Critters

Beck and his chicken, Persimmon.

 Rocky!

 The girls...I love when they root around in my compost because they mix it up just perfectly!!

 Olive...Quinn says she has the best facial features!  She is also the softest of our girls!

And Fern!!  That rabbit has a mind of her own.  

Lately.....

We got to see the Askews over the 4th weekend!!  Quinn and Ava have become penpals, so they were excited to spend some time together.  Quinn is hard-core into the letter writing, sending handfuls of letters (each with its own stamp and envelope!) every week.  I love seeing her enthusiasm about doing some writing!  

Beck and Rhett are pen pals, and Beck was excited to get a letter this week!

 These two have been all about putting on singing/dancing/jumping shows to The Boxer by Simon and Garfunkle, Purple People Eater, The Star Spangled Banner and April Come She Will (S&G).  They have several performances every day!  I love watching their creativity to fill the slow days of summer...they are always coming up with some type of pretend play and it makes my heart happy!

Matt and I got away downtown for a night as an early anniversary celebration.  We stayed at a new downtown hotel and ate some delicious Italian food + key lime pie, and breakfast tacos and a bit of leisurely shopping.  I love the chance to have a little getaway with my love!!

 

My little swimmers are really.good.swimmers!  They can both pick up rings off the bottom of the deep end, swim like little fishies, and are working on swimming long distances in 1 breath!!

 For summer school, we do lots of projecty-ness.  We've been doing an architecture study, focusing on Frank Lloyd Wright.  We are also listening to The Trumpet of the Swan, so we did some FLW-inspired painting while listening to our story. 

Q struggled a bit over the year with using a ruler to divide up her paper for Main lesson pages or calendars....but I watched her measure and draw straight lines with ease as she made her own idea for a Frank Lloyd Wright art glass painting....the concept of "breathing out" (ie: taking a small break from something challenging and then coming back to it) has proven to be so successful for her and it is immensely rewarding to watch her conquer a task she's struggled with.  One of the reasons I love our Waldorf curriculum--so many of the child-centric concepts are perfect for our girl.

 The library is always a favorite spot of ours to stock up on tons of audiobooks and a few regular books, too!  Quinn has kept the holds shelf full with her 15 allowed requests at all times!  I love that she finds joy in that!

 We've also been studying some geometry (particularly triangles) in conjunction with the FLW studies. 

 I got in a sewing mood, so I made a new pillow cover that Hazy enjoyed. 

 Quinn is also studying geometry terms in German with Opa!

 Beck and I had a little date on Friday.  We went to the Goodwill, to the store to buy batteries, and to Wendy's (all his request).  That boy's love language is batteries.  Lots of batteries.  :)

He also loves collecting eggs!

Summer afternoon cuddles with the cat...a rarity, so photo-worthy!

 He changes out our little calendar each month:

 Doing German homework:  (We are doing German, Music and French/Cooking over the summer, on a slightly more relaxed schedule around vacations, etc.) 

 Taking care of Fern:

Quinn taught Beck to fingerknit, and they happened upon some random yarn at Manna Saturday, so they both got right to work weaving away!  Tonight Beck and Matt were playing baseball outside, and Beck asked to come in and have Matt watch him fingerknit.  Matt asked him why he liked it so much and Beck said, "That's just the stage I am in."  :)

 Rocky visits make us all happy!

4th Of July

We had a pretty low-key 4th of July this year because it was pouring raining until about 5pm.  So we just enjoyed a relaxing day at home until Daddy got cabin fever and suggested going to Trader Joe's to browse a bit and then getting some Torchy's with the Merediths.  After all that fun, we came home and lit a few fireworks a friend had given us.  Quinn and I did some sparklers, and Beck was totally into blowing anything up possible.  :)  He was a crazy man and couldn't get enough fireworks.  

 Since it had rained all day, the weather was actually in the high 70's and cool enough to sit outside and drink a cup of tea!  My favorite treat from the day!!

 A sweet friend at church gave the kids 4th of July ink pens!

 Quinn and I made her shirt last year and her leggings this year!  She was the only festive one of our bunch this year....We didn't get to do the neighborhood parade/cookout/swim party, so I didn't even don any red, white and blue.