What we did last week

We had a big weekend, and Moira ended up feeling horrible Sunday night because she didn't drink much water or eat much food Saturday or Sunday, so we took it a little easy on Monday and went out to lunch. For the first time ever, Moira did all the parts of the activity pack they gave her without asking for help.


Davis practiced with his chopsticks after neither Moira or I was willing to let him pretend to eat us.


Moira was very excited to show off the hula steps she'd learned after we got home. She also decided to listen to Hawaiian music while falling asleep every night that week.


Our latest Little Passports package had a teeny volcano in it, so the kids spent awhile making itty bitty erruptions.


Davis and I went to Costco while Moira was at her dance camp, and helped me pick out this puzzle of the US. Both kids did amazing putting it together and then had a fight over which one of them got to lie down on it first. Moira spent awhile asking me the names of the states, but when she pointed at Mexico she said "I don't want to go there." before she knew what it was.


When we got home after dropping Moira off each day, Davis would run straight to the game shelf and pick one out for us to play. Fortunately, he got bored of Candyland about half way through our game.


Walker picked up some cleaner fish for out fish tank, and three of them died almost immediately. Good thing the kids hadn't named them yet.


We've been watching So You Think You Can Dance. Davis loves to dance along by spinning madly, no matter what dance is being performed.


Moira likes to pass out the sea creatures from this puzzle based on a complicated system I don't understand. I always get the whale.

Conversations we've had in the car

Me: What do you want to be for Halloween? Davis, do you want to be a monster? A truck?
Davis: A monster!
Moira: You were a monster last year too! I think we should have a family costume this year! And you and I can help you sew them. It will have to be something simple.
Me: Okay, what do you think we should dress up like? (A song from the Little Mermaid starts playing)
Davis: I want to be that!
Me: You want to be a mermaid?
Davis: Yes, THAT mermaid!
Me: You want to be Ariel?
Davis: Yes!
Moira: I want to be Ariel too! Davis can be Prince Eric.
Davis: No. I'm a mermaid.
Me: Everyone can be Ariel.
Davis: No. Nain and Grumpy are going to be trucks. Moira will be a mermaid, I will be a mermaid, you will be a mermaid, Mirella and Pearl will be mermaids. *Pointing at construction workers* They will be mermaids!
Me: Okay!
Moira: I know! You and Daddy can have tails that just hang down your back, and Davis and I will stand on something with wheels, and you can pull us around.
Me: We'll talk to Daddy about that idea.
Moira: Can I be a pink mermaid instead?
Me: Yes.
Davis: And I can be an orange one!

*

Davis: What's that song about?
Me: Um.... Well, she has something that she wants to give someone else, and she's letting them know that she has it whenever they are ready to take it.

*

Moira: Why are you laughing, Mom?
Me: It love that we were all singing along to "Roar."
Davis: No, it's not called "Roar." It's called "Eye of the Tiger."

I tried to shoot a video, but it's short because the light changed and I had to start driving. Here it is.

Week 30

Moira had a dress almost exactly like this when she was a baby, but I don't seem to have taken a picture of her in it. She loves it, and it makes me crazy happy to see her in it and have that reminder of baby Moira.


Moira was in a Hawaiian dance camp, and after her performance, she gave me the lei she made.

This post is part of the Mamatography 2014 Project with Diary of a First Child and Momma Jorje.

We are taking (at least) a photo a day, a collage or a picture each week to keep a record of our year. Join us at any point during the year and start sharing your own daily photos!

Click Get the code here below to add the blog hop to your blog and join the fun. (Also sign up to be added to a comment group!)

Also linked up at NPN

What we did last week

I don't remember when I took this, but Davis has started to make up his own words and tunes when singing. I caught him at the end, so he's kind of petering out, but imagine him singing an entire song replacing the first letter in every word with the letter N.


Moira and Sammy drilled Davis in what the objects on her Mandarin flashcards are. Not what the Mandarin words are, literally what the pictures were of. Which amused me, because Davis would say "Person!" and then they'd correct him, "No, no! That's a girl."


