End of Gymanstics

Gymanstics had picture day last week and the last classes are this week.  The boys will for sure not be attending next year and Lily is not sure if she will be.  It was a fun activity for this year, though.  :)

Hunter:

Samuel:

Lily:

The End

We are done with our school year!!  It was actually kind of uneventful to have our last day but I did have a certificate and a small gift for each of the kids.  They were excited to be done but even more excited that they were being shipped to my parents' house for a few days while Brian and I went to a homeschool conference.  :)

Nathan is practicing some exercises he sees Mommy doing during the week.  :)

Summer heat has been here so we've visited the pool at my parents' house.  Fun, fun, fun.  I see a lot of swimming in our summer future.  :)

Thursday, the kids moved in with my parents and Brian and I headed to Des Moines for a few days.  Brian received this sticker from a speaker named Todd Wilson (I think).  He was a great speaker and we took a lot away from his talk.

Part of the joy of the trip is staying in a hotel (without kids) and eaitng out and shopping and etc.  We had breakfast at Cracker Barrel one morning so I had to send my Mom a picture to rub it in.  :)  We saw a handful of people we know and had supper with one of my bestest friends and her hubby.  Fun, fun, fun. 

We are taking the rest of May off from all things schoolwork-related.  That will give me time to figure out a summer schedule of math and reading, 2 things that really need to be continued through the summer.  That sounds kind of not-fun but all kids need the reminder, especially Hunter since he has memory issues.  It may help me enjoy summer more.  :)

Last Full Week

I am a bit late with this post so it is hard for me to remember what we did last week.  :)  We were in the Arctic and watched a lot of videos about animals in the Arctic.  It was fun to "see" the animals in action.  We did some polar bear painting with chalk:

We also did some soap carvings.  All 4 kids did this and it was a hit. Thankfully, they don't want to keep all these--they are using them for baths.

Not the greatest picture but I just found this on the memory card so Brian must have snapped the picture.  Lily enjoys reading at bedtime and she chose her Bible this night.  Good for her.  :)

Samuel was showing the twins what he had been doing in math this school year.  I don't remember why but it was fun to see the positivity about MATH and school for this Kindergartner.  

Speaking of kindergarten, this dragon helped out one day by holding the crayons, pencils and word cards.  :)

Nathan could not be more into Toy Story.  It is something all my boys have gone through, actually.  :)  He loves Toy Story pajamas and this Woody doll was the best purchase ever.  He wants to watch the movies and play the XBox game all.the.time.  I love these movies, too.

Another picture I found.  He is so precious.  

These are Mother's Day pictures!  Actually, many years ago (before Nathan), I got these garden stones for the kids to make Brian something for Father's Day.  Well, it never happened.  So, this is what they did for me this year.  :)  Instead of hands/feet, they decorated them and wrote in "We Love Mom".  Very sweet.

Nathan shopping at Theisen's...he wanted this gem-studded cowboy hat.  Ha!  I didn't get a picture of the other kids because they were running wild through the store.  The big hit for them were the pigs' ears for dogs.  Ha!

Almost There

Wow, time is speeding up as we near the end of our official school year.   This week was a different one, schedule-wise.  We took Monday off because it was Brian's birthday and he took the day off work (mainly due to a new Pizza Ranch being open).  So, we had fun eating out and then going to the arboretum for a walk.  I forgot my camera and phone, though, so not many pictures from that.  The kids found some eggs so they were excited about that--not sure what kind they were but my guess is duck.  And, they climbed trees, ran around, etc.  It was a nice, warm day!  

On Wednesday, Samuel was not feeling well.  I am still not sure if he ended up with a migraine or if it was a stomach bug.  I just know he slept A LOT and threw up when he did wake up. It was a beautiful day outside so that was the bummer--everyone had to stay in until Brian got home and Samuel felt better by then.

On Friday, we ended up doing half our school work and saved the other half for Saturday.  That is the 1st time we have done that and it was a little painful on Saturday (for me, mainly) so not sure we'll do it again.  :) But at least we have these options.  We got things done!  We met with our supervising teacher for the last time this school year and our # requirement has been met so we are free to end whenever we are ready.  I am thinking May 15.  

Anyway, we visited Antarctica this week and I think learning about penguins was a hit.  Their mosaic penguins turned out so cute.  

Nathan has now started sitting with us for school and saying, "Me next?" or "My turn!".  I have been trying to find little sheets for him to color or write on just for fun.  Even though he is only 3, I do plan on having things for him to do next school year for these moments.  I thought I had things this year but who knows what I have done with them this late in the year.  Is it summer break yet?  :)

Oh, two fun bits of this week...We just purchased the math game Math Rider--we did do the trial first but it was enough of a hit to buy it.  They ASK if they can play it.  They keep going even if I tell them they can be done.  It is worth the money so far!!  It has been great to see.  The other fun thing was that the boys came downstairs and Hunter told me that he had been giving Samuel reading tests.  Ha!  I thought it was funny since Hunter says he hates to read (which really just means that it is hard).  They have been listening to the Big Picture Bible on CD and reading along with it at bedtime so I am sure that is how it all came up.  Fun to see some positive signs of the kids enjoying learning.