Daddy Date . . . with weaponry
Since Monday was a holiday and Daddy got to stay home from work, we decided to ditch our usual lessons. I opted to escape the house for the morning to run a few errands and enjoy the peace and quiet of the local library, and the girls got some quality time with Daddy. They decided to stay home and shoot things in the backyard. They got out their air rifle and bow and arrows and did some damage to a couple of tin cans and empty milk jugs. Daddy got them a shooting stick recently, and it really helped them improve their aim.

Library Day
It was fire safety day at the library this week, so instead of the usual story time we listened to a couple of firefighters talk about safety, show us what they look like all geared up, and give us a tour of the fire truck. The girls were a bit disappointed that the librarian didn't read any firefighter books or have a project, but they loved seeing the truck! And of course, we came home with lots of books:
Swimming Lessons
When Turtle Grew Feathers (a hilarious Choctaw folktale similar to Aesop's The Tortoise and the Hare)
Rumpelstiltskin
Time-out for Sophie
Henny-Penny
Nuts to You!
Wee Little Bunny
The Pigeon Wants a Puppy
Pigs Make Me Sneeze!

The Three Rs
It's definitely still a challenge, but Bug is getting much more confident in reading "the new way" with regular text instead of phonetic clues. She's even managed to do things like read some of the directions in her math workbook! Monkey continues to improve as well, and I've been impressed with how much she can do at once and how much better she's getting at knowing when she needs a break and requesting one appropriately.

It's been hard to motivate them to practice handwriting, so we started a new thing that week that they're pretty excited about. Monkey and Bug each have a composition book where each page is half handwriting lines and half blank space for a picture. On the handwriting lines, I write several sentences with blanks for them to fill in. It'll be fun to have it all in one book, and see their improvement over time.

They've both been back at doing pages in their math workbooks--they're making their way through the addition one now. I also made a bunch of multiplication flash cards. Monkey wasn't interested and I haven't pushed it at all, but Bug loves them! She knows anything times 1 or 0 and up to 2x5. Any problems higher than that she still uses the abacus to figure out.

We acquired a variety pack of paintbrushes recently.
The girls had lots of fun using the spongey ones to mix colors.

Cartwheels & Somersaults
Monkey and Bug have been learning how to do cartwheels and somersaults in their karate class recently, and they are absolutely determined to get them right. They practice every single day--frequently more than once a day. They can both do somersaults, and they are SO close to getting their cartwheels right. This is actually the first time I've seen Monkey so self-disciplined in working toward a goal. She even has a plan for the steps she's going to take to teach Goose and their friend V how to do cartwheels once they're old enough.

Hypothetical Heroes
We watched Monsters, Inc. this past Sunday, which means my week was chock full of questions about plot points, character's motivations, and the practical logistics of magic portals in an alternate universe. By the end of the week Monkey and Bug had come up with a plan for what they would do if they lived in the world created by Pixar: When their monster came into their room, Monkey would roar back at it, then Bug would take advantage of the moment of surprise to knock it out with a few of her punching drills from karate class. After subduing the monster, they would sneak into the monster world and steal all the doors. Then--because they know how to break boards--they would destroy all the doors and save all the kids in the whole world from being scared by monsters.

Social Butterflies
We had a really busy end of the week! Friday at lunchtime we attended our homeschool group's fall picnic at the local riding stables. I didn't realize this, but the stables have a huge, fun playground. The girls had a blast playing on the playground, participating in (Bug) or just witnessing (Monkey and Goose) the breaking of a pinata, and making friends with a trio of donkeys. Meanwhile, I got to have a nice long conversation with a fellow milspouse who recently moved here from our next duty station.

Friday night we attended a formal military occasion--Daddy and I got to dress up and have fun with some of our friends, and the girls dressed up to come along and hang out in child care rooms. Goose even got to play with her friend V. Then on Saturday morning (after they all slept in!), we met our friends V, C, and Miss M at the big library playground. They had a great time. Fortunately for me and Miss M, my girls have gotten really good at chasing down V and herding him back in our direction. Monkey and Bug in particular seem to get a kick out of being the responsible big kids.