I was very impressed that they both managed to walk the whole length of this hilly bar. The grassy side is actually a drop of a foot or so, so it took a fair amount of courage to try it.


Moira wanted to make dinner for everyone again. This time, burgers with fries and cucumber salad.


I liked this outfit she put together for zoo camp, complete with necklace bandoleer.


Davis had a really hard time with Moira being gone all day for the whole week. He didn't want to go with her, he just missed her. I bought him this birdhouse to paint, and he did it a teeny tiny bit. Then we hunted for the right place to put it. No word on if there's an occupant yet.


The previous week, he dumped some glitter in my bedroom, and I was finally getting around to cleaning it up. He insisted it was his job, and he did it well. I just had to sit and point out the bits he'd missed.


The days we were home in the morning, he insisted on playing a game. The Goldieblox dunk tank was one of the choices, and I managed to actually get it put together and stay together for at least 4 dunks.


I bought some little drawer bins to sort out our collage stuff, under the theory that we might actually use them this way. Davis wanted to put the pom poms and googly eyes away, and then decided to make a picture.


Moira made this at zoo camp, but I forgot to ask what it is. I'm thinking maybe it's a tadpole and an egg?


I signed Davis up for the parent/child class he's enjoyed before with Moira, and he did not enjoy himself the whole time. He did eventually warm up to it, when we were on our way back to the car and he discovered the awesome gravel path. He also enjoyed seeing the cattails, which he calls "hot dog plants!"


On Friday we went to help my sister pack up for her upcoming move. I bought him this airplane to keep him busy, and it was interesting enough that my sister's cat who is afraid of people came out to see it. Davis agreed to play with the kitty for a few minutes, but he got bored quickly.


She came over for dinner when we were done, and showed Moira how to fold origami wallets.


Moira kept a journal at zoo camp which was supposed to include all the animals she saw, but she mostly just drew flamingos. This was my favorite.

Week 29

I dressed Davis up in this nice shirt for a party, and he absolutely refused to take it off, even when it became filthy. I can't say I blame him, because it's very soft. It was even cuter over his pajamas.


See? He did eventually agree to take it off when I was getting him settled into bed.


Davis had a rough week, with it being super hot, and Moira being at camp. So there was a lot of sudden naps in the car. Not that I'm complaining.

This post is part of the Mamatography 2014 Project with Diary of a First Child and Momma Jorje.

We are taking (at least) a photo a day, a collage or a picture each week to keep a record of our year. Join us at any point during the year and start sharing your own daily photos!

Click Get the code here below to add the blog hop to your blog and join the fun. (Also sign up to be added to a comment group!)

Also linked up at Hobo Mama and NPN.

Ruffle shorts!

I made a comment early yesterday about how I should make Moira some more shorts, since she had already worn both of her pairs to camp and she is supposed to wear pants to this specific camp. "You know, in my copious spare time." Then it turned out that I actually did have some spare time today, and a clear idea of what I wanted to make, and even though my sewing room is the hottest room in the house, I whipped up a pair.

I used this tutorial, and the same fabric Moira picked out for her faux-kimono last month. I try not to sew things without her explicit approval, since she is really particular about what she wants to wear, but I think she'll like these, with the ruffles and flowers and all. I even remembered to include pockets, since she recently told me that she wants all of her outfits to have pockets.

Week 28

This bench is a mandatory "rest spot" on our walks to Volunteer park now. Never mind that it's only two blocks away from the park.


We tried to go to the weaving store near us only to discover that it was temporarily closed while they moved. So we took a trip to a park instead and then walked near the water where there are lots of lily pads.

This post is part of the Mamatography 2014 Project with Diary of a First Child and Momma Jorje.

We are taking (at least) a photo a day, a collage or a picture each week to keep a record of our year. Join us at any point during the year and start sharing your own daily photos!

Click Get the code here below to add the blog hop to your blog and join the fun. (Also sign up to be added to a comment group!)

Also linked up at Hobo Mama and NPN.

Homeward Pet tour

A couple of months ago we went on a tour of a local no kill animal rescue center, set up by one of our local homsechool groups.


