June

 I just wanted to post a June update of some of the fun and random things we have been up to. We are loving the warmer weather and enjoying being outside as much as we can.

We started June off with Nate's 35th birthday! He is pretty rad and I am so grateful for him in my life!

Baylor "helping" me make Dad's birthday cake.

Paige colored these Popsicle sticks to look like candles and hid all 35 in the front room for Nate to find when he got home from work. 

 Happy Birthday!

 Paige made this soy sauce dispenser for Nate for his present from her- the story behind it is that a few weeks ago we were having a dinner with soy sauce and the only kind we had had a big pour spout and Nate was saying how it would be nice to have one that just drips out so you didn't get as much. That stuck in Paige's mind and she created the perfect homemade gift for Nate. She is one creative and thoughtful girl!

 A few weeks before this we found lady bug larva at the park. We got a few and put them in a jar to watch them change into full grown lady bugs. The larva is what you can see in the top right eating off a raisin that we put in for them, the bottom right is what the pupae looks like that they come out of, and then the adult ones that we released into the garden.

 One week Addison came over and Paige planned to do Cool Whip painting. For Baylor I just did three colors and for the older 2 I let them created what colors they wanted. They had lots of fun with it though Baylor didn't do much painting and mostly enjoyed eating it. :)

 We are still having at home church and often after we do our sacrament meeting Paige will have nursery with Baylor. Paige sings songs with her, teaches her a little lesson, does puzzles or play dough with her and some coloring. One Sunday Paige talked about temples and printed this picture from them to color. Paige decided to this all on her own and it is the sweetest thing!

 Another activity that Paige has been wanting to do is draw in shaving cream. I had done this before with her where she can draw pictures in it or I have had her write her sight words in it. I finally got some shaving cream the other day and Paige asked if Baylor and her could do it. I said yes and I should have supervised it a little more. I came downstairs to check on them and it was everywhere and Baylor was enjoying painting her body with it. They sure had lots of fun with and I just let them enjoy this silly fun moment before showers and major clean up.

 Just some cute Baylor moments- Baylor wakes up pretty early compared to Paige so I usually let her watch Daniel Tiger in the morning while I wake up more and get ready for the day. She just looked so cute holding her baby doll with her blanket wrapped around her. The other 2 pictures Paige took with my phone and are just too cute.

 At the beginning of this quarantine I started to potty train Baylor a little bit more. It has been a slow process and I took a little break for awhile when we moved. The past couple of weeks Paige made her a sticker chart and has been very helpful with taking Baylor to the bathroom. With the sticker chart and something clicking in Baylor's mind she has shifted and has been ready and goes to the bathroom pretty much whenever she needs to and I don't really have to remind her that much. She filled up her sticker chart and we went to the dollar store for a prize. She picked out 2 Minnie Mouse chap sticks and Minnie Mouse bubbles. She looks so cute in underwear and there is still an occasional accident and we still have to figure out number 2 but we are making progress.

 Other cute moments with Baylor- waiting for dinner to cook, pretend sleeping with some stuffed animals, and playing in the hot tub with her "goo goo goggles".

 She has also found a love of hammering. Pops has been rebuilding the railing on the front porch and she loves to go "help" him by nailing any nails that are popping up a little on the porch.

 Bedtime is still a disaster at our house with them sharing a room but they sure are cute!

 With the drawing YouTube videos that we have watched for Paige's class, she has found a love of drawing and watching videos to help her draw something. These are some that she drew to give to Addison. I thought it was funny that she picked to draw a girl with a mask but it is what is going on in her world and turned out so cute.

