Blackberry Pancakes - Yum!

Of course, we had to do something with all the blackberries we brought home from LISDOLA yesterday. What better way to use berries than with pancakes (our favorite weekend breakfast)!

We love LISDOLA!

We spent the morning at the Lewisville Independent School District Outdoor Learning Area (LISDOLA) with several other "Parents As Teachers" moms. Oh, I just love this place! Mr. Steve met with us before we started our nature hike. He showed a Burning Nettle plant and explained that we should avoid touching it if we see it.



Before we went off on our own, Mr. Steve showed us their blackberry bushes that were just overflowing with ripe blackberries for us to pick. Nicholas loves picking his own fruits and vegetables so we spent a lot of time here.













When it was time to leave the blackberries and start our hike, Nicholas said matter-of-factly, "I'm not going" and just kept eating. Help! My child is obsessed with blackberries! We eventually caught up with the group and even brought some blackberries home to share with Daddy.

Our trail took us alongside part of McWhorter Creek. We enjoyed stopping for a while to watch the fish and turtles be-bopping through the water.







"Look, Mom! I caught another doodle bug!"



Our map told us that there was an active bee hive in a nearby tree. Nicholas pointed it out to me. It was really, really big but fortunately it was also really high in the tree. However, we all decided to quietly keep moving.



We found a little sitting area and for some reason several of the children, including my own, decided that the benches would be put to better use if they were turned upside down in order to be pretend pirate boats. How do they come up with these ideas from just looking at a simple bench?!



We saw this huge lizard who was well camoflaged on a tree.



We passed a heavily treed part of the creek and discovered that the creek looked like it was a solid bright green surface. Of course, my child has to be the one to run up to it to investigate. Everyone else stayed back and studied it from afar. I told Nicholas to step back from the edge because I didn't want to have to jump into the green muck to rescue him. A friend of mine told me, "Oh, I've got my camera ready for that picture! It would make for a great blog entry!" So many of my mommy friends have blogs. It's neat how well we can relate to each other!





Many of us eventually walked up to the edge of the creek to check out the green stuff. It is some kind of really neat plant life. Nicholas enjoyed watching a spider walk across it.



We continued our hike through the woods. Nicholas enjoyed taking turns being leader of the pack.



We made it to the Unnatural Trail. It is a designated part of the trail that contains 20 planted items that are "unnatural" to the woods such as a light bulb, shell, rubber caterpillar, fork, etc. Nicholas was quick to point out the unnatural pot at the entrance of the trail.





We saw lots of pretty wildflowers...





but the children were much more fascinated by their own not-so-sweet-smelling find...some fresh animal poop! I couldn't help but laugh at how amazed they were by this find!



The last part of the trail contains a special group of trees that have rope weaved around them to form a spider web game. Someone pretends to be the spider. The spider is blindfolded and stands in the center of the web. The other people quietly stand around the outside of the web. One person on the outside of the web shakes their rope and the spider has to figure out where his "prey" is simply by the vibrations from his web. What a great way to learn about how spiders catch their food! Nicholas enjoyed being the prey and said he was a moth. Then he got a chance to be the spider with a little help from Mrs. Deb.

Last Day of School!

Today is Nicholas' last day of school. I'm looking forward to the lazy days of summer with him. I hope we still get outdoors a lot for play and nature hikes but I don't know what to expect in terms of my stamina since I'll be pregnant during the 100 degree summertime!

As part of a teacher appreciation gift, we came up with a fun card for Nicholas' teachers. It involved buying lots of "fun size" candy bars which Nicholas thoroughly enjoyed munching on the leftovers. Here's a picture of the card we made:



In case it isn't clear from the picture the card reads:

Dear Mrs. Carrico,
Thank you for working EXTRA hard with a room full of ATOMIC FIRE BALLS. You turn a class full of BUTTERFINGERS and SNICKERS into a beautiful SYMPHONY. We've CRUNCH-ed the numbers and you are worth more than 100 GRAND. You're the best teacher in the MILKY WAY.
HUGS AND KISSES,
Nicholas

I had planned to take Nicholas for a sno-cone after school to celebrate the beginning of summer. When I picked him up he was covered with red stain that I learned was from a popsicle. I might would have decided to skip the sno-cone since he had already eaten the popsicle but by then I was already craving a sno-cone for myself so off we went.

Nicholas ordered a coconut sno-cone. We talked to the sno-cone guy as he made them. He said most flavors are good but he isn't too fond of Kiwi. Nicholas gobbled down his sno-cone and said he wanted another one. Guess what flavor he wanted to try? KIWI! He's so silly. I reminded him that the guy just said it wasn't a good flavor. Nicholas said, "It will be a good flavor for me!" So we went back up to order and the guy chuckled when Nicholas placed his order. He offered to add some other flavors to it to make it even better. Nicholas ended up with a cool looking tri-colored sno-cone that he again gobbled down.





