A few of my daycare families didn't need me on Christmas Eve so, I thought, 'Hey, let's go to the Planetarium!' I knew the boys and Harley would love it since we've been learning about the solar system in school. Shoot I was excited to do a little space exploration!
Getting ready to watch a quick movie in one of those super cool theaters where the screen goes all the way up and around you.
They're ready!
Exploring Mars
Driving rovers
I heart these crazy kids!
This was a big rover.
It moved super slow, but they liked driving it.
The Planetarium is right on Lake Michigan. So pretty! I plan to go again on a nicer day so we can eat lunch by the lake.
He's ready to blast off!
Trying to take a selfie before our next space show. I may or may not have napped a little during this one. Not because it was boring...the kids loved it and thought it was funny...but give me a dark room and a comfy seat and well ya know, my eyeballs thought it was nigh night time. So funny though, Vann totally called me out lol.
Chaycers started the silliness with some muscle moves :)
Ash added his own goofiness lol.
And Harley posed super cute!
It was a really fun time and I look forward to going again!
When we got home I had a fun package waiting for me...my new yoga mat!! I've been looking for the perfect mat for months. Thanks Rana for my Christmas present...I love it!
That night we piled back in the car and went to see some cool Christmas lights. It's one house with over 1 million lights...wowsa! And it's all set to music...the boys loooved it!!
We had to wait in line for about 20 minutes, but then we enjoyed the beautiful lights for an hour from our warm and cozy car.
My favorite was when the boys sang along with the music. We all really enjoyed it and I hope to take them again next year :)
We're still enjoying our solar system unit from Elemental Science. Last week we learned about Jupiter and this week we're learning about Saturn. Seriously, space is so flippin' cool! I cannot wait till we visit the Planetarium. I think it'll be the perfect field trip to go along with this unit.
They taped a bunch of paper together so they could make this huge Jupiter. And then they worked together to color it.
It's almost as big as Chaycers!
Taping it on the wall with our other planets. We realized after putting Jupiter up that our sun needed to be a bit bigger so, we fixed that...you'll see in our Saturn picture.
Vann's drawing the rings on Saturn.
Now they're coloring it.
Adding it to our solar system. See how we made the sun a little bigger. And it's not near as big as it should be, but they know it's ginormous compared to the planets.
Chayce helping to tape it up on the wall.
Vann sat down and drew the other day. I think he is just like Chris with his artistic abilities. Chris can draw and sculpt clay and paint so super well, it's amazing! I do not have any of those talents, sorry boys lol. I would love for him to explore drawing more. But I'm all about just letting the boys dive into whatever their hearts desire. My job is to make sure they have all the tools they need and then to give them the time and space to make their magic happen!
He's drawing a pixel...it's from a Wii game, Paper Mario.
Pretty good right?! I like him.
Chayce spotted a pretty bird outside the other day. He quick went and grabbed his binoculars so he could see him more closely.
And then later that day he ran inside and said 'Mom you have to come see the sunset!' Holy gorgeousness!! It was breathtaking. We all stood outside for awhile enjoying all the pretty colors. So so cool!
We started our unit on the Solar System this week. I am so so into this stuff! Yesterday I said, 'I want to be an astronomer when I grow up!' Chayce said, 'Uh Mom you are already old.' Very funny Chaycers, very funny. I don't want to go into space or anything crazy like that. But I do want to learn more about it...it's so unimaginably ginormous. I like it. And I love that I get to dive into it with the boys. Our unit is a little over 2 months long so hopefully I'll get my fix!
Coloring his planets.
They worked together to make a solar system.
They've been interested in this stuff for years now. Just look at our book...it's literally falling apart it's been read so many times! Here's a link to a similar book by my fav National Geographic. The one we have was from a school Scholastic flyer back when Vann was in preschool.
We got a new book this year...it's pretty sweet...First Space Encyclopedia. It's full of great pictures and lots of cool info. It'll get much use over the next few months!
Their solar system! The planets they colored were templates from the curriculum we're using. And Pluto is included, but they know it's a dwarf planet.
I'm really excited about the next 2 months. I plan to take the boys to the Adler Planetarium downtown to explore and learn even more. I think it will be a fun time! What about you...do you find space as cool as I do?!
Fall is right around the corner...yay! I'm usually very sad for summer to be over, but for some reason am uber excited for fall this year. I'm loving the cooler temps...I'm a total hoodie girl :) I spent this past weekend getting the boys signed up for a few fall activities. It's fun to see them start to venture off into their own things. In the past they've pretty much signed up to do all the same things. But this year we're shaking things up a bit which is a-ok with me!
Vann's going to start swim lessons in about a week. He loves to swim and is really looking forward to getting more water action. My hope is that his strokes get a little better as I know that will help him become an even better swimmer.
Chacyers started soccer this week. He has practice two nights a week and games on Saturdays. I really like his coach...we had him last year as well. His main focus is for the kids to have fun and I love that. Yes, I want him to learn new skills, but mostly I want him to try his best and have fun doing it. I'm excited to watch Chayce do something he enjoys and hopefully score a few goals!
And my little Ash is going to do soccer as well. He is soooo super excited about it! I really cannot wait to see him play...it's going to be great! His soccer is only 4 classes...kinda bummed about that, but if it goes well I'll sign him up for more.
And now for some random pics from the past week or so...
Playing at the playground before soccer practice last night.
Notice anything different?! He lost his tooth yesterday afternoon!!
Vann is really into learning how to play the piano right now. I love watching/hearing him play! I heart the piano a lot and loved playing when I was younger. Who am I kidding...I still love playing!
Here's a video of him practicing his C Major Arpeggios. We are loving the free lessons from Hoffman Academy.
For the next few weeks we are learning all about rocks. So far the boys have collected rocks, made rock candy, learned about how different rocks are formed, fun stuff like that. I love geology. I took a class in college (way back in the day) and it was one of my most fav classes ever. So re-learning about it with the kids has been pretty cool!
They loved collecting rocks.
You may think they would just scoop up a handful of rocks and be done, but they didn't. Each rock was carefully selected before it was put into their container.
After they collected some rocks, they picked a few of their most favs.
They drew them in their workbooks and wrote why they liked them the best.
We haven't started our preschool curriculum just yet...next week yay! But I still found ways to keep Ash busy while the older boys did their school.
This little dude loves to cut. He will sit and cut and cut and cut until the table is full of itty bitty pieces of paper. I love it!
So focused...lil' cutie!
Making rock candy! It takes a few weeks for the rock candy to form so for now we wait and watch. Every day the boys check to see how many more sugar crystals have formed. They get really excited when they notice more on the string or top of the glass!
Here are a few of the books we've enjoyed reading while learning all about rocks...
