Ten kids and a Dog

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Almost Wordless Wednesday

We are so proud of Daddy's hidden talents!!

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

My New Favorite Finch Feeder

We are having so much fun watching the finches at our new "Finch Station". It is a birdfeeder made from a "sock" for feeding the birds thistle seed.

The kids are loving watching the many goldfinches coming to our new feeder. There seems to be a competition as to who will see the most finches on the feeder at the same time--AND GET A PICTURE--right now, the record is 10, but I know there will be more!
It also is so educational. Kimberly and Luke can now identify every goldfinch they see, and can tell you if they are male or female!

Monday, May 25, 2009

I Heart Faces-Silhouettes

Mark-Memorial Day-2009

Check out all the great silhouettes photos this week at I Heart Faces.

Memorial Day-2009

Gracie is ready for the parade--small town America at its best!

Becky and Kimmy

Here we are, along with Grandma and Grandpa in the background waiting for the parade. We were only missing Daddy, Pat and Matt today.

Kim and Auntie Kim

My children's first ever experience with an ice cream truck!! They were so excited---yes, we are hicks!

The kids were so excited, they only thought ice cream trucks were on tv.

Aaron was a proud marcher in this years parade.

This is what Kimberly thought of the firetruck's horns and sirens.

Luke had the same feelings.

That is goooood ice cream.

Of course, we took time to remember what Memorial Day is for.

I have been trying out silouette photos.

And shadow photos.

We love you Grandpa Collins, and thank you for all you did for your family and your country.

practice.....

practice......

and a little more practice.....

Makes My Monday

What's makes us smile on this Memorial Day?

For me, smiles come from seeing some of my family enjoying small town America at its best---the annual Memorial Day parade.
Check out other Makes My Monday at Twinfatuation.

Lest we forget....

Sunday, May 24, 2009

Tot School

Kimberly is currently 36 months old

More beautiful weather means more fun outdoors. With our outdoor fun this week, we encountered a little friend. Happily, this "toadie" is back with his family as I type. :-)

Kimberly enjoys so many books each week, I think I am going to begin listing some of her favorites in the weekly Tot School post. Of course, this week, all I have is this photo with some of her favorite "new release" library books. Her favorite of these books was Hello Baby! by Mem Fox, an author we enjoyed during last year's Author Fiesta fun.

Kim loves puzzles, and she does some everyday. I have found that these wooden puzzles are easier for her if I trace the pieces onto the wooden base. You can see the outlines in the picture above.

She is doing a suprisingly good job on this erasable counting and tallying book I made for Luke. The printable came from Childcareland.com.

She is very proud of her successful work.

History and science in our homeschool is always a family affair, and Kimberly is always included in whatever we are learning. Lately we have been studying the middle ages and knights and castles.

This study has brought about our first purchase of Playmobil toys, the castle and knight version.

These toys have been a big hit with all the little kids.

We have also enjoyed planting flowers this week.

Kimmy planted her own petunias and they are just beautiful.

We talked about what plants need to grow-soil, sunshine and water. We learned about what makes things alive and talked about things that are not alive.

Kimmy loves spending outdoor time with her best friend and big brother Luke.

Here, he was trying to teach her to get on the swing by herself.

He finally succeeded and Kimberly was very proud of her accomplishment.

After a hard afternoon a playing, Kimmy got to have her first drink from a refreshing garden hose!

We discussed things being alive and not alive while we were planting flowers. That led to me coming up with this activity. I simple labeled two sheets of construction paper with the words alive and not alive and then sorted cards from a memory game onto the correct paper.

The kids did a very good job! It also was good for the fact that we discussed the pictures on the cards and the reasons for our answers.

This was also an exciting week because it was Daddy's birthday. Kimberly helped decorate Daddy's present by using her Do A Dot markers. These markers make very cute wrapping paper.