Explore...Investigate...Inquire! - Homeschool Blogger

Week 3 was "Stellar"!

Fri, 11 Sep 2009 18:01:00 -0500

After tutoring on this cloudy, humid day, we packed up and had school at the library! We did this several times last year and it really gave us a boost. New scenery, books as far as the eye can see, new computer games, quiet, aaahhh!! I almost felt like my old self there; getting back in my rhythm of fun learning.

We have been studying stars, constellations, navigation and such. The kids have really enjoyed learning about the wonderful lights God placed in the sky and how people from long ago used them to find their way. I learned that the big and little dippers are not constellations, but asterims. They are part of the constellations, Ursa Minor and Ursa Major or the Little and Big Bear, respectively. I found a great constellation book with glow in the dark stars! We would blast off to my closet flashlight in tow and discover new constellations every afternoon. It was a lot of fun and memorable! We kicked off our unit with a trip to the Planetarium at UT in Arlington. We saw "The Stars At Night, Are Big and Bright" (deep in the heart of Texas!) The kids made lite bright constellations, as well as created their own with black construction paper, chalk, then they poked holes in the paper, which sparkled like stars when illuminated. I gave them the task of making a planetarium. I handed them a black trash bag and a fan. It took some questioning on my part to get them to come up with a "planetarium", but they did do it. So what did they do, you may be asking? They placed the fan at the opening of the bag an turned the fan on. This held the bag in place and the air kept it open. Then they poked holes in the bag to simulate stars. So, when looking into the black bag, it looked like you were looking at stars in the night sky! Another great Konos hands on, thinking activity! Stellar, simply stellar!

In honor of The Year of Astronomy, we are extending our studies next week to include Planets and Moons! At the library today, the kids found books for their planet research papers. Mitchell chose Mars, while Madilynn will focus on Saturn.

They enjoy the fun computer games at the library and took turns going on a mystery tour while I worked with them separately on nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs. I ran into a fellow home school Mom, who also has kids who learn differently with Dyslexia. It always a blessing to run into her and I am quite certain, God orchestrates our chance meetings. We understand. We get each other's kids. We are not alone.

Peace and blessings.

Wednesday Is Family Night!

Wed, 9 Sep 2009 15:55:00 -0500

Carving out time just for our family is getting tougher these days. There are many good things, in which to be involved. However, choosing the season and time of life to do them is critical to keeping family bonds strong. (Everything is permissible, but not everything is beneficial.- 1 Corinthians 10:23)

So, this semester, Wednesday nights are Family Night! This is a night with no outside distractions, activities, chores or meetings. It is family dinner time with some good face time!

Here is our loose plan, so we don't fritter our time away...

Devotions
Prayer Time - requests for others, praise reports, concerns and requests for family/self
Show and Tell - share special work from school
Games or Special Activities

Summer activities and reading

Thu, 18 Jun 2009 19:38:00 -0500

Me, my kids and my two nieces!

Madilynn lost her front tooth!

Mitchell at the Archery Range at Cub Scout Camp. They also got to shoot BB guns. The Scouts take it seriously and had an awesome safety instruction prior to being allowed on the range.

Madilynn got the hang of archery!

End of May and June have been a bit of a blur. We have been to the water park multiple times with friends, went home to Bastrop to see the familyf and hiking in Bastrop State Park (lots of Pine Trees!), went to Cub Scout Day Camp for a week (8a-4p in the very hot weather), and began reading tutoring! Whew!

Reading tutoring was not on my agenda this summer. However, one thing led to another while I was researching Dyslexic reading programs and the Reading for the Blind and Dyslexic program. I reconnected with Mitchell's 2nd grade teacher (no longer teaching), who is a Reading Specialist and a trained Dyslexic Specialists. She agreed to assess the kids in reading, phonics and spelling. The assessment revealed they both needed help. We knew this, but were stuck as to which way to go. There are so many programs available now. His teacher suggested Alphabetic Phonics. It is the 4 day a week, 2 year program we are just beginning. It is hands on and structured. The kids are going through all the letters via speaking, handwriting, (cursive) spelling and some kinesthetic activities. It is slow going here at first, but will pick up as we move along. They are responding well and need this instruction. We are so thankful to have Cathy's expertise! She is great with the kids and they enjoy the interaction with her. The one on one instruction, or two in our case with my minimal help, is a huge blessing!

