Thursday, August 10, 2017

Archeology and Another Fun Visitor!

 In order to continue our learning throughout the summer I try to do lots of fun things with the kids besides just their workbooks!  This year, I put together an archeology activity that was a lot of fun!  First, we used string to section off 6 quadrants and I buried some artifacts.  They kids were the archeologists and had to dig in the rocks to find the artifacts!!  They had a lot of fun doing this!
When they found an artifact they had a log sheet where they recorded their findings!



 It took quite some time to find all the artifacts and log which quadrant they were found in and where.    But they kids were so proud once they had found them all!!

 Next, we came inside and the kids had to record their findings.  For each quadrant, they recorded what they found, described each artifact, and made guesses as to which ancient civilization they thought the artifacts might be from.  They determined that the artifacts were all from ancient Egypt!  Then I had a neat book with lots of information and pictures that we read together and learned lots about ancient Egypt!  It was so fun!

 To continue their work as archeologists, they each had a block with gemstones in it that they had to excavate :)  I found them at Target awhile ago and they were so perfect!!  Everyone thought it was super neat to uncover their gems!
 Elsie was downright amazed by it :)

 For the last part of our archeology activity, I bought some actual Papyrus like they used in ancient Egypt and we studied the ancient Egyptian alphabet.  Then the kids each wrote me a secret message on the papyrus using the hieroglyphic alphabet!!

 The messages were very sweet :)  Elsie chose to just make some art with glitter glue:)
 One day, while Jane was at a special activity days activity at church, Beckham, Elsie and I had a fun little adventure.  We went to the University rock wall.  They were each scared at first, but caught on and got braver and higher with each attempt :)

 We had a special treat this summer! My mom came out to visit us! We were so thrilled to have another visitor.  It had been nearly 2 years since she has made it out to see us, so we knew we had to have some fun adventures with her.  We decided to visit Branson.  On the way, we stopped at the Osceola cheese factory.  I love this place. It has the most wonderful and unique flavors of cheese and tons of treats.

 Once we made it to Branson, we visited the butterfly palace first.  We love this place. Here we are looking at some cool reptiles.
 This cute little, fat frog was my favorite.  He was just chillin and was so darling :)
 The mirror maze is a favorite for my kiddos!
 Then we went into the amazing butterfly habitat!  The kids got to hold and examine all different kinds of unique butterflies.


 The butteries were very friendly:)

 Then we went to a very fun dinner show called the Dixie Stampede!
 During the pre show, Jane got picked to go on stage and play the banjo!  It was awesome :)
 Dinner was delicious, as usual...
 And I just love the show:) We had a blast!
 Then we stopped by an alpine roller coaster just before embarking on the journey home.  Elsie got Grammy to be very brave and go full speed all the way down :)
 It was so amazing just to have Grammy with us.  Here we are eating a yummy homemade apple pie that we bought at the shops on Mainstreet in Warrensburg :)
 Grammy was a trooper the entire time as the kids fought for her attention constantly.  She is such fun Grammy and spent lots of special time with each of them.  Here she is helping the kiddos build an epic fort !!
 We loved having Grammy with us! I miss being near family. Hopefully, that will change soon :) Thanks for coming, Mom!  We loved every second of it :)

Last, but not least, here is Jane...sans braces!!  She got them off and has just a beautiful smile!!

Tuesday, July 25, 2017

Goodbyes, Fun and Family Time!!

 After we dropped Aunt Natalie off to the airport, we decided to break up the long drive by stopping at Science City!!  It was the perfect place to stop.  The kids had a blast and enjoyed being able to stretch their legs a bit.  Here they are playing with magnetic sand!

 They all went into the tornado tunnel!!
 There was lots of science to be explored!!

 The sound section was fun!!  Beckham made the wind blow the chimes in the tree.

 Jane was the only one tall enough to ride the sky bike!! Poor Beckham was definitely disappointed!

 He had fun making electricity on the Hamster wheel though!
 Elsie fell in love with this fluffiest of bunnies:)


 There was even an outdoor section!  Its such a shame we live so far away from this fun stuff!!  The kiddos had a blast exploring every part of Science City!
 Naturally, the water section was a favorite!
 This summer has been a tough one for Beckham.  His besets friend of all time, Sam, moved away at the end of June.  So we spent a lot of time with him and their family.  They have been the greatest neighbors and friends.  When they left poor Beckham cried and cried.  It may take him awhile to get over this- poor kid.  But I know he will be ok :)
 Here are Sam and Beckham at Twister sports together!
 Elsie and Sam's little sister became pretty good pals too:(
 Here we are with all the neighbor kids at kids movie day!  Sam made a scrapbook for Beckham of their time together and Beckham painted a frame with a picture of them in it for Sam.  They will be pen pals forever, I hope.
 Luckily, we have had a lot of chances to spend time with family this summer! It has been a nice distraction for Beckham.  We drove 7 hours to Mississippi to see Christina and her family!!! It was so so fabulous!! One day we went and fed hundreds of ducks!!




 All the kiddos :)
 We had to do some shopping, of course!!  Here we are at Target and we went to Christina's favorite store for Bargains!!
 Some of the fam on the couch together...Awe!!!:)
 While the bigger girls were usually upstairs playing together so nicely!!
 Here are Beckham and grandpa spending some much needed guy time watching Curious George :)
 We went to this darling farm to watch some fireworks another evening!  It was sweltering hot...but still so fun :) Here is Beckham in the Zip Line!
 Harper coming down this awesome slide!
 The kids watching a goofy chicken show
 We got to see and pet lots of neat farm animals!


 And even ride horses!! Elsie was loving every second of this!!

 I laughed at this picture of Ryan and Terry on the hay ride- haha!! They look like they are truly loving this!!
 At least the kids loved it...
 I need one of these in my house for sure!!
 Here is everyone settled in to see the fireworks!!
 The show was actually very awesome!!!
 These cute kiddos had so much fun together!!

We also had a blast one night at the YMCA pool!!!  It was so fun to see all of Christina's stomping ground!

After we met the guys for dinner at CiCi's pizza!! It was so yummy.  Jane loved chunky Hazel so much!!
Saying Goodbye wasn't easy but hopefully we will see them all again soon!! Once again I forgot to get even one picture of Christina and I together :-/ But, I will at least always remember this fun get together!!