Homeschool Series: Projects & Handicrafts

Yesterday, I showed you how I fit certain projects in our day. The ones that we don't finish in our morning gatherings are usually worked on in the afternoons.

I wanted to include beautiful art and handicrafts into our days so I've made a simple list of 1 art project and 1 handicraft that I'd like to get to per month. In addition to this, the boys have an actual art class they take on Mondays.

Art:

I purchased Simply Charlotte Mason's beginners art video on pastels. It's called Creating a Masterpiece and I've heard great things about it.

I also search pinterest  for other ideas. Last month we tried this oil pastels cow and LOVED it!





Others on our list:

rooster or watercolor
sunflowers or these 
landscape
flowers
fall landscape
scarecrow
bubble wrap corn
textured landforms
basket of apples

Handicrafts and Projects

hand stamped leather bracelet
pressed flower magnets
sun catcher
veggie basket
paracord bracelets
sharpies on plates the ideas are endless!

These are all valuable projects. They can be used, gifted, or even sold. Tristin wants to participate in Kid's Business next summer so he could sell the bracelets or any of these if he wants to. I'll post when we do these projects projects and if I add more to the list!

Homeschool Series: Curriculum Year 2/3

Thank you to those of you following along my homeschool series! You can find our how I lesson plan here, and the curriculum we're using for Year 0 here.

I am doing a combined year 2/3 because I added in some classical curriculum last year and couldn't quite get everything from Ambleside's year 2 in.

Bible:
Tristin does his own quiet time every morning and then we do a Bible study together and he follows along. We still use The Family Reading Bible.

This year we will be keeping a Bible notebook. This is how we will learn as much as possible using His word. So yes, we will be writing scripture and drawing pictures but we will also include any and everything you can possibly think of.

For example: if we read Isaiah 30:21

Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, "This is the way; walk in it."

We will copy it. Learn any new word we didn't know.  We could talk about different spellings and meaning of the word right. Talk and draw about which way is left and which way is right. Then, we could take it further by learning other ways to describe left and right like north and south. We could find it on maps, or go outside to figure it out. After that it would only make sense to learn east and west :)

I will be keeping track of these lessons in our notebooks and will share them on the blog as we do them

Math:

We will be reviewing multiplication and division as well as his mental math with long addition and subtraction, then we will go through Math Lessons for a Living Education. as well as Family math and Ray's Arithmetic.

Fine Arts Term 1:

A Treasury of Poetry for Young People 

Giotto Picture Study Portfolio 

Haydn

Tales from Shakespeare

Literature:

Ambleside online year 2   year 3 (we have read some of these already)

History:

 combined Bible,  Story of the World volume 2, and Child's History of the World

Language Arts:

The Bible.

Proverbs to Cursive to learn cursive and then He will start copying the Bible.

He will be finding and writing phonograms from Bible passages as well as new words that go along with the phonics or spelling we are studying.

He will find synonyms, antonyms, homophones, nouns, pro nouns, plurals, compound words, the subject of the verse, predicates, diagramming etc..

He will learn to use a dictionary for words he doesn't know.

He is also doing Don Potter's Roman Reader and Gospel of mark Club.

We are using Learning to Spell Through Copy work and I will use it as a guide to plan lessons using the Bible for spelling.

Nature Study/Science:

We will be taking nature walks with a nature backpack full of sketch books, pencils, paint, magnifying glass, and jars.

Books to use:
Burgess Bird Book
Handbook of nature Study
Science in Your Own backyard
Drawn to Nature
Big Book of Science and Nature
New Way things Work
My Nature Journal

We will be studying birds, apples, pumpkins, moon phases, weather patterns, the sun, the way things work (when it gets too cold to go outside) simple machines, the earth: layers and rocks and minerals.

I think that about covers it! Are you all ready for the new year? Or have you started?

Homeschool Series: Curriculum Year 0

If you've followed me for any amount of time you know I love Charlotte Mason. Her method is so gentle and rich in living books and learning, and that's exactly what I love.

In the last year or so I branched out to include the Classical method which I love as well, but was happily surprised this year when God interrupted my plans and asked me to use His word instead of the grammar and writing (more for 3rd grade) I had originally had been planning to use under the classical curriculum.




So with out further ado here is what we've come up with this year.

Let's start in Year 0 shall we?