Dinosaur Valley State Park

Fri, 29 May 2009 16:17:00 -0500

Help! T-Rex is coming!

With the wet spring we have had, camping has just not happened. We have all been disappointed but instead, have gone on some wonderful day trips! Dinosaur Valley in Glen Rose, Texas was our trip du jour. The weather for that day was about 60% rain, but coverage would be sporadic. We rose early and headed out armed with a picnic lunch, my camera, the dog and Mitchell's walking stick.

There are dinosaur prints and hiking trails and camp sites along the Puloxy River.

We saw an abundance of wildlife and plants. The kids were thrilled at seeing their very first, real live, ROAD RUNNER! Mitchell researched the terrestrial bird not too long ago. I used to see them all the time when I was a kid growing up along FM 969 in Bastrop, Texas. The kids have been wanting to see one for quite some time. Deer, bunnies, bugs, butterflies and birds were everywhere. Our ears were especially attuned to the call of the Northern Cardinal. They were everywhere.

The timing of our day was only orchestrated by the Lord. We completed our long morning hike just in time to finish our lunch before the down pour. The rain stopped and we headed back out. We visited the Camp Store where Mitchell purchased another state park medallion for his walking stick. Then the kids donned their swim suits and walked along the river splashing and playing. Cache loved it! It began to rain again and we headed to the van for our trip home. We stopped at Cleburne State Park on our way, to check out it's camp sites and fishing. A good fishing hole, Troy said. We did use our GPS, hoping to snag some geocaches, but we did not find any. Actually we only looked for maybe two. Without my paper trail to give me clues about their location, it was like looking for a needle in a haystack.

We had an awesome day and can't wait to go on our next hiking adventure!

Garden Pics

Thu, 18 Jun 2009 10:15:00 -0500

Echinacea in full bloom! Love, love, love this flower!
I love to sit in my swing and look at all the beautiful flowers in bloom!

Zinnia popping out!

Mitchell's tomatoes.

Cilantro in bloom. We love this herb.

We have a good crop of cucumbers growing too. My kids just figured out that a pickle is a cucumber! Funny! Madilynn's strawberries are blooming again as well. Seems this time a little varmint may be getting to the berries before we do. We also have green peppers, carrots, onions and Italian Parsley growing. Even though our tomato plants looks ragged, they are producing good fruit.

Time to water!

T-Kids at NorthWood Church

Mon, 25 May 2009 08:05:00 -0500

The kids have been going every Wednesday night to T-Kids. It is a program at church where the spend time having interactive fun learning about bible stories and playing with friends. Each week the memorize a verse and we do more in depth study of the week's bible story at home. They receive "special money" or Kingdom Kash for returning their homework and reciting their verse each week. With the Kash they can buy things and special Store Nights throughout the year. Mitchell had his eye on a Rip Stick since September! He saved every single one of his Kingdom Kash for 9 months in hope of buying the modified skateboard. Finally, May 20th he got his reward at the last Store Night! He was so excited and I was very proud of him. It was a long year for him and it was not without temptation of calling it quits! He pushed through it, with our insistence, and came out the other side triumphantly.

He is a quick study of anything physical. That evening after T-Kids, we spent about 30 minutes outside, so he could master the tricky ride. He did it!! He and Troy Googled rip stick, watched a short video about how to get started and voila! It looks so fun to ride and even easier than a traditional skateboard. I want to try, but am pretty sure I would hurt myself!

Madilynn did very well at T-Kids too. She was such a helper to her teachers each week. Perhaps she will be a wonderful "teacher" one day! She also was able to make some special friends and spend time with them each Wednesday evening learning about God's love. She too memorized scripture and had homework weekly. Madilynn likes to spend! So she bought items at every Store Night. Journals, hair accessories, candy, key chains, she loved it all! She just could not bring herself to save up for that mini iPod she wanted. ;) Just as well, she is only 6! I am so proud of her too for sticking with the program all year and learning how to be in a community of Christ, sharing and learning together.

