The many faces of Benjamin

I think this will be a good series of photos to start. Benj manages to pull off many different looks and attitudes. It will be fun to capture them here as I can get them on camera. So the first one - a day with Julia and Alex! Pink nails, cool sunglasses, and a classic sweater!

Buddies

Julia, Benjamin, and all their pals!

A Shoveling We Will Go...

Outside our house there are piles of snow, piles and piles of snow! But we haven't been playing in it because it's too deep for Benjamin. He can't walk through it and gets frustrated after a few minutes. But the highlight of this winter for him has been shoveling. He loves to shovel (something I will remind him of come his teenage years)!

Last week I decided to take advantage of the one thing he wanted to do and use it to solve the problem of not being able to play in the yard. So out we went - to shovel. We shoveled to the tree in the yard, then to the light, then a little maze, and a little fort. Ben still won't really venture into the deep snow but at least he has a little track to run around! He even tried riding his bike on it... it wasn't too successful!

Happy Birthday to Julia - the photos!!

I'm 6!!

Happy birthday to the 10 year old!!

The present of the year was a set of space ships and figures from Auntie Merrill - the face says it all!

She was speechless

and almost cried!

And to go along with that her is Julia singing part of a song she made up about what she wants to be when she grows up:

Happy 6th Birthday to Julia!!

Wow! So as much as I cannot believe that Benjamin is 3, I really cannot believe that Julia is 6. And yes, I'm sure I say the same thing every year and will continue to say the same thing every coming year. Still, wow!

Julia has grown so much in the past year. Socially, she has blossomed. We have a regular group of friends that we see at our Friday Co-op and during our homeschool group meet-ups and Julia has really clicked with a few of them. It is so nice to show up somewhere (like her ski lesson or a meeting I'm attending) and have her just run up to some other kids and start playing. Even attending pre-K three days a week she never developed friendships like she has now.

Julia has also gained more confidence and while she's still quiet and waits until she is sure to speak (a trait I fully understand because I share it) she does give her opinion and voices her ideas while in classes or group situations. She is a very thoughtful kid, always noticing and picking up on everything going on around her.

Julia is also very creative. That has been a big change this year - she has gone from just thinking creatively to actually putting her thoughts and plans into action! Most days you will find our house strewn with tape, glue, cardboard, paper, scissors, boxes, elastics, and whatever other materials she can find and Julia will be creating a rocketship, a boat, an airplane, a birthday card, a blastboard, ice skates, or something else she has dreamed up.

When Julia develops an interest in something she tends to stick with it for awhile. This year has been the year of SPACE! And, unsurprisingly, she would like to be an astronomer when she grows up. I think she's a little torn over being an astronomer or an astronaut - she goes back and forth although when we've asked for details she usually says that she doesn't want to actually go into space she just wants to study it and be the person on the ground directing things!

She also loves cars and monster trucks as well as sports. This past year she played T-Ball and soccer, continued her swim lessons, participated in gymnastics, and took ski lessons! Julia is a wonderful big sister and is very tolerant of Benjamin being her shadow. On occasion she even consents to listen to his ideas about things or what they should be doing!

I have spent a good part of this year developing a new relationship with Julia, or expanding it really, as we began to do more formal homeschooling. She really enjoys our school and is doing great with it. She is reading at a second grade level, doing first grade math, and obviously knows everything a LOT about space. Right now we're in the middle of a unit study on Space and we're learning more about the planets, stars, asteroids, meteors, black holes, telescopes, constellations, rocket ships, astronauts and astronomers. We've also studied world cultures and stories and Spanish among other things. There are definitely challenges to homeschooling (the biggest this year is learning how to be both Mom and her teacher) but we are both enjoying it tremendously and many days "school" is the best part of our day.

So that's my take on Julia right now and here is her own update:

• What is your favorite color?  pink
• What is your favorite toy? No-no
• What is your favorite fruit? apples
• What is your favorite tv show? Handy Manny
• What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? hotdog
• What is your favorite outfit? Elsa dress
• What is your favorite game? Mancala
• What is your favorite snack? Grandpa crackers (Cheesits)
• What is your favorite animal? flamingo
• What is your favorite song? Take Me Out to the Ball Game
• What is your favorite book? The Ballpark Mystery books
• Who is your best friend? Alex
• What is your favorite cereal? Cheerios
• What is your favorite thing to do outside? Ride bikes
• What is your favorite drink? milk
• What is your favorite holiday? Easter and Christmas
• What do you like to take to bed with you at night? No-no and pom-poms
• What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? Grapefruit
• What is your favorite thing to eat for dinner? Lamb chops
• What do you want to be when you grow up? A space scientist
• What makes you happy? No-No and pom-poms
• What is your favorite animal? bunny
• What is your favorite thing to eat? Grapefruit, chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and sugar sprinkles
• What is your least favorite thing to eat? Mac and cheese
• What is your favorite thing to do? Ride my bike
• What are you really good at? Soccer and baseball and swimming
• What is your favorite movie? Frozen
• What do you and your Mom do together? Read books
• What do you and your Dad do together? Go and get Christmas trees
• What is your favorite sport? Football
• What is your favorite place to go? Florida
• What is your favorite book? Berenstein Bears Play T-Ball and a Neil Armstrong biography

Indoor Diversions - JUMP!!

How do you completely tire out two kids who have spent a week cooped-up in the house? Two hours at a trampoline park!!

I think she only stopped for a couple of minutes for the entire time we were there!

how high can you go?

just call him The Blur!

Julia Gallery - The Solar System

We took a break from school over the Christmas holidays both so we could enjoy the holidays but also so that I could regroup a little and do some planning for the rest of winter and spring. One of the priorities on my list was science. All Julia wanted to do was study space. Of course.

That's a little easier said than done. We've already read most of the astronomy books at the library (including astronaut biographies, space shuttle designs, the solar system, etc.) so I was looking for something more systematic and in depth but also something that wasn't geared toward much older students. I finally found an outline for a great unit study that had all the aspects I was looking for -- planetary bodies, the sun, stars and constellations (along with their stories), asteroids, history of the space program, rockets, shuttles, and even biographies of astronomers for kids going back to Galileo! It's fantastic!! 

One of Julia's first assignments was to draw the solar system and ta-da - here it is!

The Solar System (including Pluto which Julia has a soft spot for!)