Term Three: Week One ~ Parks, Playgrounds and Playtime

The first week of the new term was a fairly informal one for us. 

Monkey and Munchkin attended a Pupil Free Day (teacher inservice) Lego day at a local church while Monster and I spent a day together doing some shopping and enjoying a lunch date.  So the rest of the week was spent in the following ways...

 Getting outdoors as MUCH as possible!  There was much running and monkey bar crossing to be done this particular day...

Wednesday we celebrated the Monkey's 9th birthday. The boys started the day with a game of Pop the Pig while they waited (not so) patiently for Monkey to be allowed to open his presents! 

Rubiks Race was a new addition to the growing game collection, so they immediately set to work figuring out how to play it. 

One of the few serious photos I got during a very silly birthday photo session at the park! 

On the way home we spotted this strange bug... 

 In the evening it was Monkey's choice for dinner: sausages from the local butcher, Kraft deluxe macaroni and cheese, mixed vegetables (peas, carrots and corn) and brussel sprouts... followed by cake and candles for dessert.

 Another trip to the playground during the week... and we just had to stop to watch the Spoonbill fishing for his lunch...

I'm quite certain the boys have invented a sort of "King of the Mountain" game involving the slide... 

 Munchkin showing me how he can pump the swing all on his own now...

Followed by his special dismount!! 

 Munchkin's read alouds choices...

 Independent reading for Monster...

Another read aloud chosen by Munchkin... 

All three boys enjoyed learning a bit more about how pencils are made... 

 Monster read all four books in this set in the space of like two days...

And Monkey finished this book as part of Premier's Reading Challenge for this year.

July School Holidays

How the boys and I needed this winter school holidays. We just needed to chill out, get a routine happening again, and just feel normal. It was wonderful to stay close to home, focus on time together, get outdoors as much as possible, and get back on track.

Monster, Munchkin and I went on an exploration walk one afternoon. We wanted to follow a walking trail we had noticed, and see where it took us.  It was a beautiful walk, we were extremely surprised when we worked out where we were as we reached the end of the track, and we got our exercise as we clocked up 5km (3 miles) in total. 

No school holidays is complete for my boys, unless we attend the Bingo event at our local library. Munchkin does VERY well now and needs little or no assistance so I was able to browse the children's books nearby while they played. 

 April school holidays were a disappointment for the boys as far as the craft events at the library were concerned. One of their favourite librarians had been transferred to another branch and let us just say the craft was pretty sad. But this school holidays was a different story. Our library brought in a young guy from the main branch a few suburbs away, and he did a BRILLIANT job - earning high praise from Monster in particular!!  This particular afternoon they made 3D dinosaurs out of cardboard templates and then decorated them with all manner of craft supplies.

The afternoon of board games had a VERY low turn out - essentially my three boys and just one other boy and his mum. So while that young boy took turns playing games with my two older boys, his mum played Connect Four with Munchkin!  They enjoyed themselves even if their other friends weren't there. 

The games day at the library sparked some morning games of Guess Who while still in the pajamas!! 

 It has been a COLD winter (possibly the coldest since I've moved here) but dry and sunny so when we can, we get outdoors, even if it is only for an hour or so. Thank goodness the boys current favourite park/playground is a mere 5 minute walk from home.

 The final library event for this holiday period was another craft event. Again the young librarian from the main branch came in to oversee the event. The boys enjoyed picking out a snowflake template and then decorating it with cellophane to get a "stained glass" effect. 

We read a LOT of books over school holidays. The older boys worked through some chapter books for fun, as well as some "assigned" reading for Premier's Reading Challenge, while daddy and I enjoyed reading LOTS of picture books to the munchkins.

After a much needed rest, we are ready to tackle Term Three!!