2's The Cay Island Party

The day before winter break 2's workshop class had a tropical island themed party to celebrate their completion of the book The Cay.



they had tropical snacks & made crafts.

the students were asked to bring something found on a tropical island.

instead of ...lets say a pineapple or mango...my girl wanted to bring an animal.

 we have many choices.
she really wanted to bring Zoingo her grumpy beardie,

but we decided on the treefrogs. Oliver (the frog...not to be confused with Oliver our dog) was showing his bright blue color & amused the kiddies. Sisco was in complete contrast showing stark white & hiding under the moss. 

[not sure who snapped this shot with my digi]

2 & her workshop teacher...LOVE this woman!!!

me & my girl. 

by this time i had driven to the campus 4 times & all the way back home 3 times with one more trip to go. look at my face...cant you tell?

the things us mamas do for love :)

being bored kid no.3

*being bored kid no.3*

*when you are kid no.3*

 [you're not used to being the only one]

*or the not the center of attention*

 [even if no.1 & no.2 are only gone a few hours]

*you get extremely bored*

[& mama is standing right in front of you being busy]

 *ignoring you in your mind*

[you try hard to get her attention]

 *though she keeps trying to focus on her work*

[you have an idea]

 *a brilliantly clever idea*

[your idea works & you win]

*it's hard to resist this girl*

mixing it up with grammar fun

look! i'm not talking about science for a change!

(conference week is coming up & i have to gather all our samples. so glad the charter teacher is letting us use blog post for samples. hope to mix it up though.)

* first i was soooo excited to find this post @ active-alert...not ADHD kids. explains soooo much @ my girl & i now can further my research.

i was looking for fun ways to enrich grammar. something to help the definitions (nouns, verbs, adjectives, etc...) sink in & stick for Miss 2 (3rd). wanted a break from our regular cirriculum & texts. 

Easy Grammar & Daily Grams & First Language Lessons.

(for writing among other things we use writing strands)

*luckily i found this Having Fun with Grammar post & we did indeed have fun with Grammar!

* 3 (kinder) played grammar games with beginning & ending sounds; rhyming & ordering & following directions at PBS kids Between The Lions.

* this post was fun for 2's age Teaching Grammar with Mad Libs. LOVE Mad Libs. we also enjoyed watching the School House Rock vids on parts of speech (look for them). my all time childhood fave is the Conjunction video!

* this was one of 2's mad lib results. the colored words are the words she used for the parts of speech they asked her to plug in.

Read your tale.

 Kids in Space

(by 2)

What if you lived on the International Space Station? Imagine your normal day as it is now, but in space!

In the morning, you get up at 230 and get dressed in your space skinny jeans and space tshirt. There is no gravity in space, so you float into the kitchen to eat your breakfast of dried hotdogs, hamburgar in a tube, and smashed up chili in a plastic space container. Then, instead of taking the bus to school, you hop into a motorcycle and orbit Earth 543 times.

In the motorcycle,you do little science experiments such as determining how good a(n) horse is at climbing in space. When the experiments are done, you go outside the motorcycle for some exercise in space. You ran outside the motorcycle for an hour or more. When you are done exercising, you go back to the International Space Station for other activities such as hiking, biking, and runing.

You end the day by sending a(n) girl to your parents via the space computer, and they tell you goodnight from Earth, down below.

kitchen science{it's like butta baby}

science

{it's like butta baby}

yesterday for science we discussed & experimented with changes of states of matter (liquid to solid) by making butter.

sometimes these changes in state take a lot of forcing despite the simple ingredients!

all four of us took several turns shaking (agitating) the jar about a million times.

 a million more to go...

 VIOLA (finally!)

(after draining all the buttermilk i put the butter back in the jar & shook it around to smooth the shape)

our creamy & fresh homemade butter was delish for din in corn, on breakfast bagels, sourdough toast & eggs, tomato, cheese & turkey bacon scramble.

we all had fun (hee hee).

it was 3's first time making butter so it was funny to see how amazed she was to see the liquid cream turn into a solid ball magically right before her eyes (like...what just happened ?!?). 

*so excited to find out that our charter school will let me print out my blog posts as work samples. YAAAY!

math at miss 2's boutique & sweet shack

 yesterday Miss 2 set up shops to practice adding three 2-digit numbers together. welcome to Miss 2's boutique & Miss 2's Sweets Shack.

{Miss 2's Boutique}

she REALLY loves this job! (so stinkin' cute this girl!)

pricing

inventory

merchandising

 a cute little customer

 after a full morning of boutique shopping we enjoyed pecan pie & ice cream at

{Miss 2's Sweet Shack}

 (wish i had a good pic of the cute shop & menu sign)

taking orders

(following pix taken by 1)

our orders

Miss 2 is the cutest little hard worker. we were very happy customers!

{stand} & 1's weekend.

 this song 

is on repeat. on my radio. in my head. thought i'd share in case you need to hear it too right now :) 

 Presidio Cup soccer tourney weekend for 1. her girls comp team had a fantastic season & won League Champs (the only team in the comp league WOOHOO!!!).

 They are doing well in the tourney & hoping to advance after today's game.

me standing. at least my shoes are comfie.

 listen to the song

Friday Flowers {letting November go :: a BIG & BUSY December}

Friday Flowers

{letting November go :: a BIG & BUSY December}

{a little bit of fall i found...clinging on...like me *sigh*}

"I like spring, but it is too young. I like summer, but it is too proud. So I like best of all autumn, because its tone is mellower, its colours are richer, and it is tinged with a little sorrow. Its golden richness speaks not of the innocence of spring, nor the power of summer, but of the mellowness and kindly wisdom of approaching age. It knows the limitations of life and its content."

- Lin Yutang

...ok i'm considering THINKING about letting go & possibly saying goodbye to November...maaaaybe. a challenge because it is the absolute last representation of my beloved fall. just kinda considering it though.

 {with arms crossed & an i-don't-want-too pouty face}.

 the way i see it December has barely begun...i still have a little more time to relish...

* we just found out that this month (& the next few) are going to be BIG & BUSY for our fam (aside from the holidays). 

ready or not!

*but this is how our life goes*

* amazingly amazing *

*predictably unpredictable*

*an everchanging journey*

* beyond our control*

 *full of blessings & gratitude*

...even if it means readjusting our definition of blessings, how we choose to count them & opening ourselves W I D E to receive them

(aka STOP WORKING AGAINST THEM!!!).