As usual, if I snap a photo of Mitchell she wants in on the action! Daddy just raised her seat on her bike, so I was told to document this via a snapshot!

One of Madilynn's T-Kids teachers is a missionary from Vietnam. She and her family have been at our church on a year's break. They will head back to Vietnam in September. We hope to be pen pals with Ms. Becky, learning all about the culture and seeing how they are serving the people of Vietnam. Maybe one day, we can go on a mission trip to Vietnam ourselves!

Front Yard Science

Fri, 22 May 2009 17:33:00 -0500

Day 1

Look real close. Can you see?

Our nature adventure did not extend beyond our own front yard today. The kids have been playing in our Bradford Pear trees which line the streets in our neighborhood. Today while perched up in his "nest" Mitchell spotted the tiniest little yellow droplets. He seemed to know what they were instantly. "I found some ladybug eggs!" he exclaimed. He proceeded to search the web to confirm his findings. Sure enough, he was right!

Below is an up close photo I snapped while precariously standing on an old stool. The tree is barely big enough to sustain Mitchell's 80 lbs., so I figured it would not hold my, well, let's just say, more than 80 lbs.!

We will keep our eyes on them and hopefully will get to see them go from egg to larvae and then their metamorphosis into adult ladybugs.

It is so awesome to see the creations of God unfold everyday in a new way, through the eyes of eager to learn children.

Day 2

Mitchell was eager to check out the status of the eggs this morning. Much to our surprise, they had already hatched and were dining on their egg casing. The little bugs are so tiny!

The tiny white spec is what is left of the egg casings, which are covered with tiny, dark larvae.

These pictures were quite hard to get. The larvae are much tougher to see as opposed to the pretty yellow cluster of eggs. Once again I found myself dubiously poised among the small branches of our tree. My zoom lens would not capture the shot because I was too close and my regular lens was not magnified enough. I did not have the equipment or skill to get just the right magnification. I have lots to learn about photography. (another hobby of mine that takes a backseat)

Once the excitement of the hatch was over, we settled in the backyard to see what else we could observe. Mitchell went for one more look in the front yard. As I was sitting on my new swing (Mother's day gift!) Mitchell came running, noticeably upset. He did not have to say what happened. I knew instantly. He had inadvertently knocked the ladybug larva off the tree. Such a bummer for all of us, as we were hoping to watch them change and morph into ladybugs over a couple of weeks. Oh well. I reckon he will be more careful next time. And we will never forget such a wonderful find.

Cub Scout Graduation, Art with Beans and Garden Finds

Mon, 18 May 2009 16:04:00 -0500

Mitchell graduated from a Bear Cub Scout to a Webelos. WeBeLoS stands for We'll Be Loyal Scouts. This new rank marks the beginning of two years as a Webelos. There is more emphasis on den outings and completing badge accomplishments within the den vs. parent directed activities to earn badges. Troy will be stepping up as Den Assistant for our group. He and Mitchell are looking forward to the upcoming Scout year! They are planning a summer camp out just for his den.

In keeping with our Summer Day Camp theme, Medieval Times, the boys were "
knighted" into their new rank.

Mitchell and Ray, his Den Leader, an Eagle Scout.

Troy, my husband in full uniform.
He finally gets to be a Scout! Never got to as a kid.

When we wrapped up our Birds Unit, the kids did some lovely mosaics of a bird of their choice. We all so love the Canada Goose we saw in Mineral Wells State Park.

Canada Goose in Beans by Madilynn

The Red Tailed Hawk is a common siting here.

Red Tailed Hawk in beans by Mitchell

Speaking of birds, our lovely Golden Retriever Cache loves to watch, stalk and chase after them. She has yet to catch one, until last night! None of us witnessed the great snag, but Madilynn looked out the back door in time to see some feathers flying! Oddly enough, we all cheered. It was a feat, long time coming for Cache! She did not eat it, but rather batted at it with her paws, unsure of what to do next. Troy finally came and put the little Grackle out of it's misery. I did feel a tinge of sadness for the poor little thing, but then this is how the food chain works. Besides Grackles are highly annoying birds in these parts!

Our Bird dog!

