Week of June 19, 16 and some of week of July 3, 2016

I have had trouble lately keeping up with uploading pictures and putting them on the blog.  Here's a few from the past 2 1/2 weeks.

We found a baby bird...long story short we were able to feed him and keep him alive until he was fully feathered and then we let him go.


The girls went on a shopping trip to Target and found these cute little pencil bags you can color yourself.  Katie, especially, had fun with this project.

Painting outside is another favorite activity.

And reading...always reading.

The day before 4th of July weekend we picked blackberries down the street from our house.  Then, Aunt Vicki and the girls made blackberry cobbler for dessert at Grandma's.

4th of July and Grandpa's birthday party all rolled into one.

Katie even lit a few fireworks herself.

4th of July we visited Grandmother and Grandfather.

We've got to spend a few days with Knox and Brex.  One day was even nice enough to go outside.

We've been having lots of fun staying cool by going swimming at the Dosset's pool and playing in the backyard in the sprinkler.  The girls completed the library's summer reading program and we've been visiting the library weekly.  We are also doing a "Give Your Child the World" book club and enjoying reading books about different parts of the world.  We're ending our school year and Katie will be starting kindergarten work in August along with our second year of Classical Conversations.  Audrey has been asking for more schoolwork just for her so we are working on getting some learning activities ready for her to work on while Katie does her more formal work.  All in all we are having a great summer with our two little beauties!

Week of June 5 and June 12, 2016

We've had a fun packed two weeks with another Daddy vacation, swimming lessons, friends and the start of a new dance class!

Katie started her second year of swim lessons.  She begged for goggles so she got a new pair (and of course Audrey did, too).

Audrey and I hung out in the shade during Katie's lessons.  She ended up making friends with a sweet little girl her age so they got to play together every day which was so nice.

Our milkweed is covered in aphids and ladybugs.  The girls caught a ladybug and then used a paintbrush to collect some aphids to feed it.

Katie and I completed our first chapter book read-aloud, The BGF!

 We met all our friends at the botanical gardens to say good-bye to our friends.  Boaz and Selah have moved back to Oregon and we will miss them!

They had a water painting wall....

...beautiful ponds...

 ...outdoor music stations...

 ...and a treehouse with dress-up clothes.

Sweet friends.

Friday we met a group of our CC friends at the discovery center.  It was so awesome!  The girls loved exploring all around the center with their friends.

Giant building blocks.

Giant lightbright.

Katie created blades to make a fan.  Then she tried out her creation to see how fast she could make it spin.

After a week off for Daddy's vacation we got back to work on school.  Usually we were able to get our work done before swimming lessons.

One of our math lessons this week had the kids making a graph of their pets.

Katie picked out our next chapter read-aloud, Mrs. Piggle Wiggle!

 We've done a lot of painting this week.  Katie loves painting!

Audrey has fun with painting too but, she's usually done with it way before Katie.

Katie started a summer dance class at a new studio.  Each week she gets to dress up differently and dance to themed music.  This week the theme was Beach Party so she got to wear her bathing suit.  Next week she gets to wear her pj's!  

Papa came over Thursday for pizza and some time with the girls.  They begged him to read "just one more story".  He ended up reading 6!

Audrey is fearless in the water and does a great job swimming around the pool in her lifejacket.

Katie reached a big accomplishment in her swimming this year...she went underwater and swam across the pool!

Saturday morning Rich and I were inside making breakfast while the kids played outside.  Katie came in and said, "Come look at our clock!"  The girls had made a sun dial out of chalk pieces and a paintbrush and were anxious to watch the shadow move around.