Summer School 2011

Last summer I did a mini summer school with the kids and we started up again this week.

Learning makes this little Spider Man tired--ha!

Kai does counting numbers 1-10 in English and Spanish, color and shape flash cards and then I read him a book. For Kai it's mainly about getting him to sit still, be quiet and listen.

Kali works on the worksheets her teacher sent home in a packet. We do addition and subtraction, go over numbers, handwriting, write sentences and I read her books and she reads them back to me. Her favorite are Dr. Seuss.





Of course NO schooling is complete without art. I got a great idea off of the Design Mom blog. I sketched dresses for her and made copies.

She painted them with water colors to create her own designs.

and put them on display. She LOVED this!

Kai was coloring his wooden pirate treasure box while we did this.

And, next week we will start our Physical Education with swim class M-TH (I am even doing water aerobics to keep cool, because baking in the sun on the side of the pool is NO good) and Kali goes to dance camp later this month. We've got a fun, busy summer planned!

End of Summer

This past week we took our sweet little Kali to meet her Kindergarten teacher!

and seeing how excited and happy she was put me at ease.

Her teacher is sooooo nice & friendly, Kali just loved her!

Don't get me wrong I am still going to cry like a baby when I have to drive away from that school but I do feel better about the situation as a whole.

We did the last of our summer school activities this week:

we made more beignets

did some learning worksheets

and painted

this is Kali's painting of a rattlesnake

My mom took us to lunch at Flamingo Palace and there were two old men sitting near us that gave each of the kids a dollar for being so good and polite at the table. How nice is that?! I just love that entire generation. He said he was glad to see such nice kids behaving themselves :)

So the kids asked if we could take a trip to Smeeks (the cutest candy store in Downtown Phx) and the following day that is just what we did! It is amazing what all you can get for $2.35 at that store.

We also got ready for our "End of Summer/Ready for Kindergarten" party! More about that later!

What a fun summer!!

2 weeks left of summer

School starts in two weeks.

Tear drop.

As you may know...I HATE summer in Phoenix.

But I am sooooo sad about my sweet Kali going to Kindergarten that I want it to last forever.

Stupid AZ and their all day Kindergarten!

So we are going to be making the most of our last 2 weeks of summer.

Today we are brushing up on shapes with flashcards, play dough & Popsicle sticks.

Kali went school shopping with my mom & I last week. Let's face it, this girl needs more clothes like she need a hole in the head but it was soooo fun! I almost got teary eyed when she was picking out school supplies.
By the way Kai got this sword in exchange for his "baba" (pacifier) and he has not used it since--holla!!!!

back to Kali's school clothes....she loves Hello Kitty as much as her mommy :)

We spent the last two days at Kali's school helping my friend Joy (a teacher there) set up her classroom--soooo fun! Joy even fed us Barro's pizza one day and Flamingo Palace the other. My two favorite foods!!

Lucky us!

We also went to the Phx Public Library downtown in the "city" as the kids call it.

They made wishes in the fountain.

Rode on the "Willy Wonka" elevator....it is all glass just like the one in the movie. Oh and don't mind Kai, he wears his super cape & sword everywhere we go.

we had fun reading books & looking at the cool stuff they have there.

I sure am going to miss this gal while she is at school.

and I know Kai will too.

Learning

This is the last week of swim lessons.

School starts in 3 weeks.

My Kali in kindergarten!

I am a little sad but she is SO excited that I am excited for her.

When I was young I was always excited for the first day of school & I would cry on the last.

Mr. Becker thinks I was crazy.

Kai is going to be sad & miss his sister. He said he wants to watch her in the window all day.

Poor little guy. But, he is going to have fun being the only kid at home and going to the zoo & having it be his time with mommy. Not to mention on Mr. Becker's Fridays off he will have him all to himself!

This week we are working on numbers & letters.

Kai even joined in and did a worksheet!

We also read this book & made glittery pinecones that will be on the Christmas tree

The coming month is going to be filled with the kids learning new things & me learning to let go (well a little).

It's WAY too hot!!!

It has been HOT.
Way too hot to be outside other than swimming class.

It was even too hot this week to go to the library just knowing we have to get back into the hot car that would be baking in the sun. It seems like the a/c finally cools the car off when we are a few minutes from home.

So Kali set up a cute hair/make-up/dress-up salon in her room & gave me a makeover.

then she turned her radio on and had Mr. Becker & Kai come dance with us.

She is such a bossy little organizer just like her mommy :)

Kali also made some dresses with my leftover fabric for her favorite dolls & did a photo shoot with them. She said her doll Holly was "ecstatic" to be modeling (she heard that word in Fancy Nancy) and she looked "tre magnific"

Dora and Minnie joined in on the photo shoot

For our school work we learned about cactus & the kids wanted to read a children's version of "The Iliad" (Odyssey) BUT we only got through a few chapters because the cyclops scared Kali so much that she could not sleep! And, here she was so excited to get to that chapter....

you never know I guess Kai got a new bed in his room so we moved the little fold out couch into Kali's room and I let the kids burn some energy by jumping off!

Oh and did I mention it's so hot that I want to move? Every summer I spend time searching for Auditing jobs in cooler parts of the country & then in the fall I forget about it. But this year I am looking in Oregon & Washington.....a girl can dream.....

Learning

Kali at ballet

Learning about spiders

Kali took the camera and took this pic
For shark day we made these sharks out of toilet paper rolls

making homemade salt dough (just google the recipe)

Get er' done

I cannot believe I just titled my post that?! But....we have been getting some things done around here. We learned about recycling this week & how the rain forest is affected by it. The kids made crafts out of some toilet paper rolls (binoculars) and Kali found some old ribbon holders & colored them. (no pic)

We also learned about sea horses (Kali's request)
Mr. Becker rearranged our photo wall, hung the tv and took the legs off our armoire so it's now a table under the tv. He sure was handy this week!

This opened up in our garden this week

and I made these cute little fourth of July decorations from House of 3

you just print up the middle pieces and use whatever paper you have to finish them off.

Thanks to my cute cousin Rosemary for showing me the site.

Mr. Becker has a 4 day weekend! I am so excited to have him home....except his allergy doctor just told him he is severely allergic to grass & should not be doing yard work?! WHAT the HECK!

To infinity and beyond!!

Look at these two sweet, innocent little angels....

yeah right!

they fight at least 5 times a day over the silliest little things & someone always ends up crying...they constantly ask for their cups to be filled with apple juice and for snacks and to go swimming and to watch a movie and to go to Yaya's house and for another pair of water goggles....and Kali NEVER stops talking...oh and Kai goes to the bathroom more than anyone I've ever known!

But everyday when I sit them down to do summer school they are so sweet & excited about learning. Today we read about volcanoes and made one of our own in the sandbox with 1 T of baking soda and 1/4 cup of vinegar. They loved it!
and they can't wait to go to the library "in the city" as they call downtown to go get more books.
I love my crazy little kids!

I love them to infinity and beyond!

Little orchard

We started today learning about Japan and making hanging Japanese fish.

Kali and Kai helped Mr. Becker dig a hole for our new plum tree.

Our dream is for our yard to be full of trees....like our own little Becker orchard!

How awesome will it be to have plums and peaches growing in our yard?! I hope they produce as much as our lemon tree does.

planting the tree

and patting down the dirt

Kali and Kai were so excited to help Daddy plant the tree and fix our sprinklers. Aren't they lucky to have such a good daddy to teach them? Happy Father's Day Francis, you're the best Dad any kid could ask for :)

Summer school day 5 & 6

We read the Lion & the Mouse

and painted these masks one day...let them dry & the next day we put the mane on