It's a Bird, It's a Plane... It's a BOOBY!

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So we've been reading a lot of books about Columbus and Pilgrims lately. While snuggling in bed yesterday afternoon we were reading this library book called "Animals Christopher Columbus Saw". That's where the trouble began.
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I read aloud...
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"On September 17, Columbus saw bunches of green weeds floating on the waves. Two days later a booby landed on the ship. The sailors were excited!"
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Oh boy, you know where this is going don't you?
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Following many squeals and laughter by everyone, this came out of the big brother's mouth...
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"all hail the booby!"
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{insert extreme laughter here}
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"Land Ho, I see a booby!"
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{giggles and squeals}
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"Mr. Boombastic, I see a booby!" (sung to the tune of the song)
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{where does this kid come up with these things?}
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"It's a plane, it's a bird, it's a booby!"
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{oh the squeals were in full force now!}
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"booby, it's what's for dinner"
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And I'm sure you know his quick come back when I read the sentence, "And the sailors were excited".
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"Of course they were. There was a booby on board!"
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Oh how I love this boy!
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This was much needed laughter in our home. We found out that morning that my Grammy had passed away, so the laughter gave us a good break from all the saddness we were experiencing. I'll post more about her soon.
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In the meantime, have a blessed day!
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Gotta Love Monday's

PE is back in session and I'm a happy girl! It's not that I don't enjoy spending every waking hour with my little blessings, but oh how I love Monday's! After a fun weekend together, I get to bring them to the park from 9 -12 while I either run errands or go back home to get some stuff done (thankfully the park is less then 5 minutes away). Not only is this a great time for me to catch up on housework or plan out our week of schooling (in case I hadn't done so already) but it gives Fletch and I some one on one time together. However, he badly misses them while they're gone and usually drives me crazy asking about them. He's definitely excited when we hop back in the car to go pick them up. He has formed such a closeness with them from rarely spending a day apart, that he doesn't know what to do with himself when they're away.

But they love PE and so do I. In our home, Monday's are a good thing : )

Check out this awesome PE program. I just think it's great!


{colton and coach Joe}

Everyday Living

Here's a little bit of what we've been up to lately...
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We attended a very hot yearbook signing party at the park with the kids school, OPS (Olivet Private School). For a homeschool "school", this yearbook blew my mind. The group really did an amazing job with it! I love it! What's my favorite part? Fletch's picture is even in it with the other younger siblings under "the wannabes". How cute!
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Colton and Gracie had a contest to see how many signatures they could get in their yearbook. Who do you think won?
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I'm sure that's not a hard one. While Gracie was steadily asking every, ahem, girl out there that she knew, Colton was busy climbing trees and catching lizards with the other boys. So typical!
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{gracie's friend and fellow ballerina signing her book}
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{it was scorching hot out so fletch got some of his bigger friends to help him turn on the water spritzer. }

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We've been trying to tackle some yard work but seem to keep getting too side tracked to really get anything done. Here's our littlest helper after "helping out" with some yard work...



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After this mess, the rain came to our aid at just the right time...

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And lastly, a little more name art. Today's lesson: to create animal patterns for each letter of your name. Colton cheated by shortening his name to Colt, but that's okay. I really like it. I've always liked calling him that but it just hasn't stuck yet.


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See if you can figure out any of my animals... (okay, I'll admit, you may have to use your imagination here : )

Hint, hint, the "e" is an animal you would find in the rainforests. Another hint... notice the red eye, and the sticky finger pads that like to cling to trees. Okay, I know it truly doesn't look like the real thing but hey, give me some credit. I was distracted trying to tend to the baby. Just look at him...



Well okay, this was after I was distracted. He was being a complete handful until I brought out the jumper. When I say handful I'm talking about his hands. See the marker. Well, you should have seen the rest of my house. Thank goodness for Mr. Clean's Magic Eraser. Watching him in this jumper is too funny because he is way overly tall for it but still meets the weight limit (long and lean) and he still LOVES it. He always has! I put him in it on occasions when I need him out of whatever we're doing and he spins and jumps wildly while working out all of his bottled up energy. It's great because I fully open up the school room french doors so he has plenty of room to "exercise" while watching us do our thing. While we were coloring away making our animal letters, I happened to stop to notice that he'd been pretty quiet so I glanced over to the doors to see him sound asleep. This is a very rare thing for him to just pass out like this so of course I had to grab my camera : )

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Mad Genius

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After reading the Magic Tree House book #38, "Monday with a Mad Genius" (yes, we've read all 38 books in order and the kids can't get enough of them), we decided to find out even more about this genius of an artist named Da Vinci. So after doing some research and learning how exciting this man is, we decided to paint our own picture of Mona Lisa.
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While painting, Gracie zoomed through her work as she typically does, while Colton slowly took his time, as he typically does.
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Gracie commented on how she finished so fast and I finally had a good come back for this statement.
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"You know, it took Leonardo three years to complete his painting. He didn't rush but carefully took his time to do his best."
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Colton just gave a little grin of a smile as he kept on painting.
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{gracie's, colton's and mine. yes, I get to join in the fun too!}

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Homemade Tye Dye

Do you have food coloring at home?

Do you have any white coffee filters lying around?

How 'bout some vinegar?

Then you can make these!



Aren't they pretty!

Not quite sure what you can do with them but Colton had a good idea.

"We can glue them on t-shirts!"

{imagine gracie giggling here}

Gracie while shaking her head with a grin (I'm sure she was thinking 'that brother of mine doesn't know anything') says...

That won't work but we can sew them on!

That's my girl! She's always got her thinking cap on!

Now why didn't I think of that!

Well, yeah...that's true. They probably won't hold up so well in the wash will they?

Oh well, whatever we decide to do with them, I sure like looking at them!


{colton especially liked the way this one he made turned out with the blue C on the left side.}


{gracie was surprised to see that this one she made turned out with hearts on it!}


{so that lead us to try making some with hearts}


Now go have some fun and give it a try!
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