These 2 girls look so cute in masks and are champs at wearing them. Paige has loved being able to go to the stores with us and just get out of the house even if she has to wear a mask. Baylor hasn't gone out as much but when she does she is also great at wearing a mask. She sometimes asks to take it off but will keep it on. They had to wear it to the dentist last week and they did great. Paige did great going back by herself and is way more brave than I was at her age. She didn't have any cavities and was proud to show the dentist her new hole where she lost her 8th tooth the day before. Baylor made so much progress compared to 6 months ago. Last time she either refused to open her mouth and then cried which is when the dentist was able to take a quick peek. This time she answered some of the hygienist's questions and let the hygienist brush her teeth with a normal toothbrush. She didn't cry at all and even let the dentist look in her mouth with his mirror. We celebrated them being great at the dentist by going and getting a treat at McDonald's that evening.

Paige was eating her dinner one night and got her bread to stand up on its own. She was super excited and wanted to show me and take a picture with my phone. :)

This past week has been our first full week of summer break and we had such gorgeous weather and did so many fun things.

On Monday, Paige found some wood and the 2 girls worked together hammering a balance beam together.

 Then we went to Lake Wilderness and walked around. It was good to get outside but this trip was a little disappointing. We were trying to find story boards that you walk from one board to the next that we read had been put up somewhere at the park but we never found it. 

 The girls loved climbing on anything and everything and going on a little walk through the forest.

 Then the girls wore their swimsuits to go swimming at the lake. We walked over to the lake area and it was closed for 2 days since they put some chemicals in the lake. So I let them play in the creek that flows into the lake for a little bit before heading home. The outing didn't turn out anything like we planned but it was still a fun little outing with my girls.

 Tuesday morning we helped Pops finish putting a pergola up. Paige helped hammer in some nails in the posts and I helped Pops put some bars on the top. Baylor loved climbing up and down the ladder over and over again. 

 I love the no pants, diaper, goggles look! :)

Then after lunch we went over to the lake to play and cool off.

 It took Paige awhile but she finally went out to swim in her life jacket and we tried out a life jacket for Baylor that Nate found at the Goodwill Outlet. She loved it when I took her out deeper and held her hands and let her sway in between my legs. 

 Wednesday was rainy in the morning so we went to Hobby Lobby with Nona, Anna, and Eliza. Paige got some fun craft things and was in craft heaven walking through it. Also Paige has decided to do her own little preschool with Baylor and works on a letter a day. Paige teaches Baylor how to write the letter of the day and then does a craft that starts with it. For A she helped Baylor make this cute apple core. Paige decided to do this on her own and I love that they are creating and doing something together while I get whatever I need to done. 

 Thursday they did the letter B, made these cute hand print butterflies, watched a YouTube video on how to draw a bee, and they also had music and played with the musical instruments while singing some songs.

 Then Paige went and played at Addison's house for the rest of the day and after lunch it was super warm out so I got the kiddie pool out for Baylor to cool off in. 

 I got the idea to put the little slide in the pool and Baylor loved it.

 She is one busy girl that is full of joy and fun!

 Then Friday after Nate got home from work we went to Dash Point State Park. It was low tide and that was a good thing since there were LOTS of people there and this allowed us to spread out. It was absolutely gorgeous! There was no wind but wasn't too hot. The sand felt so good on our bare feet. We set up our little area with the sun umbrella and then walked out into the water. It felt so good. Nate and Paige looked for shells and creatures and I stayed with Baylor. She was in a hurry to get to the "big water" but didn't like the seaweed at all. It was such a pretty day and the scenery around me was just stunning. I just kept thinking how lucky I am that I get to live here and be so close to the beach!

 Then it was time for some fun in the sand. Both girls were content in building their own sandcastles and Baylor especially loved digging and dumping and just getting sand all over her.

Sandy bum and sandy baby girl!

 Paige's sandcastle!

What a glorious day and what a fun first week of summer! We are looking forward to more fun in the sun!

Camping Week

 It is crazy that this is the last week of school! It has been an interesting year but I feel that we have embraced it, learned things, grew closer as a family, and we did so many fun activities with our home school.

This last week our theme was camping. It was a fun week and a perfect way to go into summer!

Paige only had math online for Monday-Wednesday and each day it was a color by number being the last week of school and the last week of school is always fun. For our Monday math, she did this camping dot to dot.

