Bits and Pieces of our summer so far...

Whats been going on during my summer you may wonder? A little of this and a little of that.

Do you know about the MENSA book list? Here is a link scroll to the bottom to see the  different grade lists. It was my summer goal to read at least 4 to the kids before summer was over. That may have been a lofty goal. We just finished up Charlotte's Web ( blog post on that coming soon) and started the Borrowers. So far the kids like it better.

We spotted some monarch caterpillars on our milkweed so we brought them in to  protect them (endangered species) until they grow to monarchs then we release them back out in nature. We haven't lost one yet.

We have done strawberry picking and blueberry picking. We did not get near as many blueberries as we usually do because Falcon my biggest helper was in the East Coast with his Boy Scout troop.
After a hard day ( hour, maybe) of picking I treated the kids to the best fresh doughnuts around and an apple cider slush from the orchard.

The wind blowing your hair, the warm sun on  your  face,  and sticky fingers......ahhhh summer as a kid!

The mouser cats enjoying the straw for the chickens.

Watching a SCA event at our local library. Don't know what SCA is, here is a link to help you out. My husband is a member as well, he joined well before we had kids and hasn't been active since.

Saw Maleficent the theaters. This was a bit of an adventure for me since Falcon was out of town. We went on a 95 degree day which also happened to land on discounted tickets day at the theater (yay!) I had to walk the halls for a bit with Canary to get her to fall asleep. During this time Robin had a melt down while I left her in charge because the boys were asking her to many questions too often and she got frazzled and stressed. ( Welcome to my world dear Robin) All in all, it turned out well despite the fact that there were a few tears shed by Robin ( who was stressed by the extra burden of keeping the boys in line) Canary who was just cranky from missing a morning nap. and Duck who was repeatedly told by me to be quite and stop talking so loud.

Robin's new door. For her birthday we bought her a new door for her we would  paint a mural on it.  She decided on an ocean themed door. I plan to work on the door more next week. So here is the ocean blue door. I  love it so much I want to paint every door in the house a different color now. Just think how fun that would be when company came over and wants to use the restroom. You can just tell them it is the room with the green door, or yellow door or whatever color we paint it!

Robin and Canary enjoying a bed time story that I bought at the bookstore this week. Canary is reading it to Robin. this is her new favorite toy she loves that it crinkles and I love that the book is Guess How Much I Love You. When Falcon was a baby I received that board book from the hospital. I read it to him everyday many times a day because I did not have any other childrens books. So now I make sure I give almost every new mom a childrens book.

I am on Day 5 of operation  CLEAN THE CRAP IN THE HOMESCHOOL ROOM!!!!!! What you cannot see in this picture is the 2 bookshelves full of stuff that needs to be cleaned.