Time for another update...

I wanted to post a quick update while the girls are playing and watching a movie, Home is the current favorite they ask to watch almost daily. We had a very mellow week last week without as many outings as we usually do. One day Claire had been busy in the playroom and I thought she was just coloring. She brought in her picture and she had written the words Hi Lolo Claire. She pointed to each word and read it to me and I was crazy excited. (Lolo is Aunt Lauren) It was so unexpected and we're so proud of all that she's learning. She has said in the past that she doesn't want to learn how to read and she is totally doing it on her own. We did have a grocery shopping day which was crazy busy. We bought a huge craft bucket and I bought myself the softest blanket from Costco. I am anxiously waiting for cooler fall weather. I requested a ridiculous amount of books from the library and the girls have picked out a bunch of fun books too.

Claire has been learning addition on her own which is exciting to watch. It doesn't happen daily which is totally fine and she gets excited when she understands it. It's so cool as a parent to see your child learn something and be there to enjoy that moment with them. Right now she knows 1+1, 1+2, 2+2, 2+3, 3+3, 4+4, and 5+5. She learned 3+3 on our walk at Saltwater Creek. She brought it up randomly on our walk back to the car. "Mommy, what's 3+3? Is it 5? Is it 8?" I told her to gather some leaves to find out. She had two rows of three leaves, counted them and got her answer. She was very excited and it stuck. Now she knows. She learned 4+4 the day we made our jet packs for space. She had asked me what 4+4 equals and I told her to lay out the strips of paper she was cutting for the fire part of the rockets. She laid out two groups of four, counted them and learned it equals eight. How cool is that? Both of the girls are getting the hang of the days of the week, Kellyn actually knows what day it is when Claire can't remember. I'm very proud of everything that Kellyn picks up on too. She knows so much just from having big Sis to learn from and look up to. 

Both girls have been loving the growing Lego collection. They build lots and are very creative. Claire has a Lego Elves set and she's becoming more interested in elves so I've been looking for stories and crafts for us to do for that. Kellyn is becoming more horse crazy and has asked to ride too. Unfortunately she can't take lessons until she's 5 but maybe the trainer will let her sit on a horse at Claire's lesson once we start them up again. The girls put on horse shows together with their toy horses which is funny to watch.

Today we headed back to Natural Learning Alternative (NLA). Claire had her very first summer camp there and we are happy it's starting back up next week. This year NLA Explorers is new and in the building next to where we usually are for NLA. It's a homeschool enrichment class for kids ages 5-9. It's for two hours on Wednesdays and the kids get to work on a project, science experiment, help in the garden and other things. I'll be with Kellyn right next door with the other Moms and younger kids and Claire will be able to be with her friends and the older kids for a little bit. We've been talking about it for weeks and she was very excited about it until today. This isn't unusual for Claire with something new though. She gets very nervous and upset and says she doesn't want to do it. She's only 5 so I won't push it if she really doesn't want to do it but I know she will be happy to see her friends and get to do some cool stuff for a couple hours. 

Less then a week until September is here and I'm still trying to figure out where the year has gone. We've been in Georgia for 6 months already and I'm ready for a visit back in Idaho. I'm not sure when it will happen but I'm hoping for sooner then later. That's about it for now. I know Claire has learned so much more but I don't have the time to list every little detail out. I'm loving our time together and I'm so happy that our journey includes homeschooling.

Sweetwater Creek and Dessert made for an Astronaut

 We are still having fun with our space themed Kiwi Crate box. I am seriously thinking about getting a membership of some kind because they are way cooler then I thought it would be. Yesterday we tried the flour crater project in the booklet. The girls are always collecting rocks so we had everything we needed. Flour, cocoa powder and rocks. You sprinkle cocoa powder on top of the flour, drop the rocks and see the craters form.

We read some space facts and the girls were entertained for about 5 minutes. It's not a long project but still easy and fun. They ran off to the play room to keep playing with their horses.

They made their own horse vet clinic and hair salon. We went to the library for a bit as well but due to naughty behavior the girls had to return their books and they were very upset about that unfortunately.

Over the weekend Chris and I took the girls to Sweetwater Creek State Park for a hike and it was a lot of fun. It was busy with people because it was Saturday so we took a path that most weren't on. We saw turtles swimming and Chris and Claire spotted a deer across the water which was exciting. I decided to take the girls back today. Our days are happier when we are outside and it hasn't been happening often enough lately.

The girls were listening to the wind moving the trees and the raindrops falling.

There is a long branch hanging right over the trail so Claire tried jumping for it. She wanted to swing on it like a vine.

Claire is our collector and she found a bunch more acorns then what I have in the picture below. We did leave them though so squirrels can hide them for winter. I thought the red leaves were so pretty also. I'm really looking forward to the fall colors. After we checked out the mill ruins we started back for the car. Thankfully there was hardly anyone on the path because as we walked we heard something snap way up in a tree ahead of us. We heard an animal noise and saw a nest fall way down to the ground. I thought it was a bird nest with babies but wasn't sure. We stood still to see what would happen and a squirrel ran to the path to grab one of the fallen babies. There were three total that we saw and two others were on the path still. I asked the girls to stay quiet and sit so we don't scare the Mommy or Daddy away. We saw it run off with the first baby and figured it'd be a good time to keep walking to make sure it would come back. We really wanted to pick up the babies and check them out but obviously didn't want to ruin any chance of them being saved. They weren't newly born because they had fur but they were still little. We walked for a bit and stopped at one of the benches along the way. I could see the bigger squirrel had come back and was running along the path to hopefully save it's other babies. That was definitely unexpected.

