Summer Science/Stem

I decided that I really wanted the kids to keep up on their school work so they were ready for the year ahead.

So I tried to make it fun with a Summer Schedule chart that had all our activities on it.
Which worked for a little while.
And really wasn't updated much but it did give me something to day when someone said "I'm bored." or when things were getting rowdy.
I looked at our schedule and just read off whatever it said for that time; reading, workbooks, outside play, building, crafting, ...
So most of the time that worked and I think we will give it another go next summer.

One item I wanted on the list was a period of time where we could work on a hands on science project, I widened it to stem so we could do many different things.
We would start with watching Bill Nye (I grew up watching him after school) or Magic School Bus then we would do an activity on what we learned.
At first everybody was REALLY excited and we ALL had a lot of fun. I found so many good ideas.
But our summer did get more busy and some days we forgot, and then Connor just got ... DONE.
And when he got done, Bella lost interest too and then Syd was left and willing but a little too young for most of them and it was especially hard to want to do it if they weren't all going to participate.

Some of our fun projects were:

Made the water cycle in ziploc bags and watched the water disappear throughout the day. 

Watched how rubbing a balloon could create static electricity.

Egg Drop vs. Gravity

Drawing our bodies and talking about where everything is inside them.

Created a sticky Spider Web with tape and talked about why and how they do that. 

Making Orange Soda (that tasted like YUCK) and talking about the different states of matter.

Went on a bug hunt.

Does light shine through this? Predictions and Experimenting with a flashlight. 

Guess whats Magnetic? We had to make predictions and then all experiment. 

Playing a food chain card game.

Playing a use your senses game, where they guessed what each thing was.

What temperature does Hot Chocolate dissolve?

Cooked Smores in a Solar Oven.

Blueberry Smoothie and talked about textures. 

Making a water tornado with water bottles. 

Made a pully.

Making the layers of the Earth. And then eating our cookie creations!

I think we did even more but these are the ones I can remember. 

I want to do even more next summer and hopefully keep the kids more engaged?!?

If anything it really kept me motivated to do a hands on activity with the kids everyday!

First Tooth

Look who lost her FIRST TOOTH!
She is so unbelievably proud!
I don't pull teeth, I let them.
It is so nice because honestly teeth pain is seriously rough for me and it all just kind of makes me cringe. When I was little my Dad always did it for us when we asked and as sweet as it was for him to do it, I feared it every time.
So whenever a tooth is loose I hear about it for a few days and they may complain a bit here and there but for the most part are really good with just eating around their loose tooth.
When they think it is ready I tell them to try to pull it out with a paper towel.
Sometimes it take a couple tries or sometimes I tell them it isn't ready and maybe they should try again in a couple days.
But I love the sense of victory when they finally do it on their own!

And Bella was STOKED!
Unfortunately she wanted to keep it for a few days to show people and then lost it. HA!
But the tooth fairy still came after we wrote her a note!

Happy Birthday DADDY!

We celebrated Shea turning 32 with a classic dinner and a movie.

And I really wanted to surprise Shea with his Mom's Mousse Cake. 

So I attempted it and it didn't turn out half bad. 

He loved it! 

And we also got him a bunch of camping presents; including a GIANT family tent!

He was so excited we put it together that weekend just to make sure it was as awesome as it seemed and then we did backyard camping at the Martins with it a few weeks later.  

Shea loves watching the little ones blow out the candles!

We feel so lucky to have such a great guy leading our Stanger crew. 

He sure knows how to make each of us happy and we are really enjoying having him home so much lately! (While he is in between projects at work.)

Lakeside

Last year we only went to Greenbriar lake once and it was my first time and I was determined to go more this summer. Well I didn't do much better, I think we went twice...
(We would have gone again but the third time we attempted it the Lake was full and they were not allowing more people to enter. That was a real bummer of a day.)
So next summer I guess I have to go at least thrice!

We made sure to bring Amberlee and Ryan and Joseph with us the second time we went because it was just SO fun!
And we really did enjoy showing off our swimming skills, building sand castles, burying each other, playing chase, and eating "sandy" snacks for lunch.
And kudos to me for actually remembering lots of sunscreen for everyone so no one burned!

And then Piper decided to let everyone know it was time to go, because she was done!

So she lead the way back to the cars and was due for a nice long nap!