Year 0 is similar to Kindergarten but very short and gentle. You can adapt this to use in Preschool as well.

He does quiet time first thing in the morning using one of the children's bible we have.This one or this one. He usually goes through the pictures or stories we've read before, and he loves to copy them word for word.

We will be reviewing the letter sounds, Leap Frog Letter Factory is a favorite way to review this and I'm going to let home make his own alphabet scrap book using Mr. Printables Alphabet book.  I will have him cut and glue items from magazines and draw. He loves stuff like this and he knows his sounds but I would like to make sure it's mastered.

Reading: 20 min a day.

I mentioned above that we will be using the Bible a lot, so this is how I will use it for him.

Every morning during Bible time, we read the Bible. He will sit right by me and read along side me. Tristin opens his own Bible and reads along with us.

I will read the same story/verse all week so he becomes quite familiar with the words.

Along with that I use The 3 R's as a guide on blending and new words. We will not get in any hurry and just keep going at his pace. We will use the Bible, Bob books, Nora Gaydos books , Frog and Toad, and
 Little Bear to practice reading.

I can go into more detail of the actual lessons if anyone is interested.

Writing:
He is copying the Bible and using Delightful Handwriting

Math:

I want to finish Singapore Essential Math and then we're going to move into more of a living style math.
I love using the book Family Math for games and ideas that reinforce math. We love Sum swamp for adding and subtracting. And for oral practice and on the board I'll use Ray's Arithmetic.

Some fun math ideas and goals:

play dominoes
roll dice to 100
use beads and pipe cleaners for counting and number bands
sorting by size, color etc.
3D shapes Mummy Math
Introduce measurement, estimation, volume, estimate, money

Literature:
We will be using Five in a Row
I love this because we will read the same story all week and use the guide for discussions about the history, geography, and more each day.
We may add a project per book but I haven't planned that yet.

We will also be reading the Ambleside booklist for year 0.

Nature: he will join our nature walks which I will post about, but I wanted to add that we LOVE the
Barenstain Bears Big Book of Nature

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I love this List of Attainments that we'll be working towards:

"A Formidable List of Attainments for a Child of Six", a reprint of a curriculum outline from a CM school in the 1890's.

1. To recite, beautifully, 6 easy poems and hymns
2. to recite, perfectly and beautifully, a parable and a psalm
3. to add and subtract numbers up to 10, with dominoes or counters
4. to read--what and how much, will depend on what we are told of the child
5. to copy in print-hand from a book
6. to know the points of the compass with relation to their own home, where the sun rises and sets, and the way the wind blows
7. to describe the boundaries of their own home
8. to describe any lake, river, pond, island etc. within easy reach
9. to tell quite accurately (however shortly) 3 stories from Bible history, 3 from early English, and 3 from early Roman history (my note here, we may want to substitute early American for early English!)
10. to be able to describe 3 walks and 3 views
11. to mount in a scrap book a dozen common wildflowers, with leaves (one every week); to name these, describe them in their own words, and say where they found them.
12. to do the same with leaves and flowers of 6 forest trees
13. to know 6 birds by song, colour and shape
14. to send in certain Kindergarten or other handiwork, as directed
15. to tell three stories about their own "pets"--rabbit, dog or cat.
16. to name 20 common objects in French, and say a dozen little sentences
17. to sing one hymn, one French song, and one English song
18. to keep a caterpillar and tell the life-story of a butterfly from his own observations.

Summer Fun

As the summer started to fly past us, I realized I hadn't done much of anything that felt like "summer" with the boys. Everything was moving way too fast and I couldn't keep up.

We don't have a membership to a pool like we used to, so it's a little hard to make myself find something equally as fun. Last week I saw an advertisement for a summer fun card in our area. For $20 a person it will get you into 3 different area pools/water parks. I ordered each of us one immediately and I declared Fridays Family Fun Days!

Dan had the next 3 Fridays off, so we decided to pack them with tons of fun! Yesterday we headed an hour north to a small town to visit their pool. We've been once when Tristin was 2, so this was a new experience for them and they loved it. We stayed for 4 hours. Like a mini vacation :)

You'll have to excuse some of the pictures, the sun was so bright I couldn't tell on my screen what they looked like haha!




The water was very cold so these two were easing into it.



Exploring the pirate ship.



