August update

Here's a quick update on the last month's worth of activities and happenings:


We went blueberry picking 3 times, with various friends...the kids ate tons, and brought home just a few for the winter (think Little Sal, with no bears). The girls helped sort them later.




All three children participated in the library summer reading program, and Gene used our Montessori math materials to count the pages he read. It was in the thousands, so he got great addition practice:)


Brendan participated in a "crazy" triathlon, which took all of 5 hours from start to finish. Swimming, biking, running, more swimming, more biking, more running...you get the picture.
He was quite surprised to win a "major award" during the awards ceremony, for finishing second in his age group (out of, uh, three)...



The kids all came with me a couple times to the UPS store in Saline, which happens to give great service, but never quick service. They know how to settle right in until I'm done.


We also went raspberry picking, and mashed up most of them to make jam.


Gene sorted, and everyone took turns mashing.


Lucy was SO EXCITED to finally make something from one of her Highlights magazines...mac n cheese muffins. Yum.

Sunbathing by the pool. Too bad he's the only child who doesn't tan.


Bookworm #2 in a favorite reading spot at the library.


And in the car, another favorite reading spot these days.


Bookworm #3 in the making...


Jane loves to help in the kitchen, and now she is actually able to be of help. She was arranging our garden broccoli in a pan, I think.


The curlie girlie, eating breakfast. Usually, she likes to eat the spoon better than her oatmeal. She is NOT an oatmeal lover. Oh, but I just noticed what else was in the picture. Jane woke up super early that morning, and snuck out with B to get doughnuts for everyone.


B and I competed in two triathlons together this summer- one in Mackinac City, and the other in Brighton. We traveled to the former by ourselves (call it a crazy date) while we were already up north on vacation, and got to stay in a hotel overnight. For the latter, we had company. Donal and Lindsey met us there, and watched the kids during the race. Too bad the camera battery died before they could take pictures of US...!


This is how the infamous "exercise train" runs in our house in the early morning. They all like to "exercise" together, which usually turns into something very silly. But they love to run through the house summoning all members of the "train".


Aunt Kathleen generously donated her Scrap Box finds to the girls, and they spent a blissful morning crafting. Thanks Kathleen!



I took the kids to the local grocery store to deposit our cans and bottles, and they basically did the whole thing for me:)


Lucy is working on writing lowercase letters on the line, and Jane will learn soon, right? She's learning the sounds of the letters first, just, uh, 19 more to go...


Gene is still intent on selling his "bookmarks" that's he's been making all summer (small scraps of paper that have been completely colored in one color of marker). Since he wasn't having much luck selling them, we convinced him to sell cookies and lemonade with them. Over the last two days, he has made 6 or 7 dollars! He convinced the Mitzel girls to come and help, and the girls worked on coloring signs for the sale.


And posting them.

And that brings us up to the present, once again. That's all for now, folks.

From the mouth of...Jane

Well, I took my month-long vacation from the blogging world, but vacation's over now! I probably won't be able to post every day now that school's getting ready to start, but look for a post at least once a week. But maybe every day:)

So, we were driving through some farmland yesterday, and everyone was peaceful in the back. We had some music on, and Gene and Lucy were reading books. Jane was looking out the window. All of a sudden she noticed something and exclaimed excitedly, "Look, elephants!". We all looked, and a split second later she sheepishly corrected herself. "I mean, horses."

Vacation break

Not planning to post anything for a couple weeks...getting ready for vacation and then going on vacation:) But lots of great pictures will be coming, probably, after that.

Weekend

The kids walked to the Celtic Festival parade in Saline on Saturday...I would recommend it to anyone with small children. Much better than the Memorial Day parade from a child's point of view- TONS of candy, horses, men in kilts playing bagpipes, twirlers, and karate demonstrators. Not very long, but very satisfying.

They walked with the VanderVeen cousins, and Jane and Ellie moved Andrew and the wagon along the whole way there.



