Monday, March 30, 2015

Destination Imagination!!

Julia has spent most of her Fridays this year with a group of 7 other kids participating in a program called Destination Imagination. This is a worldwide program which focuses on child-led exploration and creation in the areas science, art, and technology. The organization puts forth challenges which the children can choose from and then the kids spend several months preparing for that challenge.

Julia's group named themselves "Wild Animals Run" and their challenge was to create an animal mish-mash, a new animal that has features from two other animals. They had to determine what the animal looked like, which features it took from each of it's original animals, and tell a story about how the animal was created and what environment it lives in.

The kids have been working on this since last September and last weekend they presented their story at our state tournament. Their creation was a perecheetah - a mish-mash of a peregrine falcon and a cheetah! They did a fantastic job with their play. The story that they developed was about a land (Land No Name) that is populated by animals (including a bunny - Julia!) and is visited by both good and bad wizards. The bad wizard creates a tornado to destroy the animals world and the good wizards create tornados to stop her. These tornados cause the peregrine falcon and cheetah to get mixed up and the perecheetah is created! So imaginative!

It was wonderful to see all the kids participate and have such a great time showing off their own creations and story. They were all super excited and proud of themselves and are already looking forward to next year!




Saturday, March 28, 2015

The Many Faces of Benjamin

It's difficult to get a picture of Benj with a straight face these days.




Thursday, March 26, 2015

Julia in March

a couple recent favorites



Tuesday, March 24, 2015

Heard Around our House

A conversation with Benjamin upon noticing a hole in his shirt:

Andrew: Did you cut your shirt?
Benj: No, someone else did.
Andrew: Who?
Benj: Grandpa Boo
Andrew: Grandpa Boo hasn't been here today. Please tell us the truth, did you cut your shirt?
Benj: No
Andrew: You're not in trouble. Did you cut it by accident?
Benj: No
Andrew: Did you cut it on purpose?
Benj: No
Andrew: Did your shirt get caught on something and rip?
Benj: Yes
Andrew: What did it get caught on?
Benj: A pair of scissors

(and then I had to leave the room because I was laughing too hard)

****************

A conversation with Benjamin about his breakfast:
Andrew: Benj, did you tell Mommy what you had for breakfast this morning?
Benj: No
Me: What did you have, Ben?
Benj: Pancakes with mustard!
Me: really? pancakes with mustard?? how was it?
Benj: It was.... AWFUL!
Andrew: really? I thought you liked it because you ate most of it.
Benj (quietly to me): No, Mom. It really tasted terrible. It was horrible.
Me: well, what do you think you'll have on your pancakes next time?
Benj: ketchup.

Saturday, March 21, 2015

The Last of the Snow????

We hope that it is the last for this year! We are ready for Spring!!
We finally built a snowman!

adding a little color to our landscape




Thursday, March 19, 2015

A New Phase of Childhood

Julia has discovered the pleasures of audiobooks... and headphones to block out the rest of us!
engrossed

(note: her current books of choice are the Mrs. Piggle Wiggle series)

Tuesday, March 17, 2015

Sunday, March 15, 2015

Goofy Kids

two kids stuck in a laundry basket!



Friday, March 13, 2015

Benjamin's Florida Firsts

Swimming everyday in Florida helped build up Benjamin's confidence in the water. Here he is swimming with just a noodle for the first time:


Then on the way home, we decided to check Benjamin's car seat and let him ride in the big airplane seat. He was very happy with his newfound space!


Wednesday, March 11, 2015

Florida March 2015

We just returned from our winter escape down to Vero Beach. Golf, swimming, and beach were all on the agenda and, boy, did the weather cooperate! We had beautiful sunshine and 80 degree days and we did not waste one second of it!

the chocolate ice cream passed the Benjamin taste test

Budwesier Clydesdales on parade in Vero Beach

strawberry picking in March! 

only the red ones!!

a true golfers outfit

perfecting her putting

lego sculptures at the botanical gardens

goldfinches

awww

a boy and the ocean = a perfect day

grandson love! 

Tuesday, March 3, 2015

Sunday, March 1, 2015

The many faces of Benjamin

The pure joy of playing outside!