Garden Finds

Madilynn's Sequioa Strawberries!

Mitchell's lil' tomato!

Being the amateur gardeners that we are, when we placed our garden box we did not take into account the tree growth and thus the SHADE the garden box is no in. So we are not too sure how our tomatoes will ultimately do. The Sequoia strawberries produced quite well and from what I have read, it is possible it is over for the season. There have been no blooms for weeks now. There are June bearers and some Ever bearers. Thinking we have the June bearers, which produced early with some of our warm weather, as happens in warmer climates.

A little bloom that sprouted up. Was not even expecting the little beauty.

This is my cone flower or Echinacea, which has done so beautifully after emerging from it's long winter's nap. Dozens of these little blooms cover the tall plant. I can't wait for the purple petals to pop out!

I love you....

Fri, 15 May 2009 06:40:00 -0500

As I tucked Madilynn into bed last night we had our usual loving banter, with a little something extra thrown in by her. It went like this....

Me - "I love you!"
Madilynn - "I love you too.
Me - "I love you MORE."
Madilynn - "I love you GOOGLE!"

I totally was not expecting that last little nugget! Google! I laughed as I hugged her tightly and asked what that meant. She said "It means all the numbers in the world. I love you more than all the numbers in the world."

I have taught her many things, this is not one of them however. I was so astonished! I told Troy and Mitchell immediately piped up and said, "It means the numbers that go on forever. I taught her that!"

Yet another priceless and cherished Mommy moment.

Baseball Unit

Fri, 15 May 2009 08:55:00 -0500

Baseball Unit Highlights:

Went to Home School Day at the Ball Park in Arlington to see the Texas Rangers play the Oakland Athletics. Our team lost, but we had a wonderful time. We saw a few bats get broken and a player tossed out of the game. Might I add, I had to find my way to the ball park by myself and was never so glad to get somewhere!
Geography - armed with a list of all the baseball teams in the National League and the American League the kids have been locating the cities and states each team calls home, on the map. They are using road atlas', magnifying glasses and larger maps. While doing this they are learning how to read addresses and to determine if a name is a city or state. They seems to have quite a bit of fun with this. It is a discovery activity and thus I just assist and guide. I do not show and tell them where anything is located.
I typed up all the team names along with their home city and state. I had Madilynn cut them out and divide them in piles of teams and locations. Then I had the kids sort the teams by land animals, sea animals and air animals vs. non-animals. They learned that a Ranger is not a horse, even though the team mascot is one! Madilynn also sorted the teams into groups of 5 and counted by 5's to get the total number of teams. The discovered most of the teams are not named after animals at all.
We are reading a variety of books on the subject of baseball. This week we learned about Cal Ripken and his team, the Boston Orioles' great losing streak. 21 games in a row that team lost. It was a good book and good story of perseverance.
A little baseball history is being digested as we read through various historical moments in the sport. The Merkle Moment and the race to the most home runs are but a few.
Venn Diagram comparing and contrasting Baseball with Football - the kids came up with many thoughtful differences and similarities.

I have never fully appreciated baseball all these years, but it is growing on me! Mitchell wakes up most mornings with his glove and ball in his hand and is ready to play. He never expressed an interest in playing little league baseball until recently. We have tossed the ball around a great deal and have so much fun doing so. Cache tries to get in on the action too! Mitchell even crafted me a Mother's Day card out of cut out baseballs down to the red stitching. (which is done by hand, by the way and is amazing to watch)

Painted Bunting Update

Wed, 29 Apr 2009 07:31:00 -0500

I was on a walk with Cache last evening and saw several Painted Buntings during our outing! It brought a smile to my face to see these beautiful birds fluttering around. They were low enough so I could see their exquisite, unmistakable coloring. Perhaps they are here every year, but I never noticed. This year of homeschooling has afforded us more opportunity to stop and "smell the roses". Cache has given us ample reason as well, by needing frequent walks in the park!

I also eye-spied some cranes, herrings, hawks, robins and heard the cardinals. Cache chased a bunny too!

Lemonade for Water, at Dog Training?

