To Be Little Again...

Certain moments in my childhood stand out more than others. One memory I have is that of playing in the rain on a hot summer day. The rain splashing on my face, the wonderful puddles all around, just waiting to be jumped into...

It is so fantastic that now, my own children are creating those same memories. When their little faces look at me with wide eyes and giant smiles on their faces and ask "Mommy, can we PLEASE play out in the rain? It's not thundering or lightning!" What else can I say but yes???

We all know how quickly our children grow up. Our oldest child no longer delights in these rainy summer days and it makes me sad that she has other things on her mind now. Good things, more mature things. But I want to hold her and tell her to just run out there and be free! Run in the grass, jump in the puddles, dance in the rain just once more...

Keepers at Home

This week at our Keepers at Home club meeting, the girls participated in a fun game of "pass the beach ball". The purpose of the game was to teach the girls how to patient with others, as well as with ourselves. Each girl had to pass the ball to the next friend in line, without actually grasping or holding onto it! So, the only way they could accomplish this was by carefully balancing the ball on the palm of their hand.

They all did a really great job at passing the ball, and they were definitely patient with each other.

We also made some trail mix as part of the Snacks and Drinks skill award. There were all sorts of yummy sweet and salty things to add to our bags!

I believe they all gave it a "thumbs up" in the taste category!

End of the Year Homeschool Party

This weekend, we celebrated the end of the school year with our little H.E.A.R.T. Homeschool Group. We met at one of the family's homes and had a delicious dinner of chicken, ribs, salad, mac & cheese, and desserts.

It was a great time for everyone and the highlight was when the kids all received their yearbooks. They really enjoyed having all their friends sign them and as I looked through the pages of the book, it made me smile because we are so blessed to have such wonderful homeschool friends...

Summer is Here!

Today was our official last day of school and what a fun day it was! We started out the day with an exciting game of "pass the beach ball" while the Beach Boys played in the back ground. When the music stopped, the one holding the ball had to say a word associated with summer.



       

Then, we moved onto a game that involved one of my favorite foods- marshmallows!

The object of the game was to see how many marshmallows they could stack in 1 minute. Since we live in an area that has lots of rain storms in the summer, the marshmallows were suppose to represent clouds. It was funny to see how they all stacked their towers differently. I also noticed that some of the "clouds" disappeared. Hmmm. where could they have gone???

I also had the kids complete various summer word search puzzles and my little guy particularly enjoyed this "Summer Search & Find" book.

Then, it was off to meet Daddy at our favorite pizza restaurant for our last day celebration lunch.

Ooh! So delicious... They make the best pizza!

 

After our pizza lunch, I thought it would be a good idea for the kids to get outside and have some fun with water balloons. They really had a blast with this activity!

Then we came back inside for some writing time. The theme today was "Summer is Here". My girls wrote their own stories while my little guy sketched a picture of what summer looked like. I then did a dictation exercise with him.

We ended our day with the kids receiving their report cards. It was such a fun day for the kids as well as for me and it made me think back to the beginning of our school year, and realize how quickly the year has gone by. We had so many wonderful experiences this year. I feel sad that it is over, but I know that more great times are yet to come. Here is a little preview:



Rest In Peach...

We recently took a trip to a cemetery. While this was not the first time our little guy has been to a cemetery, it was the first time he was able to remember details about it and ask lots of questions. I have finally figured out that when he starts to ask a lot of questions about a particular topic, it will not be long before he is attempting to re-create that same object, location, etc...  So, it should come as no surprise when I found him in the back yard today, creating his own cemetery! At first, I panicked thinking, "Oh dear God, I hope he has not actually harmed some little creature!" Well thank goodness, that is not the case. He has never been one to hurt animals. He's actually a bit fearful of most creatures.

My little guy called me out to the yard and was so proud of his final product. I was impressed with the fact that he included a headstone with a name on it and a heart, as well as some decorative rocks and such on the grave site. Not only that, he invented this fantastic story to tell me about our "dearly departed" friend. His name was "Topolini" and he was a scientist. He died last night and he was 123 years old. When I asked him why he died, my little man's response was "He was very old and was ready to go to Heaven to see Jesus. He can now rest in peach". Yep- peach, not peace. I had to bite my tongue not to laugh at the cuteness of it all.  What a great answer!

So, what may seem really weird and a bit creepy to some is quite fascinating and creative to me! And I have learned as the years fly by that boys really are VERY different than girls...

Pottery Painting Studio

This week, we went to a pottery painting studio with one of our homeschool support groups. I had never been to a pottery studio before and it was so interesting to see all the different choices of pottery, as well as some finished projects.

My girls took several minutes choosing what they wanted to paint. My oldest finally decided on a small bowl, and my little girl selected a coffee mug for Daddy. Then, they got right to work on their projects.

Some of their friends painted one project all together as a family.



There were so many colors to chose from, and so many different sizes of brushes!

This was a very relaxing, enjoyable field trip for my girls. They have always been very fond of craft activities and this was right up their alley! I liked just watching them work silently and skillfully. Once finished, their projects went into the kiln.

Daddy is really going to like his coffee mug and bowl. Shhh! Don't tell him- it's a surprise!