Weekly Wrap-up - April 28

What a busy week!

This week we started the Pioneer study for history, and Little Bit started her unit on insects. We invited E & J to join us for school and they accepted. So, Sunday was our first day as a class of 5, instead of 3 :)  There are the inevitable challenges that come with change . . .the boys aren't used to doing structured things with us, so they are figuring it all out, but our first day went well.

We started working on wet-felted ants, as I expected, the little ones got bored with it long before even the first ball of each ant was done, but the big girls and I are continuing to work on getting enough felt balls made, I'm figuring by this coming Wed, we should be able to put the ants together :)

This time of year we also make sure to spend plenty of time outside, for school, so that's a big hit :) The boys had just gotten "new to them" scooters, so they brought them over to ride. Little Bit had fun trying them out, though she was pretty hesitant. The big girls were disappointed that both scooters were too small for them to try, since we've never had, or been around scooters at all.

Monday, we had a playdate at K & T's house. E & J were there too, so it was a full house, but a good time was had by all. Much to the big girls' delight, K & T have some bigger scooters, so they got to try out scooters too :)

Wednesday we were planning to have school with the boys again, but I woke up that morning with a stomach bug, so had to cancel. Penny offered to have the girls come over and play at their house so I could rest, so they were over there until J's naptime. It was very nice to truly be able to take a "sick day", instead of trying to still be mommy while I felt so icky :) By the time they came home, I was feeling better, so it worked out well.

Thursday was, as usual, our music/errands day. Now that both girls have music lessons, I drop them off and Little Bit and I go to the farm for milk and eggs, and to a grocery store near the farm. I dropped the girls off at 10:00, and didn't get back from errands until 11:30, but they were still very busily involved in their lessons. It was more like 12:30 before both lessons were done :) Their teacher comments often on how quickly they learn, and how they want to learn so much at each lesson, I'm soo thankful they have a teacher who's willing to keep them moving at their chosen pace, I really think that's a big part of MiniMe's continued passion for piano. I think if she had a teacher who stuck to short lessons and only added one or two new things per lesson, she'd get bored and frustrated and it wouldn't be fun anymore. The big thing with MiniMe right now is composing music. She is LOVING it! As we were visiting at the end of their lesson this week, their teacher, Pat's husband came home,  and Pat called him over to show him MiniMe's latest composition. He seemed impressed with it too.

Sassy is getting the hang of the violin quickly as well. She's very happy to have some "songs" (albiet, short ones) to  practice instead of just one, short, rhythm :)

Friday, we went to the Philadelphia zoo with Penny and the boys.  They have a membership that includes guests, so we could all go.  The weather was PERFECT!!! The downside of that was, the rest of the world thought so too, sigh . . . but it was ok as long as we stayed outside, the buildings were pretty chaotic.  Their membership includes the extra rides, so that was a fun treat too!

They have a carousel, with zoo animals instead of horses. Little Bit was very excited to get to ride the carousel! We were the first in line for the next ride, so had plenty of time to see what all animals there were AND know that we'd have close to first pick of which animals to ride.

The older girls were perfectly willing to go on the carousel with the little kids, but not overly excited about a carousel, per se (DURING the carousel ride I was standing next to Little Bit and Sassy, and Sassy commented that it would be a LOT more fun if it went as fast as the old one at Glen Echo Park in MD. I don't remember the numbers, but when we talked to a park ranger there about it, in the 1920s it went INCREDIBLY fast compared to modern carousels).  But then, as we watched it going around while we waited our turn, MiniMe saw that one of the animals was . . .


. . . an ARMADILLO!!!!!!

Needless to say, that made her much more excited about it :)

The kids also rode on a little train ride. I can't imagine paying extra to ride such a cheesy little train, but since it was part of the membership, whatever makes kids happy LOL.

I was surprised, when we got to the point of the day where we said that each kid could choose one more animal they for sure wanted to see, Sassy IMMEDIATELY said she wanted to see the orangutans. She MUST have remembered them from when we were at that zoo when she was 6. I ended up taking her an Little Bit to see them while the others took a potty break, and she just LIT UP when we got there. The orangutans did NOT disappoint, they were putting on quite the acrobatic show for us. I think she would have stayed there all day.

There were also draft horses to ride. They let the twins and E ride all 3 on one horse, and the 2 littles rode with their Mommies. Instead of a saddle it was . . . no idea what it's called, but more like what you see used for camel and elephant rides. I have to say, I MUCH prefer real saddles. That thing shifted around SOO much, was rather disconcerting. But the kids all had a blast! (And in addition to the person leading the horse there was a second person walking along side, so I think it was safe, just . . . disconcerting.

Little Bit has apparently claimed giraffes as her favorite animal. She was amazingly patient waiting to see them, they were the last thing we specifically went to see (we stopped and saw a couple other animals that we went past on our way out). And she did great with it.

One of the animals we saw on our way out was the flamingos. Last summer in Little Bit's class at campmeeting (church camp), they had a zoo theme, and the song for the flamingos talked about how they sift the water/sand with their beaks to get their food. If I'd ever learned that, I'd forgotten it (and yes, I did look it up and confirm it LOL). Now we're doing the zoo program at our church, and using the same song. It's one of Little Bit and J's favorites. And the flamingos we saw at the Philly zoo were eating when we went by. It was soo cool to see them shaking their heads to sift! I'm not sure how much the kids cared, but I thought it was cool :)

Yesterday afternoon it was finally warm enough again for the kids to get back in the creek. They ended up getting the plastic toboggans out of the shed and using them as boats LOL. I should have taken a picture, but I was too lazy to walk out to the creek LOL.

So That was our week. Busy, busy, busy, but lots of fun :)