Reading, Eating, and Hiking

I really love when the kids are off of school - it makes me excited for summertime! I like finding little activities and adventures to do with all my little friends (haha).

We went to Grandma and Grandpa's house for Sunday dinner this past weekend - usually all the cousins are there too, but this time it was just us - I think my kids enjoyed being the only ones and getting all the grandma attention just for them...






The weather was particularly blustery and the kids were excited to see a big rainbow... it seemed very appropriate as we had just enjoyed a St. Patrick's themed meal of corned beef and cabbage...


Since the kids are out of school and there is more time in the day this week, I've been making a special effort to get the girls into their books. Emma is a stellar reader, but she's also very distracted - and when she's home, she tends to spend her time playing with her siblings, writing, and drawing, or playing on the computer- most of those things are great uses of her time, but I've found that unless I remind her to go read, she's slow to do it on her own, even though she really enjoys it.

So, it makes me very happy to see this...


Becca's had her reading chart for a month or so now (the one on the right) - she loves it and really enjoys the rewards for practicing and completing her Dick and Jane books. Emma felt like she was missing out, so we made her a "book list" chart a few days ago. She's colored in the circles for the number of chapters that are in the book she's chosen to read - then as she completes chapters, she puts on a sticker. She earns 10 cents for each chapter she completes - and then she gets other rewards for finishing books. She's really responding to this so far and I've been finding her in quiet places throughout the house reading her book, without me having to remind her to read. She's been loving telling me about what's happening in her book and what she thinks will happen next.



Written on the back of Emma's chart

Becca's reward list- she gets a sticker for reading practice each time she sits down to read with someone (or on her own)- when she fills in a whole row of stickers she can choose a "reading practice prize". Emma and Becca both love getting to choose their prize from the lists. For Becca, in order to count a book as "complete", she needs to be able to read it on her own without my help with the words - so far she's passed off two of her books and has earned a 5 dollar shopping trip, and ice cream at yogurtology

Other things we've done during the girls Spring Break so far...

Indoor picnic! Emma made everybody name cards for where they should sit... I have a feeling she would really enjoy being a teacher. :)

Yogurtology for FHE (and for Becca's reading reward). Need a napkin Jake?

Hiking! This is hike #3, just me and the kids - we're trying out different trails and locations each time...



Claire rides in the baby bjorn as we hike - and she loves to peek back at me while we're walking - it's so cute








We just got back from an amusing photo scavenger hunt at the park - Jake and Claire are now napping and the girls are reading (yay!) in their room - shortly we'll be heading out the door for another museum adventure - so more spring break posts are coming :)