They spent a lot of time sliding down the slides and playing volleyball.



Taking a break.










After we got home, we headed out for a night at the drive in movie theater. We watched Turbo and Despicable Me 2. I fell asleep but the boys stayed up until 1 AM! Oh my.

Every Day Life

We have had the busiest summer. I think every single day had somewhere to be in June. If you know me you know I don't love being busy all the time. I find you can't make time for what's most important when you are going 100 miles an hour. This month, thankfully, is a bit slower. Although this week is still quite full, it's full of important things like celebrating the life of a wonderful man and hugging his sweet family...our family. And then a date night with my husband. It's been a long time and I just can't wait to see him. Then on Friday I have a family day planned. In fact I have one planned for the next 3  Fridays in a row. I found a card for $20 each we can get into 3 area water parks/pools. We've never been to any of them and the boys have no clue. I can't wait to surprise them!

For Father's Day the boys picked a one on one date each with dad. This one picked ice cream and the zoo. They loved having dad all to themselves. I love this picture because it shows the stick collecting phase this boy is in!



We finished soccer! this was Brighton's first year. He did a great job and had a really cute little team.



We spend many mornings and evening out here on the porch. It's one of my favorite spots!



Sometimes he just needs a few minutes to himself. I find it so nice that he's taking the time to regroup when he needs it. I remember at his age walking alone in the dark around my block just talking to God. I loved it.



One night we decided it was time for a good ol' shrimp boil! No reason at all, just because it's summertime.



After the shrimp our neighbors asked if we wanted to join them at the splash pad for a bit. So we did.



It's been unusually chilly for July in Texas so I think they spent more time on the playground than in the water that evening, but still so much fun.

This week is in the 70's and rainy. That's my kind of weather!!

Loving Our Children

We go back and forth with the things we need to work on. We go from bad attitudes, talking back, and complaining to helpful, obedient, and patient. And I'm not just talking about the children. :)

We called the boys to do bible study one evening. They "paused" their playing as they quietly grumbled to the table. Honestly? It broke my heart. What are we even doing all of this for? They don't want to be here right now. They are full of their own selfish desires. I can assure you though it's not just them.

I got to thinking. It doesn't matter how much of God's word we read to them,  how much I quote, or how much we memorize. We could do all this and God could still say, "I never knew you."  We could read the Word until we are blue in the face, but that won't make them love God. It certainly never made me love God. Not until one understands God's love does he then truly love and know God. It's at that time when you want to open His word and get to know Him even more.

This humbling thought came across me. There is not one thing I can do to make sure my children love God, except them seeing God's love toward them in me. Even that's not me, it's all Him.

“Any obedience that isn’t motivated by his great love is nothing more than penance.” Elyse Fitzpatrick, Because He Loves Me

I've poured over countless books and even scripture trying to figure out how to correct and train our boys.  I I soon realized that if I love them through the eyes of God, only then will their hearts turn to Him.

 I read a post by Ann about Katie that captivated me. Talking about this 24 year old mother of 13 girls she said, "You mother as well as you know your Father. I look at Katie and all I can think: She mothers like she’s memorized the face of her Father. It is a holy witnessing."

Their is no secret to raising children who love the Lord. They see Him and feel Him through us. I don't want to move in any way with these boys unless it has the face of God all over it.

"Jesus did not save us so that we could do motherhood on our own, apart from him; he saved us so that we would be forever connected to him, forever dependent on him– on the sustenance that flows through the cord of his unending love. Jesus was cut off from the Father that we might not be cut off from him." Ruth from Gracelaced

My Summer Reading List and Lectures: Homeschool/Parenting

Yesterday, I shared what books we will be reading this summer together, as well as what school will look like for the next few months.

Today I wanted to share what is on my list. I love a whole range of genres, but am feeling right now in the mood for home school encouragement and spiritual encouragement. As well as some books related to a few goals I have, so let's get started!

Home school:

The 3 R's is a big one on my list. I've had moments to go through it, but have read it completely. I'm looking forward to using her ideas to teach (and focus) on the 3 R's with Brighton (Kindergarten). After looking through it, I really could of used this for Tristin (my little guinea pig).

Charlotte Mason Companion is one of my favorite books that I dabble in all throughout the year. It is SO full of the most inspiring reflections of learning. I set some goals, and read the chapters that will help with those.

