Spring is HERE!

We are all so thrilled that spring has sprung in our neighborhood! The red oak and pecan trees are so amazing to look at with their tiny little leaves coming out. We have really been trying to enjoy the weather and spending lots of time outside. Last week we read out Bible and other books on the trampoline! It was great!

A fews days ago we went on a nature study in our neighborhood. The first shot is of the kids sitting on our neighbors sidewalk sketching their pear tree. As you can probably tell Nathan is saying "mom.. i cant do it very good!" One of the things Nate is blessed with is a brain that is filled with knowledge well beyond his Kindergarten age. His handwriting and drawing are improving dramatically but he wants to draw as well as his oldest sister.. who has 5 years more practice than he does :) So I encouraged him and of course gave him a few pointers.. and he was happy with his end result. :)


The flowers are from our front yard..The kids sketched these too!

Here is Nate showing me he has just finished this slide puzzle .. It was exactly right when I had him hold it up but when I snapt the picture the top part "slid" over.. but you get the idea.
I have to add here.. I have tried and tried to work this very puzzle but I cant ever complete it. Its amazing to me that he can! I need to try and find more slide puzzles.. I have looked on the internet but havent had any luck. Any Ideas?

Our Sweet Friend M gave us this Silly Sentence game last night at Church. The kids had so much fun making funny sentences they were laughing and joking around with them for almost an hour. ! (thanks M)

I must say that this last week has been filled with lots of surprises like:

• realizing that the little sugar ants that are trying to intrude my kitchen are actually a learning tool. After a meal one day I walked into the kitchen and found them all around a little dab of jelly that the kids had left on the counter. I hollered at the kids to come look and this led to many questions.. some of which WP would have to answer (world book). Cat also measured the plop of jelly with a centimeter ruler to see how long it was .. the kids then decided to leave it there all day and night to see how long it would take the ants to eat all the jelly. The next morning they were surprised to see that the jelly was tiny and that it was all dried up AND no ants to be found! (This made me realize that I really need to get an ant farm and also have them make some lap books about this)
• The toaster is a lesson in Electricity. At breakfast this morning Cat asked ... "Why can you not put a metal knife in the toaster if the toaster is made of metal?" .. Well. this led her and I into a long talk about Electricity, good conductors, bad conductors, lightening rods, grounds, .. all sorts of things.
  
• How one simple question can turn into a lesson.. Joseph asked how many milliseconds are in a second? He read in a National Geographic Kids magazine that every day the Earth adds a Millisecond .. thus increasing our day.. and that is why we have leap year.
  
• When the kids LOVE a book (From the mixed up files...) they ask over and over if I will read it to them.. then when I read and say I am finished for the day the say "ahhhh.. plllleeease mom.. another chapter!" .. oh its great!.. They love it when I read to them.
  

I am pleased with the kids and their math lessons.. Jo came in today saying he had completed four pages because he wanted to get to the next lesson! Nathan had a few he skipped but when I asked him the questions orally he is able answer three digit addition questions in his head!

Thanks for reading!
blessings!