Monday and weekend

We had a fun outdoorsy weekend this weekend. On Friday, the girls and I went with our Nature Study group to the War Eagle Marina campground. It's closed for the season, so we had it to ourselves. We walked around the loop, and stopped to enjoy a nature drawing lesson from Mrs. Knight. Then all the kids drew, painted, sketched in their nature journals. We checked out some cool rock formations and the kids climbed all over the place. We capped off our day with Jane's 3rd birthday party.

On Saturday, we hiked the Shaddox Hollow loop in Hobbs State Park. We found at least 20 different kinds of mushrooms on the trail. That was probably the most interesting natural element we enjoyed. Also, we saw a signal tree that was bent by Native Americans years ago. Brett and I ended that day by checking out a Chicago style pizza place in Bentonville. MMM. The girls got to spend some time with Meredith, and they loved every minute of it.

On Sunday, we had an awesome worship service at church. Then we enjoyed a Grovefest at Gulley Park. We couldn't have had a more beautiful day to be outside.

So, now it's Monday, which means back to work. Today we had a full school day, reading aloud various history materials, having Bible time, working on counting money and mental math, learning geography terms and listening to Aladdin (not Disney). We're reading it from The Arabian Nights: Their Best Known Tales by Wiggin and Smith. It's fabulous. Elspeth and I read a "Bob Book" together. Maitlyn and Elspeth worked on cursive and reviewed their phonograms, and Maitlyn did some independent reading from a book of Medieval Tales. We even worked in those important life skills i.e. chores. Now, the kids are getting some fresh air, and I am going to start dinner.