September 2012

The big news for September?  Justin started kindergarten!  It is only a half day program here in Idaho so we still get plenty of time with him at home.  Ryan misses him, but the mornings go by pretty quickly.  Here he is on the first day of school.

Ryan does enjoy some alone time with Mommy.  Here he is riding around the block while I run beside him.  There are quite a few ups and downs that I don't really notice when I walk.  Somehow they are much more noticeable when I am pulling him along or slowing him down.

The boys both got the chance to play soccer.  Ryan did pretty well.  Unfortunately, when other kids would start to have separation anxiety he would join in.

Justin with the ball!  He has two practices a week plus games.  It gets old fast for me, but hey.

This playground is quite close to my parents' house.  Ryan and I spent an entire morning here while Justin was in school one morning.  Ryan loved it, but of course Justin was jealous when he found out.  We even got to see fire fighters practicing with their hoses.  One came over and gave us some stickers.

Of course why play on the playground when you can walk on rocks?  My boys can always find something to do.

I said it was too cold to go swimming, but that doesn't stop us from getting wet.

The boys take a rest at a table along the world's longest boardwalk.

Ryan was "helping" my mom to clean things.  He decided that his job involved filling up things with water and pouring the water somewhere else.  Many containers were filled, including his shoes.  It is amazing how much fun kids can have with water.

Justin got to help my dad stain the ladder.  He had so much fun with the project.  The quality of his work was questionable, but his method was quite entertaining.  I don't know if anyone has ever danced around so much painting a ladder.

The marbles were left out on the floor and Justin couldn't resist sorting them.  Ice cube trays are so much for for a lot of different things.

Leaves colored Fall colors and sequenced from largest to smallest.  Ryan's cutting isn't exactly on the lines yet, but that's okay.

The boys had so much fun this month with Tinkertoys.  They even enjoyed playing bird family with the big red plastic part stuck on a stick making up a bird.  There were various family members, but usually a Little Sis.  They boys made all sorts of swings, beds, forts, boats, and more for Little Sis.

January 2012 Stuff

Here are some of this month's activities, in no particular order.

We went to Swakopmund on the coast of Namibia.  We had a great time playing in the ocean.



Ryan got some tinkertoys for Christmas and the boys LOVED them.  I found some on clearance at kmart.com and got them some more.  What a great toy!  Unfortunately, I don't think the quality is as good at the tinkertoys I had as a kid.   They have changed a few of the pieces, not for the better.  Oh well.

In Swakopmund we went on the living desert tour with Tommy.  Best tour ever!  Here is Tommy bringing Ryan back up a dune to where the vehicle is.  Evidently it was easier to go down than up. :)



In Swakopmund they also had a children's play place for kids to play as much as they wanted for about USD $4 a day per child.  Justin and Ryan both enjoyed these boats.

We went over to Walvis Bay and went for a dolphin and seal cruise.  Unfortunately, Justin appears to get seasick.  Note to self for future trips on the water!

We use dot a dot markers on these coffee filters and then attached them to pipe cleaners for a cheery bouquet.

Justin was exploring weighted numbers with the balance.  Who knew there were so many ways to get to 10?

We sorted things according to size.  I had three different sizes of each object and the boys compared to put them in the right place.

Here are some of the objects we used.

Our yard is incredibly uneven and in a moment of weakness I made an indoor bike course for the boys.  It really helped them figure out how to control their bikes.  Now they can manage better on a bumpy, slanted surface.

We traced things (like our hands) and measured them using nonstandard units of measure such as crayons.

Ryan found this in the scrap box and insisted on doing it.  I cut, he matched and glued.

This month we have been making a lot of games.  Some make more sense than others.  I guess a lot of the fun is in the creation.

For my birthday we went to Na'an ku se Wildlife Sanctuary.  This is one of the animals we got to see.  He and a few friends escaped from Etosha and needed a place to live where they weren't killing farm animals.

Ready, aim, fire!  We shot at targets.