Berry Picking

Ryan doesn't have many foods that he loves, but strawberries and blueberries are among the chosen few. The strawberry season here in Oregon is all too brief, but we managed to get out to the strawberry fields this week to pick a flat of strawberries. Hood Strawberries are the kind most people grow here locally, and they have wonderful flavor and are very sweet. However, the texture is rather unpleasant to me, pretty mushy (the locals call the California strawberries "crunchy!"). They also are highly perishable and have to be eaten pretty much the day you pick them, or no later than the next day.


We drove out to Sauvie Island to pick at Kruger's Farm, which is a neat family farm. Ryan turned out to be quite a good picker once he figured out which strawberries were ready to be picked. He was good and only ate the two or three I allowed them each to sample, unlike the woman and her two kids picking nearby who were eating more than they were putting in their box.


After picking we walked among the U-cut flower beds that were almost spent for the year, and then the kids played on a couple of tractors for a while. We had a great time and are planning to go back next week as well...rumor has it the blueberries might be ready then!

Chalk Art

One of Ryan's latest chalk creations out on the back patio. It's a picture of our house, new grass, and play structure.

Witnessing a Miracle

I bought a Butterfly Garden last fall and have been waiting all winter and spring for the weather to warm up enough to send away for our caterpillars. It has finally warmed up enough, so I mailed off the certificate. In just a few days our butterfly larvae arrived! Ryan was very excited, and we all watched the caterpillars crawl around inside their sterile plastic container for quite some time.


We checked on them every day, and then one day about five days later I was blown away by how big they had grown! It seemed like they tripled in size overnight. Within another day they began to crawl to the top and hang upside down in preparation to become chrysalids.


I have never actually seen this process happen, so I was very excited when I saw the first caterpillar begin to transform. I called the children over and we watched him transform before our eyes from a caterpillar into a chrysalis in about two minutes! It happened so fast I couldn't tell what was happening, so I looked it up on the internet and learned they shed their skin. Then next one began his process about 30 minutes later, and this time we saw him lose his skin.


We had one little caterpillar who lagged behind the others by about 36 hours, but eventually he made his chrysalis as well. Every once in a while they shake and squirm a bit, a defensive move to ward off predators. They were doing a lot of this when the last caterpillar was crawling around trying to eat and make up his mind where to hang and start his chyrsalis.


Once they were all in chyrsalids, we were able to open the container and move them into the butterfly garden.


It's been about five days, and we're now keeping a close eye on them for the next several days. The information sheet said it takes about seven to 10 days before they emerge. So any day now we hope to see the birth of our butterflies! Stay tuned...

Splashing

It's been fairly warm, so I brought the mini pool out of the garage. The kids played for hours washing all their outside toys and splashing and playing. It's so nice in our backyard now, and we all can't wait till we can run around on the grass!

Planting Seeds

Ryan got a couple of seed kits in his Easter basket this year, and today I decided to plant them. He sowed tomato and basil seeds, and he is very excited to see his tomato plant grow. Hopefully in a few days we'll see some sprouts!


We had a fun lesson on seeds and how man can make a lot of things but only God can make a seed. Just another science lesson in our homeschool!

Painting

Ryan got a new paint set out of one of the geocaches that we found recently, so today he painted several pictures using his new paints.

Frozen Bananas

I am not a big banana fan, but the kids really like them. I decided to try making some frozen bananas today for Ryan and Abby to share with the neighbor kids who were coming over to play this afternoon.


Ryan really enjoyed making the treats, and better yet, he even liked eating them (I wasn't sure he would). Unfortunately, neither of the friends we invited over liked them, but you can't win them all!

Memorial Day Weekend

We were pretty tired after all our yard work this week, but we did take a couple of days to go out and enjoy some family time. We hiked on some trails, played in some parks, hunted some geocaches, and even visited a couple of Veterans' Memorials that are nearby.


Ryan really liked the mural and reading the names of the people listed on the memorial.

Taking a Day Off

The last two weekends we have been putting in long hours weeding and preparing our yard for our new lawn. We got rained out last Sunday evening and couldn't finish, so we decided to take a break on Monday and go do something fun, especially since Daddy had taken the whole week off. It was still drizzling a bit, but the weather was supposed to clear up in the afternoon. We first went to a terrific children's park where there happened to be a couple of geocaches just for kids nearby.


Unfortunately it was too wet and slippery for the kids to play on the playground, so we went under the cover of the trees and found the two caches we were looking for. It started pouring rain in between the two so we sought shelter in The Elephant House for about 15 minutes while we waited for the rain to let up a bit. We will definitely have to come back to this park sometime soon so the kids can actually play!


We then went to the zoo for a few hours. They just opened a new exhibit with black bears, mountain lions and another small cat. It was nice to see something new at our little zoo, and the habitats were quite impressive. However, I don't think our favorite sight today was even an official zoo exhibit. There was the cutest little group of downy ducklings nesting in the mountain goat habitat!


