August 2016

I don't know when I'll stop seeing August as the beginning of a new year, but I don't think it'll be any time soon.  When I was a student, each August brought a new school year and with it, a new season.  Then I was a teacher for several years, and Augusts still arrived carrying new seasons each time.  And now, as a mama with children born in August and September, this time of year always marks itself as a changing point, with both subtle and dramatic shifts, inevitably ushering in a new season.  And this year will be no different - we are definitely on the edge of a new tide rolling in!

Highlights and Kidbits for the month:

We made another trip to the farm!  We spent one more weekend helping Charlie's parents with the final move-out.  They'll be living at the farmhouse in Kansas until they find a new place, so I think we'll be frequenting the wheat farm on a more regular basis in the near future.

the fellas taking a break from unloading the cattle trailer full of boxes

we were able to swing by the Perkins house on our way back from a field trip one afternoon

we couldn't go inside the house, but the kids had fun playing on the deck one last time

so many special memories!

it was surprisingly hard to say goodbye

Fluffy Black is staying behind with the new family, and it was nice for us to have a familiar snuggle before leaving

Charlie got to meet Charlie Daniels!

work perk!

boyhood celeb crush!

Bruce turned 5 last week.  Five!  It's hard to believe we brought that little bundle home five years ago.  That seems huge!  It's been quite the ride, that's for sure.  We celebrated the occasion with Papa and Grandma from Texas and a handful of close friends that love our Bruce so well.

 

It was a "Mixels" themed party, so we had a lot of food that they eat on the tv show

and invented our own mixels

and decorated Mixel cupcakes

I think Bruce's Mixel population doubled overnight!  He was so excited!

Bruce has really taken an interest in pictures this month - he is constantly asking us to take a picture of something for him.  It started with taking a picture of a lego creation he had made before disassembling it, but quickly escalated to taking pictures of funny shaped food and silly things he could do with his tongue...  We mostly humor him, because with digital cameras it's really not a big deal to take shots from four different vantage points of a play-doh worm, but sensing our exasperation, Bruce took it upon himself to figure out how to take pictures with the iPad.  Coming from our non-tech savvy kid, this really surprised me, but I'm highly encouraging it!

things built at Lego club never get disassembled.  Even after a photo is taken.

Look mama!  Isn't this tower tall?  Take a picture!

Look mama!  Isn't my hair crazy?  Take a picture!

take a picture of my crazy hair now!

now take a picture of me dancing with crazy hair!

the cat is laying on my head!  Take a picture!

Look mama!  The two peanut butter chips are stuck together!  Take a picture!

Isn't this cool?  Take a picture!

Look at my sand mama!  Take a picture of it!

Abbs even gets in on it sometimes.  Look mama!  I made a spiderweb with my hands!  Take a picture!

Then Bruce discovered selfies...

and loves them!

a lot.

other favorite subjects include the cats and Abby

and he even documented our breakfast at Ozzy's when my mom and Rick were here!

glad someone did - we always forget!

as you can clearly see, Charlie was able to come, and Papa was there too.

and Grandma

and Abby and mama

and we had lots of syrup and ketchup!

and several planes were taking off and landing!

If he's not taking pictures, he's probably mixing random things from the backyard into an elixir of sorts that needs to be frozen in our freezer.  (It's super handy that our freezer is on the bottom of our unit...) And checked on in 1-3 minute intervals, until the surface area has solidified satisfactorily.  Then the experiment is removed and prodded until it melts, makes a mess, spills, is offered to the cats as medicine, used as art medium, or sprayed across our vegetation.  Afterwards any remaining liquid is placed back in the freezer to begin the process again.  I used to do similar things, so I can't complain...

Bruce working on his ancient scroll of "Slice-jitsu" - a martial arts form he invented.  This particular scroll required a mixture previously frozen to be thawed and then injected with a medicine shotter onto a piece of paper which then needed to be both frozen and then baked in the oven.  

Bruce has been enjoying playing super heroes some this month, especially when one of his friends that lives in our neighborhood and comes over to play a lot.  They've invented a villain named "Paperman" that they need to defeat, and the evolution of his character has been quite entertaining.  As far as we can tell, Paperman is just like a real person except his head is made out of paper.  He lives under water, and can hold his breath for more than one hundred minutes.  He's sneaky and likes to move to new houses a lot.  He's invisible, and the only way you can tell he's around is if you put your hand out and if you feel something, that's him.  Got it?

Paperman!

Speaking of living underwater, Bruce has turned into a fish this month!  He still can't technically swim, but he's been so excited to put some skills together.  With a life jacket on, he's been working on some strokes and getting comfortable floating on his back.  I know there are those who think that life jackets are more of a hinderance than a help when learning to swim - but when trying to keep track of two Littles in a pool, it just sets me at ease having him wear one!  Also, every night in the bath and when we have the baby pool filled outside, he practices holding his breath underwater and can even open his eyes without googles!  He's so proud of himself - I can't even do that!