Mon, 27 Apr 2009 16:16:00 -0500

Our church is big on serving "Glocally" -Global and Local. Mission trips are not just funded through some other organization, people from our church go and serve. Haltom City, Texas, Mexico and Vietnam are our main missionary focus locations. The kiddos learn this from an early age and it is incorporated into their curriculum during Wednesday night T-Kids. They had a challenge to help out the church's summer mission trip to Vietnam - Raise lots of money to buy water filters for families. One water filter can provide clean water for a family of 5 for ten years.

Madilynn and Mitchell had witnessed older kids having lemonade stands and bake sales at the church and various other activities outside of church to raise money. Madilynn really wanted to do the same, so we asked our dog trainer with K-9 Direction if we could set up a lemonade stand at a training workshop last Saturday. He excitedly said yes and was pleased someone asked! We might do more stands in the future to help raise money for some of the dog rescues for which he volunteers.

Once the deal was on, Mitchell Googled a lemonade recipe and went to work figuring out what supplies we would need. We bought and squeezed over 30 lemons! (yes I know it would be cheaper to just use some powdered lemonade, but it would not taste, near as good!) With a little sugar and water, voila, the perfect refreshing drink! We made cookies, signs, loaded tables and chairs and were in business!

The kids manned the table and raised enough money to buy water filters for 3 families! It was a super learning experience for them!

Their first customer! Dropped a twenty into the jar!

Cache and Troy at "Place" training with 40 furry friends!

My Backyard Bird Find!

Fri, 24 Apr 2009 18:04:00 -0500

This one is for Old School Marm a fellow bird watcher!

Painted Bunting in our backyard!

I am so excited I could not wait to post this picture!!! I was sitting at our dining room table having lunch with the kids and noticed a tiny bird among our weedy grass. I kept seeing bits of red, but was not sure if it was a leaf or part of the bird plumage. My far-sight is not as good as it once was, so I asked the kids to take a look see. Madilynn immediately spotted the various colors. I grabbed my camera, slowly made my way out the back door, half in, half out and instructed Mitchell to get my zoom lens. I was able to snap this photo before the little bird was startled by my inching closer. I am still in disbelief we were able to spot a bird other than our usual Mourning Dove, Robins and now Northern Cardinals which are a plenty. We grabbed Mitchell's second-hand National Audubon Society, The Sibley Guide to Birds and finally identified our new find as a Painted Bunting!

I peeked out the door later and there my little feathered friend was again. Only this time the back patio door squeaked as I opened the door and off he flew.

Such a beautiful bird, the good Lord made for our pleasure!

Now, Troy has been wanting to mow the grass, as our weeds are seeding and of course more weeds will grow. But I for one am excited to have those weeds or we would not have witnessed this beautiful bird. By the way, after buying Mitchell's bird guide from Half Price Books, we noticed several weeks later that it is signed by the author, David Sibley

rev. 4/28/09-Our feathered friend has not reappeared since I took this photo.

Rangers Game and Big Red Daddy!

Mon, 27 Apr 2009 08:00:00 -0500

Every year we enjoy going to the Rangers game at The Ball Park in Arlington. Even though we are not huge baseball fans, going to the game and taking in the environment is a relaxing good time.
We began our season with a bang this year, as Troy was "won" tickets and parking pass from a coworker, by being the first one to respond to the give-away email! I can't believe he happened to be at his computer to even see the email come through.

The seats were awesome, right behind home plate in the Lexus section! We witnessed MANY a foul ball flying up into the stadium. Mitchell was ready to catch one and I was hoping he would protect me as once the ball hits the bat, I am not often able to follow it's path. I did not want to get bonked in the head!

It was a super windy day, but the stadium blocked most of it, making it a bit toasty with the sun. Because it was so warm, Troy ventured off to get him something more comfortable to wear. He found a reasonably priced t-shirt; big red shirt to go with his free red hat! We each got a hat with our ticket as that was the Give-Away for the game that day! I then started calling him "Big Red"! He is a big guy, with a big red shirt and a red ball cap. I wish I had my camera!

Once we got home he and the kids did their "spring training" workout. He had on his big red shirt, so now training is called Big Red Boot Camp! He takes the kids on their bikes through the park making stops along the way for sprinting, push-ups, sit-ups and some fancy football footwork for Mitchell (of course Madilynn has to keep up with big bro.) They have a great time and are well worn out when they peddle home.

