"Z week" is finally here!

Obviously my plan of the alphabet of the week wasn't just one week for each letter.  We did other things in between, and the past 2 years of going through the alphabet like this has been more of a way to find a theme and a resting point between each section (sort of like a unit study) and the blogging about it reminds me of what we have done instead of just getting caught up in the mundane every day stuff.

 Here is the design for this theme.  Zig-Zag race at the ZOO - Pizza Prize. ;)  We went to the zoo a lot (before it got too hot here!) and before that we went to the arboretum to find Zinnias.  We also planted some zinnias in our little potted garden outside our apartment.

 The top one is by the 10 year old the left is by the 8 year old and the right chalk board is by the 5 year old (Which is a z that she colored and then she put a pizza over it. :)

 My 8 year old also decided to make this picture with Zimbabwe and Zambia.  She said she got the flag designs off of a leapster game.

 I had been saving "Zebra Diva" for Z week and the girls also wore them too! (Though I missed out taking a picture apparently.)  I'm also wearing a butterfly Jamberry wrap as well which totally goes with all the butterfly things we've been doing as well.

 Zebra Diva on my toes as well, back when it was cool enough for jeans outside (barely!) the girls would play and chalk while I sat and read.

 The big deal for the 8 year old was getting to go to an Asian Festival in Dallas.  She loves all things China and is very interested in cultures from that part of the world.  So was very excited to see everything!

 The 5 year old playing with her new fan.

 Random Anime booth that was the perfect photo opportunity with the Daddy.

 It wasn't too busy there compared to some, but we didn't stay too long after our little picnic lunch.

 We headed to the near by butterfly house and butterfly garden.  Everyone loved this but the 5 year old especially.

 Great idea for a chalk board design!  This was at the zoo on one of our zoo trips.

Some book ideas for z week.  Not the easiest letter to work with, but doing a zoo theme gets in all the animals really.

 The 5 year old took this picture and I happened to find it on the camera and it goes with the theme!

 A big part of the last few months was the caterpillars that the littlest found and took care of.  We got to see at least 4 turn into their cocoons and fly away as little brown moths!

 Suddenly this book is a favorite.  I loved how often she sat out by her kitchen watching and holding her caterpillars.  It's a bit too hot now to be out for long just sitting.

 Little chubby cute fuzzy brown moth that we got to release.

 The entrance to the zoo here with a giant giraffe.  The girls always keep a look out for it when we are driving there.

 At the nature exchange getting a lesson about stuff they'd brought in to trade.  The guy wasn't super impressed with what they found and that was sad to see them discouraged, but I thought they did a good job looking and finding things on our walk around the apartment complex.  They were interested in these things and have learned a lot.

 The littlest really wanted that tiny scorpion and I'm kind of glad she didn't have enough points to get it!

 The middle one who loves bunnies was ecstatic to see the bunny in the barn.

 Ice cream for lunch by the lions is about as awesome as you can get right?

Another time they got to feed some birds which is always exciting.  I really don't like birds, but ignore that so I can take them in.

 She didn't want it to sit on her arm so is feeding it this way.

 Of course every trip includes some rounds on the carousel.

 Petting a giraffe?  Yep, they did that!

 Another time we got to see the baby penguin (it's not quite fully grown as the feathers are still grey.)

 It was really friendly!

 Another favorite thing to do is climbing on the elephant statues.  This day wasn't very busy, but usually these are a bit more crowded.

 Hey, see those zebras back there?

 Our most recent trip finally afforded us a better view of the zebras!  Every other time they were a bit too far away to see well.

 Of course we had pizza a lot all through the "Z theme" time.  For gluten free pizza I use "Pamela's Bread Mix" in case you were wondering. :)

 A new thing that I started after learning more about "Brave Writer" ideas and how to create an environment that nurtures writing was to pull out my old red typewriter!  I thought it was just the best thing ever when I was about eleven and bought it at a garage sale for $5.  It's been in the closet for a while.  I'm so glad I never got rid of it!

 The middle one especially enjoys randomly typing on it.  Sometimes to get my attention or to leave notes for someone or in the case of the picture above, to copy the entire book only instead of puppy it was wanting a bunny (because she wants a bunny so so so much.)

 That's a lot of typing!

And what is this?  Well, I found so many selfies with these too and all of them were silly, so this is Z for Zany.   Very zany kids.

On our last day of school this year!  The little one (who isn't really starting till fall, but just staying busy) was using clay to make her name.  And the other two were doing some "Life of Fred" math practice.

 Penguins are helpful with math apparently.

And as a final special thing to our Z theme and celebrating the last day of school this year the girls got to watch "Zootopia"!  Which of course was quite exciting.

They did ask if they could still do poetry tea times even though school is over and the middle one still wanted to do her Thinking tree journal a bit, but I've been enjoying the time off to focus on appointments for a while.  My back was messed up and I've had to go to the chiropractor a lot recently and the oldest is doing vision therapy which takes quite a bit of time.  

What is going to be the themes for next year?  I'm not quite sure, but the girls talk about "next time we do that letter" as if rotating the alphabet yearly is a perfect idea.  So maybe I'll keep it up only change it somehow.