The past week started out with the most beautiful day!
We weren't about to waste it so I packed the girls up and headed to a lake near our home!
I was afraid keeping them much longer would be their demise!
We found the perfect spot to say good bye and returned the nymphs back to the wild!
We continued on to the beach.
The morning there was pure bliss.
I totally should have brought their bathing suits but figured the water would be too cold.
Silly Mama!
I should have known!
By the end they were soaked, covered in sand and grinning from ear to ear!
In the book, Corduroy the bear is purchased by a little girl who loves him despite his imperfection - a missing button.
She kindly sews one back on for him.
The girls delighted in the opportunity to get their hands on some buttons this week, too!
They adore looking through them and discovering pretty and unique ones!
They sorted them by color and counted them.
And tried their hand at 'sewing' with them!
I assembled these sewing hoops for them using embroidery hoops and onion bag netting.
Then they used yarn and plastic needles to sew buttons onto their hoop!
Another day, I set up a toy store just like the one Corduroy was in!
I lined up their stuffed animals, added price tags to them, set up a cash and pulled out our box of plastic (Canadian!) money!
At first, I was the cashier so they could see how to play the part of customer and cashier.
I even made them do something (like dance for me) to earn money once they ran out of cash!
Once they saw how 'toy store' was played, they took over and shopped and sold for much of the morning!
In Corduroy, Lisa, the little girl, is able to return to the store and purchase the bear with money she had saved in her piggy bank.
This lead a disscussion about money - how we earn it and what we should do with it.
This resulted in a craft in which the girls began making 3 banks each - spend, save and share.
We haven't quite completed them yet since we spent a lot of time discussing the 3 banks.
Spend is for money that you can use anytime.
(Such as at yard sales or candy shop.)
Save is for keeping money in until you have enough to purchase something specific.
(They are going to pick something specific and take a picture of it to add to this bank as a goal to save for.)
Share is for giving in the offering at church and to others in need.
( I used our sponser child as an example for them.)
They recieve ten cents for each chore they do each day.
Their chores don't include things they are expected to do any way like put their dirty clothes in the laundry or clear their dishes from the table.
No, these chores are fun and exciting!
Like vacuuming or washing dishes!
My girls are pumped to not only get to do these awesome jobs but to get paid for them, too!
I'm not much of a chart mom so this system may not last long but it was the only way that I could think of for them to consistently earn money.
I think it is really important that they learn money sense from a young age and this is a fun way to begin!
For the rest of the morning, Piper was running around the house doing stuff and after each chore she would run to me with her hand out and excitedly yell, "MONEY!"
I gently explained that she wouldn't get the money until the end of the day.
Instead, she moves the corresponding chore sticker to her chart to show that she completed it!
Piper continued on with her nature journal this week entering forget-me-nots and crab apple blossoms.
She is quite diligent with this and enjoys finding the right crayon to match the flower's color.
I am learning a lot, too, since I am completely clueless about flower names.
Seriously - I had to Google what those pretty blue wild flowers were!
They week ended with a trip to Daddy's work!
I am so grateful it happened at his work becuase they escaped their little cage!
Thankfully, he had them in an aquarium in his classroom so they didn't get far!
We visited him at school to check out the new little hatchlings and I was pleasantly surprised -
I actually like these insects!
Normally, I won't go near any insects (on purpose) but for some reason praying manti don't gross me out at all!
I even held one willingly!
They're {almost} cute!
They girls wouldn't touch them but really enjoyed watcing them!
Once our garden is planted next week, we plan on releasing them as an organic form of pesticide!
Phew!
And I wondered why I didn't find any time to blog this past week!
These posts always remind me of how much we actually do!
But are we ever having fun!
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