Okay, I know it’s not technically summer yet, but it’s starting to feel like it and I can’t believe we’re already so far into June! (Although I know all the teachers are probably thinking, how are we not further through June?) We’ve been busy, even though we still haven’t gone out much, so I haven’t posted in a while.
Purplicious celebrated her 4th birthday. One of her birthday gifts was a new bed. Mike and I thought it would be exciting to build the bed on her birthday eve after she went to sleep and then move her into it, so she went to sleep in her old bed and woke up in the new bed. We figured it couldn’t take that long to build, maybe an hour. Well, it took longer than that by a couple of hours. But, we got it made, and she was very excited in the morning that she woke up in her new bed. The new bed has drawers underneath (which was why it ended up taking so long to build). Animal Lover and Purplicious share a pretty small room; there’s only room for a tiny dresser, so hopefully, the drawers will help their clothes situation. Here’s the finished newly put together bed at 1 am on her birthday:
The weather has been so nice that we’ve been spending most of our time outside. Everyone’s current favorite thing to do is play in the mud, which makes for really awesome laundry and multiple baths a day, but is worth it! The kids have a little dirt area on the side of the yard that they use to make mud puddles, rivers, find worms, etc. This also means we have less grass to mow which is always exciting.
Last week we had book club, which I totally forgot about until right before so I had to read the book in two days. Luckily it was a quick read, and I enjoyed it! I find it hard to read something quickly that I don’t enjoy. We read, “Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine.” It was the first time in a while I remember laughing out loud at a book. The main character, Eleanor, was very literal, and although the things she said were sometimes cringe-worthy (like Michael Scott), she was hilarious and loveable. Someone at book club described her as being similar to Amelia Bedelia, and I could absolutely see that as well. The next books we picked are “The Awakening of Miss Prim” and “Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore.”
I’ve still been making masks but slowed down a bit. I’ve been making smaller batches as people ask for them. Animal Lover and I also had a sewing project this week- a “tooth pillow.” She has a very wiggly tooth currently, and she said she “had to” have a pillow to put it in when it fell out. We made a small pillow and put a tooth on the front and a small pocket on the back for the tooth. Animal Lover was very excited to stuff it and sew it up by hand on her own. My mom was telling Animal Lover a story about Grandma Kelly, saying that when one of the grandkids had a wiggly tooth she said “Oh which one?” and then when they got closer she pulled it out and said, “This one here in my hand?” Animal Lover thought it was the funniest thing and when she got off the phone she said, “Ahhh that Grandma White Hair always has the best stories.” Any cousins remember this happening to them?
Last week we finally got our vegetable garden planted. We planted zucchini, yellow squash, spaghetti squash, cucumbers, cantaloupe, green beans, and tomatoes. There’s been some yellowing on some leaves, and I’m trying to figure out if things are overwatered or underwatered or maybe something else. I’ve never had that happen before. I’m hoping it fixes itself, as everything still seems to be growing fine otherwise. I may have accidentally rototilled the garden a bit larger this year because I usually can get the whole thing to fit in a picture, and this year I couldn’t. Oops. But once again, less mowing, so win-win.
We enjoyed our simple machines unit study last week, and this week we moved onto inventors and inventions. I forgot to post my plans for this, however, we’ve been spending so much time outside that we’ve really only gotten to reading. So far the kids’ favorite has been “Whoosh!” by Chris Barton, which is about Lonnie Johnson, an aerospace engineer who worked for NASA and the airforce and invented the super soaker.
Here’s our book list:
Books
- The Crayon Man: The True Story of the Invention of Crayola Crayons by Natascha Biebow
- The Boo-Boos That Changed the World: A True Story About an Accidental Invention (Really!) by Barry Wittenstein
- The Kid Who Invented the Popsicle: And Other Surprising Stories about Inventions by Don L. Wulffson
- Hedy Lamarr’s Double Life: Hollywood Legend and Brilliant Inventor (People Who Shaped Our World) by Laurie Wallmark
- Whoosh!: Lonnie Johnson’s Super-Soaking Stream of Inventions by Chris Barton
- Oh, the Things They Invented!: All About Great Inventors (Cat in the Hat’s Learning Library) by Bonnie Worth
- The Story of Invention by Anna Claybourne and Adam Larkum
- The Magic Treehouse: To the Future, Ben Franklin! by Mary Pope Osborne
I hope everyone is enjoying a first whiff of summer!
It doesn’t quite feel like summer for me yet, but almost! Love the bed, the mud and book club.
You’re almost there, Lady!
I do remember Grandma Kelly twisting teeth out. I knew not to tell her when I had a loose tooth. Just the thought of it still makes me cringe!
Haha oh no!