This past month for school we have just completed an endangered vs. extinct unit and while I think both kids enjoyed it, Abbs really latched on to dinosaurs!  Even though I like to think that our family isn't too locked into gender norms for toys, I have to admit I was kind of surprised to see how much Abby loves playing with the dinosaurs!  Her favorites are the "long necks" (does anyone know when "brontosaurus" became unacceptable and "apatosaurus" took its place???  I still can't bring myself to call them that...) and triceratops, and she narrates the cutest little stories while playing with them all around the house.  Usually, they're helping each other reach the "Great Valley" - sound familiar?  Needless to say, The Land Before Time was a big hit with these kiddos.  Except for when Little Foot's mother dies.  We have to fast forward that part every time for Bruce, my sensitive soul.

"Little Foot's mama"

this particular dinosaur toy is her favorite, and unfortunately came with a literacy kit we borrowed from the library and had to return today...

In addition to playing with the dinosaurs, Abbs frequently loses herself in her imagination doing other things in solitude.  She loves being in the backyard, flying through the air on her belly while swinging, and of course there's always her stacks of books.  

 

To say that Abby has been voicing her curiosity these days would be the polite way to explain that she has been driving us CRAZY with the "why" questions!  Similar to when Bruce went through this phase, we're really trying to be patient with her and give value to all of her inquiries, but when she hits that glitch and just gets stuck in the cycle - I can't stop myself - I snap!  It's just too much!  I feel like I've been snapping at Abbs a lot lately because in addition to why why why why why - she's also nearing that three-year-old stinker mark.  I can remember someone telling us when Bruce turned two, that the "terrible twos" weren't really what we needed to worry about - that three year olds are much more difficult to deal with!  And for us, we're finding that to be truth.  The independence and defiance rears its ugly head and I find myself needing frequent reminders - take a deep breath, this is just a phase.  And because I know deep down that she's just testing boundaries and not secretly trying to destroy me single-handedly - it's pretty easy to not hold grudges against her, and there's nothing that a snuggle on the couch with a good book can't fix.  

this is her "you'll have to come and get me if you want me to come down from here" face...

I think we've finally hit our stride with homeschool.  There have been some changes with our co-op group that I'll write more about in the school update next week, but I feel like overall this past month has been much smoother and we're starting to get the hang of things.  We went on some fun field trips, and Bruce has been fairly cooperative with the lessons we're working on!

my music teacher friend Tara came and taught a drumming lesson!

we visited the dinosaur museum!

and the museum let us take a Discovery kit home with us with really neat dino specimens!

we went on a dinosaur hunt!

we joined a local nature study group!

I'm pretty sure this group is more of a "leave only footprints, take only memories" type group, but as you can see, it's hard for Bruce to not keep a few souvenirs... 

we went to an eagle rehabilitation center!

and got to snuggle a buffalo!

and explore some train cars!

and played at a splash pad afterwards!

writing is still the hardest thing to get Bruce's cooperation for... but he's working on it!

we made recycled paper!  (which later was turned into Paperman's mask)

I ordered some lego pieces to put these kits together and we had some friends come over to build dig sites!

we made clay fossils!

and put together a human "fossil" puzzle!

then we went to look for real fossils!

White Mound is part of a fossil formation about an hour south of where we live

Literally everywhere you stepped you could bend down and pick up a fossil or two!

We had a new homeschool family join us for the field trip and had so much fun with them!

Bruce, although excited about the fossils, mostly just explored the bluffs - can you spot him?

We read a tip that recommended looking at the base of this hill by the fence line to find some more rare fossils, so he spent a lot of time over there!

I'm so thankful he was able to join us on this trip!

This really is only a fraction of what we could have brought home, if we had wanted to

The most common fossil there are these seashell brachiopods 

but we also found a few other random things we'll have to look up and identify later

so many different fossils in just one rock!  They're everywhere!

These are what I was hoping to find though - trilobites!  Mostly just pieces, but if you look at the big rock next to the biggest fragment, in the upper left-hand corner - do you see it?  I think that's a whole trilobite, I just need to research how to expose him a little more without breaking him!

I've been trying to be purposeful in making sure that the kids are getting social interaction with peers, but it's also been fun to watch the relationship between Bruce and Abby blossom while having them both at home all day.  Lately their favorite thing to do is to play "family" where they say they're married to each other and have a bunch of babies that they take care of.  This past week the prime location to play "family" has been under my bed.  Charlie built us a bed with a high mattress, so it's like a little cave under there, once you push a lot of junk out of the way.  It's been super sweet, even if it usually ends in some argument over whether or not Abby should have to share Duke-Duke-Poop-Poop (their daughter)  or who gets to lay on which pillow.  They also have been enjoying playing candy store/bakery with play-doh together, and running around the back yard doing tricks.  I'm trying to strike a balance between wanting to hear every adorable conversation that's exchanged, hovering closely enough to resolve any squibble before it turns into a squabble - and just letting them play, with the door closed, in their own secret world.  Until I hear glass breaking.  It's a struggle!  But I'm getting better.

checking the "toad holes" in the neighborhood

They really are the best.