Summer Weather is Here!

Dear Kiddos, 

I'm afraid to say that the Texas heat has slowly nudged out the awesome weather we've been having. As the temperature was creeping up last week, we were given a whole day of rain, which cooled things down a bit for a few days. You all had the great idea of playing outside after lunch and you guys were out there for over an hour. I enticed you all to come in with some warm hot chocolate and you all quickly took up my offer. 

 Martial arts is still going strong. We have the opportunity to do martial arts 4 days a week, so we've been trying to get it in 2 times a week. Our neighbor comes over to do martial arts with Hannah and as you can see, I had to put down a dividing line to help keep you both separated.

 Nathan is in the Jrs. class now, so you have class at a different time. Today, Hailey asked for something long...and after about 5 minutes, you finally were able to communicate that you wanted a belt too. So, I gave you one of Hannah's old belts and you practiced martial arts with Nathan for a good portion of the time.

Earlier in the week, we've been eating most of our meals outside. I cut open a big watermelon and gave each of you a huge, juicy slice. Hailey, you were in heaven. You looked it the slice with big eyes and asked me, "that for Hailey?!" 

Another day this week, we made lemon bars. Again, I pretty much let you guys take over and the lemon bars were a success.

 Sometimes we go on hikes around the lake in our neighborhood. It's actually only a 5 minute walk away and it's a cool place to go skip throw rocks, look for turtles, and collect snail shells.

 We collected a bag full of shells to take home for a project.

 The clay that I had ordered awhile ago finally arrived, so we busted it out and made fairy houses.

 We still have to paint and seal the houses, but soon we will be able to set up our fairy village.

On Friday, the sun was out and the weather reached above 85 degrees. You guys have been begging for us to take out the slip n' slide every day but it's been too cool. Finally, the weather was warm enough and we had an impromptu water day.

 It ended up being quite the splash as our next door neighbors came over and another family (who kid is in Hannah's class) also stopped by and decided to join us. Us parents kept our distance and occasionally we had to yell, "space" but it was cool to see you guys all have so much fun! Even the little toddlers were so excited to have little spray bottles.

Saturday morning, we went to the SH45 trail for a bike ride again. This time, the wildflowers were not as showy, although we did see a lot of sunflowers in bloom. 

 The wind was pretty strong, but we pushed through and rode 7 miles.

 Today we spent a pretty chill day at home. After school work, we played with Legos until lunch. Hannah had an assignment to make a marble run, so you made one with Legos. Nathan, you had a 3-D marble run in mind, so you attempted to build one semi-successfully. I think I'm going to see if we can watch the show Master Builder to try to inspire you guys to create things with your Legos. Maybe we can come up with a system to organize all the pieces...

but that seems like an impossible task. Am I right?

 Hailey, your imagination is starting to take off. I often catch you playing pretend with just random things around the house. Your ability to accept, "No" has also taken off. We have been having daily meltdowns with you not being able to accept, "No" from me. You will lay on the floor, scream at the top of your lungs, "I want to [insert dangerous or unreasonable request here]!" I've pulled out my best tricks and you don't fall for them. Finally after about 40 minutes of throwing a tantrum, you will change your mantra to, "I want Mommy" This is when I swoop in, and can talk some sense into you after a few moments of snuggles.

Well, that's about it for now. We have 2 more weeks of school left and then summer officially kicks off. I think I'm going to come up with a simple curriculum for us to continue a routine because it is likely that we will be stuck in the house for most of the summer. I've made a reservation at the wildflower center for the morning, so hopefully that will be a place where we can escape to once in awhile.

Until next week,
Love,
Mommy