Lucy and Jane experimented with mixing all the various beads, beans and rice that we have had on the shelves lately...and realized it takes a lot longer to clean everything up than it does to dump out.


Grandma Patti and Grandpa Ken came over for brunch on Sunday- very nice:)


Sunday afternoon has been "Family Art Time" lately...Brendan traces pictures from a coloring book, and the kids color them. Gene was getting into his coloring book, and talking excitedly about having an art class when he goes to school. This is GOOD for him, as art has not been interesting to him, ever.



Gene and Lucy have been going to a neighborhood church for a Children's Choir/ Music class taught by a friend of mine, and tonight I brought Jane because Brendan played softball. She ate her dinner in the parking lot- a Parking Lot Picnic.

July 16

Garden and yard work yesterday...I actually managed to work outside for more than 6 hours! With a measly half-hour break for lunch. And I enjoyed it immensely:)

Meanwhile, Jane came out to play in the sprinkler for a few minutes... (her bathing suit was at Grandma's)


And Gene came out to play football for a few minutes (I think baseball season is winding down). All three kids spent the rest of those 6 hours in the basement. Building forts and playing "house". Very strange, as they haven't played down there in months. Gene came out once while I was mowing the lawn and said, "I would like to request three lunches in the basement." They had set up little tables with placements and everything!


In other news, Lucy loves drinking with a straw.


And Gene's latest passion is playing the piano. He is into the major scales right now. And he plays every chance he gets.


We walked to the Dairy Queen tonight after dinner.


Gene and Lucy rode bikes, I pushed Jane's bike. She is still learning how to ride it...steering is so hard!






Hope you all had as good of an evening!

At home

A morning at home, so nice. Jane was up at 6am, so she did quite a bit before she napped at 9:30...she keeps pulling out the sandpaper letters, and despite the fact that she's not catching on as quickly as Lucy was at this age, she is still learning them, and still interested. That makes the comparison not matter (I know it doesn't matter anyway, but what parent can keep from comparing between children?). She has just about mastered the sounds of four letters, and today thought of a fun extension all by herself...matching up the magnetic fridge letters to the ones on the wall.


After Jane napped, we went over to Grandma H's to go swimming. Just what we needed. The kids all took turns "napping" on the inner-tubes.


The girls really wanted to help with dinner, so together we made chocolate pudding and snapped green beans. Their first time snapping, and they quickly got the hang of it. Jane, surprisingly, was even quicker than I was! (Lucy and I snapped the ends off, and passed the beans to Jane so she could snap them in half.)

Tuesday at home

A mostly uneventful day, stayed home and did housework. Usually I have the kids help, but today they kept themselves pretty busy and I just gave them a break. So...

Lucy put up "stop signs" all over Jane's guardrail in their bedroom. She has been making them often for the last few weeks, along with some signs that say "go". Or actually, I take that back. The signs just have a big letter S or G, but they are colored in the appropriate colors. She made a pair of signs for everyone in our family once. I don't know the significance of having them on the bed, but Jane seemed pleased nonetheless.


Jane pulled out the hand puzzle, and tried to fit her hand in. She made me do it, too. She hasn't done this puzzle in a LONG time...I thought she was getting too old for the wooden puzzles we have, but this is one of the trickier ones, and she enjoyed it.

Gene, with a bit of prompting and some help, constructed a model of our neighborhood. They brown blocks are roads, and they yellow and red pieces are houses of people we know. He figured this out pretty fast, and it was easier for him than figuring out where things in a specific room in our house are.


Lucy and I made corn muffins for dinner. She really wanted to feel all the ingredients, so I gave her a little sample of them in a bowl.


She has gotten quite good at leveling, and got to practice with the cornmeal, flour, sugar and baking powder.


We brought the kids to the Rec Center daycare while we ran on the treadmills, then B and G ran/biked home. The Major League All-Star game was on, and we all stayed up REALLY late!