Bottineau and the International Peace Gardens

Yesterday we headed out to Bottineau, ND so John could pop in to his 20th High School Reunion and we could visit Grandma and Grandpa.  Boo had to come with us because we couldn't find anyone to watch her- she was hilarious in the van so I had to share a couple pictures of that.

Here she is roasting herself up on the dashboard and below is her trying to get as close to John as she could even though he's the one who pretends not to like her as much as the rest of us.

 

Today we drove up to Canada to see the International Peace Gardens- how is it that I've never been there???  It was beautiful and a perfect day to be there.  Great weather and not too many people.

 

There was a cactus exhibit in a greenhouse that was so interesting!  I've never seen so many cacti in one place.  The kids thought it was fun to act like they were going to poke their fingers on the sharpest looking ones.

 

 

 

 

We tried to get some good pictures of our family for our dossier but my kids have trouble with family photos... there's a lot of blinking, wincing, crazy smiles, ect.  Plus I never like how I look... ugh.

Apparently the kids have no trouble taking pictures with their grandparents though!

We stopped later and went on a little walk and played and rested a bit.

 

It was a good day.

Planet Comparisons & a Picnic

 

Today Mickey was studying the planets in Science and one of the suggested activities was to do a planet comparison with objects around the house.  Happily, it was a warm day outside so we all decided to head to the backyard and the 3 kids worked on the activity together(this happens often).  We had to make a couple of substitutions(we couldn't find an acorn) but we made it work and it was very interesting and educational.  The kids had the order of the planets memorized in no time and we noticed how small the planets closest to the Sun were... then they get large in the middle... and get smaller again further out.  I never realized that before!  One of the things I love about homeschooling(among MANY) is all the things I am learning along with the kids!  So cool...

We decided eating lunch outside from a real picnic basket was in order and the weather couldn't have been more beautiful!  After the winter we had we are soaking up every drop of sun we can get!

 

 

I read to them from The Five Little Peppers after lunch(outside of course!) and then they played the rest of the afternoon.  I love these days with my kiddos!

 

Oh, and I had to include this.  We believe this is a Red-Breasted Grouse Beak.  I love it's coloring and they've been hanging out a lot lately.  I finally got a picture(even if it is fuzzy)!

Kite Day!

Today we took the kids to Kite Day at Ed Clapp Park in Fargo.  It was sponsored by the Fargo Parks and Rec and there was free hot dogs, pop, and kites!  Thank goodness we got there early because I guess they run out of all of that fairly quickly since it is such a popular event.  We brought our neighbor, Norah, with us- poor Emma was home sick with the flu. :(  We snagged her a kite though!
As you can see from the pictures, it was FA-REEZING out and very windy.  We were determined to make the best of it though and we did!

A couple of the kites flew REALLY well so the kids took turns with those.
The free kites were actually a very decent quality and made of nylon so that was a nice surprise!

There were so many really cool kites there- I know this picture didn't capture that very well...

After about 1/2 hour or so of flying, the kids began migrating over to the playground and that's when the stunts began!

I had 2 jackets on(one of which was my winter coat), a scarf, mittens, and a hat... I was still cold.

 

 

 

 

 

The kids did this jumping thing for about an hour.  They would jump and then run to me to view it on my phone, laugh & remark about how it "was a good one" and then make their plans to do it again.  I wish I had brought my big camera but they still turned out pretty cool.
After this we went to the library(which was right by the park) to warm up and get some books-
it turned out to be a pretty fun kite day after all despite the cold.

Happy Earth Day!

The kids put together a rainforest puzzle today in honor of Earth Day. :)

Look at this pumpkin plant Mickey is growing!!

He planted it at the last Kid Quest. 

This book:  The Practical Naturalist is so great- if you have a nature-lover in your family I highly reccommend it!

Happy Presiden't Day!

The kids were excited to wear their president shirts again this year- still fit! They had school unfortunately- boo. At least everyone got to see them though!

Valentine's Day part 2

For supper on Love Day we had our traditional strawberry pancakes- this time I made them in the shape of hearts- I can't remember if I've ever done that before...

Poor Harriet... couldn't have any pancakes. She sat with us though and looked cute!

We also had our annual Valentine's Day scavenger hunt. It is always exciting- I'm glad we started this tradition when we moved here.

At the end of the hunt they found their special treats: Mary Beth got a new small Friends lego set, Mickey got the movie: Bedknobs and Broomsticks, and Jeffrey got a new dragon Thomas train for our set. They all got bouncy balls and gomu erasers. Harriet got a special ball for babies that are easy to grab. :) I was recording the hunt so I didn't get many pictures...

It was another awesome Valentine's Day around here! And extra special this year because we had a sweet little visitor with us!

Valentines!

Here are the kids' special Valentine's treats from my mom and dad- so cool! The kids LOVED it! And even Mary Beth's American Girl got a package!

Isn't that adorable? MB was beside herself...

Today we also finished up the classroom valentines. Mary Beth and I made each child in her class a hot/cold pack using rice, flax seed, and peppermint essential oil. I got the idea here.

She loves loves loves sewing and craft projects... I wonder where she gets that from??

Obviously this was quite a bit of work for a class of 24 students but I think it was worth it... they turned out really cute and MB and I had tons of fun making them.

And meanwhile we had a special little baby hanging out with us for 6 days! More baby pictures to come... she was so sweet and the John, I and the kids adored having her here.

I have more Valentine's prep pictures coming too!