This R2 mailbox was out in front of the zoo, and we all got a kick out of seeing it, particularly Ryan.

Helping With Yardwork

It's been a rough week for Ryan and Abigail. We have been working 10- and 12-hour days all week, and they have felt a bit neglected, I think. Whether it's feeling neglected or our usual routine being disprupted or all the quickie food we've been eating, I don't know, but they have been at each other's throats and acting up a bit. Ryan did have some fun sitting in the Bobcat and watching Daddy drive it around, and he also helped me a bit rolling out the sod. They both had fun washing all their outside toys on Thursday when it was pretty hot outside, but I think they're glad the majority of the yardwork is over!

Another Use For Toy Cars

When you tire of playing with Cars the old fashioned way, there's always this option:

He's All Boy

From time to time Daddy and I play a computer game called Age of Empires, and Ryan is captivated by this game. It's a civilization/battle game where you have to balance building up your economy with fighting the enemies as you progress from the Dark Age to the Imperial Age. I often let him choose what he wants to write during his writing time during school, and one day he chose words such as trebuchet, catapult, castle, etc.! He didn't know they were "hard" words, he just thinks they're cool and wanted to write them. He has been wanting to play the game himself for quite some time, but we just haven't felt he was really able to yet. But last weekend, Daddy loaded the game onto the kids' computer and showed him how to play. He was in heaven! He did pretty well during the tutorials he's completed thus far (we made him read all the history of each age and he's learning about the each culture and its weapons and economy, and so forth). He's all boy...loves the weapons, hunting, and military aspects the best.

Mother's Day Weekend

Ryan loves "special" days, and Mother's Day is no exception. We had a fun day celebrating early on Friday, and then we got to work in the yard the next two days. We put Ryan to work collecting rocks and fircones, and he did it for a while. But most of the time he spent playing, digging in the dirt, climbing and sliding on the play structure and pestering his sister. He was terrified of the weed burner that we had rented, but he calmed down a bit as the weekend progressed.

Buddies

Ryan and Abby were playing nicely together today, and when I went in to watch them for a minute I found this cute menagerie of Ryan's buddies all stuffed into the microwave of their play kitchen. According to Ryan, they were all hiding and sitting really still so they wouldn't be seen.

Eye Update

Ryan had another eye exam last weekend, and the surgeon is very pleased with the results of her last surgery. His eyes are perfectly straight when he is wearing his glasses, which was pretty much what we had hoped for. They do cross a bit when he takes off his glasses, but we didn't expect to be able to fix that completely. One of his eyes has a bit poorer vision than the other, but it wasn't enough to warrant changing his lenses. It was a great report, and it made me really happy we opted to do the second surgery!

Nighttime Reading

We instituted a new policy for Ryan last week. His usual bedtime is 8:30, but we told him he could stay up 15 minutes longer if he wanted to read in bed. I figured he would like the idea, but I was surprised at how excited he is each evening. He has been sleeping on the top bunk ever since Granpa was here and Abby was sleeping in his room on the bottom bunk. He likes being up high! He likes to read by flashlight, and I tried to snap a picture of him reading in bed, though it didn't turn out very well.

Why There's Been No New Posts Lately

I have been having a very hard time getting pictures uploaded and posts written on my blogs. I simply don't have the time available that I used to have since we began doing "Abby's school." However, today I have a "free" day, so I am going to publish quite a few posts. Some of these posts are pretty old, but since I use this as an online scrapbook of sorts for each of the kids, I am going to post them anyway. We have had an extraordinarily busy month, and we took lots of pictures!

Our New Play Structure

Ryan helping install the deck.

We have been dreaming of getting the kids a play structure for years, but our former house did not have room for even a swing set. So when we bought our new home, we knew this was one of the first major "improvements" that we wanted to make. Costco has a different play structure made for them each year by Rainbow Play Systems, and after much shopping and comparing, we concluded that it was truly the best value for the type and size structure we wanted.


About step 11 of 24 steps!

Each time we shopped at Costco, we would look at the structure, and one time Ryan wanted to know how the swings were going to fit in our van. He thought it came fully assembled! Wouldn't that be nice?


Being a good helper.

Last fall we laid down the weed block and spread the cedar chips so our play area was ready for the structure. My dad graciously agreed to fly up and help us assemble it, so Ryan and Abby were even more excited about the weekend than they normally would have been.



End of day one.

Ryan desperately wanted to help, so he was put to work putting washers on bolts and putting screws in holes, and even installing some of the screws himself. Even so, he was very impatient for it to be ready to play on. We spent about 12 hours putting it together on Saturday and less than two hours Sunday morning, and overall it was easier than we anticipated, thankfully. Best of all, it didn't rain all weekend!



We need to get another unit of cedar chips to expand the play area a bit, but other than that, it's done. We all love it, and I'm very pleased with how it looks in our backyard!