As we were crossing one of the bridge paths Kellyn and I walked right past this little guy and thankfully Claire spotted it so we could check it out. When we got home we looked it up to find out it's an Orange-striped Oakworm (Anisota senatoria) and will turn into an amazing orange moth. I'm hoping our search was right and we identified it correctly.

We headed home for some lunch and to relax for a bit. Once we got home the rain started pouring down. We definitely beat the rain this morning and I'm happy we got to enjoy a hike together. 

We attempted the library again and they were definitely better behaved. They really wanted their books yesterday and were more upset then I thought they would be when they had to return them. Lesson learned for them which is good but tough as a parent sometimes. We checked out our books and headed to the grocery store to pick up some instant pudding. We wanted to make astronaut food from the kiwi crate booklet and the girls had a lot of fun. In space they don't eat with utensils so we made pudding in a bag and will cut the corner off to eat it later after dinner.

It's been a nice day and I'm looking forward to many more adventures and more hikes once the weather starts cooling off more. My sunglasses were fogging up quite a bit today from the humidity. 

  

5, 4, 3, 2, 1 Blast Off!

 

We had another day at home just in case Kellyn's ear infections were still bothering her. She had some ear pain right when she went to bed after her first dose of antibiotics but she was better in the morning. We are sticking with the space theme and the girls colored a few cut out characters from the kiwi crate space expedition magazine. 

 

After that quick craft we decided to make jet packs! Instead of using empty cereal boxes we used the empty kiwi crate boxes. They are the perfect size for the girls. The girls helped me wrap and tape their boxes. Claire cut strips of construction paper for the flames and she ended up working on some math. She was asking about 4 + 4 so we laid out flame strips of paper in two groups of four and she counted them.

 

 

The girls ran around the house for quite a while with their jet packs on.

 

Claire also jumped off the couch to fly to space.

 

 

We looked through some of the other pages in the magazine and we found differences and similarities in pictures, we talked about some more space facts and she learned the moon doesn't make its own light. She seemed quite surprised about that.

 

 

The rest of the day was relaxed. We got new Usborne books in the mail and the girls were excited like always! Cats, Cats is perfect for Kellyn. It has lots of describing words about cats and has a little mirror at the end so you look like a cat too.

 

 

Claire is building her Billie B. Brown collection. We read The Copycat Kid before bed and it was a cute lesson about friendship.

 

Thursday night we are headed to a state park to watch the meteor shower! I can't wait!!

 

Space Cadets

I found these space mobiles for 70% off at Target last week sometime! $3.88 a piece is more of my price range versus $12.99. I knew they would come in handy sooner or later and it happened to be sooner. Kellyn had a fever yesterday afternoon and throughout the night. She came in at some point in the night and her fever had broken. We missed a playdate to stay home and I figured today would be a perfect day to make them!  

 

 

We ate breakfast and I put on Curious George. In case you didn't know the Perseids Meteor shower is peaking this week and season 7 episode 1 of Curious George talks about the Perseids. It's a perfect week for a space theme. I'm learning about the constellation Perseus which is fun. We also watched The Magic School bus gets lost in space. 

 

I set up the kit, turned on some galaxy ambient music on and the girls started painting. I read a little space comic, read some space facts and asked space questions from the little booklet inside. The girls had a blast.

 

 

Since Kellyn is 3 she's easily distracted and she decided to take her clothes off and roll up in a blanket instead of finish painting so I joined Claire and painted the rest.

 

As she was playing she stood up suddenly and started to cry while grabbing her ear. She said she heard a buzzing sound. Yesterday at the history museum she had a bee on that same ear and she screamed because it scared her. I never saw a bump where a sting was possible. She cried off and on for a little bit so I made a doctor's appointment to get it checked. She was miserable for the next two and a half hours until we left.

 

 

I was well prepared this appointment unlike last time for their well child check-ups back in May. I packed some crackers, water and activity books.

 

Our poor baby has a double ear infection. We stopped by the pharmacy and headed home for icecream and jammies.

 

 

Kellyn's been busy relaxing. She still has some discomfort and I'm hoping she will sleep well tonight and feel better in the morning.

 

Claire and I finished up the mobiles and will ask Daddy to help hang them up in their room.

 

It was a bit crazy this morning once Kellyn's ear started hurting. I was trying to comfort her and take care of the dishes, swap some laundry, I spilled water from Jake's water bowl all over the floor when I tried setting it back down on the floor, I still need to clean up the paint mess in the dining room and I'm making breakfast for dinner since it's comfort food after a crazy day. I wouldn't trade it and I'm happy Claire and I got to focus on some fun space stuff today among the chaos.

 

 

Tomorrow will be another day to rest for Kellyn and another fun space craft that is from the space mobile booklet. Tune in for another update!