Call Day #153, 4/16/16

Eleanor with the pillow she got for her birthday yesterday. She's had her eye on these for a while. She got it right before bedtime last night as a white-topped pillow. Guess who was up til 10 or after adding all the pattern and embellishments? Finished early this morning.

We had a big day today, the Family Day for our Five in a Row home school group. It was a whole day of events centered around one children's book. This year it was Henry the Castaway, a book about a boy who goes on a grand adventure and gets lost. Eleanor and Claire dressed in their explorer gear!

The morning started with a gathering to read the story together.

Apparently, we sat too far back!

The kids were divided in groups and rotated through three stations. They learned about building structures to shelter themselves in the woods.

Another station talked about survival foods that are good to take along on an outing.

In the story, Henry only took a sandwich so the kids did a fun relay to make a pretend peanut butter and jelly sandwich. One group with their finished sandwiches.

Sandwich with a little flag on top. Henry marked the path he traveled with little flags like these.

Another station was led by a family who are a part of the Civil Air Patrol.

They were in full gear having been involved just this morning in a search and rescue mission. The kids were also introduced to using a compass.

After the morning stations, the kids gathered for a group photo.

Lunchtime!

Happy to be with friends.

Oliver spent the morning hanging out at the station I was leading instead of going around with a group. He was happy to go explore. There was a canoe just like Henry rode in, complete with his dog!

The "Little Explorers" area--Oliver's favorite part of the day's activities.

Playing in a bin of rice.

Lots of kids came over to play.

The afternoon was set aside for games and crafts. Eleanor played frisbee.

Then, she learned how to play Capture the Flag.

Craft table.

Oliver loved the "bi-wok-u-lars." What did he see?

His sisters and other kids to go play with.

It was a fun day celebrating Henry the Castaway!

A memorable day!

When we got home, we got to Skype with Grandma and Grandpa to celebrate Eleanor's birthday. She had fun opening presents.

She liked her new doll and, especially, all the fun clothes Grandma made for her to wear. Each of them was put on in turn.

Matching dresses!

Nanny and Papa joined us for dinner. Oliver loves it when Nanny shares her tea!

Claire gets bedtime stories with Papa.

Call Day #152, 4/8/16

The kids worked together to pick up the downstairs to surprise me while I was upstairs trying to do a bit of work on the master bathroom remodel. They were proud saying that the play room had enough open floor space to do cartwheels again. They wanted their picture taken in their about-to-do-cartwheels pose. Oliver still in pajamas which he often asks to wear all morning.

My helpers. Oliver's favorite face for pictures lately.

Eleanor poses next to my desk in the kitchen which she straightened.

The highlight of it all for me was their working together! It was such a contrast to their frequent bickering and unkindness toward each other. The best part was hearing them singing a song they made up (sung to the tune of "Praise Him, praise Him. Praise Him in the morning, praise in the noontime..."). The words I heard drifting up the stairs brought such joy: "Thank Him, thank Him. Thank Him for a sister, thank Him for a brother. Thank Him, thank Him, thank Him for a Mommy."

After enjoying a walk around the neighborhood, we discovered cards from Grandma in the mailbox!

The kids like taking turns taking pictures and not just being in them.