The Well Educated Mind. This book is a guide to the classical education you never had. How to train your mind for classic literature. Something I was never taught, but really enjoy now.

Deconstructing Penguins. This book helps you to teach kids how to get the most of the books they're reading. I read it last summer, and can't wait to read it again!

For the Children's Sake. I've read this one a few times and am ready to tackle it again. I really love this book. If you love the idea of Charlotte Mason, you must read this!

I'm right in the middle of Simplicity Parenting and boy do I love the common sense in this book. It hits the nail on the head about what the effects of too much stuff (toys, media, activities) is having on our children.

When Children Love to Learn. I have never read this one, but have wanted to for so long...don't you just love the title? Also based on the Charlotte Mason method.

For homeschooling, I also love to listen to lectures, conventions, or read articles that keep me going. Some on my list are:

The Circe Institute. See the one down there on teaching boys who would rather be playing in forts?? Eh hmm

The Society of Classical Learning has some of they're recorded sessions from past conventions available for free. A ton of great info here.

The 21 videos from Ambleside Schools International (based on Charlotte Mason) are something I will be listening to again this summer for sure!

And Dr. Cyr's videos called The Pursuit of Maturity (though I haven't listened to all 3 hours) really made me think. You'll be inspired not to raise an immature child, and know the effect video games have in this roll. Plus a whole lot more I'm sure.

Summer is a great time for parents to reflect and get inspired to teach our children in a way God has placed in our lives.

What is on you reading list?

Next up: the rest of my summer reading.

Nature Study: Birds part 1

We've been keeping an eye on this little beauty right outside of Tristin's window!



I don't think she appreciated me taking pictures of her..it was making her a bit nervous. She was literally getting her feathers ruffled haha ;)




We are going to keep a close eye on her as she so gracefully does what God created her to do. So far we've only seen one egg, and she sure doesn't leave that baby much at all.

We've read up on Doves, and found that the male and female take turns attending to the egg (male in the morning and afternoon, female evening and night). We are now keeping watch for 2 birds! We've learned that it takes about 2 weeks for the squab to hatch and they feed it crop milk for a few days before introducing seeds. After about 11-14 days they begin fledging.

Jaiden's Room

Thinking back to when I was working on the boys' rooms and realized I never posted a "progress" photo of Jaiden's room and I wanted to do so before we start changing things around and adding things to walls.

We haven't painted much of anything (as in walls) but this year, I'm hoping to just get it done. We will see. So for now, this is what we have.

We painted this old antique bed gray, along with his side table, and if you recall the green bench I had at the old house? We painted it navy to match his Ikea bedding.



Pillow I picked up for him at Target.



And, I was absolutely stoked to find this already made burlap bed skirt at a garage sale last year for $10.



I had to add these letters  my mother in law got him when he was little.



We definitely like to keep it simple for him, but I am working on adding things to the walls, after I paint them of course.

Our "baby" is 5

In February our "baby" turned 5.
I don't like that.
Everything in life is just swirling around 100mph, and I can't for the life of me get these kids to stay little!

Brighton is such a happy and precious boy. He is full of energy and always in to something.
He's sweet and cuddly. He loves to sit on your lap. I feel I need to sit long enough to let him stay on my lap.
Sometimes I just don't sit long enough to let him stay.

I am so thankful he is in our lives!

The traditional birthday donut cake:



We love you B!

We're Having A Ball

It's amazing how a simple ball can create

a good hour of non stop fun. Who needs the special

amusement parks? 

Saturday Family Traditions

I have really fallen in love with creating our own little family traditions. I love getting ideas from all over the place, but as I wrote a few months ago, I was getting overwhelmed with "keeping up" with all the fun stuff there is out there. So, I pretty much dropped it. I took my own advice and went with what I knew would really make a difference in our boys' lives.

Remember the everyday things like books before bed, family devotionals, pizza on Fridays, chores on Saturday. Those are the things children will find comfort in. Those are the days they will remember.

