Library Trip

After we went swimming we headed off to the library to drop off and pick up some books. Cait brought Mavis, her baby.

  She promptly ditched her for the lego table.

 Jayden headed off to the science section to pick out a book.

 This was our haul for some reading over the next two weeks!

Jayden had karate class so Cait and I played.

At one point we played hide and seek and I snuck off to snap a few pictures of Jayden doing his thing. We just got his uniform hemmed and dry cleaned so of course he had to drag himself all over the floor!

When I came back to find her, Cait had ditched me to play with some other little girl. I was pretty shocked since she usually plays by herself.

 They even went into the playground's new reading nook and read together.

And despite allergy season, we have been spending a LOT of time outdoors! Bubble blowing, sidewalk chalk, running, bike riding, baseball, soccer, and swimming.

I love the look on Cait's face as she reads! She tries so hard to act like it isn't a big deal but there is a smile full of pride when she completes one of the Hooked on Phonics books!

The iPad has been SUCH a great resource for us! There are SO many apps that the kids love. 

 

Cait asked to pull apart our human body model and match the pieces to the organizer.

Jayden is chipping away at his math. This particular day we focused on the different ways to write numbers. 

 He learned the difference between deserts and plains and what kind of animals live in each.

 He also learned about canyons and valleys.

 For reading time he chose to read a book on Barack Obama!

While neither my nor Juan's plants are alive anymore, Jayden's started sprouting little leaves!

Netflix has proven to be a wonderful resource for us! The kids love Beakman's World. This episode taught them that the largest human organ is the skin!

Dairy Farm Field Trip!

We recently went on a tour of a local dairy farm with a homeschooling group and had a great time! Our tour guide, Mark, was really informative and answered everyone's questions.
 

Can I just say it smelled bad? Yes, I am a total city girl. Manure is not my thing. The smell came in waves. Sometimes it didn't stink so you would get tricked in to breathing through your nose again. Then it would smell like crap again. It was actually pretty clean for a barn with at least 20 cows. But Mark said that they clean out the barn at least 5x a day.

The cows (holstein) were really curious and really gentle, which surprised us because they are HUGE.

 Cait was super excited about petting the cows!

 Jayden decided it was a better idea to hang toward the back and keep his hands to himself.

pooping cow

peeing cow

After touring the barn we went outside to see the calves which were all 2 months and under.

 

Mark brought this little guy out and he was really friendly!

He explained that these babies were really content when you put your hand in their mouth because they thought they would get milk if they suckled.

 

 When Mark put him back inside, the little calf kept mooing at Caitlin.

We headed over to visit the one donkey they had at the farm. He was also really friendly. While the kids visited the calves he brayed, calling attention to himself until we visited him.

Of course we could not leave a dairy farm empty handed. We bought some amazing freshly made chocolate chip cookies.

 

We also bought some fresh vanilla ice cream. This is AMAZING! It is so creamy and delicious.

adding sprinkles

 

Yummy!

 When I asked the kids what they learned from this trip, these are the answers they gave:

- Cows are pregnant for 9 months
- Calves weigh almost 100lbs when they are born
- Cows tongues are about 8 inches long and feels like sandpaper
- Cows do poop
- Holstein cows make 10x more milk than their calves can drink

We literally left the barn smelling like cow poop. It was pretty gross, but it was a fun trip!

Jayden signed up for Lego magazines a couple of months ago. My heart warmed up when I saw him turn off the Wii on his own and spent 2 hours poring over the magazine.

Last week was a special day in karate. There was a little ceremony held and Jayden got moved up to orange belt in the junior division.

We have been making a real effort to eat healthier. Cait and I had "lunch" that she prepared. Granted they were plastic, but all she put was veggies and fruits on our plates!

A new family activity we are doing is playing board games. We got Monopoly Junior and had a GREAT time playing together. Somehow Juan, Jayden, & Caitlin all ended the game with $30+. I ended up with only $1. We all laughed at how bad I lost. Jayden told me: "It's ok if you are sad that you lost mom. But winning isn't everything. All that matters is you had fun!" Easy for him to say since he was the winner!