Wednesday, September 11th

Wednesday was a simple school and karate day.

We began Lesson #2 from our Draw Write Now book, and the subject was a Pig.  They agreed this animal was much harder to master than the Hen had been in Lesson #1, but they stuck with it.  Both girls have a bit of my propensity to not want to do something if they feel they won't be awesome at it right away (sorry, girls! it's genetic!).  One nice thing about knowing that is true of myself though, is that I can work with them in a kind, firm and consistent way to help them learn how to overcome that natural urge ;-)  The girls stuck with it and here are their finished rough drafts - we will do our in-the-actual-book drawings next week.  Scarlett's pig~

Victoria's pig~  Note she did a full background and (again) backstory - the pig was hot because it was summer, so it found some mud to roll around in and once it was covered with mud it felt much better.

Next, the girls and I finished up the first chapter in our Science book - much of our textbook reading was on the various space programs (NASA), and learning terms such as natural satellite vs. artificial satellites and so forth.  This was a great chance to pull out our Space Toob manipulatives and let them see and feel miniature versions of some of the things being discussed.  Once they had finished their copy work and "interesting facts" writing, Victoria wanted to sit and "play space."

We had tea & storytime, Lincoln practiced writing his "L," "I," and "N" and the girls worked on their reading and math but it seemed like school was over in record time and the kids played for a long time before naps/rest.  Waverly and Grammie played lots too ;-)

After karate, it was time to have dinner and hang out.  The big kids went to bed, but Waverly voted to stay up late and play on daddy.

She's too fun :-)

Later that evening, I received this photo montage via text from Aunt Kari.  It's a mashup of Lincoln and Waverly pictures, and I have to admit that it took me a minute to really be sure of who was who!!  They sure do share a strong resemblance to one another, at least during this age.

Friday, August 30th

We had been planning to attend an afternoon of kickball fun with our SASCH group, however the day had promised to be sticky-hot in the afternoon and the kids were worn out from our full (and napless) Thursday.  Instead, I opted to skip the group activity and keep our light-schoolwork-day agenda.  It ended up being just what the kids needed - they had lots of down time, playing time and seemed to enjoy the schoolwork we did as we began a new facet of our fall curriculum.  For the late afternoon, Jim and I split up - he took Lincoln out for a daddy-date, while Gram, the girls, and I headed to the mall... to get Waverly's ears pierced!! 

Just after breakfast, I laid Waverly down in the living room for a bit of blanket time.  Lincoln laid down across from her and encouraged her along - he is anxious for her to crawl! (oh, if only he knew...)

Jim has been doing such a great job of working out every morning.  Before he leaves for the gym, he sometimes will take 5 or 10 minutes and "work out" with the kids - getting them to practice their karate moves, doing push ups, and lifting weights :-)  Lincoln is pretty sure he is awesomely strong.

We had our first SQUILT lesson.  SQUILT stands for Super Quiet UnInterrupted Listening Time, and will be used to introduce several musical concepts to the kids (dynamics, tempo, rhythm, etc.) while also helping them become familiar with several famous composers. 

We're beginning with the Baroque Era (the kids enjoyed learning the origin of "Baroque" as being bizarre, weird and different), and our first composer is Johann Pachelbel.

I spent quite a bit of time discussing terms and we would clap or snap different tempos and different dynamics.  Lincoln's favorite part was undoubtedly being able to shout "LOUD" and then whisper "soft," haha. We also watched a few clips of Mr. Gregg on Youtube, before quieting down and listening to two different versions of Pachelbel's Canon in D.

While they listened, they drew on their "Draw What You Hear" worksheets.  This is Scarlett's - she wrote (on the bottom) "I feel good" and "was slow, lawd [loud]."

The front of Lincoln's...

...and the back. I asked him why he drew what he did, and he got really defensive and replied, "Well, you SAID it was Canon in D!" Oh my goodness - what am I going to do with this kid?? I died laughing!  He painstakingly worked on drawing all of those D's so nicely!

Victoria's drawing.

Grammie graciously offered to take the kids out front to play for a while, and Scarlett took Salty out on the leash to get some good exercise.

Chalk time!

Victoria has a mild obsession with lady bugs :-)  She had Grammie and Lincoln digging through the fern leaves to find them for her so she could collect them in her cup.

Grammie and Waverly at the mall, ready to do the deed!

Gram was such a trooper - at first I asked her to be the one to hold Waverly so that I could take pictures.  Once we got there though, I was so relieved she was going to hold her for other reasons - namely, I'm not sure I could have gone through with it!!  But she was calm and cool under pressure :-)  The girls, casually sipping their Starbucks in the background, were anxious for Waverly, too!

Getting the dots drawn on her ears...

...and all done!  Such a good, sweet baby girl!  She cried for just a minute and was totally over it. They look so pretty :-)

One other reason we went to the mall was to try on several different types of clothes.  Before I start purchasing any fall pants, tops, etc., I wanted to get a feel for what sizes I would need to be hunting.  The girls did such a great job and tried on loads of things without complaint!  I decided I would let them each pick out *one* clothing item from the clearance area at Macy's - Victoria chose this dress ($4!) and Scarlett was ecstatic to choose a Rainbow Dash shirt ($7, from one of her favorite shows, My Little Pony).  Of course they had to have the tags off and wear the clothes out of the fitting room ;-)  Then Grammie bought each girl a new boo.  We had fun watching them spaz out over which one to select (and for Lincoln, too), and the clerk at the store was chuckling at them as well :-)

We grabbed dinner at the food court, and little miss fell fast asleep - it was an eventful afternoon for her!

