199/365 – Mon. 7/18/11 :: Abstract Etchings

Kaylee was very proud of her art creation on this mini Etch A Sketch. (It’s on the end of a pen.) She says this is a bird by a window and a falling tree. :)

198/365 – Sun. 7/17/11 :: Shifty Slinky

Had a little fun with some shots of Matthew having a little fun with a Slinky. :)

197.5/365 – Sat. 7/16/11 :: Repeat Shoe Business

Had to sneak in another post for today. I love this shot of Mark helping Kaylee with her shoe-tying practice. She got it down pretty well last summer, but her shoes this spring had Velcro rather than laces, so she’d forgotten how to tie and is doing a little refresher. :)

197/365 – Sat. 7/16/11 :: Silly Scowls

Mark and the kids stopped by US Toys on their way home from the magic club meeting this morning. It was a time for fierceness and fun. :)

196/365 – Fri. 7/15/11 :: Property Wars

Matthew, playing with a small plastic top Kaylee had brought out from her room and abandoned on the table.

Ho only got to play with it until she noticed that’s what he was doing. Then suddenly she decided she needed it back.  Sharing is not one of her strong points. :b

And Matthew has a few things to learn about the art of negotiation. ;)

195/365 – Thur. 7/14/11 :: Still Sad Faced

Matthew’s “sad face” catch phrase has not lost any steam over the past six months. In fact it seems that he pulls it out more than ever. Today he decided to add an illustration to demonstrate just how sad he was.  Today’s crisis? No tacos for lunch. Oh, the humanity! ;)

194/365 – Wed. 7/13/11 :: Matthew Mows

Mark gave Matthew his first lawn mowing lesson today.  He doesn’t totally have the hang of it yet (and won’t be able to do it without being closely supervised anytime soon because of his seizures), but he did pretty well for his first time. :)

193/365 – Tue. 7/12/11 :: In The Zone

We had some Speed Zone gift cards, so we headed across town to check it out today. This roller coaster simulator was definitely one of the kids’ favorites. They rode it several times.

Other hits were air hockey…

mini-bowling…

and putt-putt golf!

It was more than a bit on the hot side for the golf, but fortunately most of the holes had trees where we could grab some shade while waiting our turns. Although Matthew did pretty well, Mark ended up winning. I kept putting too hard and overshooting. Kaylee kept turning her club around backwards, putting from the left-handed side of the ball, and reversing her grip. It’s amazing she ever got the ball in the hole. LOL

192/365 – Mon. 7/11/11 :: Magic Lesson

Mark helped Matthew work on perfecting a new card trick this evening.

191/365 – Sun. 7/10/11 :: Estimate This

One of Kaylee’s favorite activities from her math class this past year was the  “estimation jar”. Kids took turns filling a jar with between 100 and 1000 small objects, and then everyone would try to estimate how many were in there. Kaylee was disappointed that she never got a turn to fill the jar, so we’ve been doing our own version at home this summer. Items in the jar have included pop tops, crayons, playing cards, marbles, embroidery floss bobbins, coins, beads, buttons, and dice.

190/365 – Sat. 7/9/11 :: Duly Noted

More design disorder on my desk. A stack of notebooks fresh off the scanner. Also mixed in there are the kids’ summer math workbooks. I never claimed to be organized. ;)

189/365 – Fri. 7/8/11 :: Signs of the Times

Kaylee decided to make some new signs for her door.

Matthew was very insulted that he wasn’t included as an inspiration. LOL

Fashion, music, nail polish, and sweets. That’s Kaylee. :)

188/365 – Thur. 7/7/11 :: Random Matthew II

Just another random Matthew shot. He hangs out by my desk, and the camera comes out. :)

187/365 – Wed. 7/6/11 :: Welcome to the Jungle

Kaylee wanted to take advantage of her new bedroom setup to host a movie night. She and Mark and Matthew watched “Jungle Book”.  :)

186/365 – Tue. 7/5/11 :: Abandoned

Today was Matthew’s 6-month follow up with the neurologist. He got all ready to go, and then set up the Dungeon game to play with Kaylee while waiting to leave. But just as they sat down to play, Mark told Kaylee it was time for them to go run errands. Poor kiddo was left high and dry. ;)

185/365 – Mon. 7/4/11 :: Patriot Games

We celebrated the 4th with a family game night. This is the same Dungeon game that Matthew and Kaylee were playing the other day. Afterwards, the kids shot off party poppers in the back yard (a bit to dark for decent pictures), and then later we watched some nearby fireworks from the front porch. :)

184/365 – Sun. 7/3/11 :: Magical Gathering

There was a magic convention in town this week. While Mark didn’t attend, he did help out with a few rides to/from the airport, catch a few shows, and just go hang out with friends a few evenings.  He invited a few people to the house for lunch when it was over. Here Kaylee and Matthew are dining with living legends Johnny and Pam Thompson, but all Kaylee was concerned about was Pam’s little dogs who were anxiously watching them eat from the nearby couch.

There was also just some general hanging out as Mark showed some of his prize collectables to fellow collector Chip…

and Johnny gave some lessons to Chip’s student who’d accompanied him to the convention.

‘Twas a lovely afternoon. :)

183/365 – Sat. 7/2/11 :: Dungeon Duo

Mark dug out this old “Dungeon!” board game for Matthew to check out for ideas for his project. Matthew loved it and talked Kaylee into playing with him.

She actually enjoyed it too, and they played peacefully together for a good chunk of the afternoon.

182/365 – Fri. 7/1/11 :: Summer Swelter

Just plain hot.