Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Nature Walking

We went on a nature walk today. The kids made nature journals and then we headed outside. I told them that whenever they saw something interesting in nature to draw it with as much detail as they could. They used pencils and then colored their drawings when we got home. We had a ball! Here are some pictures.






Here's a better look at the covers.



The difference between boys and girls. Julio drew every bug that he saw and Marina drew all the pretty flowers. They were so cute! Whenever they saw something they would yell "Nature" and sit down and draw it.


Can you guess what this is??? Yes.... it's poop. Julio drew it and I guess he's right, it is nature...




Well, that's it for our nature walk. I'm going to try to do that with them a few times a week. I can't wait until the weather gets cooler and we can spend more time exploring! Here are some other pictures I thought you would enjoy.

Michaela with a glue stick. She said "Look Mommy, I have makeup!"




The other day we were in the front room and the kids started yelling " There's a horse outside" and when I looked, sure enough there was a horse right in front of our house. Our neighbor, Jackie, got a horse!! We ran outside and she let Julio take a ride but the girls chickened out. Isn't he beautiful!!












Julio was so excited to ride him without a saddle. He just held on tight to his mane. I loved the sound his shoes made on the pavement. It was pretty cool to have a horse in our front yard!









And of course I have to share a little more knitting with you. Here is a cell phone holder I made the other day. I've been working on another hat and now I have to start all over because Michaela got a hold of it and took almost the whole thing apart!



6 more days until our Michigan trip!!
Love ya,
Mar






Friday, August 15, 2008

First Week of School Down!

Hi Everyone!


I knit my first hat last night! I was so excited. I think it came out pretty cute. What do you think? I knit it while the kids were watching a movie. But enough about me......


We finished our first week of school, Yay!! Here are the kids doing a science experiment with their dad. They're trying to break an egg by squeezing it.

This is how we stayed cool in the afternoons. It's been over 100 degrees for a couple of months now! If you look at the front of the picture you can see the hose rigged up to the fire pit.


Michaela is wearing a jumper that I actually wore when I was little. She looks so sweet and innocent here doesn't she?? But......
This is how she really is!! That's lotion all over her face! and all over the outlet cover, and the countertop and.... well you get the picture. I guess she was working on her science too, "how many pumps will it take to empty this bottle?" or " what will this lotion feel like in my eyes" She learned that one pretty quick, ouch ! I'm hoping that she'll remember the stinging and think twice before trying that again, but I'm guessing she won't!




This is what she does when I try to fold clothes. Those are her shorts on her head.




Daddy and the kids playing dominoes.



Julio reading a bedtime story to the girls.


We had a lot of fun but I'm so glad it's Friday!! Little Julio went to the movies with one of his buddies to see the new Star Wars movie, so it's just me and the girls right now. When I finish posting I think we'll do something girlie together.
We are all really excited to be coming home to Michigan soon! 11 days to go!!

Love ya,
Mar



Monday, August 11, 2008

Back to School!

We had our first day of school today! We had a great morning even though it didn't go quite as we had planned. The plan was for us to work on Bible, Math, and Language in the morning and then our neighbors were going to come over around 10:30 to do History and Science with us. We are doing a really cool world history program called "Hideaways in History". Each week we build a "hideaway" ( a cardboard box) that goes along with whatever time period we are learning about. Well, our neighbors are sick =( and it doesn't look like they will be better for a while so we decided to wait until we get back from our trip to start history and science. The kids were disappointed but we went ahead and started on the rest of our lessons. Here are some pics from our day.



I got them each a little back to school gift. Michaela thought she was pretty cool with her new pencil and stickers.



Here they are hard at work. Actually, Julio is doing his math and the girls are just coloring. I couldn't believe how much he remembered after taking 2 months off. I thought for sure I would have to do a ton of review.




Michaela just giving her sister some love.

And her brother too.




Awww, aren't they sweet?!



Enjoying their back to school celebration cake that our neighbors made. We were supposed to have a pizza party for lunch but we had to celebrate without them.


All in all we had a nice first day. I love my kids and I feel blessed to be able to stay home and share in all of these little moments with them.
Have a great day!
Love ya,
Mar





Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Knitting and Baking!

Here is my first completed knitting project. Not very fancy, but it was my first try. I'm working on a scarf for Boo and some gloves and a hat for myself. I know it's 110 degrees over here, but I'm just getting ready for when the frigid 60 degree temps come in ;) I have to say knitting is addictive.
And I decided to get my haircut short last night. What do you think? Boo says I look like ZiZi Nikki. I love it.


Not much new going on around here. My neighbor and I have been on a quest to find a good whole wheat bread recipe. I hate going to the store and searching through every brand of bread to find a whole wheat loaf without High Fructose Corn Syrup. So I decided I can make it myself. Let's just say I've been doing a lot of kneading and baking. I think I found a good one today. I have 2 beautiful loaves sitting on my counter right now. If my kids like it I think I'm going to quit buying bread at the store.
I hope you all have a wonderful day!

Love ya,
Mar