Blood Brothers?

We were out in the lovely weather this week. SUNSHINE!!!!

Brendan had grabbed a thorn off of a blackberry vine. All of a sudden I hear Brendan and Wyatt talking about being blood brothers. I was like, "how do you know about being blood brothers?"
{side note: Home schooling my kids gives me the distinct advantage of having a pretty good idea about what they know and what they don't know!} Not that knowing about becoming blood brothers is good or bad either way, I was just a little surprised they knew anything about that.
It turns out they learned about it recently when they both read The Indian in the Cupboard. Alrighty.

So Brendan (the kid with the high tolerance for pain) was really trying to talk Wyatt (the kid without a high tolerance for pain) into jabbing the huge blackberry thorn right into his finger while he tried to work up the courage himself. I volunteered to stab them both, but they didn't go for it. Needless to say the blood brother initiation didn't take place, but I did get this picture that I LOVE in the middle of the almost ceremony. Good thing they are already blood brothers. :)

Children's Museum::Olympia

When we lived in Washington originally and had just two small, small children, we got a membership to the Hand's On Children's Museum. It was so fun and awesome...and popular. In a state where rain and cold is a reality for a good portion of the year, good indoor activities are a must! May I rabbit-trail a bit and say that this is also the case in states where it is ridiculously HOT for a good portion of the year. ahem, Phoenix.
 Anyway, when we moved back last year the Children's Museum had a beautiful new, big facility under construction in a great location downtown. We got a membership for Christmas and I know we will be spending lots of time there. As homeschoolers we can choose to go when it is less crowded which is SO nice! My 2 small, small kiddos from before are now on the older end for the museum (still fun...but only for a little longer) and the other 2 are almost the exact same age Brendan and Wyatt were when we first started going....6 years ago! I love them...and I love doing fun things together.

Yummy

Speaking of LimeBerry...

We just went there. It was a special treat...(again?) For some odd reason I had my camera and since I haven't blogged much lately.....here ya go! :)

 

yep. she loves it.

 

more please!

Wyatt's Concert

Speaking of Wyatt...

One of his classes during the fall session at ORLA was a singing class. It's been a bit of a struggle all year after he showed up on the first day and was one of only 2 boys in the class. Normally there are lots of boys in the class but they all signed up for a math class with a favorite teacher at ORLA and that's what happened. A few more boys did join the class, but they didn't seem to help. Well he has stuck it out despite the dreaded end of the session concert. I mean he REALLY didn't want to do it. I was torn in that tricky parental spot of knowing one way or the other this was going to leave a lasting impression and I wanted it to be a positive one. Let him off the hook? Because, really who cares!? It's a silly concert and it is SO optional. Orrrr, make him follow through, fight his fear, do something hard and uncomfortable and come out stronger in the end? I went for the latter in a moment of really wanting to let him out of it when he was reduced to tears before a rehearsal...but I was tough on him (rare for me), in my nurturing way instead, and made him do it. He put on his brave face, did the rehearsal and had a bit of fun. He did his concert, even invited some family members and was sooo proud of himself afterwards. We took him to Lime Berry afterwards to celebrate. Now, he wishes he signed up for it again this session because he really did like it, and besides all his friends are in the class this time! Go figure! :)

Kid Quotes::Vol. 53

Wyatt: "Mom, whenever I look at you I just want to hug you because whenever I look at you I think about how much work you do for me."