How Old For Chewing Gum

Karis is too young for chewing gum, but she wants to so bad. If my purse is in her reach, she goes digging for the gum.

When she does get some gum, she ends up swallowing it which is not surprising. The funny thing is that she will chew on the "wappers" (wrappers) instead. She chews on them like gum and does not swallow them.

Face Painting

We enjoyed a "western" day field trip yesterday. We watched some sodbusting, saw a mounted shooting show, looked around some cool tee-pees, took a train ride, tried to lasso, petted some animals, and spent time with friends. I also got too much sun on my arms which will probably give me a nice farmer tan to last the year.

To end the day, the kids walked away with some cool faces!

We were with a couple of boys, and they all got spiderman faces.


Sweet butterfly!


Joanna wanted something on her arm instead.

Karis didn't wait in line - so she just hung out!

All 4!

All 4 kids together!

3 silly kids and 1 ready to move!

Coppelia

We got to go see a Russian ballet company perform Coppelia last night with some free tickets. Joanna & Eliana invited some friends to join us and we had a great time. The girls enjoyed the doll that "came to life!" Here's some pictures before the ballet started.

Silly girls!

Let the ballet begin!

Goofy Toofy

Just Karis being Karis after intentionally spilling some water all over herself.

Reading and Gymnastics

So this is one way Caleb likes to read.

Crazy hair

What do you get when you take out 2 of the ponies in your hair?

Crazy hair!

Art museum

After mulching at the Y, we headed straight over to the art museum for a family activity based on the current Norman Rockwell exhibit. The art museum puts together some questions based on a few pictures and you have to find those particular pieces.

Joanna reading the background of the Norman Rockwell pieces to everyone.

After you find the paintings, the kids get to do a project based on the topic or artist.

What's a trip to the art museum without visiting the glass floor?!

Community Project

Today our family helped with a community work project sponsored by the churches in our city. Everyone wore matching blue shirts.

For our project, our group helped weed and mulch a whole bunch of plant beds at a local YMCA. The kids had a good time and worked hard!

Our team spread about 400 bags of mulch. Caleb enjoyed using the wheelbarrow!

Joanna working hard. She was the one who had the idea to sign us all up for the work day.

Eliana pulling some weeds. She also helped entertain Karis!


Karis and some toys.

Lots of Rocks

We went to a rock & mineral show with our homeschool group. The first thing we did was a short class on identifying minerals. Each kid got an egg carton of different minerals and a flow chart to help them figure out what each of them were. They each got a piece of glass to test if it scratched the glass and then a scratch plate to see what color streak it left. Some more questions would then help them identify each mineral.


Joanna starting out.


Super-sleuth Caleb

Eliana zeroing in.

We got them all correct! Yay!

Here's Caleb with his big bag of rocks from the rock dig.

Joanna showing off her collection when we got home.

Joanna's "gold" (Pyrite to be exact!)

2 Gold Memory Masters!!

Congrats are in order to Joanna & Caleb. They both earned their gold memory master medals this year from our homeschool group.

Good job, Joanna & Caleb!!

Here are Joanna & Caleb at the closing program. Along with the other 2 memory masters, they took turns reciting the timeline they learned. Always neat to hear them recite them all.

First Balloon

Eliana just realized that she was able to blow up a balloon today. She was so happy, and I loved watching her eyes get nice and big with each breath. I got out the camera and took a gazillion pictures. Check out the slide show below!! It's got a couple of videos after the pictures.

Boys Night

Joel & Caleb had a boys night. They set up the tent in the backyard and read some joke books. Good times and some good sleep until about 4am when Caleb got the stomach flu!

The Kite-Eating Tree

Caleb came in saying his kite got stuck in a tree!

Kind of puzzling to us, since the only tree in our backyard is a couple of feet high.

Had to get a picture! Move over, Charlie Brown!