Growing Everyday

We recently went to Conner Prairie with Andrew’s parents. Conner Prairie is an interactive historical park meaning people dress in period costumes and you get to go around learning about the 1800′s through hands on activities. We spent a good 2 or so hours there. Beka and Jared really enjoyed the animals. I enjoyed talking to the people. Everyone stayed in character and so it was interesting to hear what they would say. I learned that women do not gossip, share "concerned news".

I have to backup a little in time here because I forgot about the pictures I took on the Fourth of July. At the high school here, the community sets up all sorts of free activities for families to do on the Fourth. And it all ends with fireworks at the end of the night. We arrived really early because we did not intend to stay for the fireworks. I will get back to the why of that later.

Anyway, there were so many activities to do and Beka and Jared had a blast. There were inflatables, a climbing wall, race car driving, and tattoos. Since we were there early, we didn’t have to stand in very long lines and were able to do everything. Everyone was very kind and nice. It was a lovely evening.

Andrew and Jared both climbed the rock wall. Andrew made it to the top.

These tattoos were the coolest thing. They were airbrushed on and lasted for 3 or 4 days. Jared thought his was the best thing ever.

Beka and Jared raced on these inflatables. Jared won both times. But the second time, Beka got her foot stuck so it really wasn’t a fair race.

We decided not to stick around for the fireworks because many of our neighbors put on a great show. We sat outside in our front yard for about an hour and had a constant show.

The kids really wanted to go to the 4-H fair. So we headed out this morning. I love the fair food…elephant ears, corn on the cob, shaved ice, and pretzels. Oh yum!

Beka and Jared enjoyed looking at the animals and petting them. We saw sheep, pigs, rabbits, goats, and cows, and probably some I am forgetting. Then we went and looked at the crafts. Some of the Lego projects were amazing. There was a baseball diamond with stands filled with fans.

Beka and Jared’s art teacher at their school is amazing. So this summer when she offered a week of art camp at her house, I signed both kids up. They went for an hour every day for a week. The first part of the week was spent studying Gustav Klimt and his painting of a baby in a blanket. Each child then tried to make a similar drawing of themselves wrapped in a colorful blanket.

The second part of the week focused on sunflowers. Each child drew a closeup of two sunflowers and colored them with oil pastels. I wish I could have gotten pictures of all of the sunflowers. They were so beautiful. The kids in class really took their time.

(Beka’s picture is on top and Jared’s is on bottom)

We had an exciting week this week. On Monday afternoon, Beka was trying to walk the dog. Well, Kahla went one way and Beka went the other. Beka bruised her foot pretty badly but it wasn’t broken. She is still limping a little, but she is much better. The unintended effect of the injury was a lot of down time on Tuesday and Wednesday. By Wednesday night, Jared was getting a feral look in his eyes. I knew if I did not get him some exercise and outside time I was going to regret it. So Thursday and Friday afternoons were spent at playgrounds around town giving Jared plenty of time to run and play. I played frisbee, soccer, and sharks and minnows. I think I was more tired than Jared, but at least the feral look was gone.

Now, you might wonder what Beka was doing while Jared and I were playing. Beka has been wanting to cross-stitch for awhile now. So I bought her a little stamped cross-stitch kit where you make a whale. It was very travel friendly and kept Beka occupied for hours.

For the past two weekends, we have been traveling to Quincy to see family. The first weekend we were there for a going away party. Andrew’s aunt and uncle are going to live in Ghana, Africa for three years. Everyone seemed very excited about the trip. It was very nice to sit and chat with the family. The kids had a blast playing on the hammock.

This past weekend we were there for a bridal shower. My brother is getting married in August, so my family threw a pampered chef party for the bride-to-be. The shower went much more smoothly than I had expected. And everyone reported that they had a good time.

This week is filled with Jared’s sports sampler camp through the parks department here. I will have more about that later.

Over the past two days, Jared has been bitten by the book bug. He is reading every chance he gets and complaining when he doesn’t get to read. I took both children to the library tonight to pick out some books. I, also, told them that they could choose a movie if they wanted to.

Jared looked at me and said "Mom, I would rather read than watch a movie"

I am hoping and praying this attitude keeps up. It could be a very interesting summer if all three of us have our noses stuck in a book 75% of the time.

Beka learned how to make these pipe cleaner flower rings by watching a video online. She really enjoys making them. She makes a rose flower ring and a daisy flower ring. She has also discovered how to make a spider ring. Beka thinks she will be able to sell them this summer to kids in the neighborhood, but I think we will just have to wait and see.

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Beka and Jared have a wonderful art teacher at school. She does delightful wonderful project with them introduces them to artists, and uses many different types of mediums in class. One medium I kept hearing about over and over was oil pastels. Now, I am not really artsy person so I had no clue what those were, but when I spotted some at the store I picked them up to try out at home. Oil pastels are really soft crayon type art supplies. The kids enjoyed them immensely all weekend. Jared especially spent hours created artwork with oil pastels.

Sidenote: Jared also lost one of his front teeth on Friday. So hearing him say oil pastels all weekend was hilarious

We try to sit down and eat supper as a family every night. And I try to get the kids to tell me about their day and talk instead of everyone just staring at each other or shoveling in food as fast as they can and then leaving. I tried the usual questions “How was your day?”, “what did you do in school today?”, “how was gym, art, music, math?”, and so many other generic questions. And I was getting the typical answer: “Fine” UGH!! I wanted conversation not grunts from the peanut gallery.

Well, I finally found a solution. We started the question of the day. Questions range from “if you could invent a type of ice cream what would it be?” to “what super power would you choose?” Sometimes we do best and worst of the day or the top three highlights of your day. But the questions seem to work the best.

The other night we discussed what the world would be like if people lived underwater. We decided that would be fatter in order to insulate us from the cold water and that we would probably live in underwater caves eating cold fish. Beka and Jared actually look forward to the nightly conversations now, and they remind me if I forget to ask the question. And no one is just rushing through eating either. Meal times has become much more enjoyable for everyone.