"Mommy, We Got a Postcard!"

I promise she is much more excited than this when they arrive!
These are her two favorites because they have Mickey on them!

The time has come for Pie Pie to learn about The United States of America! Now there are many ways to learn about this subject. I, of course, picked a fun way! We asked family and friends to send us postcards from different states. (This was not my idea, but it is a good one!) Everyone has been very helpful and we  have gotten pretty many of them.

The States we have gotten so far are: Mississippi, Colorado, Utah,
Washington, Alaska, West Virignia, Texas, Minnesota, Virginia, Florida,
California, Hawaii, Washington D.C., New Jersey and Massachusetts.

Whenever Pie Pie gets a postcard, she locates the state on a map and colors it in.

We have subscribed to a kid's magazine about the States. It's by Highlight's and called Which Way U.S.A. Every month you get two States.  Each State has an activity book and a map. It provides you with History and Geography all in one kid-friendly package.

My Aunt has also given us a map to put all of the State Quarters in! She gave us the quarters too!

Shhhhhhh!! Don't tell Pie Pie we are learning!  (I'm pretty sure she knows!)
I want to say a special "Thank You!" to anyone and everyone who has helped us with this project! We really appreciate it!

Strawberry Girls

 My girls love strawberries!  I thought it would be a fun idea to go pick them.  It was a little hot that day, but we did have a good time.  I just want to make a suggestion that after you are done you find a place to wash your hands really good. On the way home I got very itchy and started to get a rash all over my arms.  I washed them when I got home and it went away immediately. I don't know what it was, but I don't want it to happen to anyone else!

Pie Pie looking for the perfect berry.



Pants loved looking for berries.

Pie Pie was ready to go pretty quickly.  I think it was about 90 degrees and it was only ten in the morning! Pants just wanted to keep picking.  She kept saying she had to find one more!

Finally getting to enjoy the berries!

Baking with Pants (or without?)

Now most people would think that it's a good idea to bake with Pants, but I'm not so sure. I've decided to weigh the pros and cons and make a decision from that. Here we go!


Pros:                                                               
it is definitely more fun                                                                                                                       memories are made                                                                                                                                  lots of laughter                                                        
learning is happening                                                                                                 
more love to go around                                                                                                                     admiration 

Cons:
more mess
( I make a pretty big mess on my own) 
 takes more time 
 too much taste testing   


                                  
Wow! Those cons were actually a stretch for me. I guess from now on I will be baking with Pants.  Okay, okay I'm not going to lie to you. Sometimes I am going to bake without Pants. Please don't hold it against me or my family!


Stir up the dry ingredients.



You have to lick the spoon!

I want to give some love to Susie!  She told me yesterday she loves this blog!  Thanks so much!  We love you too!

P.S. For those of you who don't know. Pants is the nickname of my little one!

"O How They Do Squirm!"

"Nobody likes me.

Everybody hates me.

I guess I'll go eat worms.

Big fat juicy ones,

little bitty skinny ones

o how they do squirm!"

Yes, I do know the rest of the song! But I'm not going to tell you!

(I don't know who wrote this, but I think it's very appropriate.)

We are studying worms. I gave Pie Pie the choice of what critters she wanted to study and this is what she picked. They are actually pretty interesting. They are annelids which means they are made up of segments or rings. They expand and contract to move. They are also very important to anyone who has a garden or likes to eat. They aerate and fertilize the soil. I love how all of our worms have their own personalities. Some are very slow. You actually have to poke them to make sure they are alive. The others are so fast. You can barely hold onto them. We even have one that likes to dance. It curls itself up and wiggles all around. Sometimes it makes itself into an "O" shape and flips. Pants loves to hold them. She says they are tickely and "so-so" cute! She takes them on a tour of her Daddy's things. Our worms are currently living in our basement. It is the best place for them. It's cold and dark. It also protects them from my girls because they are not allowed in the basement by themselves. I am honestly loving this summer project. Eventually we will release our worms into various yards and gardens. Worms they're "what's cool" this summer. At least at my house!

I want to give some love to Grammy for helping make this project happen!!



Getting the worm house ready.



Mixing up the dirt.



Putting the dirt in the worm house.



Can you see the worms in there?!

Pie Pie enjoying her worms.




We love worms!



Lost Pets (The Game)

This year's final Homeschool Co-op Project was to create your own game. We go to an awesome homeschool co-op called Lighthouse Learning Christian Homeschool Co-op!  I have to give them credit for their great ideas! The kids had to design everything themselves. The gameboard, game pieces, spinner and any cards they might need. Of course, Pie Pie had to do a game with pets!  She loves animals! First you pick if you want to be a ferret, hamster, guinea pig or rabbit. Then you spin the spinner. The first pet that gets back to their home wins! For our final day of co-op we had a game day where all of the kids got to play games together!

The cover for her game.

Getting ready to play.

Pants getting ready to play!

Pie Pie getting a chance to play too!



The gameboard.

This was one of Pie Pie's favorite projects this year!



Summer Checklist

There are many fun times to have on our summer checklist. We are busy checking them off one by one!
What fun times are on your summer schedule?!









Running in the sprinkler!

Pie Pie and Pants were dying to roast marshmallows over a campfire!
We called up my brother and sister-in-law and went over for smores!

Pie Pie's first swim in the pool!









Plant Observation Journal Part One

Now I know School is out for Summer, but that doesn't mean the learning has to stop! There are some subjects you just can't learn in the Fall and Winter.  I feel plants is one of them. We started growing some plants in the Spring and hopefully they will flower soon. This is Pie Pie and my plant journal along with photos taken as they grew.

Wednesday May 11th, 2011                            ( My Anniversary!) We planted the seed in the dirt. We planted sunflowers and marigolds. We made sure they had sun and water. We also had an already growing marigold we are observing.

Monday May 16th, 2011
We saw two sprouts in our marigold pot!

Tuesday May 17th, 2011
There are four sprouts in our marigold pot. We watered our plants.

Wednesday May 18th, 2011
There are now six sprouts in our marigold pot. We can almost see a sunflower sprout.

Thursday May 19th, 2011
There are now eight sprouts in our marigold pot. One sunflower
sprout has popped all the way out. Two more are on the way. We watered them today.

Friday May 20th, 2011
Our marigolds are growing nicely. We now have six sunflower sprouts.

Monday May 23, 2011
There are nine marigold sprouts. They are about one and a half centimeters high. There are nine sunflower sprouts too. The tallest is three and a half centimeters tall. They need some sunshine! We had a little this weekend, but mostly rain since they have been planted.

 Thursday May 26th, 2011
There have been some nice sunny days for our plants. Unfortunately some bugs have been eating our plants! The sunflowers are doing well and the tallest is five and a half centimeters. The marigolds are not doing as well.

Monday May 30th, 2011
It has been very warm. We have been keeping our plants very well watered. The tallest sunflower is now six and a half centimeters. There is also a new bud on our marigold.


























Will we get flowers on our plants?! Wait and see!