Double Dandy!

I went to the gym with a double toothed Chelsea....
and came out an hour later with a toothless Chelsea!

I love this sweet look!

Volcanos!

These volcano treats were a hit....
to go along with our study of Volcanos!

After watching movie after movie and they always show the Volcano as the typical science project....

We had to make our own!

This is my first!
Can you believe I have NEVER done this before???

It was easy and fun!
We opted to do the easy way...
Take an empty water bottle put 6 TBS. of baking soda in the bottom.
Place in a shallow pan
Fill the pan with sand...
and water so that it is easy to create a mountain around the bottle.
Take 1/2 c. of white vinegar, place 2 tsp. of red food coloring...
Pour the red mixture into the water bottle and wait for the ERUPTION!!!

My volcano treats were inspired by Gourmet Mom on the Go!

Husbands First!

As much as I love my children...
and put them before myself!

My husband is the one who always come FIRST!

I decided when I was first married to always make him the top!
To ALWAYS treat him the best!
To ALWAYS LOVE him!

This has paid off!

Guess what happens???

If we will put our husbands first, they WILL put us first!
If we take care of them, they WILL take care of us!
If we Love them, they WILL love us!

It's simple really!

I've been married 14 years, and I still get butterflies, goose bumps, and just pure excitement at the mere thought of my husband!

Every couple of years I read.....

Have you read it?

It is not in print anymore....but I have many copies!
I buy it any time I see it!
You can buy it used on Amazon!

It is time again!

This time I am going to do it with you!

I hope you will join in....
and CELEBRATE OUR HUSBANDS!!!

I will review chapter 1 next Tuesday!
You can either get the book, or you can just follow along on Tuesdays!

Outdoor Adventures!

One more Beach Visit!

I loved the sandcastle...and how the white sand was left from the Florida Beach!

The kids loved finding these cool shells....
with life still in them!

You could just scoop up the bottom and the sand was FULL of these fun lake creatures!

Brooke's first dare!
Is it good that she accepted?????

Aunt Kim, said if Brooke went into the FREEZING water...she would go!

They made it all the way to in!!!!

Luke pulled out a root and went fishing!

We are ready for FALL!

Ping

I am having so much fun reading through the literature in Five In A Row as a family!
(Also known as FIAR)
It is a literature based book, which has used several, maybe 30 books, and broken them down into little lessons of Geography, History, Social Studies, Math, Science, and Art.
We are using in addition to our normal curriculum, because it is fun!
We LOVE to read together as a family, and this just takes it a step further.
This is fun to do, even if your not home schooling!

We started with The Story Of Ping!
The idea is to read the book everyday for a week, and then discuss the book in more detail!
We take a two or three weeks on each book.

We went and fed the duck at our favorite lake, and we were lucky enough to found babies!

I took the kids to a Chinese restaurant...and the favorite dish was ice cream, (hmmm...a little American!! =) )

The fortune cookies were a BIG hit!

The Story of Ping takes place on the Yahtzee River of China....so I took them to the Mississippi river, so they could see how BIG rivers can be....and how scary it would be to be all alone, as a single little duck!

The book helps us to know what ducks like to eat...so we had a meal eating like a duck....
fish
bugs
rice cakes
fruit

There is a little boy who uses a barrel as a floatation device...
the kids enjoyed figuring out what floats and what sink?
Eventually I think my entire house ended up in the tub!

There are many fun lessons about drawing.
My kids loved to learn how to make puddles, water reflections, and movement in the water!

They also each wrote a short story about characters in the water....Chelsea's above illustration is just so adorable!
Brooke chose to write about dolphins.
I would put her whole book on here if I could, it is absolutely priceless!

Since we all do this together, there are activities for the older two, and then ones for the younger ones!
My younger ones had so much fun making paper ducks and playing with them for the last two weeks!

Little Fingers!

I am in LOVE with these Crayon Rocks!
They are fantastic for little fingers!

They come in beautiful colors!

They fit little hands perfectly!

My two youngest want to color and participate in art...
but often they become discouraged because the crayons break.

Now they both sit and color for an hour at least, enjoying the colors and flying through pages of paper or coloring books!

Love Notes!

I came home to over twenty of these sweet notes covering my house!
Every door knob!
Mirror!
Toilet seat!
Computer key board!
Every room, had a couple...at least!

There is no better way to make a mom feel loved!

Then to tell her...you appreciate her!

I'm so lucky to have kids that express it often!

So these notes are to all you mom's out there!
Being a mom is the BEST job ever!
And I promise our kids appreciate it!
So today...pat yourself on the back....smile...take a deep breath...and lets have another GREAT day of loving our children!

ROCKS

We have had fun studying ROCKS!

We attempted to make our own stalactites and stalagmites
Instead we just created some fun crystalized soda formations!
The kids still enjoyed the process, and are willing to try again...this time we will use less baking soda and boil the water first...maybe it will give us a new and improved result!?

One type of Rock we studied was limestone, so they were excited to see that the Nauvoo Temple was built with limestone, this is just one replica of a stone from the top of the building!
The kids found it just as interesting that this block was GIGANTIC and yet when it is on the building, it looks small!

I bought a Rock Excavating Kit for the kids to use....
They loved the process of digging for the crystals.

During the week we worked on our own rock animals and creatures!

The Eye Of The Beholder!

We stopped at this park....which I thought was a super lame park!
As the kids were unloading, I thought,
"Why are we even bothering to go here, there is nothing to do!"

I was quickly proved wrong as the kids spent hours enjoying MOTHER NATURE!

They were not concerned with the fact that the swing set had one swing which was broken,
or that the slide was rusted and worn.

The kids could look beyond all of that and see the true beauty in the park...they found secret hideouts nestled in the bushes...

Climbed trees, played tag, and just had a grand old time!

As we left they said, "That was the BEST park EVER, I hope we can come back soon!"