Today at NLS:

• Our song of the day was Respect by Aretha Franklin. Daddy thought it was cool that he found rare footage from 1967. And that he found a song with an embedded spelling lesson. Nico and Lucas subtly suggested that they would prefer to see fewer black and white videos.

• Also in Morning Crew: (1) Lucas heard Aba's concern that the 6-winged dragon might explode from eating too many elephants and responded reassuringly that "it won't. it's big. it's like 6,000 inches long." (2) Nico and Lucas got copies of a picture of Great Great Grandpa Hruska from 1896; before reading the inscription that said "Budapest, Hungary" they reported that it was a picture of Daddy; and (3) We saw a cool picture from Uncle Eliot's window of Devil's Lake, Oregon and learned the story of how it got its name!

• Today was a big transition for NLS: Oakhurst Elementary launched their new online learning plan! Thankfully, this coincided with the arrival of our new Chromebook so N & L got to spend the day getting acquainted with their new computer.

• AM Recess: Some very speedy bike riding.

• PM Recess: After some hoops, some major progress on the fairy tree house with Mommy.

• And in a very exciting development: the Tooth Fairy granted Nico's wish to keep his tooth and still get a prize!

Today at NLS:

• Our song of the day was Sweet Child O' Mine by Guns 'n Roses.

• Nico finished his Spanish translation, earning three spaces on his Spanish BINGO board. He also did some more Harry Potter math and finally got an extreme dot to dot.

• Lucas wrote that his current favorite animal is a blue whale (sorry peregrine falcon and saber-toothed tiger, you already had your turns). Lucas also made more great progress turning the corner from "learning to read" to "reading on his own," and we got to talk about what "turning the corner" means.

• AM Recess: Mommy set up a new basketball hoop!

• PM Recess: quick bike ride.

• This afternoon we had a virtual playdate with Palmer and Asher.

• And after school: NICO LOST A TOOTH!! With a little help from a wrestling match with Lucas.

Today at NLS:

• Our song of the day was two very different performances of The Star Spangled Banner: Whitney Houston at Super Bowl XXV in 1991 and Jimi Hendrix at Woodstock in 1969.

• Lucas did a great job reading Cars, including a moment that led to a very big giggling fit.

• Nico expanded on his essay on why Zeus is the best god and began translating it into Spanish.

• Lucas taught us about 6 winged dragons and what they like to eat.

• Lucas still could not be stumped by tricky Number Bonds and Nico powered through a lot more of his multiplication seek and finds.

• AM recess resulted in several "poop traps" (?!) in the front yard. PM recess included several new record times in the legendary Down-The-Driveway-To-The-Tree-Down-The-Driveway Dash.

• Nico had a virtual playdate with Bryson and later further perfected The Box with a new garage / aircraft landing pad extension.

Today at NLS:

• Our song for the day was We are the Champions by Queen

• We saw a lot of rain in the forecast so we rushed outside extra early to go biking while it was still dry. But then after the rains came it was sunny again in the afternoon, so Nico and Lucas got to go with Mommy to a local creek! And THEN they got hosed down when they got home!

• Nico did a great job with word ladder puzzles and Lucas continued to be un-stumped by tricky number bonds.

• (And Daddy learned how to make the pictures on this website a little taller so hopefully you can see more of them.)

Week 2!! Today at NLS:

• Our song for the day was What a Wonderful World by Louis Armstrong

• Nico and Lucas enjoyed starting the day with a dragonfly photo from GrandNan and a tricky question from Aba!

• More virtual connections: Lucas had a facetime playdate with Ben and Nico had a Zoom call with Mrs. Staton and a lot of the rest of the crew.

• Nico finished his letter to the BEAR company, wrote about which god he would choose to be (Zeus), and did a multiplication seek and find.

• Lucas was NOT stumped when Daddy tried to stump him with number bonds, did a great job reading Cars by himself AND reading Spanish with Mommy.

• Outdoor recess: Nico discovered that the puddle up front is fun with boots, while Lucas helped clean the car.

• Indoor recess: we went with Mr. Mark to the Serengeti to escape a rumbling herd with lots of jumping and running.