Simple Pleasures: Bunnies...

Oliver is still quite obsessed with bunnies. Here he is with the bunny he reads to once a month. He is also wearing his favorite bunny dress. Just look at that smile!!

(the wonderful lady who owns the bunny said she doesn't like to have the kids hold the bunny, but he's so in love and talks about bunnies so much with her, she wanted to let him).

STEAM at the Library...

We've been attending the STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math) events every Wednesday hosted by our favorite Librarians at the Library. They've been really fun and entertaining for the boys. Oliver's best friend's family has been joining us for the last four weeks as well.

We've made "Gagets and Gizmos" with an engineer, Played with potions with a Scientist, made a stop motion animation video with a Technology specialist and went on a scavenger hunt with the Librarians.

Oliver and his friend made this Stop Motion Animation video. He loved that class the most so far and has asked for the app they used so he can make more movies. I bought him the full version because he really gets excited and focused on it. The morning he had it, he spent the whole two hours between when he woke up till school, taking still photos to edit together into a video. He took about 490 photos in those hours. Crazy. When he's done with his movie- I'll try to share it.

Someone stole my camera...

I'm dumping photos off my camera onto the computer and realize someone else has been taking photos with it. This selfie made me laugh...

My Elf Army Quarterly in video...

Continuing in our One Second Everyday videos... Here's our first quarterly for 2016. The password is: myelfarmy.

My Elf Army First Quarterly 2016 from Margaret on Vimeo.

Chess Tournament...

Back in February we went to an Open Chess time at the Library. Lucius learned how to play just before Christmas but started wanting to play more after New Years. At the open chess time we learned there would be a Open Chess Tournament toward the end of April. He wasn't really concerned with it till after the open chess time in March. (They have open chess once a month at the library). Lucius started bringing his chess board to school to play other kids during their indoor play time. It quickly become a daily occurence for him to be playing multiple games of chess in one day, at school and at home.

He told us he was practicing for the tournament. Well this past Saturday was the tournament and we went, even though he woke up saying he didn't want too go. He was nervous about going somewhere new where he didn't know anyone. But we went. 

It is something I have never experienced before either but it was pretty well planned. There were three tournaments happening at the same time. One for 6th-12th graders, one was students whose teachers or chess coaches had invited to play (the invitational), and the open chess tournament for grades K-5th (which is what Lucius entered). 

Most of the students he was playing currently play with and learn the game at their school's chess team. Lucius was a little out of his league but he did a great job losing well. He had a by the first round but played the other 5 rounds, winning one of the games. 

He was pretty happy to win a game. He's still learning how to finish a game by trapping his opponents King but he has a good start and middle game. He sees a lot of the strategy. The game he won, He had taken all of his opponents pieces expect for the King and Lucius had three queens on the board. So he chased the king around till finally he checkmated his opponent. It took quite a while and they were one of the last games in the third round. But he was pretty happy when he came out. 

It was a long day, we didn't plan on it taking almost 6 hours. Lucius and I ended up buying some treats and snacks from the concession stand to tide us over.

In the end he had two points and was in the middle (score wise) of the group of 60 or so kids in the tournament. He received a ribbon for his efforts but no trophy (which he was bummed about). All his opponents were older than him, so it was pretty interesting to see him play against stronger players who'd been playing longer.

He'd really like to start a Chess team at his school. We'll see what we can do.

Simple pleasures: water time

It was lovely and warm outside this weekend with plenty of sunshine. So nice out that today the boys were in their swimsuits squirting each other with their water guns and asking for a pool. 

Photography: Franconia Sculpture garden...

My Little Misters and I went to spend an afternoon with friends at the Franconia Sculpture Garden a couple of Saturdays ago. I had never been before but have always wanted to stop whenever we drive past. I was so beautiful and sunny out that I got my first sunburn of the year, but it was well worth it as the sculptures were interesting and colorful to observe.

Franconia sculpture garden...

Some newer-ish friends of ours invited us to go visit The Franconia Sculpture park today. It was a glorious day and sounded fun. I've wanted to go a few times but have never been. We got there about 1:30 this afternoon and spent the next two hours exploring the sculptures. The four boys just kept running from one to the next and back again. 

Here's all four boys. It's one of Oliver's best friends, and I'm starting to get to know the friend's mom. We've hit if off and like hanging out too, which makes it easier to want to get the boys together. We've been having lots of playdates and weekly meet ups with this family. Olivers teacher says its been helpful for him at school to have this strong relationship and she noticed the difference in Oliver after we started hanging out more. (We have been hearing a lot less "I feel so alone" & "nobody likes me" from Oliver which is huge.)

We visited most of the park, but there were still a few to go back and see next time. On our way home I remembered there was a ice cream shop in Marine on St. Criox, so I took the boys for a treat. Yum!

I sure do love these two dirty, smiley boys! If fun can be measured in the amount if dirt they collect on their bodies, we had a fantastically fun day.