School is out for the summer. We are taking the next two months off of school. Josiah has told everyone that he has the next 61 days off. The kids cannot wait to see all their grandparents and cousins again, go to the beach, ride bikes, and
not do school. Some first day/last day pictures.
And just as quickly as school ended, all the summer reading programs began. We're currently enrolled in two. One of them has the kids reading 300 minutes per month (15 min/day), while the other has them reading 20 books for the whole summer. Caroline pretty much knocked that out in an afternoon. But it's good to keep them reading and motivated. For all the time we're on the road this summer, they'll be getting lots of minutes in anyway. And speaking of road trips, Henry asked me if we were taking the same route this year as in years past. I answered in the affirmative, to which he said, with all seriousness, "Oh good, the deer will still be there." Last year, he saw some random deer grazing on the side of the highway in Alabama.
For handwriting this week, Josiah chose to write a poem about a blue jay to enter a magazine contest. The prize is a book of origami birds. He really wants it. And yet, here is our fireplace mantel.
It is covered in origami creations. They were organized at one point, but now there's so many they just overflow in every direction. But for his sake, I hope he wins for the affirmation it would provide him on his writing. The other night he spent 45 minutes (literally) telling Todd about a book he's planning on writing. It already has a Book 2 and 3 with nary a word written. When we've been in the car, he's been writing more books about Orbit the Astros mascot and a "hothead." He asked me how he could get it on the library shelves. So, now he's looking for a publisher. "But, Mommy, can you help me with the spelling?"
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| The Blue Jay, a poem |
We only had a four day school week to finish it out because we had friends come over on Friday. Their mom had some training to do, so we had them all day. For the most part they all played well together. There was an hour in there when it got really loud and crazy, but that just seemed like a good time to leave
early for karate and stop off for coffee for their chauffeur.
It was a good karate day for Caroline, too. She moved up a belt again. She is a little karate marvel. She does so well in her class. I love watching her. She yells her "ki-yah's" when she's supposed to, she hits and kicks the targets well, she rocks "fighting stance." She's just this miniature karate girl.
Last Sunday, she came home from church with a black rock. She was so happy to have this rock and it wasn't totally clear how she got it. There are no rocks on the playgrounds, so we're hoping it wasn't theft. Anyway, she loved the rock, but she didn't exactly keep track of it. She lost it somewhere in the house and was so sad. So, she drew a picture of it and Todd told her how to spell "Lost." Her sign worked and a few hours later she found it in her baby stroller.
Caroline also ran some errands with me this weekend and I let her sit in the boy's booster seat for the first time. She's been big enough to ride in one, but we've kept her in the regular car seat for safety reasons. She talked a mile a minute while in the booster, she was so excited.
The boys are looking forward to waking up tomorrow to no school. May they enjoy it while it lasts.
