Little Things

July 20, 2011
We had a slow start to our day. But after naps when we decided to go to the pool, the chores got done quickly. Olivia likes to jump off the side of the pool, climb out, then jump in again - over and over. Jonah somehow managed to pass the swim test! So he went off the diving board, then the high dive!! He loved it.

July 21, 2011
Finn says "No, No, No" and "Mine" loud and clear. Other than that he still doesn't say much. I mean I can't understand anything he says. I need to teach him more signs.

July 29, 2011
Jonah got to go out to a restaurant with Dad since he completed 2 math books this summer. He chose to go to Old Country Buffet. He walked out holding his stomach, stuffed too full. We also went to the pool and movies today. Great day!

July 30, 2011
I made the kids clean all evening. Annabelle and Jonah were in charge of sweeping and mopping the kitchen. Water was everywhere! Finn had fun splashing around on his hands and knees. Then they set towels out to soak up all that water. They set the towels as winding paths to walk on.

Busy Day

This week we each picked a mammal to learn more about.

Annabelle learned about elephants, the largest land mammal. Jonah learned about bats. At the library this week their was a special program for school-age kids all about bats. We learned that bats fly differently from birds. Bats can't take off from the ground. They have to climb up a tree/post/wall, then jump off in order to take flight.

Grace learned that killer whales can't breath under water. They have to come up above water every so often to breath through their blowhole. Olivia learned about dolphins. Dolphins and killer whales are in the same family.

This week we went to the library with some friends on Monday and we all picked out research topics. On Friday we got back together again and shared reports with each other, then had lunch together and played. That was fun.

Today was a busy day. We got up early and visited the big farmer's market in downtown Iowa City. The kids enjoyed seeing the huge variety of vendors. Then we went to the church for a ward pancake breakfast followed by pioneer games. We came home and cleaned a bit, had lunch, napped. Then we went to a local Blues and BBQ family outdoor event. There were several activities for kids - bouncy house, huge slide, some other big blow-up bouncy things, duck pond, fishing in the real pond, and a petting zoo area.

At this event there were live bands and several BBQ vendors. Fun evening.

Hanging out at Hallams

Baby Goats, Fishing

While in Kansas we visited the Deanna Rose Farmstead, one of our favorite places. We love feeding the baby goats.

Look me up on facebook to find 2 videos of Grandpa Slaugh helping the little ones ride a baby goat.

We love to go fishing there, too. Jonah caught 15 fish!

Finn LOVEd loved, loved seeing all the animals!

Vacation with Slaughs

After the spending some time with family in Ames, we got to drive down to Kansas to spend time with our other side of the family! Here we are at the pool:

This is four of my kids in the tub:

Grandpa Slaugh always gives piggy back rides and horsey rides.

Grandma Slaugh and I taught Annabelle how to do cat's cradle.
We loved watching Oliver and Evan play. Finn and Oliver are cute together. They mimic each other and make faces. Evan just sits and smiles and watches all the commotion.

We got to visit with Joe, Miriam, Hailey and Joseph. Hailey just got back from 10 days in Japan with a school program. Hailey was also getting ready to leave right away to girls camp.

Uncle Joe and Joseph took us out on the boat one night. What a treat for my kids!! They loved everything about it! We all took turns jumping and diving off the boat, then being pulled behind in tubes. We barely made it out of the water before a storm hit. We had a great time! I didn't have my camera on the boat; my dad took pictures though. I'll forward to Hallams.

I uploaded two short videos to facebook, so check there to see Finn playing in a water puddle.

What a great trip! We LOVE our family! Both sides!

First 5K

Last weekend we drove to Ames for a 5K/10K. The race is part of midnight madness, and it starts in the evening. Annabelle and Jonah both ran their first ever 5K! That's a big race for such little people. But they were up for the challenge. Emmeline, Justus, Ezra and a friend David also ran the 5K. Then later, Ezra, Justus and I ran the 10K.

Annabelle and Jonah each had a grown up run with them to help pace them and walk with them when needed, and to help them finish okay. Ezra ran slow with Annabelle and Uncle Justus ran slow with Jonah.

They did a great job! It was tough for sure. A hot, humid night didn't help make it any easier. But they persevered and finished! Annabelle finished in 37 minutes and Jonah finished in 39 minutes. Great job!

The 5K started at 7:30pm. The 10K started at 8:30. So Ezra and Justus were doing both races. I joined them for the 10K (6.2 miles). It was a hard workout! Annabelle, Jonah and I had sore legs the next day.

Again, great job Annabelle and Jonah!

Summer Reports, Swimming Lessons

These are our reptiles. The pictures were made by coloring with Sharpies on aluminum foil. Then we cut them out and pasted them to construction paper. Sorry, I couldn't get them to face the right way.

Annabelle learned about crocodiles and alligators. She learned that there are only 2 types of alligators - the American alligator found in the southeast US, and a chinese alligator. Alligators are mostly grey/black in color, have short rounded snouts. Crocodiles are mostly brown in color. Crocodiles have long, V-shaped mouths.

Jonah studied the Komodo Dragon. He learned they start out as tiny lizards living in trees, eating bugs. They can grow up to 10 feet long. Their favorite food is deer or wild boar. Luckily they only live on a few islands of Indonesia.

Grace learned all about snakes. Snakes do not have legs or arms. They have long tongues that they use to smell. If a snake has fangs, it is poisonous. The fangs can squirt venom. Most snakes lay flexible, leathery eggs. Snakes shed their skin as they grow. Grace learned to recognize a few snakes, like the rattlesnake and garter snake and a few others.

Olivia learned about turtles. Turtles spend most of the time in water, while tortoises spend most of their time on land. Their shell grows from their backbone, so they cannot leave their shell. They have no teeth, but they do have a hard beak.

Every day for two weeks, the kids all had swimming lessons. This was the last week of June and first week of July. Olivia's swim class was mostly for fun. She was upset the first couple days because she couldn't go play like she normally does. She had to sit and listen and only do what the instructor said. But she warmed up to the structure and had fun anyway. Finn did not have lessons, and he was quite upset that he couldn't get in the water, too. Luckily the pool building is connected to the library, so I took him there during swim lessons. That way I didn't have to keep chasing and hauling him away from the water's edge.

We did a week research on presidents of the United States, but the kids had a hard time getting into it. The reports were kind of a flop. We did learn a tiny bit about George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and Barak Obama.

Next we learned about insects. Jonah studied the praying mantis. He thought is was cool that sometimes while mating, the female eats the male's head! Then afterward she may eat him all the way.

Annabelle wrote a lovely report about honey bees. The worker honey bees spend a few days being a house bee polishing and cleaning, then a few days being a nurse bee, 10 days are spent making wax storage cells, then 7 days as a guard bee, then forager bee, then they die. Did you know the buzz a bee makes is from it's wings beating 200 times a second?

Grace told us about the life cycle of a butterfly. Olivia told us that ladybugs are red and have black spots and are good for the garden.