Farm, School and Silly Faces

Lennon's favorite buddy from preschool lives in a different town, so they go to different kindergartens now.  They are both really missing seeing each other, so Evan's mom and I have made a standing Friday afternoon play date.  Last Friday, we met up at a local farm/orchard to feed the animals and pick some apples.  The weather was gorgeous for us and we all had a great time.  Mia loves hanging out with this particular family because she gets her baby fix with Evan's precious little sister, Quinn.

 I couldn't manage to get a shot with all four kids looking at the camera.  There was also a much better place all nicely set up for photo ops, but my camera wasn't cooperating.  Or, it is quite possible that it was a user error.




Mia and I are working on a science curriculum this year called Noeo Science: Biology II.  So far so good.  Except, the set came with all kinds of fun stuff including a microscope that was supposed to be great.  It was, we discovered, not so great.  Manageable, yes, but not very good at all.  We ordered this one on Amazon and it is much much cooler and wasn't ever very expensive at all.  Mia loves inspecting different things under the microscope and she is doing a great job at sketching what she sees.

In history, we are studying the middle ages.  Here, Mia is holding up her Medieval Illumination art project.  She was really proud of it and only wished she could have decorated it with some real gold flecks like a real monk would have.  Sadly, we were out of real gold flecks the day she worked on this project.


Lastly, but certainly not least, here is a silly face spread for you to enjoy.  See who you think has the silliest face.

Cheating Produce

Lennon: There are red, yellow and green apples.  The green ones are the only ones that are cheating.  Well, they aren't cheating, but I don't know how to say it.  The green ones are the only apples that aren't a primary color.

Even Busier?

Today Mia went to audition for a local children's theatre musical that will be in December.  If she is cast, we will officially be busier than we've ever been before.  Already, Lennon has school from 8:10 until 11:40 during which time, Mia and I get most of her school work done, outside of an occasional reading assignment that needs finishing or a science project.  It may not seem like a big deal, but for us home schoolers, being up, dressed and out of the house by 7:45 every day is a big change!

Here's our week at a glance:
Monday: Mia has theatre at The Stoneham Theatre from 3:30-4:40.  This week, I let her walk home by herself.  It was scary for me, even though it's a straight shot home and only about 1/4 mile, but Shelby said he went further than that on his bike at her age, so I went for it.  She was so proud of herself.

Tuesday: Lennon has swimming class through Boston University from 2:15 until 2:45.

Wednesday: Lennon has gymnastics from 3:30 until 4:30

Thursday: Mia and Lennon have music school at The Real School of Music from 1:00 until 2:30 followed by a private piano/voice lesson for Mia until 3:00

Fridays we currently are reserving for field trips and play dates, although we may occasionally take advantage of the art classes at the MFA here.

If Mia is cast in Auntie Claus, she will be adding to her busy schedule rehearsals on Wednesdays and Thursdays from 4 until 6!

We are working pretty hard on school this year too.  We're onto The Middle Ages in history, lots of fractions in math, reading about an 18th century ship navigator from Salem for language arts, biology, and lots and lots of music and dancing all day long.  Mia painted a precious little portrait of The Lady of The Lake holding Excalibur out for Arthur.  I'll see if I can get it scanned in to post here.

I don't have a relevant picture to post here, so I'll just leave you with a precious one of my two little lovies from our summer camping trip to New Hampshire.  Someday maybe, I'll post the pics from that trip.  :)

More Lennonisms

After dinner just now, Lennon said: I am stuffed!  I thought I was almost full, so I took another bite.  But, actually, I was already filled, so now I am stuffed!

Yesterday we were talking about different states of matter and he asked if there were any times that a solid could move through a solid when a liquid could not.  I don't know the answer.  If anyone thinks they know, I'd be happy to hear you out.  Shelby suggested that maybe it could be.  Possibly when a nail pierces through metal where water could not?  Any thoughts?

Lennon's sign for Mia and Me

First Day of Kindergarten and Faery Festival

I can't believe it. My little baby boy went to kindergarten. It was a bit of a crazy week for him to start, but he loved it and did wonderfully! We arrived home from Texas on Wednesday afternoon around lunch time - we were there for my amazing grandfather, Bill's, funeral. After having some lunch and dropping our bags off at home, Lennon had his first day of gymnastics. The next morning, bright and early, we had to wake the little guy up to have some breakfast and get ready for school. He had requested for breakfast, an "oatmeal buffet" and sausage. An oatmeal buffet is really just oatmeal with various toppings set out in bowls for him to add to his liking. At school, we realized that there were two of the sweet girls from his preschool class in his kindergarten class. He was very excited about that! His class is a half day class, so they go from 8:10 until 11:40. I think it is going to be harder for me than for him to adjust to being up and ready for the day at that early time. Each day parents are supposed to pack a snack and drink for their child. I packed him water and a banana and apparently, "all the other kids were the luckiest kids in the world." They had items like cookies, gummies, juice boxes etc. I conceded that Fridays could be juice box days, but that I wasn't going to be sending him in with sugar and junk food to fuel his brain.

 He seemed happy the next day, friday, with his juice box, sugar peas and grapes. He had art on Thursday and gym on Friday and seemed to really enjoy both. One of the biggest reasons I didn't want to send him yet was his lack of interest in writing. Well, today while Mia and I were away at a festival (I'll talk more about that later) he made us a very sweet sign for the door for our arrival home. Shelby said he didn't need any direction aside from spelling the words. I guess he may be ready after all. After dropping him for his first day, I took Mia out to a local coffee shop to get a special treat and have some girl time before her chiropractor appointment. She got a whip lash from some bungy trampoline thingy she did in NH last month. I talked to her all about dropping her off for her first day of kindergarten and then crying my eyes out over coffee with Shelby and little baby Lennon. I can't believe that was five years ago. She's so big and grown up now.

 Today, I went with Mia and our neighbor Holly to a Faery Festival at a nearby museum called The Wenham Museum. There were crafts, stories, dress up, very expensive pictures that we did not partake in, and a very cute little "tea" party. They served pink lemonade instead of tea. As we were walking back to the car we noticed The Wenham Tea Room. I told Mia we could not eat there as it wasn't in the budget, but we could go check it out for some future date. Well, once inside, I decided that she and I could share something and she would be thrilled. So, we had a little ladies brunch and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Mia was glowing!

 While we were doing our girly thing, Shelby and Lennon stayed home to work on Lennon's prototype game, World Disasters. They had it finished when we got home, so we played a round and worked out some kinks. He plans to make more and sell them at the home school craft fair this November. It was really pretty fun and everything worked pretty well. I think when we get some more polished products it will be pretty awesome.

Blurry, but the only shot I got of him with his eyes open having his beloved "oatmeal buffet"

Lennon with sweet girls Olivia and Keira from The Purpose School

There is construction going on at the middle school, so the parking lots are all blocked off which caused it to be super hectic getting everyone into school on the first day.  Up here, parents aren't allowed to walk in with their kids on the first day of school.  It makes me sad, but it's just the way it is.  The teachers say it's much better for the ones who tend to get upset.

Mia about to listen for instructions on how to make a flower pen

Mia and Holly sitting down for out tea party

The cute little table with goodies.

My favorite little Fairy!