Gardening and Housebuilding

We made a multiplication chart / clock ~ thanks to inspiration from Robinsunne.  It was the perfect timing for Jack.  There were a few times tables he was having trouble remembering, but right away, he picked up the patterns and figured out the numbers without looking at my drawing on the board.  It was fun for him to make such a nice project and especially good for his ego!

Meantime, Landen continued to be the eager helper in the garden.  We’ve been making a point of giving the chickens any green weeds daily to contribute to their diet.  Wetsuit and rubber boots on my littlest man make me smile.

We decided to make a swale along the bank behind our house, allowing some of the runoff from our washing machine to help water our garden.  Tomatoes, squash and a couple of watermelon plants were the lucky ones to get planted there.

Jack wrote about swale gardening in his main lesson book.

It’s always fun to have Papa’s involvement ~ he’s much more efficient than I.  Especially when he gets out the Kabota tractor.

That’s 13 tomato plants, with gopher cages for each one!

The boys found a snake while we worked in the garden that day.  Finding reptiles and bugs make the hard work worthwhile!

Jack has continued to amaze me with his ease at learning guitar.  His teacher is using Open Tuning ~ he now has about 20 songs he can play!  After we got the above Janis Joplin T-shirt at a yard sale, it was a good incentive to learn Bobby McGee.

It seemed appropriate to make a seasonal calendar as Spring hit full force.  It was pretty easy to look back and ahead at this point to the seasons and months in each.  Jack enjoyed using his watercolor painting to make the final result.

A surprise birthday party for his pal Stella on Cinco de Mayo at the beach was the first day to really feel almost summer-like.  The kids had a blast, so did the parents.

The days Landen is not at his mixed-aged Kindergarten, I try and plan things I think he will enjoy.  I knew that drawing a picture of our house was one of those activities.  The boys were eager to draw.  I love the fact they are both artistic!

Papa had gotten a good *deal* on some lumber from the lumber yard, for a future project (septic tank, perhaps?).  Most pieces measured 4′ x 4′ x 8′ and seemed to be the perfect larger-than-life Lincoln logs to accompany our housebuilding block.

I wasn’t thrilled about the location ~ conveniently blocking access to my garden for new topsoil, but since they were all so into it, I let them run with it.  It was just *temporary*…

The adjacent field had grown so much it became the perfect haven for little boys hoping to make secret forts and hide from one another.  For a week or so, the boys couldn’t wait to go out in the field and play.

The dogs loved the lagoon on the other side…

The kids also like taking photos of us parents when we let them hold the camera.  For some reason, I really like this one.

Landen’s buddy, Makai, was having a birthday party and he knew exactly what he wanted to give him.  Homemade biscuits!  It was adorable.  We got it all ready to go, then realized the birthday was not till the next week!

He made more for him the following week, but these never made it to him: