Leaping into Third Grade....Literally!
Thursday was our last work day of second grade and to our surprise and delight, Dad brought home a bucketful of tadpoles Wednesday evening! I decided, as any true homeschooler would, of course, to use this as a stepping stone for a day spent learning about frogs. We finished our math book for the year and Dakota got his reading done on his chapter book and then we set up the aquarium for the tadpoles. We learned about what they need to survive and why. We read books, did cloze activities, looked at an anatomy model, did a lifecycle puzzle, made a craft tadpole with a template and brads and watched two magic school bus videos, one about swamps and one about cold blooded animals. By days end, we were frog aficionados!
Friday saw us at our county review early in the morning. It went smoothly, as always, but Natalie was a beast and I was feeling stressed by the time we left. We dropped our frog learning things off to a friend who was also gifted tadpoles by my husband and then met MomMom for breakfast at Bob Evans to celebrate the end of second grade and the beginning of third grade. I thought, silly me, that since Natalie was now two we could use a booster seat instead of a high chair. Disaster! She didn't want to sit, wanted to escape, wanted to drop the crayons, didn't want to eat anything but blueberries....Whew! But every time I would start to get angry she would snuggle up to me and give me sweet hugs and melt my heart. This girl knows how to work her Nana!
We managed to get her home to nap for about an hour while Dakota and I soaked up the cool air conditioning and then back out we went to swim lessons. Natalie ran and ran and ran there too, but it's kid friendly and she can't really get into much. Dakota's coming along so well in swimming! He's most likely going to pass level 6 and be ready in the fall for level 7! Back home for a quick rest and a fabulous shrimp salad sub brought home by my husband and then off to Columbia for a birthday party at Shadowland....a laser tag place. Lots of the football kids were there and Dakota was having a great time even before they told him to pick a code name (Captain Arsenal) and suited him up with a light pack, a laser gun and sent them into the play area for the first 15 minute session. He, of course, loved every minute. Back out to eat pizza and back in to play round 2 of laser tag. Back out to eat cake and have fun with the boys and then off to Toys R Us in Glen Burnie to get the gift card Dad forgot earlier in the day. We finally made it home about 9:00 so Dakota could grab a bath, a bowl of ice cream and drop into bed.
The very best part of the day, however, came as a surprise. Laying in our bed, comfy and cool, Brian and I watched the O's game, as is our routine. They were losing by 2 going into the last inning. Still down by 1 with 2 outs and the last batter up and Chris Dickerson hit a monster home run to end the game with a walk off! Whoops and cheers here. The stadium went wild! Our son came home from work with hugs and excited words for both of us. We are truly a sports family from top to bottom. That's not such a bad thing...most of the time :-p
Friday saw us at our county review early in the morning. It went smoothly, as always, but Natalie was a beast and I was feeling stressed by the time we left. We dropped our frog learning things off to a friend who was also gifted tadpoles by my husband and then met MomMom for breakfast at Bob Evans to celebrate the end of second grade and the beginning of third grade. I thought, silly me, that since Natalie was now two we could use a booster seat instead of a high chair. Disaster! She didn't want to sit, wanted to escape, wanted to drop the crayons, didn't want to eat anything but blueberries....Whew! But every time I would start to get angry she would snuggle up to me and give me sweet hugs and melt my heart. This girl knows how to work her Nana!
We managed to get her home to nap for about an hour while Dakota and I soaked up the cool air conditioning and then back out we went to swim lessons. Natalie ran and ran and ran there too, but it's kid friendly and she can't really get into much. Dakota's coming along so well in swimming! He's most likely going to pass level 6 and be ready in the fall for level 7! Back home for a quick rest and a fabulous shrimp salad sub brought home by my husband and then off to Columbia for a birthday party at Shadowland....a laser tag place. Lots of the football kids were there and Dakota was having a great time even before they told him to pick a code name (Captain Arsenal) and suited him up with a light pack, a laser gun and sent them into the play area for the first 15 minute session. He, of course, loved every minute. Back out to eat pizza and back in to play round 2 of laser tag. Back out to eat cake and have fun with the boys and then off to Toys R Us in Glen Burnie to get the gift card Dad forgot earlier in the day. We finally made it home about 9:00 so Dakota could grab a bath, a bowl of ice cream and drop into bed.
The very best part of the day, however, came as a surprise. Laying in our bed, comfy and cool, Brian and I watched the O's game, as is our routine. They were losing by 2 going into the last inning. Still down by 1 with 2 outs and the last batter up and Chris Dickerson hit a monster home run to end the game with a walk off! Whoops and cheers here. The stadium went wild! Our son came home from work with hugs and excited words for both of us. We are truly a sports family from top to bottom. That's not such a bad thing...most of the time :-p
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