June in a Nutshell

The school awards ceremony was actually the very last day of May, but we'll throw it in here anyway.  

Certificates were awarded.  

Applause happened.  

Summer camp at Wolf Mountain.

It's nice to be hitting some of the same places they went last year, because I'm starting to get familiar with the route.  (Matilda still goes straight to the car wash after leaving the gravel roads.)

We started the process for a new leg.  We've actually got the leg now, we just need to go back soon for a different foot that's on order.

My dad & step mom were here for a visit, and we took the kids to the new Museum of Science and Curiousity.

It was a fun place to spend a few hours.  Lots of hands on exhibits.  

It's the kind of place I'd want a membership to if my kids were little.  

It was a nice visit, and I'm glad my girls got to spend a little time with grandparents.  I feel bad for them because the older kids got a lot more grandparent time, when we all lived closer together.  

My dad with Jack and Josiah.

And Bri made a quick trip to our area for a bridal shower weekend.  It was wonderful to see her, and she and I took the girls to a local rock shop.  Bri knows so much about rocks and minerals, and she just lit up explaining things to the girls while we were there.  

I fired up Crikey to make a journal for our trip.  (And then I was terrible about writing in it while we were on vacation.)  

Some bibs I made for the grandbabies.  There's an avocado one that's not finished, but I have to take my serger in for a spa day before I can complete it.  The farmer's market, watermelon, and banana prints came from the March quilt show.  The striped yellow coordinate was in a batch of stuff someone from church gave me.  The green, I picked up at JoAnn's.  The argyle and dots were leftovers from reversible toddler pants I made years ago.  

Our Week

This week, we're learning about India!  I need to get motivated to visit the Indian market to pick up some treats.  Good thing we're in most countries for two weeks.  

Big milestone!  We finished Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day!  Many people use this as a year long curriculum, but we kind of "flew" through it faster than that, and it ended up being more of a semester long program for us.  (They recommend doing science twice a week, but we did it 4-5 times per week.)  We will be starting Swimming Creatures of the Fifth Day as soon as our notebooks arrive.  

Our Global Art project last week was a modified version of the No-Ruz centerpiece.  Instead of a bowl, we used a dessert plate.  Instead of a box, we made round placemats.  And instead of magazine pictures, we used stickers.  

The seeds quickly sprouted, and started arcing toward the window, which prompted more discussion and learning.  

When I showed the girls that the sprouts could be eaten, they were shocked, but I notice there are a lot fewer sprouts on Katie's plate now.  

A friend posted a challenge to do more art/engage in more creative pursuits in the new year, so I was inspired to fire up Crikey and get started on Chinese New Year cards and envelopes to send to the adult children.  

Here's hoping Year of the Ox turns out better than Year of the Rat has been!  

In the spirit of making things, I stopped at the fabric store to celebrate surviving the dentist.  (I had a loose crown.)  Brianna loves rocks and crystals, so this material reminded me of her.  I snapped the pic to ask her if she needed a crystal mask.  

Turns out, she did!  So I made Valentine, St. Patrick's Day, and animal print masks while I was at it.  I've got quite a few cat and dog print masks.  Might need to donate a batch to the animal shelter.  

Katie made a pipe cleaner chameleon.  

Ah yes!  There's something that shows that we're learning about India!  The Taj Mahal.  

Our reading list was kind of skimpy on Saudi Arabia, so I got the girls book on several other Middle Eastern countries while we were working on Saudi Arabia.  Fortunately, there are a lot more recommendations for India, plus the additional books I come across when I'm searching.  

Hoping I make it to the library today, as I have 16 more books waiting for us, and then I'll be able to start requesting books for our next country:  China!  

I grew up with peacocks living in the field/hills beside and behind our house.  You hear them, but their cries become part of the background noise once you get used to it.  Peacocks are native to India, so this seemed like a good time for us to read more about them and learn to draw them.  

It's unfortunate that the zoos are closed, because one of the semi-local zoos has peacocks roaming the grounds, and even had a gorgeous white peacock with albinism last time we were there.  It would have been fun to visit and see them again.  

Grumman, as usual, being super helpful when I try to set something up to take a picture.  Sneak preview of a book we'll be reviewing soon.  I just noticed I don't like the lighting here.  I'll have to try these again.  Minus the cat, if possible.  

If you have Disney +, we watched India From Above this week, and it was really interesting!  From a polling place for ONE person, to military camels, to an ultra marathon up a mountain, we saw a lot of fascinating things.  I'm looking forward to the coming week, in which I hope we'll watch a documentary about India's Wild Leopards, and do a peacock craft.  