Hiding Out

One day last week Ryan asked if he and Abby could color, and I said sure. I was busy doing something in my bedroom, and when I came out I didn't see them in their usual coloring spot at the little table. They were down on the floor in the corner of the dining room. When I asked why they were back there instead of at the table, Ryan whispered, "Because we're hiding out from the bad guys. We don't want them to see us." Okay, whatever. I guess coloring is a risky activity these days!

Mommy or Employee?

Today as Ryan was reading his lesson to me, he read the word "employment." I asked him if he knew what it meant, and he pretty much had a good understanding. We had a discussion about what an employee is by talking about how Daddy works for the architect firm and he is their employee, to which Ryan responded, "Yeah, and you're our (Ryan and Abby's) employee!" Ha! No wonder I am taken for granted so much!

What Happens When Boys Play With Dolls

Ryan tends to be very bossy and domineering with his sister, so we've been trying to teach him to allow her to occasionally pick the games they play instead of making all the decisions himself. I was pleased last week to hear him asking her what she wanted to do and then actually doing it instead of trying to manipulate her into playing what he wants! After a short time I went in to praise him for being unselfish, etc., and I was cracking up at what they were playing. Abby had said she wanted to play with her Beauty and the Beast doll and toys, so they were doing that. But I noticed that Ryan had Belle and she had some of Abby's play rings around her waist. I asked if she was wearing belts, and Ryan informed me that they were in fact her propellers so she could fly around with them like a super hero!

Fun at Oaks Park

For Abby's birthday we took her to a local amusement park, Oaks Park. We knew she would love it but that Ryan would probably skip most of the rides. We were very proud of him though. He tried three different rides that he was initially too scared to do, and he went on two of them a second time! He has been showing some maturity lately in being more bold and trying some things that he thinks he doesn't like or is scared to try. It's been good to see him growing a bit in this area.


He was really excited about this slide until he got to the top and wanted to bail! But Daddy coaxed him into trying it, and he ended up loving it and begging to do it again!


He was terrified to try this balloon ride, but as Abby and Daddy were riding it, I tried to soothe his fears and I guess it worked because he announced he would go on it after all. He had a last minute panic and wanted to get off, but we didn't let him and he ended up liking it enough to ride it again later in the day.

Swimming: Second Time Around

Ryan had swimming lessons shortly after his third birthday in hopes it would help get over his fear of water. That was a disaster, to say the least. He was petrified and couldn't relax and enjoy it at all. So when our homeschool group had sign-ups for three- to five-year-olds, I was a little hesitant. He assured me he wanted to try again though, so we signed both him and Abby up for eight lessons.


Ryan, Abby, and their friend Frankie.
I was very pleasantly surprised! He has been doing fantastic! He is having a great time, he is putting his face in the water, he is going under the water to retrieve rings and things, and he is even jumping to the instructor from the side of the pool which was a HUGE ordeal last time! The only negative has been his resistance to taking a shower afterwards to rinse off the chlorine! However, since I told him he would have to skip the next class if he fought me about the shower again, he has done much better.


They both are doing so well, we're considering getting an annual family membership to the pool. It's quite reasonably priced (we are actually in district--gasp!), and it will give us another thing to do besides McDonald's when it's pouring down rain outside since it's an indoor pool. In the meantime, I'm enjoying watching him have fun in the water. What a relief!

Chon-ji

Doing warm-up crunches.
Ryan has been coming along with his Taekwon Do. He can count to ten in Korean, and he is about halfway through learning the first form called Chon-ji. He gets his left and right mixed up, and his kicking combinations look more like skipping, but he LOVES to kick!


He is now the only one who doesn't have a uniform, and he told me last week he wants one. We've been holding off because we haven't been convinced that he really likes it and wants to stick with it. So we made him a deal: Once he has learned his first form all the way through (doesn't have to be up to promotion standards), we will get him a uniform if he still wants to continue. He will have to have one if he wants to promote anyway, so we'll see what he decides and how hard he works.


The instructor is trying to help him bend as far back as possible!

Easter Sunday

Ryan has been excited about Easter for weeks! We had a very nice day, and one of the special things about it was listening to Ryan read the Easter story to us from the Bible! He read quite a bit and did a fantastic job. His reading skills have really improved this year. We did several things to try and point the kids back to the real meaning of Easter, and I think it worked well. (I am short on blog time these days, so here's Abby's post that talks about other things we did.)


We did lots of meaningful things, but I think Ryan's favorite thing was the egg hunt. We hid eggs for the kids to find (in the house since this is Oregon), and then he wanted us to go hide while he and Abby hid them for us to find. They did a good job, and we had fun finding them. Then we hid the eggs yet again for them to find them again.


Ryan got several new cars to add to his collection of vehicles from the movies Cars. He got a Filmore, which he has been wanting for quite some time!

Budding Photographer

As we were doing our geocaching last week, Ryan wanted to try taking our picture. He has a camera (freebie digital that takes horrid pictures) that he plays with, so he's been "practicing" with, but this is the first photo he's taken with our camera. He did a pretty good job, and exclaimed while he was bringing me the camera, "I think I got it straight!" He did indeed.