My Weekly Notebook: a llama, drive-ins, and April is home

Life this week...

We had a fun week. April came home from school (U of O) so we played. A lot. We have a list of things to do while she's here and so little time to do them, so why wait?

Homeschool this week (summer edition)...

No formal lessons this week. It was also the last week of check-ins for our charter. Yay! I am hoping we can get some more natural learning in over the summer. I also have to decide on the curriculum and plans for the coming school year.

Mom-school last week...

I didn't get to any mom school this week. I felt it too! I need to just sit down and do some studying each day. It really helps me regain my focus. 

Helpful homeschool tips and advice to share...

I highly recommend this homeschool planner, Well Planned Day. I have been using it for years. I took a break last year and tried a different one, but didn't like the different one so now I'm back to this one! I loved getting this in the mail this week. I'm ready to start filling it in for July.

 

Places we're going and people we're seeing...

So many places!

We went to...

...Defy! (an extreme sports fun place)

Alex jumping on the high-tension trampoline at Defy

...The Park 

We finally got to use our new cornhole game at the park this week!

  ...the library for a summer fun/reading kick-off party

This is Caesar the no-drama-llama at the library summer kick-off party, ready to give hugs.

BJ the clown show at the library summer kick-off party.

...the drive-in to see the new Jurassic World movie

It was sprinkling a bit when we got there, but it stopped soon after and it was dry the rest of the night, thankfully! We brought sandwiches for dinner while we waited for the sun to go down.

Waiting for the movie took a long time! Almost 3 hours to be exact.

Finally, show time! We loved the retro drive-in messages and ads.

Something I accomplished...

A mini 100-piece puzzle. It was not as easy as I thought it would be for a 100-piecer!

 

What we're reading...

I finished The Hunger Games this week. I have mixed feelings about the book. It was hard to read because of the plot. I just couldn't imagine living in that kind of world. Overall it was a good book though.

Movies/TV we watched... 

We finally made it to the first episode of Stranger Things season 4. I have to say it kinda scared me. Way creepier.

Games we played...

Sunday night we finally got around to playing a few board games. We played scrabble and this new game (that April wanted for her birthday) that's Coco themed, Remember Me Loteria. It's like bingo.

 

I'm grateful for...

The 2 dozen roses that I received from Michele for our 23rd anniversary.

Field Trip Friday: Alpaca farm

 We had the opportunity to visit an alpaca farm back in March 2022. We learned a ton of new things about alpacas and their wool. I don't remember a lot of details, but it was super interesting.

If you ever have the opportunity to learn about alpacas, do it! They have some fun personalities!

Makes me almost want to raise one myself. I never knew how useful their wool is, and how cute they are.

They are friendly, but they can also have their moments/streaks of mean.

All the kids enjoyed feeding them. Except for mine. None of mine wanted to put their hands near their mouths. I didn't either. Maybe I should have, but I enjoyed looking at them and keeping my distance.

Even the babies loved seeing us! These were no small creatures.

We really learned a lot and enjoyed visiting the alpaca farm.

Wordless Wednesday: Classic Alex

Geocaching with upside-down glasses

Big Tools at Harbor Freight

Shootin' hoops at Defy

My Weekly Notebook: drums, outside time, and dominoes

 

Life this week... camping

We were supposed to leave for a camping trip on Thursday. It was canceled Wednesday, the day before. The weather report was showing lots of rain so we called it off. Thankfully I was behind and didn't get very far in packing, so I didn't have a lot to unpack!

Homeschool this week (summer edition)...

We signed up for the first library summer reading program. We have 2 libraries that we frequent so we usually sign up for both. I even picked up the adult version! I never get around to completing most of them, but I like to try!

Mom-school this week... 

I learned that this little succulent that has bloomed some flowers on my window sill is called a "hens and chickens" plant. I posted on FB about how I had never seen any succulents in my care do this! I called it my "Stranger Things" plant. Thankfully some of my more knowledgeable friends were able to enlighten me. I need to learn so much more about gardening!

Places we're going and people we're seeing...

We had a lot of outdoor time this week! This means we have definitely upped our hours for 1000 hours outside! 

On Thursday we went to the lake before the rain came. We decided that since we couldn't go camping it would still be fun to go on the boat for the day. Thankfully, the rain held back most of the day, and only started really pouring on our way home.

Alex was the only one brave enough to get in the water. He had fun on this log.

Still on the log with a pretty background

Having fun on the tube

Another outing we had this week was a ward activity at the park. This was a day that it was also threatening rain most of the day, but the rain held back during this activity for the most part. We were able to play kick ball, and compete in a very messy egg toss game (in the which I was egged 3 times). 

Playing kick ball. Alex kicking the ball.

Playing kick ball. Alex really enjoyed this.

A rousing game of egg tossing

 

My favorite thing this week was... 

My first clogging recital was last Saturday! I had a blast. It was so scary, but overall an amazing experience. I have an awesome group of ladies that I dance with and a very inspiring teacher.

I am on the right in the blue vest. I wish I had smiled more. I was so nervous.

Now I'm on the left in the blue vest. This dance was called "Try Everything."

This is the end of a different dance called "I Love Me."

Random things the kids worked on...

Alex worked on this Domino run. He wanted to build the "bridge" that goes up. It was a good first project from our new Domino toppling book.

 

 Something I accomplished...

I printed up all the free workbooks I received when I purchased a set of The Tuttle Twins Books. Alex will be doing a class at our co-op next school year that will use these books and it will be a great resource to have them printed up to work on while we read them for class.

 

What we're reading...

We started Summer of the Monkeys by Wilson Rawls

Movies/TV we watched... 

We watched Sonic 2 finally. Alex has been wanting to see it since it came out. It was finally available to rent for a decent price.

Games we played...

Alex found this game at Goodwill this week, and of course, it has the name "Rubik's" in it so it came home with us. We played it several times. It's actually pretty fun and challenging.

Our new to us game, Rubik's Race. You have to be the first to match the center squares with the pattern in the shakey cube.

Something that worked out great or didn't work out for us this week...

We made slime with success! Alex asked to make slime, again. It came out really nice. It really can be hit or miss with slime.

 

Other thoughts from the week...

Aric started drum lessons with Concert School of Music. He seems to be liking it so far. I am excited to have something for him to learn and grow in.

 

I'm grateful for...

Summer break. I love that we are heading into summer now, and look forward to some great outdoor time and fun activities.