Habitat Diorama

First grade has been a challenge. No longer can you get by with "baby kindergarten stuff". You have to work. You have to be diligent. You have to actually learn stuff. Some "stuff" you are expected to learn are the various habitats of the world. In order to facilitate the learning process the wonderful teachers at Candeo gave the girls a project wherein they were required to pick a habitat and construct a diorama from the facts they learned in class supplemented with outside sources (Mom does not count as an outside source - I told you 1st grade was tough.)

Here is Liv with her finished tropical rainforest. She did all the work herself.

A close up of the palm trees (donated from our bathtub dinosaur toys), newly purchased tiger and jaguar (yes we know it's a cheetah but we couldn't find a jaguar and are counting on other 1st graders not being able to tell the difference), a hand crafted butterfly (they grow them big in the rain forests) and bushes also made from play-dough and painted by a well-known artist (namely Livvy).

Nice bushes, no?

Here is Ellie with her Deciduous forest diorama. (And a Harkins movie cup)

She too painted everything with no help from me. We did buy the various frolicking forest animals, however they are set off nicely by the dead foliage and shredded moss she added.

Frolicking animals.

After much hard work I allowed them some much needed free time which included some very special wii time as they had not been allowed to play "in forever."

So with their completed projects in hand they came to me very seriously and instructed me to take pictures and send them to grandpa the great as he is a true artist and thus the only one fully able to appreciate their God-given talent. Apparently it skips a generation - or two. Ouch.

The girls are now 7 and we are finally in a position to let them try some extra-curricular activities. They wanted soccer so soccer it was.

Brock and the girls approach the field for their first game ever.

This is what they were up against. No fear!

Hurry up and wait. I would like to say they were sizing up the competition but mostly they complained that it was too hot. 90 degrees at 8:30 in the morning. Welcome to soccer in the desert. (Perhaps not one of my better ideas.)

The game started and all doubts vanished. Soccer is fun!!! The girls were timid in the beginning and mostly stood around while we yelled from the side lines. (Apparently I am that parent.) Once they figured out what they were supposed to do (take the ball away from the other team - I know it doesn't sound nice but really, it's the point) they stepped up and did their best.

Ellie coming in for a water break.

Liv's water break.

Brock and I had so much fun watching, cheering, and yelling incredibly helpful things that we forgot to take picture of the actual game.

Unfortunately they were not victorious. They lost 0-5 but there was improvement in the second half and everyone had fun. Here is the team with their coach who is a really great guy. We didn't know him at all and we really lucked out.

The girls were so tired by the end of the game but they had a blast.