olivier family: 2013

Representing the class of 2026...

...is my beaming kindergartener on his first day a few weeks ago (I know you aren't at all surprised by my blogging lateness). Nathan is loving school so far, and we are so grateful!

It was a rainy first day, but the boys didn't seem to mind (their soaked mama might have been a different story)...

The following week Lukey had his first day at Mother's Day Out, and he did great! He'll be going twice a week this year to the same church preschool that his big brother attended last year.

I'm trying to adjust to the fact that my babies aren't babies anymore, but I know that independence is a really good thing. I'll be cheering them on through these new adventures even on those days when I wish I could somehow push "rewind" to have them back at home with me.

...it's called August.

Those last few weeks when our summer plans have ended and the Texas heat is at its peak can be a little challenging, to say the least! A few simple but fun activities helped us survive the dog days of summer this year (and maybe even landed them a spot among our most memorable).

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We started off with a "Space Day" for astronaut Nathan. Since every space traveler needs a good rocket ship, we set to work building one out of boxes and other odds and ends from around the house. Nathan was full of ideas, and he had so much fun watching them take shape. He wanted to make a phone so he could communicate with mission control, a telescope, and steering wheel, a radar, a control panel, and a moon rock laboratory. The cardboard was pretty tough to cut, so I helped him do that, but he eagerly helped with the rest!

Little scientists studying rocks from other planets (it's amazing how much fun tongs and magnifying glasses can be for a kiddo)...

The boys tried some astronaut ice cream sandwiches (which I found at Michael's, of all places). I think they would both agree that ice cream in space is not nearly as tasty as ice cream on Earth!

Not quite sure what to think of freeze-dried ice cream...

Later they created their own solar systems. Nathan was meticulous with his planets, and Luke went to town with a brush in each hand...

We simply painted blocks of styrofoam black for the bases and stuck silver stars all over them (Luke goes nuts for stickers). Nathan played endlessly with his little astronauts, even borrowing Luke's universe during nap time to expand his...

Lukey worked on building a space ship out of laser pegs...

(with a little help from his big brother)

And we finished the day by watching some awesome videos for kids on NASA's website (which you can check out here, if you're interested).

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Several days later was Luke's special "Ocean Day." That boy loves everything about the sea. In fact, we've renewed this book from the library three times now because he can't get enough of it! We started the day at the pet store to look at all the fish — not very glamorous, I know, but the boys actually had a blast. We picked out some kelp and seaweed (for less than a dollar apiece!), and brought it home to make our own ocean habitat...

Fish Face!

We painted the ocean and filled it with all kinds of sea creatures...

I love Nathan's shark...

Sticker Man...

The boys also made some fish out of Perler Beads. I was shocked by how patient they were with the beads (especially Luke). I didn't think he would have the dexterity to do much of this without help, but it turned out to be a great fine motor activity for him!

Nathan was so proud of his killer whale!

Next we collected all kinds of little objects from outside and around the house to test whether they would sink or float in the water. Nathan hypothesized about the results for each item...