Cousin Torture

These kids did this over and over all afternoon. Lauren is a good sport!

Full Days

The days seem so very full with 5 kids around. I only have them all a couple days a week but it's crazy how much fun and how much work it is. It really makes me wonder how large families keep up with daily chores and find time to relax! It is so worth the extra effort to see how well they all get along and how much they are teaching each other about friendship, conflict resolution and so much more. They are very good at including everyone and are very often playing in a tight group like this....

The kids all really enjoy the daily dance party.

Arts Fest

It has been so very hot here the past couple weeks! We did venture out in the heat to play for a while at the arts festival. The kids had a ball and were all VERY interested in all the art. Leah and Lily were especially interested in reading the prices of the art as we just had a math lesson that week about hundreds and thousands and place value. I am not sure the artists were super happy about the price of their art being so openly discussed, but whatever.

"MOM!!! This one is EIGHT THOUSAND DOLLARS!!!! That is so much money right?! Like a million dollars?"

Clearly we need to spend more time on math.

Alpaca Makeovers

Shearing day was not as grand as I expected. I really hoped I had hired some great shearers......but not so much. The boys look pretty funny! And their blankets have way too many second and third cuts in them to be fantastic. But they feel much better and I will still find use for all the fiber! Next year I will try to piggy back on a large farms shearing day to get some professionals!

Summer School

  This is our summer school crew minus one. We usually have 5 but Lily could not make this field trip. We had a great time at the capitol building discussing state government and laws. These kids are all so great and so very eager to learn. We are having such fun!

Weekend with the cousins!

Portrait

 Kate is really enjoying drawing people right now. I love that the eye circles always start at the bottom so the people seem as though they are always looking down. This is one she made of Dave and I this morning. I had no idea I was looking so good these days! All the running with the dogs is paying off!