Art Contest Winner

E won 3rd place in an art contest for a watercolor painting of a rainbow and a horse! I expected her to scream when she found out, but she just smiled and hugged me, and hasn't stopped smiling since. She loves art, and we always tell her it is one of her gifts. I knew art would be one of her things when, at age 2, she was drawing a picture with markers and I realized she was making sure she used each color in the box. She gets $20, too. I wonder what she will buy with it!

Tonka Trunkin'

We've had these Tonka Trucks since D & E were adopted almost 5 years ago! They still fit to ride!

A Nice Day

Donuts for breakfast, watching a train, climbing trees and swinging at the park, picking books and playing on the computers at the Library, painting, playing Sorry, running through the sprinklers, watching Barbie Rapunzel, and sleeping in the same bed. Oh, and my day wasn't bad either....

I love Bunco

Pizza, Pie, and Pleasant Conversation

Whew!

I made it through teaching my first lesson this school year for our home school group with lots of help from the other Moms! We learned about advertising and marketing, including techniques/ploys, the kids making their own commercials for "Magnificent Instruments" and "Rock Group Puppets,"and a taste test. More people preferred the Kroger Cheez Puffs and Big K Lemon/Lime Soda over Cheetos and 7Up. I was so glad the taste test reinforced generic over brand names like I'd hoped! And I can hope the kids remember what they learned the next time they want to ask for a toy/game/food that they see on TV!

Messy Eater

Our grandson

Zoo Habitats

We continued our lesson on habitats with a trip to the Zoo. Determining the habitats of animal crackers before you eat them is also a very fun exercise.

E - Animal Habitat

Five-year-old E drew pictures and had me write the stories to go with them. You can click on the pictures to see/read them better.

D- Animal Habitats

Six-year-old D wrote the story about the beaver and drew a grassland habitat that is supposed to be our neighborhood. You can click on the image to read/see it better.

Barbie Explosion

Playing with my old Barbie camper, Barbie bike, and Barbie clothes is a privilege enjoyed when the opportunity arises! Today D even dressed up a Barbie and called her "Ma" (Ingalls, as in Little House on the Prairie) just like I used to do!!

Ashokan Farewell - Fiddle Tune

Fingerprint Art

Today we studied fingerprints, identifying types and making animals, flowers, etc.

Ping

Today we studied the hand and drew animals with our hands. This is E's duck, which looks just like Ping from The Story of Ping. Please excuse the lines around the drawing -- I had to cover up where D wrote on top of her picture!

I am blessed

Little things can make you feel blessed, and then bigger things come along and confirm it! Last week was a nice one for our family. E was in a mood where she regularly came up and hugged and kissed me, told me I was the best mom in the world, and such. D was appreciative of all the neat stuff we did in school and I loved seeing his eagerness to learn and do special things. Then on Sunday at church the guest pastor invited people to stand up and acknowledge people who really made a difference in their life. As usual in a crowd, only a handful of people ventured out to speak. One was my sweet husband. There was an audible "awww" from the wives in the service (and tears from me) as he stood up to say how thankful he was for me. And even though I wasn't at the next service, my friend EN (whose kids I kept for a week in June) got up to thank me and my husband.

Wow. I am humbled and thankful and blessed that I can and do make a difference. For the last month or so I have been pondering how I can make a bigger impact with a service or mission project, and this helps reinforce the feeling that I need to take another step forward. Let me pass it on!

My Favorite Room

D's fun school work today. Note drawing of our living room, with me sitting on the couch and D and E in their chairs across the coffee table (how we do school.)

Star Fruit

Star fruit smells better than it tastes, but it isn't awful. You can use it in place of a potato to make paint stamps as long as you blot out some of the juice. Just what you always wanted to know but never thought to ask....

The Olympics and Greece

Home school today was the Olympics and Greece. History: of the Olympics. Art: olympic rings & Keva plank acropolis. Science: speed technology. Music: Olympic theme and US national anthem. Dress: togas. Language: alphabets. Religion: Greek Gods. Food: homemade baklava, yogurt, olives.

Science Experiment

Today we did a science experiment on radial chromatography with markers. It was a lot of fun. We also started science experiment notebooks to record our experiment and all the others we do. It should be fun to see it develop over the years!

D as Diving Board Dynamo

Pool Party

Slip n Slide Video