Do ALL the things!

We've been so busy and having so much fun lately that writing a blog post just hasn't made it to the top of my priority list! So, instead of my usual detailed commentary you get a list. This is what we've been up to:

• Grandma made her second annual weekend visit to help us plant our garden. We've got a variety of tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers (we're keeping it simple). The girls have been diligently checking on our plants.
  
• Mini Comic-Con at the library was so much fun: free crafts for kids, a dozen or so vendors, a cosplay contest, life-size replicas of the TARDIS and a couple of Daleks, and the highlight--a lightsaber academy taught by a local Jedi cosplayer who runs a martial arts school. 
  
  
• We got to watch rookie firefighters practice with the fire hoses in the big parking lot behind our house, and one of the firefighters took the time to invite us closer, answer all our questions, and give us a tutorial in the different types of hoses, nozzles, and their uses.
• The library also hosted an African storytelling and drumming event. The husband and wife duo from Nigeria were fantastic, and they even got the girls up on stage to play djembes for the finale. We've been reading lots of African folktales at home, so they were thrilled to hear a real African storyteller!

  

  (Monkey's up there too. I just couldn't get a good angle.)

• The girls got to visit with cousins from Michigan at Grandma and Granddad's house! The visit included playing on the playset, walking in the woods, playing in the creek, looking for frogs in the pond, feeding the fish, making s'mores in the fire pit, and of course, playing in the awesome basement.
  
  
• We've been keeping up our weekly playdates with a fellow homeschooling family; although we had to relocate to our friends house due to rain the other day. 
• We also got to visit Aunt S and Uncle J in northern Virginia. It was a lovely weekend of hanging out and included a visit to Mt. Vernon's garden sale and an evening out for barbecue and milkshakes. 
• The girls are still enjoying studying Muay Thai and Brazilian Jujitsu. Bug even got to lead the class in reciting the Principles of a Black Belt (basically a list of good qualities the school teaches, things like modesty, perseverance, self-control, etc.). They've also been excited about earning more stripes on the white belts!
• We attended our last running club meet up. It was supposed to be followed by the group's participation in a community 5k, but the even got rained out. Poor Lion was in tears (Daddy took her running at the Y instead.)
• Bug is achieving milestones in goals she's set for herself: She's now more than half-way through fourth grade math (she's chronologically a 3rd grader, but decided she wants to be a 5th grader by the fall). She also made chocolate chip muffins from scratch with minimal assistance--I had to reach a few things on high shelves and pour from a full gallon of milk. (She intends to be able to cook a meal by herself by the age of 10 and she's well on her way!)
• Meanwhile, Lion hit a speedbump in math: Her math skills are end of second grade, but her reading skills are end of first grade. This is now a problem because pretty much all she has left in Khan Academy's early math curriculum is story problems. So, we've set aside Khan for awhile to practice her early math skills on paper, teach her multiplication, and wait for her reading to catch up.
• May the Fourth be with you! The girls were very into Star Wars Day this year. They dressed up their bears, made Star Wars cookies, and watched Return of the Jedi.
• Monkey is currently researching dragons. She's checked out every book about dragons from the children's section of the library about them (this took awhile since she's apparently not the only dragon-obsessed kid in our area) and has been drawing lots of dragons lately.
• Lion acquired an additional piano book. It's a book of one-note classics (simple melodies of popular classical songs). She's currently learning "Ode to Joy."