The kids got to learn about how they take care of the animals that Homeward Pet takes in, along with where the animals live, get socialized, and get exercise. They even got to play with one of the more friendly kitties in the play room. We even got to see the big room where they store all the donated food and supplies they get, much of which they redistribute to people through local food banks.


The dog room was much noisier (of course) and we had to be a lot more careful about which dogs we got close too. This guy was really friendly. Davis spent most of the tour on my shoulders asking to take pictures of the animals with my phone. Moira made sure to tell me which dogs and cats were the ones she wanted.

The only downside (for us) is that in their new bigger location, they don't allow young volunteers, you have to be a teenager to help out.

What we did the last two weeks

This is actually from three weeks ago, but Moira was taken with the loom at our Colonial America potluck, so I pulled out my potholder loom for her. She really likes it.


Walker took the week of the 4th of July off and so we went to Wild Waves on Monday. It is not well set up for little kids, but they had fun anyway. Davis went on all the rides he could, including the mini roller coaster.


Moira tried a new ride on the advice of our roommate, the Frog Hopper. She really liked it. Davis' favorite thing was the wave pool. He alternated between yelling at it to stop and trying to walk all the way to the deep end. He's been asking to go back ever since.


We've been keeping track of the countries we've studied on our wall map. I want to get a big paper one to keep track of where we've visited, both individually and as a family.


I was helping Moira look for books on Egypt to check out, and Davis decided to play downstairs. I guess he wanted to refill one of the paint dotters, and then this happened. This picture doesn't cover the entirety of the giant mess. It took quite awhile to clean up.


It was my Dad's birthday, so I went to my favorite place for presents, Ada's Technical Books and found a children's book that Dad struggled to read.


We went for a little walk in a park near our house. Moira really enjoyed it, and didn't want to leave. I need to figure out how to make this happen more often.


Davis was able to set Mousetrap up 90% on his own, and then he broke it. I'm trying not to be super happy about that.


Walker got a bike trailer to go with his new bike, and Moira decided that it was the perfect place for her to create a quiet place. Davis wanted his own too, so we found another big box, and then they decided to decorate them while I was making lunch.


Then they ate lunch in there while listening to the Barbie guitar we thought was broken, but Moira fixed (by hitting the reset button).


We went to a homeschool park day, where I once again failed to talk to anyone I didn't already know. It was at a beach we used to go to with my elementary school. Not much sand, but plenty of seaweed and goose poop.


My friend Sika explained how to pump in a way Moira could understand, and so Moira was trying to show her friend at the above park day. Her lesson was a success until her Dad noticed and complimented her pumping.


The kids went berry picking with the baby sitter and when they got home Moira really wanted to bake a dessert for her friend who was spending the night this weekend. I managed to find a recipe we could make with what we had on hand, and help them make it that afternoon. Usually it takes me awhile to gear myself up for baking projects, so I'm counting this as a homeschool win.


Davis really likes to make mud. I know I've mentioned that before, but he especially likes doing it in the gravel under the swings, so really, he's making concrete. Let me tell you how fun that is to clean up.


While the cobbler was baking, they decided to wash their bikes.


Moira and a friend picked this bouquet in the garden. I was impressed with the composition. Then they covered the table with rose petals.


The kids, my parents, and I went to Volunteer park for the annual community picnic. Free ice cream, face painting, and bluegrass music.


I've been reinforcing traffic safety, now that Davis is walking more. Both kids decided to be traffic controllers on the way home from the park, so at each alley and street they would put their hands out and shout "stop cars!"


I was surprised at how good Davis was at actually making sets this way, but he got bored really quickly.


We went back up to Volunteer park for the Greenstage festival. There are some really spectacular climbing trees near the grass lawn stage.


Unfortunately it is really hot here right now, and we ran out of shade and the kids got really cranky. They did enjoy their picnic lunch though.


We bumped into some Eastside friends at the play, which was cool, and everyone played in the wading pool for awhile before we headed off for ice cream and home.


Davis got tired of the wading pool before Moira and so he headed to the sand pit where he found two almost identical shovels. He was very impressed.