For art they created these cute smores. They painted Popsicle sticks white for the the marshmallow part and the chocolate and graham cracker is construction paper. 

 Then for writing I read Paige some facts about s'mores and she wrote an informative paragraph. At the end of her paragraph, I asked her to write what she would add to the traditional s'more to make it better. It says, "The first official recipe for a s'more came out in the 1927 girl scout guidebook. The s'more used to be called some more. It was called some more from 1927 until at least 1971. The word s'more was put in the dictionary in 1974. National s'mores day is August 10th. During the summer it is estimated that 50% of marshmallows sold are used for s'mores. I would add chocolate frosting to my s'more!"

 Then for this week we moved sewing to Monday since we wanted our cooking on Friday to celebrate the end of school with something delicious. Paige found this cute idea on Pinterest for a water bottle holder. She found the idea a couple of weeks ago and I found the perfect strap at the Goodwill Outlet. It turned out perfectly and just how she wanted. It was a joint effort in the sewing but Paige is getting much more comfortable with sewing straight stitches and learning to back stitch at the beginning and end of her stitch.

 Tuesday's math was this subtraction of 2 digits worksheet with a secret camping word. Baylor even helped color on the worksheet.

 Then for art they did a fire painting with aluminum foil. And of course once Baylor's fire was done then she went onto painting her hand and arm. :) It's just a part of painting in her world.

 Paige's art and Baylor's art

 For writing Paige wrote what you need for the perfect camping trip. It says, "For a perfect camping trip you should have a backpack, water, marshmallows, graham crackers, and chocolate, swimming stuff, and a tent." This week she also had assignments online for science that taught about the different season and on Tuesday she drew these cute pictures of her in each season.

 For P.E. she had a workout on her computer from her P.E. teacher where she had to jump over a line doing different things. Her hair was flying everywhere and she was getting hot so half of the workout she was doing it while holding her hair in a ponytail. :)

 Wednesday she did her last color by number and online math assignment for 2nd grade. Then she did this camping word problem math worksheet.

 For art they created these cute binoculars that went along with our science for the day.

 Then for writing she did a journal entry about how to make the perfect s'more. It says, "To make the perfect s'more you need graham crackers, chocolate, and marshmallows. YUMMM!!!" Pretty traditional and straight forward. 

 Then for science they did some observations and went on a nature scavenger hunt. They each had their own bag and pencil. They used their binoculars to find everything. Paige was determined to go down the list in order even if she happened to see something on the list that was farther down. Baylor followed Paige's lead and it was the cutest thing to watch them and I loved watching them use their binoculars.

 Such cute girls observing the world around them.

 Then for another quick little science experiment we did "fireflies" in a jar. We talked about fireflies and what other things light the night sky. Then we observed with glow sticks to see whether they glow brighter in ice cold water or warm water.

Then she filled out her observations and observed that it glows brighter in warm water and the ice water kind of clouded it.

Thursday's math was this camping bar graph worksheet.

 Then for art they created leaf people. We had some dried/pressed leaves and flowers that they used for most of project but did pick a few leaves from outside to use. They turned out so cute!

 For writing her prompt was "I heard a noise outside my tent" This is what she came up with, "Once upon a time I went camping and I brought a backpack full of clothing, water, snacks, emergency kit, PJs, flashlight, and a toothbrush. First I went on a hike with my family. Then we explored the forest. And then we went to the museum. We went to a river. Finally it was time to go in the tent! We got our PJs on, we brushed our teeth and went to sleep. I woke up in the middle of the night and I heard something. I got my flashlight and went outside and I could see something but couldn't tell what it was but then I saw that it was a unicorn! She was so cute and we became best friends and she said her name was Kaylee. The End!"

 She did her last music assignment online from her music teacher. In the afternoon we got to drive to Paige's school and drop off some library and classroom books and also pick up whatever things she had left at school. There was schoolwork and some notebooks. She also got her yearbook and a cute little present and book from her teacher. Ms. Coppinger is such an amazing teacher and I am so glad that Paige had her for 2nd grade. Ms. Coppinger pushed her and gave her more challenging things to work on. I wish that Paige could have been in the classroom the entire year with her but it all turned out alright and Ms. Coppinger even put some math and reading things on Paige's computer that she can work on during the summer if she wants to do it that will help prepare her for 3rd grade.

