The fruits of their labor

We had some time to kill on Friday between dropping off Andrew and taking the kiddos to Grandma's house, so I searched out a neighborhood I heard was bursting with free oranges. The kiddos had a blast and were so proud of themselves. Take a look...

And lest you think this activity got by without a lesson, the boys learned which fruit are considered citrus, the time of year and type of climate that citrus fruits grow in, and a little about what happens when regions with citrus experience unseasonable temperatures. Orange you glad we aren't in Florida? We are!

Sumerian Seals & Sargon the Onager

Atticus learned about the first Sumerian dictator, Sargon, today. Man, he was an ass, which is apparently what pulled chariots back then instead of horses. And those particular wild asses were also known as onagers. My kids love "secret" bad words, and they aren't afraid to throw them out there. ;) And I am enjoying relearning history.

Anyhow, our project for the day was making our own Sumerian Seals. After a few takes, here are our seals waiting to dry (as well as a few other goodies). Next we will paint them and then make impressions in wet clay.

And because Atticus never misses out on a photo op, here's a picture of him with his snowman in 3D.

And a more appropriate medium for the 2 and under crowd. Does everyone's play-doh end up looking like that?

Home. It's where we hang.

We are eagerly awaiting the arrival of new beds for all three boys right now, right as I type this! We are finally getting to the point where the house is feeling like our own. After 6 years in this house, we've finally given up our guest bedroom that we use about once a year to make it something more useful. Like, um, a bedroom for our boys who spend every day here.

We decided to leave Atticus in the ever-so-slightly larger room that he picked the color for years ago. He is getting a loft bed with drawers, desk, and trundle under it. Perfect timing really, as he is starting to read independently for hours at a time.

Creeley picked a color for the room he is sharing with Townsyn. The little guys are getting a trundle bed with three drawers built in. We have tiny rooms, so our best option is to stack and rise. Creeley also picked some adorable prints by Green Nest on Etsy. They are adorable...and oh-so-Creeley-esque.

We (well, Andrew mostly) built shelves into both of the closets upstairs to accommodate our ever expanding toy and game collection. I have no idea why we didn't do it years ago. It clears up so much living space in the actual rooms. Brilliant, we are!

No pictures until the beds are up. Sorry folks.

Stay tuned for our whole year of home improvements.

Testing

I am going to do this. At least I'm going to start. Will I stick with it? Only time will tell.