Beck doing some creekside exploration.

Around Here

This past weekend we had bday party Saturday!  Our friends' little man turned 1 and then our niece turned 2!  Lots of partying!

 My mom got Quinn some cool stained-glass effect window markers.  Every fall we make a fall tree in our back door window, and this year we decided to use the markers!  The kids had a blast, and it looks particularly beautiful in the morning light!

 Snooking amidst the legos Daddy and Beck were trying to build with.

 Taking photos of my nephew!  PC to Brian.  Sorry about my wierd face.  :(

 Watching Magic School Bus with Uncle Brian while Mama took pictures.

 Looking for sighs of fall on our walk:

 Mealprep Monday....light load of produce this week since I'll be out of town the 2nd half, but I like getting creative with my produce when I wash it.  :)

 Quinn's school had their Michaelmas play on Saturday, but all last week they practiced every morning!  They were so cute out under the giant trees, hard at work!!

 Beck and I took at trip to Huntsville SP to meet our nature buddies!

 He caught a leech!  And because he watches Brave Wilderness on Youtube, he knows all about leeches and shared this info with his friends!

 Her favorite thing to do is put on shows and musicals.  Loudly!

Mamaschool

Mamaschool is going strong....but lightly!

One "must-do" every day is outside time.  Sometimes it's a walk in the morning after we drop Quinn off at school (even if it's a busy day we do a brief one) and other times it's meeting up with our Nature Group or doing an outside adventure ourselves.  Of course it always involves catching critters--Beck's favorite thing to do!!

(inchworm)

 Frog

 He was so adorable digging through the net to see what we'd caught while we explored the creek water.  He has NO fear...he pulls out leeches, shrimps, worms, you name it!  He'll hold any kind of bug, especially spiders and roaches.  He melts my heart when he looks like a tiny, very serious zoologist!  ;)  So many skills are learned during these times outside, far beyond just soaking up the beauty of God's creation and learning about the creatures themselves.

 Throwing rocks is still a favorite of his, and a great large-muscle coordination-builder!

Today is Johnny Appleseed Day.  We've listened to Jim Weiss' version of the Tall Tale (PLEASE do yourself a favor and check out his stories on audiobooks) and we've read Steven Kelloggs'.  Today we went and bought apples (at Walmart...we don't live in Washington, people, so no nice farmer's market apples for us....).  I got out my apple peeler (that I used to make applesauce with my 1st graders every year on this day when I was teaching!) and he was smitten.  He loves machines, so he had a blast peeling the apples!

First he had to wash them.  He's an expert produce-washer now, and squeezing that spray bottle of vinegar/lemon juice is a great hand-muscle strengthener to get his little hands/fingers/wrists ready to write and control a pencil in the future!  But shhhh, don't tell him that.  He just has fun squirting stuff!

 Adding sugar and lemon juice and brown sugar.....  Cooking is one of THE BEST activities for little people to learn....and this guy has been cooking with me since he was a year old, so he is a big fan, and quite capable!

 Playdough is another Mamaschool favorite.  I use my favorite handmade recipe (because it is softer and less messy) and we use some kitchen gadgets (and toothpicks, screws and nails for the boy...).  I find these easier to clean up than the standard PlayDoh equipment, especially all the storebought kits that are killers to clean up.  Plus he is far more creative with these simple tools I've gathered up around the kitchen than he is with the storebought playdoh stuff.  Here we were using dough and Stella Blackstone's book to make windows and stuff in them.  But then he made traintracks and submarines and boy noises, which is fine, too!

 Work and chores are a part of our every day at Mamaschool.  He brings up the trashcans on trash days, gets the mail, feeds/waters the dog, collects the house trash, helps clean bathrooms, and several other chores during the week to teach him to be a responsible and helpful and hardworking little man.

 A toad from this mornings' walk:

 Pretend play is a huge part of Mamaschool.  Lately we've been having airshows.  Well, he does airshows and I watch them.  By the dozens.  And that just means he makes noises and swoops his aircraft at me.  :)  We made signs for all his aircraft (literacy!!) by him telling me what to write and me doing the writing.  He is definitely into aircrafts--especially fighter jets and helicopters, lately!  All his library books are on that topic, and he loves reading them with Daddy!

 On the first day of Fall we made cutout leaf and pumpkin cookies for the kids' Bible Class teachers.  I try to have a cooking/baking activity every week because I think it's that beneficial!  We ate our cookies during MorningTime.

Quinn sings the "50 States Song"

Over the end of the summer Quinn became very interested in US geography.  She pored over a kids' US Atlas that I got out for her (from my 5th grade history-teaching days!), loved States puzzles, and I taught her a song I learned when I was a 4th grader at Hillcrest Elementary....The 50 States in Rhyme song.  It took her a while to learn it, but she has officially mastered it!  She sings it at a high volume about 5 times every day.  I am not joking...if you've spent any time around our girl you know it's true. She can locate most of the states on a US map and can spot their names on license plates as we drive around.  This was a self-prompted interest and it has been fun to watch her curiosity about geography and states unfold!
And without further ado....here she is, singing her song!

ViaBeck (he's full of em these days!)

We were at a nature day at the State Park and he needed to use the bathroom.  That boy can take FOREVER in the bathroom when he has business to do...so I was wanting to know what kind of time commitment I was getting into, standing in the little stall with him.

Me: Buddy, are you going to pee or poop?
Beck: (ponders a moment then replies) Mommy, you never know what's around the bend!

ViaBeck....lunch ponderings.

(While we were eating lunch one day this past week.)

(Lifts his leg and looks at a scab on his shin.)
B: What color is the cover of this booboo?  Is it clear and there is just some bloods sticking to it?  Why isn't it blue?  My veins are blue (shows them in his wrist) so this booboo is usually supposta be blue, right?

B: Can you walk on blood?  Can spiders?  Cause some kinds of spiders can walk on water.  What if you freeze it?

No wonder my brain is tired at the end of the day.....this kid can fire these off without taking a break.  All.day.long.  ;)

ViaBeck

As many mornings as possible I like to try and get a workout in at a park or naturey area while Beck plays.  Except he likes to yell for me about a hundred times to tell me something.  So one morning last week:

Me: Buddy, I am going to do my exercise now and you can play.  Remember, don't yell for me unless it is really an emergency, okay?

Beck:  Okay, like if I see a cute bug?