Without even thinking about it, I started lingering in bed an hour later on Saturday mornings, slowly getting up to the sounds of boys playing in their rooms. I'd head down stairs for a cup of coffee and open my wonderful southern cookbook and find the most beautiful pictures and recipes. I started craving the biscuits and gravy, the brown sugar and buttermilk waffles, the honey pecan coffee cake. Although I cook breakfast most mornings, I wanted this to be different. So, around 9:00 AM on Saturday mornings, I start what we call our Late Saturday  Morning Breakfasts. The boys make orange juice together and set the table while I whip up waffles, eggs, and bacon, biscuits and gravy, omelets, stuffed french toast, or sometimes just fruit salad and toast. Some other times, we make homemade donuts with our little donut maker.

It's all about enjoying each other, in no rush.







We read our Bible together, talk, and listen to old hymns or classical music. It has quickly become my favorite day of the week!

After we are finished, I go online to Lego Quest Kids and pick a challenge for the boys and their Legos. They spend the remainder of the morning coming up with their creations! They LOVE it! I also saw that Phyllis just started LEGO challenges on her blog too, so we'll add that one to our list.







I'm taking pictures for them and have plans to make a little book for him.

These are the traditions I love. It doesn't take a lot of effort and planning. It's not over the top or elaborate, and by no means an original idea. It is special and simple, and that's what makes it so amazingly wonderful!

Learning to Read

I mentioned last month that we took a break from everyday school to focus on reading in hope that Tristin would become more confident and actually enjoy reading.

I'm proud to say that it worked!

Tristin is one of those kids that learned the sounds of his letters in one week and is wonderful at math, so naturally I decided to teach him to read when he was 4.

I picked up the book Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons and we took off. Only, he was in tears after the first few lessons.

We took a 6 month break, started the book again at 5. Same story.

And at age 6 I tried it again. We made it 70 lessons, and finally realized  it just wasn't clicking.

At the beginning of this school year, I picked up All About Spelling thinking if he learned the rules then it would make sense. It did! We were finally getting somewhere.

After evaluating (in my own head) the first semester, I felt he he needed a boost of confidence in reading. I wanted him comfortable with reading. And you know, not dreading it everyday. I dropped everything else. but reading, writing, and spelling for one month.

We continued with All About Spelling, and I added writing and copy work, sight words, and we added the last half of (yes again!) Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy lessons.

I had this Silly Starters flip book, where he would flip though it and have to write a story, poem, questions, or letter about whatever he flipped to. He loved this! He would make up a short story, and I would write it for him, and then he would copy it in his angry birds notebook.



Then we would work on a lesson of All About Spelling. (He finished level 1!)



I found a list at Jan Brett's website of Dolch Sight Words and we played the bang game with them. This worked like a charm.

*print one word on each index card
*make a few index cards with the word BANG on them
*put them in a box or coffee can
*mix around
*set the timer
*take turns pulling out a card. If he you get it correct keep the card. if not, put it back in. If you get a BANG card, all your cards go back in.

I used words that I thought he needed work on, and added a few new ones as he mastered some of the old ones.

I also used the list of words he was working on and made them his copywork some days, spelling words some days, and our own homemade crossword puzzles some days.



After all of that, we would go back to the Teach You Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons (the last 50 lessons) and do 2 a day. I'm happy to report that he loves this as well! Whew!

We went to the library and I let him pick any books he wanted to read to me. I also picked chapter books I thought might interest him and we read, read, read. Turns out he LOVES Henry Huggins and Nate the Great! Those books made him love reading. He has always loved me reading to him, but now, he picks them up on his own and starts reading them.

We still have  a lot of work to go, but I'm so excited to see him interested and enjoying reading!

I will continue most of these things throughout the rest of the year. I'm considering adding the last 100 lessons or so of The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading which I've heard takes reading a bit further than 100 Easy Lessons, or Reading Pathways.

I have also started the 100 Easy Lessons book with Brighton (just turned 5), and it's a whole new story with him. He loves it! Ha ha, you never know.

Everyday Life

Everyone in our house was sick last week. I just wasn't feeling good, but the rest had what I'm guessing was the flu. It really seemed like the longest, quietest week. We didn't go anywhere, no homeschool, the boys weren't even up to playing. I thought Jaiden had escaped the sickness until I got a call from school Thursday morning that he was indeed sick.

This week has felt more like recovery mode. We were all still tired, and I had a migraine for a few days. Today, I'm happy to report everyone is what seems back to "normal"!

