February 21-February 27th

Almost every morning, the kids spend about a half hour each (sometimes an hour to an hour and a half if they are playing a website or game together). The also spend most mornings doing art projects or playing with their bendaroos or playdough.

Monday-They went to the dinosaur play area on Monday. We had the girls do some math (adding and subtracting for Amara and mulitple digit adding and subtracting for Ava). They also did some phonics (thanks to Star fall for the great free printable program). Ava knows all her phonics but it is a great refresher as she learns to read more and more complex sentences.

Tuesday-Amara did math and phonics work, while Ava read because she stapled her finger earlier while making her own story book so she couldn't hold a pencil. Michael's family came over to visit and the children played with their one year old nephew. They showed him how to play with their old baby toys. We watched "Ghost Hunters International", a show they love. They are very interested in paranormal activity. They have asked to go on a ghost hunt, but I told them they needed to wait until they got a little older. The kids watched a video on Rome's architecture. We watched "House" with the kids and they asked a million questions about medical things (what is an I.V., what is a cat scan? etc). They girls helped me make cheese cake (shout out Alton Brown for his awesome recipe!!)It turned out great!

Wednesday- They went to a day daycare while mom and dad had a much needed date night. They played basketball, tag, dress up, painted, and played other games with children (all in 2 hrs time!)Today was one of those days that everyone just needed a break and though we got home later, we felt so refreshed.

Thursday- Today we had a house cleaning day! We covered the whole house top to bottom! IT is always a refreshing feeling when you clean up the weeks worth of clutter and activities. The girls are reading (Ava about tadpoles and Amara about butterflies). All week long we have been working with the kids on training the dog. He now knows how to sit and we are working on stay. They are getting along great!!
We are about to go to gymnastics, and Amara is excited to be able to start next week.

Friday-We drove out to my school so I could submit a scholarship application. We then went to the mall to let the kids play. When we arrived, we discovered that a bearing had gone bad on our back tire so the kids and I sat at the mall (both letting them play at Dinosaur land and walking around) while Michael fixed it. I took them to the candy store where they each counted out 27 cents in change in order to buy a peice for themselves. Ava did not even have to think about it. She immediately grabbed a quarter and two pennies. I am so proud of how fast they are learning. Since our day was pretty much spent waiting for Michael to fix the car, we didn't get time to do anything else. Oh well. Some days just happen like that.

Saturday- It was gorgeous outside! The kids and I took the dog for a walk to say hello to Michael at the thrift store where he volunteers.It took an hour to walk what would normally be a 20 minute walk because the kids constantly wanted to stop and play in the snow. Then I took them to the school park to play. There is a big hill there (we can't sled on it because it leads directly to the road) but the kids rolled down it and tried to slide on their stomaches like penguins. After being outside a tad bit too long, we came home and decided to rest. We watched National Geographic videos on the computer. First we watched one about Hobbits that lived 18,000 years ago in the Island of Flores. Then we watched one about life on an oil rig (this one was only about 5 minutes long). Then one about arachnophobia and finally one called "The Pirate's Code" about a man looking for a sunken pirate ship and the history of the ships captain. Sam Bellamy.