Awesome friends...

So, the situation described below, is also taking place with our other friends, who also have Aislinn and Tara into their home one afternoon a week while I work in return for their kids joining us in our adventures. It was such a beautiful day, it was hard to pull the kids away from their play, but we did take a few minutes to build magnetic boats (an idea from this book or this book -can't remember now.)

The kids enjoyed sailing them for a while, but the draw of the slide and the crazy climbing antics they were involved in kept winning out.

Occasionally, the day that both of these families spend the day with us falls on the same day.

Well, then we just enjoy the pure chaos of 6 -4/6 yr olds running in all directions! Kind of like an all day birthday party! :)

And, while I have you, take a minute to check out this book as well! One of my favorites. -- But don't check it out of "my" (A's) library, because I am planning to!! (again)

Celebrating...

Ch.

With my new work schedule, the girls and I have had the fantastic opportunity to spend more time with our friends.
One family close to us has agreed to swapping time with each other, and homeschooling Aislinn and Tara one afternoon while I am at work, and in return I homeschool her girls another afternoon.

I am really loving this arrangement as the girls are amazing together. After a few hours dedicated to playing, we decided to make our afternoon revolve around the letters making the Ch sound.

We started by thinking of as many ch words as we could and decorated the kitchen wall with them. Then we were off to the library to visit with our librarians, with a graph in hand to do a survey of people's favorite Ch words. On our graph were the choices Chocolate, Chives, Chipmunk, and Chips.
While at the library, I gave the girls the task of having one of their take home books contain the letters Ch in the title.
Returning home, we partook in our Ch snack (shown below)... the chopsticks creating much giggling and chatter!
As our afternoon came to a close, we made a few phone calls to relatives and friends to add to our graph, and much to our surprise, Chips and Chipmunk tied for the most. (We had guessed Chocolate would be the surefire winner!)

Next event...

Sh day!

Backyard visitors

Having a large backyard has really helped us experience spring in comparison to last year. We spend just about all our time outside, and have kept a close eye on the comings and goings of the first spring visitors.

We also have an extremely ample supply of worms -much to Aislinn's dismay (this the kid who specifically asked the librarian for a book on worms at age 3), but it keeps our robin friends happy and healthy.

My apologies...

For posts coming in groups (and infrequently)... life just seems to be working this way right now :)

Out with the... in with the...

Left: the marsh, ready to transport to it's new home... we opted for a nice marshy area local to us... hopefully our snail enjoys its new habitat.

In with the - Garden Snails.

So we were happily pulling weeds in our front garden and came upon 2 nice big garden snails... the first we had seen of the season.
The girls and I left them to enjoy their surroundings, and rushed off to prepare our aquarium for its new inhabitants.
Upon coming back, we realized that snails have a bad rap for being slow, as they were nowhere in site. After a few minutes of searching we did find 2 (the same?) snails to relocate.
The girls worked hard to create a similar environment, with damp cool dirt and plenty of shady crevices for our new "pets".
Unfortunately the snails immediately made their way to the top screen and stayed there for the next 2 days.
We then decided they didn't look too interested in the breeding process we were hoping to witness, and instead looked quite parched.
We decided that our snail studies may have to be more wilderness based vs. captivity, and released them to the wild to re moisten.

To be a puppy...

Around the World Expo, 2009.

One of the highlights of our local homeschool group, is getting together in May at our Around the World Expo. Each family chooses a country to present, and brings a display to share with everyone some special highlights from their country.
One of the favorite activities for Aislinn and Tara (besides talking to anyone who will stay to listen, is the "passport" they each get to carry to each country to acquire their sticker.

This year we choose Tibet as the girls have the distinct advantage of having Aunt Kristel living there. Much of our display was made up of hands on items brought or mailed back from her travels in and around Tibet.

The girls also fondly remember our "Monkey" friends who participated in the North American Tour and stayed at my parents house for a time.