 I had a nicely clean and quiet home for a few days and I was so happy to take care of everyone. I didn't need to cook much because we weren't eating much. I honestly had nothing much to do but rub backs, do a lot of laundry, and run warm baths for achy bodies. After a day though I missed the loud, playing boys. I missed everyone doing all sorts of things all over the house. I missed cooking for this little family of mine.

It's funny that it can all seem like so much sometimes, and when you get a tiny break from it all you miss it. It really showed me even more than I already knew, that I need to savor these moments. To stop and enjoy these boys of mine. The quiet can get lonely. Fast.

Enjoying January

I am not one that has always loved January. I used to find it long and dull. I mean what can you expect from a month that follows Christmas?! haha

Over the years I've truly learned to enjoy the newness and opportunities for fresh starts that January always brings. I have to admit, I do not enjoy the cold, but the rest? Yes.

January is a still and quiet month. A month to reflect on goals and plans. I also like to work on projects in January. We wanted to get started on our painting this month, and now halfway into the month, we've yet to start. It just makes me laugh at how I used think this month was SO long. I can't even keep up with it these days!

I have been doing our school work like I mentioned a few posts ago. I can see Tristin improving, but most important, I can see that he is starting to like reading. And that my friends, was the whole point of this! He is having fun with it all. I couldn't be happier about that! Can't wait to update more in the next few weeks.

We have also started giving Jaiden a whole lot of one on one time. After he gets home from school, my husband (if he's home) takes Jaiden up to his room, just to play. Whatever Jaiden wants to do. And I, sit with him at the table before dinner and play games or read with him. His attitude have improved. The real test will be in a few weeks when our schedule changes. Please pray with us on this?

God has shown me that he has big plans for these boys, and one of my desires for them all is to learn and to love reading. My prayer is that they learn to love reading God's word. God is showing me that He wants that for them (all of them!) as well. My time with Jaiden is spent working a lot on reading. I have a bunch of ideas, and will share those as soon as I finish writing it all out.

That leaves us with Brighton. This child is one who has a difficult time listening and paying any kind of attention, yet we've begun teaching him to read and he gets it...like it's no problem! Don't you love how different they all are?

I have also been doing my cooking, cleaning, reading and watching Downton Abbey and Parenthood. Those are the only shows that I just love to watch. I look forward to Sunday and Tuesday nights. A bit disappointed that Parenthood's season finale is next week. That makes no sense to me whatsoever. Really and truly bummed about it ha.

I've been listening to podcasts with Andrew Kern that are renewing my love for homeschooling. I have also renewed my love for having them memorize. I know that Classical and Charlotte Mason use memorization as key in their methods, but we fell off our memorizations when we moved (eh...9 months ago) and never got back into it. Articles like Memorization Should Not be a Lost Art, Edie"s list of what her girls are memorizing, Shawni's post about poetry really struck a chord with me. So I ordered this book and will use it as my guide, as well as scripture.

My last goal is to paint one wall in our family room with chalkboard paint. I know that's not an original idea by any means, but the more we are getting into grammar, writing, multiplication etc, the more I find myself longing for one. Hopefully I can get that done this month too!

I sure am enjoying these boys of ours. I hope you all are having a great start to the new year!

11 Years

Jaiden turned 11 years old last week. We have had a very rough couple of months, but he knew it was his birthday, and he was as happy as a clam.

He has been doing really well this year in school. He is learning to read on his computer and has started doing more academics than life skills. He's really catching on!

We are so proud of him.

I pray everyday for ways to show him we love him, and ways to help him.

We have a pretty big change coming up that we hope will help him more than anything. I'll let you know when we know for sure.

He's such a wonderful young man!

Brothers lighting the donut cake:







Happy Birthday Jai. We love you!!

Leaf Jumping

Last weekend Dan cleaned up the yard. The boys begged him to save a pile of leaves for them to jump in. They would line up, and Dan would throw them in. So much fun!





This guy was more interested in having a cup of cocoa.



I love this boy. He is the biggest help and has such a wonderful heart.



Doing their own little thing. I sure love having them around!

Nature Walk and Craft

We aren't the best at nature studies, but I have been trying to get out intentionally for exploration at least once a week.

We noticed the difference in the blooms on the liriopi.

 We had to bring a football along of course...?

 Admired reflections.

 And the beauty of the sun in the trees!

We collected sticks and leaves and made a frame and a little deer friend. Can't wait to see all those trees turn colors of the leaves we found!