B is for boys, bikes, bugs, beans, bumble bees...

...and brothers.  These two have been a load of fun lately, often bursting into explosive giggling and self-entertaining fun--the kind that isn't always mother-approved:

 And my 4-year-old has been celebrating a big milestone that doesn't involve training wheels:

...mostly due to the encouragement of his older brother.  Calvin was the one who told us Jude could bike solo on the neighbor's bike, so we should remove his training wheels immediately.  He was right, to my surprise.

 The boy genius behind the sight-blocking eyeball contraption (above), which is smartly scotch-taped over his nose, also came up with this incredible bike ramp.  You can imagine how well this one turned out.

 While I often spoil their fun in tempering their "great" ideas, I do let them catch flies and throw them into spiderwebs (even though they are often let go inside the house--*ahem*).  Someone gave me this idea recently and I correctly assumed my little bug-lovers would find it fascinating.  (See the tiny cocooned fly hanging toward the center.)  The spider came and wrapped him up like a mummy...

 

 ...and after a few minutes carried him off to eat privately (perhaps due to the noisy and excited spectators).

 Something new in our schedule:  home pre-school--hooray!  Since I didn't feel like making 6 runs every week for pick-ups and drop-offs, and since I felt Jude's and my time was better suited at home, we are doing some learning activities including tracing & writing letters, numbers, and shapes, and once in awhile making a fun little critter for our letter of the week.  Alligator A:

And a stripey Bumble "B."



It only takes a short while (we're aiming for 3 days a week) for the "desk work," so we're also working on reading (using my favorite beginning readers--BOB books), and I hope to incorporate more crafts and learning experiments, field trips, doing some baking together.  Along with some sensory bins like this box o' beans that's been quite popular:

And did I mention our bug love?  Jude, after hunting down two slugs, came in saying, "Mom, can you get me a cup?"  ...for the slugs' house, obviously.  ;)

So we are enjoying our days at home.  I've been so thankful for the timing on Jude's pre-school, and for the following school year's exciting change:  Cami will be stepping out of public school to complete 4th grade at home.  We plan to pull all the kids out starting with 4th grade, through 8th, then into public high school.  This will allow us to have more of a Bible-centered education, and ultimately more time/influence to teach them the things we really want them to learn (even though our public school quality is excellent).  And so Jude's preschool year at home has the added blessing of my "practicing" on him, and getting some routines built into our schedule.

And finally, one more fun thing we've been doing at home is enjoying this gem of classic literature:

I think I'm enjoying it just as much (if not more) than the kids.  Realistically, Cami is the only one getting the whole story.  Calvin is catching some, and the littles tend to goof around, play or pester someone during our little read-aloud time...but you gotta start somewhere, right?

Hope your school year is off to a great start too.  Have  a blessed week!