Summer stuff and a few random pictures

I went on a walk around the block with the girls and we ran into some trouble. :)  There is still construction nearby and there was a big pile of sand blocking the sidewalk so we had to step down to the street.  Well, the 'dirt' looked pretty solid to me, but it wasn't.  Kaylee's shoe got stuck in the mud and came off and my feet were both totally buried.  It was a pretty funny squishy walk home.  

Doug caught the girls playing with their dolls in their matching dresses.

 We still like doing puzzles and the kids like the ones that their Uncle Richard made for the family.

 Every once in awhile I let the girls have quiet time together.  Sometimes they sleep and other times they play.  This time they fell asleep, ahh :).

 We have been painting a bit over the summer, Damon did this one of Pikachu from Pokeman.

 The girls painted old Christmas ornaments I had and Chris did these two plates, the first is an alligator with a second alligator eating a snack.  The second is a black jaguar with sun and tree.  Tyler painted a fire truck kit that I had on hand, then he glued it together the next day.

The summer has slowed down with our main events over.  Our normal week consists of going to the movies on Tuesdays, swimming a lot at our neighborhood pool, having screen time, and trying not to fight too much.  One thing that we added this year is having "centers".  I have 5 stations and have the kids rotate every 7-10 minutes.  I have a handwriting/coloring station (Damon and Tyler write in their journals), a typing station on the computer, a learning station on the iPad, a reading station, and a variable station that is something fun like puzzles.  They all do pretty well.  The girls have a hard time doing some of them on their own so I have to help them. Overall I think it has worked well.  

We didn't do our Harry Potter summer school like last year, and I miss the fun activities that we did for it.  I should find the website and just do some on our own.  I just am having a hard time getting motivated to do things.  I have been playing with the kids when I can and we go to the pool almost every afternoon after snack.  Everyone does very well at the pool and it is nice to get outside and play in the water.  It is so hot, you don't want to be outside for long unless you are in the water.