Here in Oregon the rains are coming soon and at that point we'll have to move indoors for much of the fall and winter. Now is the time to bust the seams and enjoy the dry grass and last warmth of summer. I think I have just as much fun as the boys do.

Do you have memories of places and wide open spaces when you were a kid that made you feel that urge to run free? Play fort?

Share/Save

Photo Credit

Playdough Recipe (Thanks to one very special friend- Love you P!)

2 Cup Flour
1/2 Cup Salt
2 Tbs. Cream of Tartar
2 Cups Water
4 tsp. Oil

1.) Combine the above ingredients  in a saucepan adding the dry first and then including the wet.

2.) Turn on heat to medium. This will look in the beginning like it will never become playdough- it will just keep stiring.

3.) Stir until one dough ball is formed, careful to not burn! Takes about 5 minutes, maybe a little more.

4.) Add in desired food coloring and knead.

We LOVE this recipe. I made ours about 2 months ago and it is still soooo smooth each time I get it out for the boys that I don't want to hand it over. It is especially fun to knead the warm dough!! Dream.

Share/Save

After all five of the caterpillars have morphed to chrysalides and affixed themselves to the paper layer on the top of the cup, you are to remove the layer and pin it to the inside of a mesh cadge that comes with the butterfly kit. Just about 7 days later they begin to emerge from the skin-like shells. After that we release them to the wild, just in time too because our kitties were serious about hunting them and tried over and over to bite them through their mesh habitat indoors.

So those are the stages of the metamorphosis of a Painted Lady Butterfly- but do not fear, we did not release these without proper study of them which the boys loved every second of.

Just because now we know them, let me share some butterfly facts with you:

Did you know that they suck the nectar out of oranges?? That was fun to watch! Did you know that they taste with their feet? That they have 4 wings? 10,000 eyes?? That she breathes through her abdomen? That they only live for 2-4 weeks and that in that time a single butterfly could travel 1,000 miles??

For those of you not fluent in kidwrit the message above says  "Ukweryoom" (Aquarium) with a line to "Kadupilrs" (caterpillars) and another to their trapped and on exhibit for a very limited time "Flise" (Flies). I noticed that there are fingerprints on my lens, but I just couldn't resist showing this pic- it was way too cute.

Then came time for release of these little new-found winged friends.

Look at those kids faces!! I can only say that if I were the butterflies, I would fly and fly away very fast for fear of my life!

They are beautiful, the Painted Ladies are so pretty. I have more pictures of post release, on flowers and flitering around the yard, but since this post is already very picture heavy I'll post those shots separately. I hope you enjoyed our butterfly metamorphosis journey- we sure did!!

Want to read our other recent homeschooling posts? Check out  Our One Room Schoolhouse Homeschooling Journey !

Share/Save

Our six year-old son Jackson received a fantastic birthday present this year: his very first skateboard. And of course his parents, being the incredibly responsible individuals they are, outfitted him with an impressive array of protective gear to go along with said skateboard. The poor boy, when he wants to ride the skateboard, has to go through a 15-minute ritual in which he dawns  a space-age helmet and more pads than an NHL goalie. When he's finished, he looks like he's ready to go on American Gladiators.

Jackson has to wear all of this body armor because his skateboard is, in fact, specifically designed to maim him when tries to ride it. The skateboard fulfills its purpose each time it flings Jackson wildly into the air and sends him crashing to the concrete on our back patio.

Think about it: a skateboard is a flat, narrow piece of wood bolted to four small wheels, highly greased so that when force is applied it shoots incredibly fast in whatever direction happens to be convenient. As an illustration for this argument, let's say you're having a friend over for dinner and you want to break his leg when he arrives. I challenge you to find a more efficient way of accomplishing this than simply placing a skateboard right inside the front door and turning the lights out.

Yes indeed, skateboards are dangerous things. Which is why I was so pleased to give one to my son in the hope that he will acquire some truly memorable battle scars this summer. Few things are more important to building a young boy's self confidence than gnarly scabs he can show off to his friends. We didn't just give Jackson a skateboard, we gave him bragging rights.