The game was awesome too. The Rangers won in the bottom of the 9th by breaking the tie with a home run by Young.

We are also going to Home School day this coming Thursday! AND better still, Troy was given 4 tickets to a game in May. Casting Crowns will be there for a mini concert! Woo Hoo!!

Our next unit study - Baseball!!
-Geography - mapping all the team locations
-Math - scoring, etc.
-History - reading about famous baseball players
-Science - speed of pitch, how bats and baseballs are made
-Road Trip - "Show Me MO" - a family road trip to Missouri to see the St. Louis Cardinals play and to visit my Mom's hometown and my Grandpa! (Missouri is the Show Me State!) We will get in some sights in Arkansas as well and take in a state park or two.

Caution - little minds at work!

Sat, 18 Apr 2009 22:59:00 -0500

The kids and I have thoroughly enjoyed studying birds this past month. Technically I had planned to move on to something else by now, but I let the momentum and enthusiasm for our feathered friends blossom and take a life of it's own.

One thing I have learned about learning is, it takes time to soak in to the brain. It takes time for kids to connect dots, look for more dots and then connect ideas. Observing, questioning and formulating thoughts does not happen instantly, at least not in our family! Too often a subject is paused or ended without it being fully examined and investigated. But the box gets checked off as completed. I once read to be well-rounded is to know a little about a lot. But what the world could use more of is people who find what they love, learn it inside and out and then use their knowledge doing what they love and using their God given talent!

So if we tarry a bit too long on our science lessons, I try not to fret about what else we should be doing. Little minds are at work! And while they are working, they are reading, reasoning, exploring, investigating and inquiring, thinking, planning, figuring, designing and growing.

Cascarones

Sun, 12 Apr 2009 15:58:00 -0500

We made Cascarones for our Easter celebration this year! I have wanted to do this for several years, but never could remember to save our egg shells! With confetti saved from last year's "after Easter" sale, we eagerly made the fun, colorful creations! Originally used in Chinese celebrations, cascarones are now found in the Latino culture as part of the Easter celebration. It is an clean egg shell, stuffed with confetti, and topped with tissue paper. Then for fun you take the egg and crack it on someone's head! It makes a mess for sure, but is fun to make and fun to crack!

We forgot to dye the shells prior to stuffing,which would make the super beautiful!

Hiking in Mineral Wells

Sat, 11 Apr 2009 15:02:00 -0500

We had been looking forward to our family camp out on Easter through Tuesday. Fishing, hiking camp fire, fresh air, no noise - haaaa! Because of bad weather moving in on Easter Sunday, we decided not to camp in torrential downpours and muddy puddles. So we went on a family trek to Mineral Wells State Park the Saturday before Easter.

It was a beautiful day! The calm before the storm, I suppose. We saw so much wildlife and plant life! Still in our bird unit, it was especially pleasing to see a variety of aviary at the park.

Canada Goose

Heron

Mallard ducks and their white duck friend

We hiked for a bit in the morning, going off the beaten path. I won't say we got lost, but we sure took a while to get BACK on the path! Mitchell loved it. Perhaps if I had not been lugging my big camera and had not been trying to heel Cache and keep her from running off, I would have enjoyed it more. However, the kids saw many a wonderous thing, like spider egg sac, cactus and even scat, which they identified as deer and rabbit. Yes I even took pictures of the scat!
Upon returning to mild civilization, we headed to view the rippling water, playful ducks and soaring birds. The kids did not know what to look at first. Even Cache seemed to be in awe of the nature around her as she sat quietly taking it all in and smelling the air. She was so well behaved! All that dog training we have been doing since mid-January is paying off! After lunch the kids and Troy geared up for fishing from the bank. Though nothing was caught they eagerly practiced baiting hooks and casting their lines.
Soon we began to get the itch for another hike. Heading down a trail we disappeared into the the thick brush among the boulders, trees and unseen creatures. The trail was a long one! By the time we made it back to the car, we were ready to sit for the 1 hour ride home. Cache was worn out too!