It was officially our last day of school and she started the day off with this cute camping color by number. It is a multiplication one and so we did a little lesson on how multiplication works and we worked together on the answers before she colored the picture.   

 Then for art they created these cute tents with watercolor paints.

 Paige colored and filled out this beach ball with 3 memories from 2nd grade. She wrote, "Doing art projects, building towers for science, and getting an extra recess during the Apex event."

 Then Paige had her last class meeting where they talked about their memories, listened to their teacher read one last story, and say goodbye to their classmates for the summer. The last day of school is always kind of bittersweet. You are always excited for summer break but it is strange and kind of sad saying goodbye to another year of school, your teacher, and your classmates and friends.

While I was helping Paige get settled into her meeting and cleaning up from art, Baylor decided to do her own outside scavenger hunt. She did this all on her own. She grabbed a bag from the drawer and got a note card and pencil to write one. She took her binoculars out and started looking. When I went outside she already had a couple of leaves in her bag and was looking at the grass before grabbing some to add to her bag. Then she started looking for some roly-poly bugs. It was so cute and I love that she did it on her own accord.

 Paige's last writing assignment was opinion writing and she was to pick which 2 camping activities she likes best and why. The options were sleeping in a tent, fishing, hiking, and roasting marshmallows. She wrote, "I like roasting marshmallows and hiking. I like roasting marshmallows because it is fun and yummy! I like hiking because it is fun and you can see nature."

 Then the rest of the day we did those exact 2 things: went on a fun little hike and roasted marshmallows.

We took a picnic and went to Pretzel Tree Interpretive Trail. It is a really short hike that was beautiful. The forests are so gorgeous here!

You walked around this loop following signs that told a story of a field mouse. He goes on a hike through the woods and meets different creatures in the forest and each creature tells what they do to help the forest. So you learn about the different animals and some plants in the forest through this cute story and the field mouse is also on the look for a pretzel tree. One of the signs you read it and the field mouse asks one of the creatures he comes to where it is and it says look behind you. We turned around and there it was- the pretzel tree (pictured on the right). 

Paige got to try out her water bottle holder for the first time. It worked out perfectly and this was such a fun little hike!

Oh how I love this family of mine!

Then to celebrate a great school year and a fun camping themed week we had s'mores!

Nate got to try out his birthday present from his parents. A fire starter and the stick is a poking stick and can  move the logs around in the fire and you can also blow in it to give the fire more oxygen.

 We had gourmet s'mores and Paige wrote the menu for them. Instead of graham crackers we used the cookies (something I always did growing up and I think is way better than chocolate and graham crackers and way easier). The options were the grasshopper (peppermint patty), the nutty buddy (peanut butter cup), the Oreo (cookies and cream bar), or the normal guy (milk chocolate Hershey bar to make your s'more extra chocolately with the cookie).

 Baylor just wanted the cookies and some milk chocolate. She is a chocolate lover! Paige wanted the normal guy and also tried the grasshopper. She said she liked both but liked the normal guy with the extra chocolate better.

 Nate tried the nutty buddy and I tried the grasshopper and the Oreo. They were all delicious!

 It was such a fun way to end our week and to end the school year! I can't believe that Paige finished up 2nd grade and is now moving onto 3rd grade. She is growing up way too fast! I loved this extra time with her and it was a joy to be her teacher. I love that she loves to learn and create. She loves school and always tries to do her best. She is sweet and always willing to let Baylor "help" her with her schoolwork and almost anything she is doing or working on. We did so many fun things with our themes each week and I am glad that we came up with that idea in the beginning. It made school so much more fun and easier for me to plan. Thanks for being you Paige and being such an incredible daughter!

Now let's have some fun this summer!