In these days of rubber-padded playgrounds, class-action lawsuits and safety warnings voluminous enough to fill the Library of Congress, every healthy child should be afforded the opportunity to pick up some good old-fashioned scrapes, bruises, cuts, sprains and minor bodily disfigurements. It's good for them.

My own childhood would have been considerably less satisfying if I had not tried to crack my head open a few times (okay, more than a few times). The street in front of the house I grew up in is probably still marked with a healthy smattering of my flesh and blood. I remember one birthday on which I too opened brightly colored wrapping paper to reveal a four-wheeled death trap and, with a dozen of my friends watching, lugged it to the top of a nearby hill. I placed my foot on the board, took a deep breath, and prepared for my descent into glory. I was planning to swoosh down the hill making long, graceful S-curves, knees bent perfectly, arms casually at my side like a pro. I would then be greeted by the congratulatory shouts of my friends and hearty slaps on the back.

Unfortunately, when I arrived at the bottom of the hill I was no longer on the skateboard. In fact, by the time my limp, battered body tumbled to a stop, the skateboard was on top of me. Behind me, stretching for 20 feet or so on the pavement, was a streak of skin taken from the entire left side of my body. I stood up, dusted myself off, and basked in a different kind of glory: the glory of a man who has just given himself a flesh wound while doing something stupid.

And that's only one example. A few feet away from the scene of my first downhill skateboarding attempt is a curb that permanently bears the indentation of my front teeth. I can still remember that moment, suspended in time, as I went flying over the handle bars of my bicycle with the words "I AM GOING TO DIE" flashing in my brain like a bright yellow neon sign. When I came to, I was slightly disappointed not to find myself standing at the pearly gates with Peter looking down at me and saying in a deep, booming voice, "Well son, you're dead. But that was such an awesome crash, we're going to send you back down again. Props to you."

I'm thinking I might take Jackson to my old street sometime and show him the faded evidence of my past attempts to place myself permanently on a liquid diet. It would probably make him feel a little better about his own gruesome wrecks on our back patio. And it would also emphasize an important lesson that I want both my kids to learn (a lesson I'm struggling to remember in adulthood): life is much more fun, interesting and fulfilling when you're willing to leave some skin on the pavement.

Share/Save

Don't you like it when you can do activities and games that are educational as well as something fun enough that your kids would ask to play?
We have some that we enjoy that I thought I'd share- also I am hoping that you'll give me some more ideas on others we've been missing out on!

In these pictures the boys are both enjoying the Melissa & Doug Pattern Blocks and Boards our friends got them for Jackson, we've loved them!

Some others that we love are, for electronics the LeapFrog® Leapster® Learning Game System works for both kids, however Oliver will grow into it, and Jackson can pretty much do most of the games we have really well. I would recommend it for 4 years old and up, but as early as 3 years old if you want to be right by their side. The games for these are great and very educational. We have:LeapFrog Educational Game: Kindergarten, Mr. Pencil's Learn to Draw and Write, Finding Nemo, Wall-E , Cars Supercharged, Thomas & Friends Calling All Engines!, Scholastic Clifford, Leapster Arcade: Cosmic Math. We bought these when we were going to go on a long trip and they are LIFE-Savers in the car, especially for our oldest since he can completely use the device by himself!!! I was shocked at how educational these really are!

As far as multiple player games go we LOVE Brain Quest Game - Preschool & Kindergarten Edition,any of the Brain Quest cards are really fun, and the  Charley Harper Memory Game.

We are really into floor puzzles as well here are several that we put together all the time:Charley Harper Flash Cards and Floor Puzzles, Melissa & Doug Solar System 48 pcs Floor Puzzle, Melissa & Doug Giant Fire Truck Floor Puzzle, Melissa and Doug Farm Friends 32 pc Floor Puzzle, Melissa & Doug Farm Friends Floor Puzzle - 24 Piece

What are your favourtie educational toys???

Share/Save