Meanwhile, Jim and Lincoln were at Mountasia, zipping around the go-kart track!  Jim had a groupon for unlimited go-kart runs that expired soon, so he was happy to take Linc with him to enjoy the fun.  Jim said Linc really enjoyed it...for about four turns - then he was done :-p

Now miniature golf?  Definitely more his speed!

At home later that evening, everyone was tired and worn out but happy to be back together.  Lincoln proudly showed off the new, just-his-size baseball glove that Daddy had picked out for him after their Mountasia fun.  He loves it!

Sunday, August 25th

Sunday was definitely an around-the-house day, doing a bit of leftover cleanup from our party and overall lazing about until the mid-afternoon.  Around 3:00 or so, our good friends the Cooks came over to swim, hang out and eat dinner with us.  What a lovely, restful day!

Jim and I always take turns sleeping in on the weekends - my day to sleep in is Saturday, and his is Sunday!  This is a beautiful thing :-)  I was trying to find things for the kids to do to keep relatively quiet and Victoria entertained herself for quite a while by talking/singing/making sounds at Waverly (who was also quite amused).

Meanwhile, Scarlett and Lincoln (later Victoria joined them, too!) were busily creating "booby-traps" and other exotic items out of a mix of play dough + ribbon + leftover party supplies.

Goofy Girls!  Scarlett and Sydney :-) 

Wavelry smiling away with Mrs. Cook~

Then the girls showed off their amazing hula-hoop skills, lol.  They are pretty decent with them, but more than anything I just giggle at the faces they make while concentrating so hard!

At first, Scarlett couldn't get it going around her waist - no problem, since she decided to use her neck instead :-p  I'm sure that's totally great for her spine.

Okay, now she was totally ready to dominate with it around her waist...

Going, going!

Gone!

It had been a really muggy morning and early afternoon, but then the clouds came and suddenly the kids said they were "freezing!"

Cute, random shot of Daddy & Waverly :-)  She is going to be a candy crush expert by the time she can work a phone from all of the many hours she's vicariously played along with Jim ;-)

Waverly's first bath in the actual bathtub!  At first she got a huge frown and I thought it was going to be major tears... that quickly moved to this face of "hmmm, how do I feel about this?"

Which was answered by a major smile and lots and lots of splashing! :-)

Sunday, August 18th

Jim had a few home improvement projects he was working on, and while usually we both try to be really diligent about letting all of our little "helpers" be involved... sometimes it is nice (and necessary) to have a chunk of time to get certain tasks accomplished.  So after Jim ran a few errands for some last minute items needed to complete his projects, and some at-home time in the morning, I took the kiddos to Barnes & Noble for a snack, book reading, and lego/train-table playing time!  The rest of the afternoon and evening were very low key and Jim and I were also able to sneak off to see a movie, "The Way Way Back."  It was really good and just the brief getaway we needed to feel rejuvenated for our week :-)

Victoria and Waverly opted to stay home with me, while Scarlett and Lincoln went along with daddy to pick up a few miscellaneous things.

Waverly persistently tries to get that thumb in her mouth, but can't usually get the mechanics down and winds up sucking on her fist instead.  While I was cuddling her in the morning, she was dozing in and out and voila! - in went the thumb!  But... not in the traditional way.  She had a problem with her fingers open like this as she kept poking herself in the eye, lol.  It was just so cute :-)

When I had taken Scarlett and Lincoln to Barnes & Noble on Friday night (while Victoria was at the Braves game), Scarlett purchased her very first Beanie Boo.  Her friend Olivia has quite the collection and Scarlett has been interested to pick one out, and this was the first time the opportunity arose.  Of course, this meant Victoria needed one :-p  So Scarlett eagerly led her over to the little stand of Boos and helped her choose the perfect one.  

I am not exaggerating to say they spent a solid twenty minutes agonizing over the decision.

Lincoln spent a long time looking at toys, games, and having me read him (574) books.  He had brought $20 from his piggy bank so that he could buy a Clifford stuffed animal that he had been eye-ing for a while.

Miss Wide Eyed!

Playing at the lego table - Scarlett told me to look on the internet and see if I could find one of these lego tables, ha!  She said, "They're so perfect - one spot for each of us so we don't have to fight about it." Very true ;-)

The work area in our master bedroom - we added a second desk section to this Ikea Expedit system. Now I have a work table (Jim's is on the left, mine is on the right) for blogging, assembling the next day's school materials and so forth and so on.  I LOVE IT!!!!  I'm going to paint the black chalkboard square behind my desk to match the one behind Jim's desk and then I'll write in chalk "His" and "Hers" :-)

 A glimpse into the Playroom to Family Room makeover - great progress!  A barren wasteland of toys into a multi-purpose, de-cluttered room :-)  Thanks babe for all your hard work!