Bug Fun Summer School 2012

Wow!  What an awesome, busy, fun week we have had!

We learned about BUGS...insects and other creepy crawlies.

We learned about lady bugs ...

after learning that lady bugs eat aphids , one of the kiddos chimed

"Hey, ladybugs are like SUPER HEROS!"  I love my job!

We also learned about bees, fireflies, flies, and caterpillars.

We learned  science words like:

entomologist

metamorphosis

migration

WOW!

We learned that bugs can have any number of legs
but insects have 6 legs.

We are scientists, I tell you!

Here we are painting our lady bug poem:
I love having kids illustrate literature!

Play do bug fun....

Playing with wedge its

Designing our bug boxes...

Playing in the bug discovery table:

rocks, leaves, plastic bugs, and letter beads

Our completed bug boxes....

Magnifying glasses

Book Time

Grandma Rita came to help us 2 days

The independent painting station was popular!

Bee table...Making characters for the bee poem

These are the cutest little bees ever!

Hot glue projects are great for fine motor skills,

listening skills, and reasoning skills....

This little cutie dressed for the day!

One of our science tables....

Lightening bugs

Fly swatter spelling~we worked on first and last names

BIG fly swatter spelling....

A BUG PIE???!!!!

We painted with FLY SWATTERS...outside of course

Welcome sign...

Here we are getting our "brushes" ready....

and "SWAT!!!"

We watched a TumbleBook or United Streaming 5 min "book" 

during snack time.  We will be doing this during the school year, too.

This quiet listening time gives us a chance to eat without rushing...

Plus the educational and fun video books feed our brain!

Here we are posing for our picture frames!

Tadadada!  We solved our firefly challenge together!

Love this pic of two friends heading down the hill to play.

We tried to get outside everyday.

Love Love Love these buggy frames!

These little fellas are always a hit!

We tried our hand at journaling...

We fed our very hungry caterpillar but 

"he was STILL hungry!"

Friday Fun!  

BUGS!

Sun catchers and glitter glue....can't go wrong!

We were scientists as we discovered the similarities and differences

between several type of bugs.

One of our daily charts...

Playing with our roly poly bugs...

Hope they made it home safe!

My little "spiders" climbing up the "web"

Thanks for a great week!

Bathroom Adventure 2012 or 20 days with a Porta Potty!

As promised here is a day by day play of our lovely new bathroom....

Before the beginning....

 Because our house had a "header" problem, 

(meaning we had a 6 inch dip in flooring from the kitchen to the bathroom)

we had to rip off a deck so Doug Moe could repair it.

Here is what we found...a boat load of bricks!

Awesome!

Look at that nice stack....

Stay tuned to see what we used some of them for.

Hint: It is NOT a pizza oven as I hoped for...sad sad sad

Soooo, here is the before picture of our tiny little bathroom.

Remodeling did not increase the size, though,

just the ease of accessibility for Grandpa (John's dad)

and some much needed updating and flooring!

If you can overlook the PINK tub,

and uneven flooring, 

and (under the flooring) holes right to the basement

It really was kind of cute!

I used to tease John that I was going to keep a bathrobe in the basement

for the inevitable time I fell through while taking a shower!

I would have been MAD, but at least not naked!

Naked and mad is a bad combination.

Not at all flattering....

I was so sure we were at least going to lose a cat or a kid through the spongy floor,

but we never did!

DAY 1

TOTAL GUTTING....WOW!

and 

more importantly,

PORTA POTTY!

We are also using the RV's bathroom.

Although the shower is small,

it is very nice to have a place to actually shower that does not involve the hose..... 

Bathroom Adventure Day 2

We've got a floor (plywood) and part of a wall....

but most importantly, we have a LEVEL kitchen and bathroom...

the house no longer sinks on the NE corner!

Bathroom Adventure Day 3....A window....that opens even!

Bathroom Adventure 
Day 4...electrician came and LOOKED and measured

Day 5...plumber came out and LOOKED and measured

Meanwhile back at the porta potty......

We put up PURPLE PORTA POTTY lights,

Hey, I could market those beauties!

Bathroom Adventure Day 6....electrical work....
Exciting development....there will be an actual OUTLET in bathroom....

I've always wanted one of those new fangled things!

Day 7...Sunday, everyone needs a day off...

Day 8...ceiling light and exhaust fan aperture , another 1st!

 Plus some plumbing in place, shower stall partially installed...

Bathroom Adventure Day 9

SHEET ROCK!

It's beginning to look like a real room!

Bathroom Adventure Day 10
NOT A GOOD DAY
Sheet rock just drying
Porta potty SUPER STINKY
RV potty almost full and a bit odiferous, also....GRRRRR!

PLUS the AC in the RV won't stay on in this heat....109 degrees in there....owwwww!

Day 11
Sheet rock sanded and muddled again...looking good!
AND Kimos cleaned porta potty and John emptied the RV black water into our septic tank!

And we learned a few tricks to keep the air on when needed the most....whew!

Things are smelling so much nicer here! 
This is not a glamorous remodel....wish someone would have told me!

Bathroom Adventure Day 12....we have "tile" and primed walls!

Bathroom Adventure Day 13

Multi-post day!!!!

4 am painting-trim and wainscoting...we. are night owls, I tell you!

Yes! The wainscoting and trim are up!

 and we have a DOOR!

Bathroom Adventure Day 14
Contractor only had time to cut shelves which allowed me time to find storage solutions

Here are those nice tidy little canvas boxes from Target and Menards.

We will have 8 filled with all the stuff that used to be in the closet.

And because the beautiful and large medicine cabinet we chose

will not work, all that stuff will also be in smaller canvas baskets.

One for each of us...

Bathroom Adventure Day 15

Tadadada! We have a working bathroom! Lots of finishing work to do but we can actually FLUSH!

and a shower that works.....

yay...yay..yay!!!!!!

now skip ahead a few days....

Bathroom Adventure Day 20
Well, this is it, Folks!
I actually have a completed(nearly), functional, BEAUTIFUL bathroom! There is a vent, and an outlet, and real water pressure along with a functioning window! Thank you to Doug Moe and his crew, to my patient and flexible family, Kimos for the spic and span porta potty (except for day 10), my hubby who joined us for 4:00am painting and kept the RV cool and clean, and my father-in-law who funded the majority of this endeavor! I LOVE IT!

And finally, here are the bricks...

The contractors filled in an old unused doorway to the basement!

The NEW DECK is snazzy...a blog for another day!

There are some left,

maybe I can build a mini pizza oven!