The Kids

A few weeks ago, we came home from church and Little Guy didn't find any pants to put on, this is how he showed up for dinner.

Some friends had us over for a Valentine's party on Valentine's Day.  Buddy made this balloon.

PS made this balloon.

Little Guy drew his own storm troopers.

We got our 3D shapes out the other day for math and the kids built towers for fun.

Apparently B approved this, I just wandered upon it in their bathtub although from the picture they took here, it looks like it was once a tub of water on our toilet.

On the way home from the temple last weekend, B was a nice dad and stopped at the Tyson's Corner mall where there is a Lego Store and an American Girl store.  Last time I took them, PS posed with Kanani's shaved ice stand, so this time she did gymnastics with McKenna.

B and PS are currently doing a daddy/daughter book club (just the two of them).  B is reading Gilgamesh, by Stephen Mitchell, and PS's reading Gilgamesh the Hero by Geraldine McCaughrean.  Not sure if she likes it or if it's more like an assignment for her. He has to remind her to do her reading, but she used math manipulatives to build a model of Uruk. (Uruk is the city at the top of the picture. The triangular prism is Shamhat, hiding behind a bush next to a river, and across the river is Enkidu.)

DC Temple

Last Saturday we rode up to the temple with Brandon and while he did a session, we explored the Visitor's Center, saw the movie The Testaments, and walked around the temple grounds.

Valentines

Our LDS Homeschool group had a Valentine's party the Friday before Valentine's Day.  Little Guy gave out Darth Vader cookies, which everyone loved.  PS gave out the googley eyes ones and Buddy gave out Swedish Fish.  This is what B wanted Buddy to do for the Swedish Fish Valentines... we made one for him with the leftover Swedish Fish.

We decorated cookies.

We decorated bags and then put them in a big circle and broke into groups by age to deliver our Valentines.  There was a HUGE turn out this year.

We checked out our look when we got home.

When they woke up on Valentine's morning, this note was on the table with a box of donut holes.  

Stonewall Jackson and other Civil War sites

Stonewall Jackson is a big deal where we live.  On the drive home from Richmond, since we left Monday morning, we stopped on the way home and saw some historic sites.

Stonewall Jackson Shrine.  This is the house he was taken too after he was injured, where he died.

 Then we went to the Fredericksburg Battlefield Visitor's Center so the kids could get stamps in their National Park Passport books and we walked along the Sunken Road.

This stone wall is very old.

Virginia Capitol

A few weekends ago we went to Richmond to visit Mollie Doodle (and the cousins/aunt/uncle).  We have been studying Virginia history this year for Princess Sparkley's 4th grade curriculum, and just read about the capital moving from Jamestown to Williamsburg and finally to Richmond, so we decided to head to the capitol in between our cousins' basketball games. 

Little Guy didn't want me to take his picture, but he was laughing and being so cute as I tried to capture him.

And of course we saw Mollie Doodle.

Lego Madness

The boys' room has run out of flat surfaces on which to store Lego creations so we had them go through some the other day and took pictures of them before we dismantled them.  These are things that Little Guy or Buddy have built.

President's Day Book Club

We belong to a little homeschool book club that changes location and topic each month, meeting at a different family's home.  In early February we had a President's Day book club and talked about Lincoln and Washington.  They made hats, and they had a log cabin building contest.  One of the other moms took pictures.

Dogs

After Little Guy's dog themed birthday party, we were sitting around, not doing much, wondering how many stuffed dogs our family owned. So we gathered them up for a family picture.

Back Row (L to R): Barkers (B), Heart Doggy (B/LG*), Donut (B), M&M (LG), UPS (B), Bubble (LG), Grem (LG), Snoopy (LG), Santa Fe (B), Porkchop (PS/B**), Cuddles Jr. (LG), Finn (LG), Lavender (PS).
Front Row (L to R): Cuddles (N), Caramel (B), Mint (B), Fido (B), Sundae (PS), Spot (B), Spunky (PS), Curly (PS), Chocolate (LG), Candy (LG), Cupcake (PS).
The answer is 24.

* Heart Doggy was bought for baby Buddy who never cared much for it.  We got it back out for baby Little Guy and it's been part of his dog pack for awhile, but Buddy tends to try to steal the dogs that Little Guy owns that he thinks are cute, and Heart Doggy isn't one of Little Guy's favorites, so it changes allegiances frequently.

** We bought Porkchop when I was pregnant with Princess Sparkley but really, Buddy's the one who loves that dog and it lives in his bed.

The Sky

 We've been studying constellations, the moon and the sun for science lately, here are some of our projects.  I got all my ideas from Pinterest.

Buddy (above) and Princess Sparkley (below) each chose six constellations they wanted to learn about.  We painted little pieces of paper, researched, created rough drafts, and then created this final project.  We used a hole punch to make the constellations, then glued them to a bright yellow sheet of cardstock and labeled them.  

We typed up information about the constellations and glued them on back.  Buddy (above) and Princess Sparkley (below).  I ended up doing a lot of Buddy's research, it was fun and he helped me decide what we wanted to include.

 Then we studied about the earth's rotation and seasons.  They had to glue these earths on so that the correct hemisphere was closest to the sun for the correct season drawn on the back corner.  Buddy (above) and Princess Sparkley (below).

 Then, with Oreos, we created the phases of the moon.

Little Guy is 28! In Dog Years.

For Buddy's 6th birthday, we had a dog-themed party.  We basically copied that party and just changed things up a little.

The invitation.  I used a similar invitation idea for Buddy's 4th birthday party. Each bone had party information on it.

The guests arrived (4 guests since he turned 4).  They decorated their good bags, made 

doggy headbands and collars. 

We read the board book, Doggies, by Sandra Boynton to decide what dog bark was going to be ours and practiced making all the dog sounds.

Then we had Doggy Obedience School where the "dogs" learned to sit, lay, speak, roll over, shake and fetch.  They were rewarded with a doggy treat (Scooby snack).

In action at Doggy Obedience School.

We read the book Dog's Colorful Day.  And my sweet husband drew Dog for me.

Our library story time in Kansas did this story and stuck colorful felt circles on a flannel board.  I thought it would be more fun to stick them on Dog.

I told the little kids they could put the dots in the right spots, or just wherever.  After the party, Princess Sparkley rearranged the spots so they were all in the right spot.

We had a little extra time, so we also read Dog's Noisy Day and the kids had to make all the animal sounds.  It was fun.

We also played Doggy, Doggy, whose got your bone?  Sorry, no pictures of that.
And then, since this was supposed to be a Chocolate Lab party, not just a dog party, we had Chocolate Lab cupcakes.

And the goodie bags:

Before going home, the kids got to adopt a dog.  For Buddy's party, I found some Beanie Babies on Ebay, I didn't have time to wait for shipping so these little pups are just from Dollar Tree.

And, it turns out I didn't have any lollipop sticks, so the kids just got peanut butter paw prints.

And frosting the cupcakes took FOREVER, so the doggy bone sugar cookies they got in their goodie bags never got frosted.

They also got Chex Puppy Chow (aka Muddy Buddies), some doggy stickers and a bouncy ball along with their adopted dog.

Little Guy got some great presents.  Legos, which he LOVES!!!  Buddy has already helped him build them all.  He got a super cute dog book called Chowder and a dog puzzle.  And one mom got a Webkinz Lil' Kinz Bulldog (since named Grem) and put it in a little felt bed and made it a collar and a blanket and included a little silicone bowl and a bag of "dog food" which were just chewy Lemonheads.  Super creative.  If we ever do a dog party again (although twice should probably be my limit) that's the sort of gift bag thing I'd like to send the kids home with.