Mitchell purchased a walking stick at the park store and was totally in his element hiking with his stick, pushing back vines and steadying himself on steep climbs. Each State Park in Texas sells it's own collectible medallion which can be mounted onto the walking stick. We have one now and aim for many more!

Some pictures to share...

Mon, 6 Apr 2009 13:22:00 -0500

Mitchell has been taking a beginner drawing class at our Kingdom Kids Coop. He produced this great pencil drawing of a cardinal. I was so proud of him and pleased for him to feel a sense of accomplishment! Since this drawing he has more confidence in attempting other drawings. I am so thankful, because often times, he gives up when a task is difficult.
He presented it to me and I told him we would frame it and hang it up. He took matters into his own hands this weekend and set out to find a picture frame at our neighborhood garage sale. Pedaling on his bike, with his drawing, by himself, he went shopping for a frame. He spotted one and rode home to ask Troy if he could buy it. When Troy went back with him (three doors down), the seller, was so pleased with his drawing, calling him an "artist", she said the frame was free. He was thrilled to show me and it is now proudly displayed in our living room.

Madilynn's little strawberries! She squealed with excitement at seeing them.

Also at Coop., Mitchell is taking gardening. This is his rye grass chia pet. I tossed in the football "egg" and it sets on our kitchen table for decoration. Chia, cha, cha, cha Chia! Remember those commercials!

This is a tooth that Madilynn knocked out of her mouth! It was loose, but she swung her arms and accidentlay socked herself in the mouth. She screamed!! It scared her as she thought she knocked all her "big" teeth out!

Just snapping pics. This is Cache, our beautiful 21 month old Golden Retriever. We love her so much!

After a less than desirable beginning one morning, I had given a mini lecture to the kids about obedience. This was Madilynn's attempt at an apology. I thought the attempt was so sweet and she did pretty good sounding out the words. She is in Kinder. SRE MOMY - Sorry Mommy.

We have been reading so many good books. Below is a link to see them all!

Shelfari: Book reviews on your book blog

Fort Worth Zoo

Thu, 2 Apr 2009 07:43:00 -0500

We have been studying birds the past few weeks. We were able to visit the Fort Worth Zoo, one of the top zoo's in the country, at the end of spring break, with some family visiting from out of town. So I took quite a few aviary shots for us to review during our bird unit. The Zoo is beautifully designed and maintained. It is a real treat every time we go.

Madilynn did a research report on Flamingos in February and even made flamingo valentines. She was excited to see them up close and remarked about how unique it's bill is and that it "strains" the water for food.

Madilynn with Aunt Kerry having fun with the big pink birds!

"Uncle Tony and Aunt Kerry, are you sad, no birds are partaking of your treats?"

There is an aviary where we can feed the parakeets. The kids always love this and always manage to feed a few.

This shot was so humorous to me. Perhaps it reminds me of women and chattering!

This is a hawk of some kind, but my memory fails me.

This is a California Condor! The picture does not do it justice, though it is not a pretty bird. However, a soft fluffy "boa" of downy feather encircles it's neck.

This is a Harpy Eagle. It was screeching at us quite loudly! It looks rather ghostly!

Sowing....

Thu, 26 Mar 2009 15:26:00 -0500

Our Garden

Madilynn preparing the row for seeds, but I can't recall which seeds!

Mitchell planting squash seeds in mounds.

Madilynn planting Cilantro - one of my favorite herbs.
We cook lots of Mexican dishes around this Texas home!

A few weeks ago, Mitchell began working the soil in our garden boxes to prep for spring planting. He has been taking a gardening class in Coop and planted lots of seeds which are now his little seedlings. We also purchased a few plants in case our seedlings don't make it. Last year our crop produced dismal results. The plants seemed to grow a certain height and then they just stopped. We hope we have enriched the soil enough to half a better crop this season. I can hardly believe it has come around again!

We planted tomatoes, peppers, cilantro, squash, chives and at Madilynn's request, strawberries!

In my little section of earth, my Echinacea, or cone flower, has returned this year. I am so pleased and can't wait to see it's first bloom. I planted more Zinnia seeds too. They were so beautiful last year and lasted so long.