Bikes and Potluck Playdate!

Caitlin is ecstatic. She got her first ever brand new bike. It is Lalaloopsy and comes with a seat for her Cabbage Patch Mavis, as well as a basket in front for any other baby who tickles her fancy that day. Normally she is not allowed to ride her bike without her helmet. Just this once I let her try it because her helmet is in the attic and I am too scared to go up there I don't have the key to our lock since I never go up there. OF COURSE this would be the one time she faceplants into the dirt. Lesson learned: safety first folks!

We went to a fantastic potluck playdate held by one of our homeschooling friends. She has a magnificent yard and the kids ran themselves ragged.

We got home around 6pm and the kids were begging to go to bed by 7! We waited a little longer but once they touched their pillows they were knocked out!

Catching up

Life has been pretty busy, as expected. My finals are finally over! I get a break for a couple of weeks before returning back to school.

 We had dentist visits last week. Both kids were given a clean bill of oral health.

We celebrated with frozen yogurt!

This week we went to a Rocks, Minerals, and Fossils event at a local library. Unfortunately we did not learn much of anything. The geologist seemed to have an enormous amount of information, but the event itself seemed unorganized so it didn't leave much of a chance for learning.

Once we got there we looked at the display of different rocks.

We also got to see some of the tools the geologist used to gather the rocks. From his explanation, it seemed like a difficult task!

 The kids were able to pick out some rocks to take home.

 Jayden entered a raffle for the geode rock (rock #3 above).

And he WON! The day after the event I received a call from the librarian that Jayden won the geode rock. He was so excited. "Mom! Can you believe I won? I never win raffles!" His prize included information about the rock as well. He stored it away in our homeschooling closet for safekeeping. 

After clearing out excess books from our personal library, we hit up a book sale and came home with 17 new books! These books include Magic School Bus books, an English/Spanish Barbie book, a Goosebumps Monster book (3-in-1 book), an Usborne Children's Encyclopedia, a book about the human body, and another book about the solar system.

We also hit up our favorite indoor playground.

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!