Summer's OVER??

Well, the calendar says it's not.... but nature seems to disagree.  It's cooling down, leaves are beginning to change, the bugsound is different, nature knows.  Even if humans can't keep up.

So.  Here's our summer in pictures:

Happy 14th birthday! 

We got busted drawing rocket ship goggles on self and brother. 

So, we had rocket ship goggles in our birthday pictures!

Happy 7th birthday!

We went to the pool!! 

We went to STEM camp!  

And preschool camp.

And Bible Camp.

And another Bible Camp.

And another Bible Camp.

And Kindergarten Camp.

And Theater Camp.

We taught another kid to mow the lawn. 

We discovered this tiny dude loves piano. 

We yelled for all kinds of good reason. 

We did OT in the house with a wee little supervisor watching. 

We harvested the gardens.

We learned chores.

We worked with Dad at the Farmhouse.

We harvested some more. 

Happy 5th Birthday!

We ran out of counter space for cucumbers... time to make pickles!

We made Sweet & Spicy Pickles.

We looked cute at the Farmhouse.

We explored some creeks.

We are just such a big girl!

We watched the eclipse with our pinhole projection viewer.

We stole our Mom's clothing and looked so cute she let us keep it.

The farmhouse got a facelift!  She's looking fantastic!

We have a Marching Viking.   He rocks.

We eat cherry tomatoes from the garden in our breakfasts, lunches, snacks, and dinners...

Riley was in a musical... she's Sleepy the Dwarf, lower left front.

And there's our favorite trombone, front and center!  Go Chase! 

Don't forget to check out our homeschool blog in the next few days for our Back to School post!

That's It! We're Done!

So to get totally convoluted here... I'm talking about Homeschool.  On this blog.  We're done school... for now.   The Homeschool blog will get a proper, more-informationy update soon.  No, really.  It will.  Because I'm transferring all of my phone pics now.  And that always makes it easier.

Sitting down in front of a computer has really just not been my thing, hence the gap in posts.  Also, Shelby doesn't allow me much time, since she can tear apart the office in 30 seconds flat by going after the envelope drawer and pulling wires out from everywhere.

The weather has been great.  Meaning we get outside and DO things.

Like this

And this.  It's just dirt.  But, you know.

And just hangin' around.

Shelby is a toddler who can stand up to get dressed and put her own little arms in the armholes on her shirts and fetch me a diaper when asked and do other listening-type stuff.  Which means my head is starting to pop up and finally bob above water, which means we are once again becoming functional in society.

Yeh, she's cute

And trouble

Big trouble

But cute

And adorable

The gardens are planted and fenced and GROWING.  Which is considerably different than last year, when we had lots of IDEAS.

I have zero pics of those yet!

The actual Farmhouse that this blog is named after is starting to look damn good because my husband is awesomely fantastic.

Right?!?

We are at T-Ball.

Wait!  T-Ball is over.... 

And school is DONE.

Portfolios and summaries are DONE

So we took a picture to remember it by

But we still have educational play

And someone still asks to spell, like, a million words a day

Some new play items conveniently double as Occupational Therapy.. since we have several weeks off during summer

 

We had our "Absurd Awards" ceremony with our Homeschool Group.  Since public schools whittle away their end days by awarding for all sorts of nonsense, so did we! 

Look!  A rare picture of Chase!!  

Yeah, we'll start back up sometime after July 1.  After it gets so hot we'd rather be inside.

 And after we've had some time to just chillax.

 And after we've friended a bunch and gone on hikes and splashed in creeks and hit some faraway cool playgrounds.

Tiny Creeker

 But just a little.  Just enough to keep our brains turned on.  Not too much.  'Cuz some people are big ole' high schoolers now with a pretty intense course load and some Credits a-comin'.

I'll give you a hint... it's this guy....

So I just dropped in to say "Hi."


"Hi!"

The real Homeschool recap is coming soon... as soon as I sort those pictures.  Stop by The Homeschooled Goobers blog soon for that.

Blame It On The Baby....

Hey!!  It's been a while!!  We'll just blame it on the baby.  There's no point in saying we are busy; I think it's just assumed now.  And we are.  I am actually multi-tasking as we speak:  attending a webinar on parenting gifted children, and writing this blog post!  Although, to be honest, it's more because I cannot just sit and focus on the webinar, I HAVE to have something to do in order to be able to pay full attention.  Kinda backwards-sounding, I know.  But here I am!

The end of January brought our first time at the Great Wolf Lodge, and we got a great rate through connection with a homeschool group.  Even though it wasn't crowded much, we barely saw the other homeschoolers at all, kind of a bummer.  But our friends that we booked next to hung out with us in the evenings, so that was super fun.  We are absolutely planning a return trip soon!

About to get off the bus and go into the Lodge.... we are excited, can you tell?

Cuteness!  We ate at the $4.95 per 2 people breakfast place, of course.  

Wheeee

Hey, look, there's Mom, trying not to get her phone wet...

The obstacle course that kept them busy for HOURS

Shelby found something fun to do

Everyone loves a Lazy River

Self-explanatory

Over the course of most of the winter, we repainted the boys' room and the homeschool room.  Which meant a whole lot of packing up, switching around, unpacking back, re-configuring.  All good, of course.  We made space for some hooks in the boys' room that could be used for a swing, a trapeze, or RJ's little "Cozy Corner" as he calls it.  

A nice place to calm down

It snowed.  A little bit.  Not a lot.  Enough for the kids to have fun.  And for me to have to go up to the attic and dig out 5 snowsuits and 8 pairs of boots (for figuring out current sizes).  Hats, scarves, gloves, etc.  Which then came in all nice and muddy because we only got a wee bit of snow, which quickly melted under the heat of 4 bodies, and became mud.  Oh, so fun!!

Shelby wants to know why she can't go out and play

Do not let this snowball fool you, it is pretty much made up of ALL of the snow we got that time!

We played indoors and out, LEGOS are allowed in the boys' room only, away from Shelby's hands and mouth.  Riley and RJ are building their skills to match their bigs.  

It's always a train car bottom with train wheels, and at least 2 motors.  This one got some wings so it can fly as well.  Boy, is he proud!

Big and little

A haircut and some pink!

We eat and eat and eat.

Valentine's day cookies and decorating!  I can't wait to hand this off completely to Indigo; it just ain't really my thang.

Wearing pants backwards; only the cool kids do it.

OUTSIDE!  This child bangs at the back door ALL DAY LONG. 

I finally hunkered down and took everything out of the homeschool cabinets and closet.  Totally reorganized.  Ahhh.  I can breathe!  And I found a lot of good stuff! 

They dug a hole.  Everyone wants to know why.  Well, just because.  

Roger has been working hard to get us one working piano.  It sort of meant bringing in a 2nd piano, deciding which one was better to fix, which was the new one.  But, it's working!  And they are learning, so fast!  Someone is playing something every day, it's beautiful.  It started with me knowing chopsticks and Heart & Soul... and they quickly overtook and surpassed me in ability, especially our musical lady, Indigo.  

This thing turned 11 months.  It's walking all over the place and continuing to get into trouble.  

And it's still winding up in my bed by morning.  But, I can't say that I really mind.  It's cute, warm and snuggly.  I'll take it!