Miss Rumphius

I have been rowing the cutest book with Lane and Eliza this week!

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We are still using our tic-tac-toe word boards, and Lane shows Eliza where to put her dot.

Lane’s reading skills and vocabulary skills have taken off with Five in a Row!

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Because Miss Rumphius worked in one, we learned about the library, the Dewey decimal system, and read a great book about it all (the one on the left).

There was a Curious George episode about the library (Eliza loves George still!), and we are going to the library this afternoon to experience it all first hand!

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We also opened a coconut, because in the story Miss Rumphius drank one. Grant helped with hacking the top off, and then we feasted on all its goodness inside.

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We have opened coconuts before, but not since Eliza has been home.

Everyone else hesitated to put a piece of the coconut meat in their mouths to try it, except Eliza! She grabbed a huge piece and stuffed it in – that’s my girl!

Then she spit it all right back out. But I love her spirit!!

We made a delicious smoothie with the coconut water and the meat. We had to add more coconut water to make a smoothie big enough to serve us all, but God has blessed us with Costco for big family servings! We buy our coconut water there.

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I sent the younger boys to the freezer to get some fruit, and they brought back every kind we own. So we made a banana, peach, mango, triple berry smoothie! And, no, that is not pepper on top – just some ground chia seeds to give all that fruit sugar some protein. Doesn’t that coconut meat look delicious?! It was!

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We talked about the health benefits of electrolytes as I served the smoothies, because coconut water is full of them. It was delicious! Grant drank his and told me he could feel his white blood cells doing a dance.

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Miss Rumphius was called The Lupine Lady because she planted lupine flower seeds to make the world more beautiful. We ran with this into the study of botany, seeds, flowers and their parts….there is just SO much to learn!

We watched two episodes of Magic School bus about plants and seeds.

We soaked, peeled, and examined the insides of pinto beans.

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We also put some bean seeds on a wet paper towel in a baggie and hung them on the window.

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We couldn’t fit this book into five days either – so we will keep rowing – and take time to document what happens to those seeds and finish the other things I have planned!

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It is a beautiful day here! Blue and sunny – Praise the Lord!!!

Happy Thursday, everyone!!!!

It Felt Like Summer

Last week was amazing. Super duper amazing!

Especially the weather. It felt like summer!

It was 77 degrees on Friday!

That might not be saying much for those of you who live down south. (Hi, Grandma Norma!)

Or those of you who live in the desert. (Hi, sis!)

But we were simply lovin’ it.

Couldn’t even drag ourselves inside to eat lunch! Ate outside sitting at a picnic table instead.

When I sent this photo to my hubby, he texted back “Is that the smallest swimming pool in the world?”

Har, har! I kept refilling that tiny pool with warm water, and they played in water all afternoon!

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And then we played some more!

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Saturday was nice too, but not quite as summer like.

The guys were busy outside fencing, working more on that broken truck, and Chad even tilled some of our garden rows for me!

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Addie Mae was gone most of the day doing fun stuff with her big sis, so I had to run the kitchen.

All by myself, can you imagine?!

And I also was working on this project with Eliza….which, as you can see, was not so successful.

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In between all those potty attempts and clean-ups, I made lots of summer like food!

Cause I was still livin’ in Friday’s time!

Photos of food are so beautiful, don’t you think?

Marinated cucumbers, and restaurant style salsa. Mmm.

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No mayo potato salad. Mmm. Mmm.

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Fruit salad. Mmm. Mmm. Mmm!!

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Summer food is such a nice change. Bye, bye soup!

David and Kayla brought Addie Mae home, and then stayed for dinner!

Thanks for manning the grill, David!

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This sweet pup ran the farm for hours before we made her chill for awhile!

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We ended the day getting cleaned up. And with some littles in our bed watching a show.

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Today it is 37 degrees. And pouring rain!

At least it is not snow!

I got my winter shoes back out, and have winter clothes on.

Eliza and I wore our winter coats when we went to our chiropractor appointments earlier.

That tease of what’s to come is still fresh on our minds though!

We can’t wait for summer!!!

Happy Monday, everyone!!

Beginnings

The beginnings of farming season are upon us!

Makes us smile even more than we already do!

The post office called bright and early yesterday morning because they had a package chirping at them!

Sweet Kayla picked them up for us! We were ready and waiting!

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We kidnapped two of David’s sisters to stay with us! So I made a big breakfast! Then it was time to show Eliza the chicks!

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She wasn’t so sure at first….but it only took a second for her to figure out how cute and cuddly they are!

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And they are CUTE! Super cute!

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Won’t be long and those little cuties won’t be cute anymore!

Good thing we have several more batches that will be arriving yet this farming season!

Welcome to you, farming season! We love these beginnings!

And this weather!! Makes my heart sing!