Too hot...

...to do anything, even post on the blog.  I will hopefully be back online soon.  Guess I have been taking a vacation this summer.  Or at least my brain has.  Lots has been going on though, so I plan to post about those soon.  I might back date some posts, so be sure to scroll down (or sign up for email notification of new posts).
Sara

Summer Office Picnic

Dan's summer office picnic was at the ballpark this year.  It was great fun!  There wasn't a game that day, so we got to do lots of things that otherwise we couldn't do.  Even though it was really hot out we had a great time.  

 Tour - from the press box.

 Tour - locker room (no corners to hide out in).

 Cotton candy for everyone!

 Arm painting that practically wiped off with all the sweat.

 A big, but hot, bounce house.

 A big playground.

 A chance to sit in the dugout!

And batting practice where the real players warm up!

In a few weeks, Dan and I will be going to the game for his birthday and will be sitting right behind home plate.  You can actually see the warm ups from the bar area where we will have access to with our tickets.  

Lazy (and Hazy) summer afternoons....

Summer Fun Day - Expedition Earth

We did another fun day, this time the theme was expedition earth.  I don't have a lot of pictures, but we read a book about the layers of Earth, and one about recycling.  Then we went on a nature scavenger hunt in the woods behind our house. 

 (I can't wait till the bangs grow in all the way!)

When we got back, we had a snack - the old favorite DIRT, or chocolate pudding with oreo crumbs and gummy worms.  

We picked up some leaves and leaf rubbings.  And we scavenged for rocks and painted rock buddies.  I didn't get any pictures of the painting, because it was hard to keep all 6 kids in control of their paint at the same time.

At the end we tried to do a volcano in a bottle with baking soda and vinegar, but it didn't seem to work as well as I remember in school...will have to work on that one!

Craft fail turns educational

So we were supposed to run the string pieces through a water/glue mixture then place on the wax paper and let dry over night.  I didn't want to hear Rose complain about messy hands so I altered it just be string laying on glue.  Turns out you need the water part, otherwise it just falls apart.

The bonus is that Rose, all on her own started making shapes out of the extra string.  She was also making little scenes that only made sense to her.  But in the end it was great geometry session!

Why You Should Never Leave James Alone...

Even for a minute!

Skype on the iPad

I am so glad that we can see our far away family members.  Now it is easier on my iPad since we moved the computer to the office in the basement (where I really don't want the kids getting into).  We usually have snack at the same time so it keeps the kiddos focused in one spot long enough to talk to grandparents (mostly).

Very Tired!!

I think summer has worn her out!  This is what happens several times a week while she is waiting for me to finish putting James down or while I am reading to them in her room.  She is also sleeping better through the night - not sure if that has to do with summer, the fact that she is less scared with James in her room with her, or she is finally getting older.

Happy Fourth of July!!

Summer Fun Day - Fourth of July

We hosted a summer fun day with some of Rose's friends and themed all the activities around the fourth, given how close it was to the holiday.  We had fun and are looking forward to the next fun day in a couple of weeks.

 They painted popsicle sticks and glued them together to make flags.

 The kids thought the temporary tattoos were really cool.  James looked like a strong man with his on his bicep.  He also thought it was a sticker and kept trying to pull it off (like he normally does with stickers) saying 'ticka' which is Jamese for sticker.  As a side note he is really starting to talk a lot more, it just takes a trained ear (aka - me or Rose) to decipher what he just said.

 The kids thought the fruit/marshmallow kebobs were cool, but mostly just wanted to eat the marshmallows since they were in the shape of stars.  

 We made firework art (I took this idea from a site somewhere, but it is all over the internet) out of black construction paper, white crayon, school glue, and glitter.  Even if you let the four-year olds use the glue on their own it still looks like fireworks, so that is cool from the perfectionist side of my craftiness!

Last but not least we played a sort of rousing game of patriotic memory.  I made a set from some basic, iconic pictures, my color printer, construction paper, and my laminator.  I plan to store them with the fourth decorations and use them next year too.