and the big Monday.
Some kitty love.
Chocolate chip banana bread and blackberry banana bread
Painting the horrid paneling in the bedrooms.
new peeps
Not pictured- the lacrosse games gone wrong, date night, garden work, hiking and rock collecting, an older boy getting a job(!!!), and lots of good weather.
On the list this week:
And that's all. It's enough though. Right now my bedroom is torn apart. We'll probably end up sleeping in the living room. Yes, I think that list is enough.
I'm hoping to start putting up our learning notes each week in order to make myself a little more accountable with my record keeping. I keep a lot of notes in my homeschooling notebook, but I find I am always telling myself that I will write it in later and then forgetting.
Read:
Science
Watched:
Language arts:
Math:
Spanish:
Art:
Computer:
Extras:
This week was a lighter week, again. We are struggling with getting back to things post vacation and pre spring break. Also what can I say we've been stuck in the winter blahs. This week we had one day of 70+ degree weather and one day of snow flurries. Jack has also been fighting off some illness and or allergies this week.
Jack organized the jingle bells that we were making felt balls with.
I've finally been getting around to some projects this week. For one of them, I tackled the holes in the knees of Jack's pants. Last spring I scored some pants for Jack at a garage sale for 25 cents each. The only problem was they had holes in the knees. Jack likes the holes and thinks they are cool, but they were starting to bug me. Now I know I saw these somewhere on the internet, this is not my original idea. The problem is I can't remember where I saw this idea first. So forgive me for not linking back. If anyone knows of the first post with this idea, lmk. :)
The good news is he likes them. They are still cool enough to wear.
We have a new member in our household.
Her name is Sweetie. It's the perfect name for her so we won't be changing it.
Jack and Sweetie made fast friends. I think she'll fit in just fine.
A while back I mentioned that Zac has a new hobby.
It is a hobby I fully support because it gives me things to hang on the wall. Pretty things.
It's also sparked a lot of learning. We have a poster hanging up that shows different types of butterflies and Jack would read it, copy down the names and then google them to find more images. There have been books and movies about butterflies. This past Sunday Zac and Jack went on a butterfly hunt. They were gone most of the day and came back with three. Zac let Jack pin one.
Someone is hooked now. They are plotting buying a real net for him for the next butterfly hunt. In the meantime, I no longer have to buy artwork.