Our Week

Last week found me making alterations to the adult XS scrubs I bought for Hannah's Halloween costume the night before Halloween.  

I did custom lengths to accommodate her limb difference and prosthetic, and was surprised at how far off the two sides really are.  

After Halloween, I un-hemmed them, ran them through the wash, and will pass them on to our favorite tiny nursing student.  

Hannie-poo went as a doctor, and Katie-bug went as a lion (makeup by Brianna)

Also makeup by Brianna.  She scared the DoorDash dude.  

I took the girls to a drive through scavenger hunt put on by our church.  It was pirate themed.  They got candy and assorted booty, including Chik Fil A cards we'll have to put to good use soon.  

While we were out for the Halloween hunt, we stopped by the library to scare up some books.  

Our Parisian Sunset pictures.  I used Crikey to cut out some Eiffel Towers, and we used marker to make a sunset background for them.  I actually did another Cricut project this week, but I need to wait for permission before I share it.  

We were going to do another fun project, making models of Parisian landmarks, printed on cardstock, but my printer died this week.  It's been fickle and persnickety for a while, and it finally wheezed it's last.  Even the photocopy feature is gone now.  Hoping to replace it in the coming week.  It's hard to homeschool without one!  

The prescribed art project in our curriculum this week was silhouettes.  

It did not go well.  

Hannah's came out better because I stepped in and traced her.  

Grumman, judging me, from his flag-free perch.  

We watched a couple Nat Geo Kids videos about France, and Bertie curled up with Hannah.  

Grumman is not a lap cat, at all, but he does like to be near us, and he does enjoy videos.  

In keeping with our France theme, the girls also watched The Hunchback of Notre Dame in their down time.  

Katie's work-in-progress travel poster.  She is planning to print a map of Europe and mark the featured locations on it.  When we can print again.  

Our Eat2Explore box for France was another hit!  This was the beef stew.  

And this...  I'm going to call "French inspired" rather than strictly French.  I was tired, and didn't really follow the instructions.  I pulled everything out that was on the recipe page, and after the first step or two, just did my own thing.  But the masses were pleased with it, so I'm calling it a win.  

Why was I tired?  Because Josiah had his wisdom teeth out.  We're waiting for his prescriptions here, after the procedure.  

The girls did drawings from a library book, How to Draw France's Sights and Symbols.

I've seen some real improvement in Hannah's drawing this year.  

More books.  We actually got down to only 40 (of 60 possible) books on hold at one point because I forgot to add new ones when we brought these home.  This has since been remedied.  

Grumman checking out the new science selections.  I swear he's been interested in our Flying Science this year.  From gnawing the notebooks, to watching bird & butterfly videos, to giving the pteranodon books an extra sniff, he monitors it all.  

Bertie had next to no body fat when she came back, so she loved to lay in front of the space heater to keep warm.  I'd turn it on for her whenever she went over to it, so she wouldn't be losing extra calories trying to regulate her body temp.  

She was down to 1# 9 oz when she came back to us.  (She'd been 2# when we dropped her off.)  But she quickly thrived here, with people to snuggle her and Grumman to chase her, so she's back at the shelter awaiting her surgery again.  

I'm missing my furry little friend today.    

From 12 ounces... to 2#7 ounces.  Bertie the first day we had her, and Bertie the last day we had her.  A beautiful cat with a sweet purrsonality.  She left paw prints on my heart.  

Okay [sniff] back to homeschool stuff.  

I added a "day trip" to Greece, since we were about France-d out.  Since (broken record here) my printer is broken, I used Crikey to cut some flag pieces for the girls to DIY their passport flags.  

This proved to be more of a challenge for Hannah and Katie than I was expecting.  Note to self, might want to pull out some spatial awareness puzzles for them.  

I sent a Halloween care package to Sam and got a "proof of life delivery" photo from the delivery lady.  So good to see my boy on US soil again, even though he's still far away.  

Eli is even farther away now, and his Halloween box has yet to get to him, unfortunately.  Knowing this, I ordered his Christmas packages this morning, hoping they'll get to him by Christmas.  Fortunately, he's a good sport, and we've learned to be flexible with all things military over the years.  

Up next, we'll be learning about Germany!  We'll be adding a couple of "day trips" in the next two weeks, when the library books I've requested get here (and this time, I have the flags).  Looking forward to castles and some tasty German snacks.