Schoolwork

The children have been doing a lot of art and reading in our house. Sarah recently had her first homework assignment--a t-shirt shaped collage of Things Sarah Likes. She had a good time painting, cutting, and gluing to make it just right.

Sarah also drew a picture on the white board to let us know about her Ugly Dragon dream. (You might have to click on the picture to see all the details.) In her dream, which may have been an imaginary story rather than a real dream, she and Michael were exploring the cave of The Monster (shown with purple spots) when The Monster awoke! Sarah and Michael started to run away, when The Monster yelled, "Dragon, get them!" Just then The Ugliest Dragon in the World came out of hiding and started to pursue the children. Fortunately, The Ugliest Dragon in the World is very slow and hops on one foot, so the explorers were able to escape. Michael even held onto his balloon as they ran out of the cave!
In case you're wondering, The Ugliest Dragon in the World has a mirror on his head, on which a spider with a stuffed bunny backpack and dead rat necklace does pushups. (see purple picture)

David got to bring home the first grade Curious George's Little Brother a few weeks ago! He came to our house in a purple duffel bag and even brought some of his favorite books. David had to keep track of all the books that they read together as well as all of the things that Little Brother was curious about. They had a great time together.

Late Summer Fun

Our little farmers have been harvesting the vegetables from our garden and "selling" them on the Picnic Table Market. We've gotten some good tomatoes, lemon cucumbers, and banana peppers so far. They also dug the potatoes on a day when they felt like using shovels. I just let them go at it!

When the hard day of work is done, the Little Farmers need to cool off with a climb up the waterslide. Here the hose doubles as a bungee cord, I think... (Mommy had to rescue it from that use!)

Previously on Gyros....

Our big kids headed back to school at the end of August! We now have a first grader and a preschooler making the big trek across the parking lot from our backyard to the playground.
What fun!

We have been working on a new favorite family supper over this summer, and tonight it seemed to work! The main dish is taken from a recipe for Greek Mini Burgers that we like because it reminds us of the gyros at the Atlantis Restaurant in Union Grove, Wisconsin.
Here's what we came up with tonight:
Pita Bread (homemade)
Crumbled seasoned hamburger
Feta cheese sprinkles
Fresh sliced tomatoes
Something Like Tadziki Sauce

Nature Finds

We've enjoyed exploring nature this summer!
The cicadas are out, leaving their shells and providing plenty of music at night. We even got to see one that had just gotten out of its old skin and was resting on the sandbox wall.

This summer has been particularly damp, and the slugs are loving it! They really like to congregate under the balance beam in the yard. David really likes to turn over the balance beam and see the slimy little creatures hiding underneath. He caught some and kept them in a bowl for a while, but they weren't too exciting as pets.

On our way to choir practice a couple of weeks ago, we saw a beautiful double rainbow in our backyard! You could see both ends (not in the picture) in the pretty blue sky.