Our Week with a Birthday

Before I forget (and because there's no photo) my personal Big News is that I completed my ESL tutor training and I've been matched with a learner!  I have not met with her yet, but I'm excited to do so.  

Lots of pictures this week!  

Our first library haul for the week.  The books are getting a little out of control again.  Since I'm creating our own study for Nepal, Galapagos, Ireland, etc. I am acquiring great piles of books for each country.  Probably going a little overboard, since I'm not relying on the curriculum to provide "enough" now.  I've got a Yak Day planned, as well as a Mt. Everest Day, so there are books for both of those in our Nepal week, in addition to fiction and non fiction about Nepal.  The stack is well over a foot high now, with a post it dividing them by what day of the week I'll hand each smaller pile out.  

Jack and I played several rounds of Connect 4 one day.  I was yellow.  

Blue whales

Bunny greeting cards to send to the older sisters.

I got a library book of Chinese Brain Twisters.  They're stick puzzles.  We've been doing one each day.  It has been a real challenge!  

The girls got to see the dancing duck at the car wash.  We all needed to get out of the house one day, so I took them with me to run a couple of errands and dash Matilda through the bath again while we were out.  The first wash after our adventure last week didn't get her completely clean.  

Grumman loves the warmer spring weather, too, and has been begging to go outside lately.  He's rolling in delight.  

Notice how Katie's loon picture is smaller than Hannah's loon picture?  Turns out the real loon is me.  I intended to order 2 new 9x12" art notebooks when Katie informed me hers was almost full.  Only, somehow, I got the 5.5x8.5" size instead.  Oops.  I wish I'd done dedicated art notebooks for each child decades ago, instead of just a few months back.  I really appreciate having the vast majority of the art in one place.  (Because the other 15% of it is ev-er-y-where.  Walls, windows, shelves, hanging from the light switch...)

Another incoming pile from the library.  

The Grum, spilling over the sides of his perch.  

Katie's made up flag of Antarctica.

Hannah's penguin haiku and artwork.

Katie's poem was copywork with art.

Seal drawings

The grass was growing.  

Katie elected to trim hers.

Which we then let Grumman play with for a while.

Kayak drawings

Polar bear drawings

Our third library haul for the week.  We currently have 102 books out.  I'm feeling kind of bad about that.  The normal limit is 60.  Early in the pandemic, I'd go to pick up books 58-67 or so, and they'd ask (via text) "Are you returning some books today?"  Now, they just waive the limit without saying anything.  

We had some technical difficulties with the cake.  First the frosting started peeling off.

Then I lit the outer circle of candles before pushing the button to make the center candle play Happy Birthday.

But we overcame.  The song was sung, the candles were extinguished, wax was picked off the top of the cake, and ice cream was served.  

The girls made Jack birthday cards.  

Josiah and Jack checking out one of his new posters.

I fired up Crikey to make Car Crisis Kits for Josiah and Sam.  Since they both just recently started driving on their own regularly, a first aid kit seemed like a good idea.  I may add a few more things to them, but I wanted to get them assembled before Easter, as these are the big boys' Easter "baskets" this year.  

Random story:  When I got my little art pad, I wanted a way to keep paper, eraser, sharpener, and colored pencils together.  I was thinking of one of those Thirty One pouches, but I couldn't justify the cost.  I found these zipper pouches on Amazon, and I've been using the lime one as my art pouch.  I figured I'd come up with a use for the rest of them someday.  When Josiah mentioned an injury at work, and wishing he had band aids in the car, the whole thing just sort of come together.  3 pouches used, 2 to go.  

One of my friends posted a video of her cat popping the ball out of this track, and I decided Grumman needed to have this toy in his life.  He likes it.  

You know those Home Art Studio DVDs I'm always nattering on about?  This project is from the Holiday Arts & Crafts disc.  

They're bird's nest cookies.

We did them slightly different than the video, putting the nests into sprayed muffin tins, because I wasn't about to get my hands sticky, but the idea is the same.  

They look cute, and they smell good.  As of this moment we haven't tried them yet, but hopefully, they'll be tasty, too.  

:sigh:  There was a lot of scotch tape involved in this "fold and cut" project from an Easter Crafts library book.  

Origami baskets from the Easter Origami library book.  Clever use of the leftover jelly beans from the bird nest cookies.  

This "favorite color" project was from the library book Art Lab for Kids: Express Yourself.  I found it amusing that Katie's wearing the color of Hannah's project, and Hannah's wearing the color of Katie's project.  

Walrus drawings

It was warm enough to eat on the back patio one night this week!  Now the 80* weather has dropped to 69* weather, and I'm nestled up to my space heater again.  

One of Katie's projects.  Sheep in a field.  

An origami egg and an origami hatching chick, with construction paper grass.  

The girls have jogged around the block a few times, while I ride with them, but Monday starts the actual adaptive training program, so we'll be getting a little more serious about our exercise.  I printed the warm up, and I think it might kill us.  

My hope is to get some decent pictures of the kids tomorrow for a new collage.  Have a Happy Easter!