Clayton Crew: Summer Lovin: Week 5

Wow...week 5 was one rockin' week for the Clayton Crew! We have been gone so much, that this was our first full week back at home to play up a storm...and play, play, play we did! I even offered a few ideas of ways to get out of the house this week, but all our munchkins vetoed them because they were excited to just have adventures at home which I'm always up for. The weather was absolutely amazing for July in Austin, so we spent LOADS of time playing outside...I mean, we just had to take advantage, right?!? Here is how our week unfolded...

Make it Monday: Flight School

Kason and I made training maps to hang in a doorway for the kids to zoom their airplanes through. Kason graciously made airplanes for everyone :).

Max honestly wasn't interested one bit in flying any airplanes, but for some reason he loved sitting under the posters and laughing hysterically while the other two took aim...

Tabernacle Tuesday: Self Control & Kindness

Of course did our weekly review of the Fruits of the Spirit through song and bible study. We focused on self control which is one we talk about quite often actually :). While outside I blew bubbles all over the kids and they had to stand/sit without touching any...talk about a hard task! It was a great exercise in them visualizing and truly grasping self control...we even had a great talk about having self control even in the "good" times. Once the lesson was over...

they were let loose with the bubbles! We also talked about kindness this day as well. A new family moved in two houses down, so Kason baked them cookies (with little assistance from me!) and when Daniel got home from work we prayed for the family and went to meet them. Since we spent soooo much time at home this week, I threw in some extra fun activities. So before nap, the kids and I learned all about farms: animal farms...

and crop farms (which worked well when we discussed tree farms that produce fruit and it somewhat tied into the fruits of the spirit as a produce of God..it was a bit of a stretch I admit :)..but they have no clue, ha!).

Wet Wednesday: Oil and Water

Kason wasn't feeling any of my ideas for wet Wednesday, so we went a little unconventional this week. Instead we did an experiment with mixing oil and water...that's a wet substance, right?!?

Both rascals were amazed that the two never mixed and had loads of fun shaking the bottle as hard as possible to then watch it separate again. After our experiment, the kids worked on a few math pages...

as well as started putting their summer albums together...

That morning I let the kids sit down with the computer and choose which pictures for me to print so they can put in their Summer Lovin' picture books :)!

Thinking Thursday: Field Trip

Max goes to therapy for a couple of hours on Thursdays, and the the therapists have given us freedom to leave him there since I have other munchkins with me. Therefore, we always go to the church so I can get my bible class ready for Sunday and Zoe & Kason always help me. I'm teaching Kason's 1st grade class and we've been studying the story of Joseph, so Kason told Zoe the entire story using my props...

It was absolutely adorable! I especially loved the end when he explained how Joseph forgave and hugged his brothers. After we picked Max up, I took them on a field trip to one of my favorite stores...Lakeshore Learning. Yep, this momma is still a teacher at heart! I love this store because they have several products open for the kids to explore, so we spent an hour having a free learning adventure...

When we got home, we continued our thinking train to work on more puzzles and tangrams...

I love Kason's creation of a backyard porch swing :).

I did pick up a couple of fun small items to explore like instant snow...

The kids had so much fun playing in the sticky, icky snow and we were able to talk about hydration...

since we also picked up water marbles that started out as tiny pebbles, but grew into large marbles once hydrated...

I hadn't ever tried these before and they were so much fun, even for this momma! They bounce and everything...

and as you can see, they were definitely a success!

Family Fun Friday: Skating

In order to keep Kason's reading skills sharp during the summer, I created a little incentive chart. Kason was able to choose three prizes that he would be rewarded with once reaching monthly goals for daily reading with me: skating trip (after 25 books), a new small toy (after 50 books), and the big whammy (after 75 books)...a night of camping by himself with Nana & Pops!

He has worked soooo hard with me and is learning to conquer his phonics to help with his reading! Since he filled up his first chart, the family took him skating for our first time.

All five of us had great fun! Daniel and I even strapped on skates and got out there with the kids...

It took this momma a few minutes to get readjusted and not feel so wobbly, but Daniel just took right to it! We both took turns spinning Max around in his wheelchair which of course he thought was a blast...

The kids were having a difficult time getting the hang of it, so I went ahead and splurged to rent the skating trainers...

They were definitely worth the money! Kason picked it up much faster and the more laps he took, the more comfortable he became...

Zoe enjoyed skating, but kept getting scared in the rink because there were so many big kids zooming fast right by her. She would have done better with it less crowded. It didn't slow down this big man one bit though!

Saturday: Austin Bucket List

Since we were in town on Saturday, Daniel and I decided to knock off one of our Austin to do's! We packed a day bag, loaded up the kids, and headed to the river. Daniel originally planned for us to go swimming at the Blanco State Park but it was still closed from the flooding. So we turned back and went to Pederenales Falls which was beautiful.

Since we hadn't been before, we were thrown for a few obstacles like the long hike down, the crowd of people, and the strong current which wasn't conducive for little kids. We were able to navigate it as best as we could with littles and ended up having a super fun time!

Max love, loved the fast current...he thought it was hilarious to splash in while Daniel held him in it. Zoe loved playing around the bank in the super shallow areas, while Kason just about loved everything this river had to offer :). He especially thought it was fun to sit in the little rapids and waterfalls...