All sno-coned out, we made our way back home. From his school bag, Nicholas pulled out a treat bag that his teachers had given him. He spread the contents out on the stairs. He loves to spread out things like this and then pretend to sell items from his store. We used to play this game to help him learn about using money but somewhere along the way he decided that it made the game too much work. So now everything you "buy" at his store is FREE! I had to grab a quick picture of him at his store. You can see from his face that as I was taking the picture he said, in his best whiney voice, "Another picture! Geez!"

Maybe I ate too much ice cream?

This morning as Stuart was getting ready for work, he started feeling a little sick. But he started feeling better and decided to go to work. This afternoon I started feeling a little sick too with a terrible headache and upset stomach. I dreaded having to drive the car to pick Nicholas up from school. All I wanted to do was lie down in the dark.

On the way home, I told Nicholas that I wasn't feeling good and my head hurt. He asked, "Have you been eating ice cream? Sometimes I get a cold headache when I take a big bite of ice cream!" Cute! I wish that was the problem but since I haven't indulged in ice cream lately and this headache has lasted for several hours, I'm afraid it is more serious than that.

Nicholas and I often talk about the crossing guard that we see between home and school each day. We saw her again today and Nicholas said, "What does crossing guard mean again?" I told him that a guard is someone that protects something and a crossing guard protects the children as they are crossing the street. He then asked, "So what does a stickleback gar protect?" Ha! He remembers us reading about the stickleback gar in a book we have at home. I tried to explain to him the difference between "gar" and "guard" but he kept insisting that the stickleback "guard" must protect something.

Stuart came home early from work because he was feeling too sick to concentrated. On his way into the office this morning, he had picked up a dozen Krispy Kreme donuts for his team. He somehow managed to save three to bring home with him. Stuart told Nicholas that we could each have one after dinner. While Stuart and I were both lying on our bed in the dark, nursing our headaches and upset stomachs, Nicholas was trying to entertain himself (although not as quietly as we would have hoped). However, at one point it did get quiet for a while and then Nicholas appeared next to my bedside. He said that he was hungry and went ahead and ate his donut. Then he said, "And it was so good that I went ahead and ate a second donut. You and Daddy will just have to split the other one." I guess that's what we get for leaving a four year old to fend for himself for dinner!

A Gift From His Teachers

Nicholas was very excited when I picked him up at school today. He said that his teachers had put a present in his bag for him to open up when he got home. How sweet! Nicholas ripped into the package as soon as we walked in the door. They gave him a coloring book, a new box of crayons, and a personalized photo album filled with wonderful pictures of him at school during the year. I really love the photo album and Nicholas seems rather proud of it too.

End of the Year Chapel

Nicholas goes to chapel at school each Wednesday. There is a brief lesson but most of the time is spent singing songs. Today all of the parents were invited to attend the last chapel service of the year. The children had extra special performances planned. There was lot of singing children's Christian songs. But at the end, all of the children lined up along the walls to sing and dance to "Deep In The Heart of Texas". I was so excited that Nicholas just happened to end up right in front of my seat so I got a great video of him. Check it out!

Playing with Paper Pulp

Today we went over to Mrs. Deb's house to play with paper pulp. It was so cool! She had taken some old newspapers that she ripped into strips, soaked them for several hours, then squeezed out a lot of the water and put the remaining pulp in the blender under it was just a bunch of mush. Each child got some of the pulp and they pressed it into plastic cookie cutter shapes. Nicholas chose a T-Rex. It was fun feeling the texture of the pulp. It was kind of like working with Play-Doh but it doesn't stick together quite as much. We had to really pack it into the cookie cutters while pressing out as much of the remaining water as possible.





Mrs. Deb said it would take a day or two before they were dry enough to survive being popped out of the molds so we left the dino with her. Maybe we'll go back in a few days and paint him. After we had finished the paper pulp project, the children enjoyed some homebaked cookies and played together in the back yard.

Fun In The Sun

We went to our friend's house today for some food and fun. What a great time we had! Nicholas and Emma Rae loved playing in the pool while the adults talked.



Mrs. Deb brought out two giant blocks of ice that were full of little toys. The kids had fun dunking the ice in the pool and watching them melt so that they could get to the toys.





After a while, Nicholas' teeth were chattering because it was a little cool outside so Mr. Tim put down a towel in the grass to let him warm up in the sun. I had to get a picture of him just sunning himself. He rarely stays so still when he is outside!



Mr. Tim grilled some fabulous shish kabobs and we all enjoyed a great dinner on the patio. What a perfect way to spend the day. Good friends, good food, good fun!

Twelve Beautiful Years Together

Today is our 12th wedding anniversary. Twelve years. Where has the time gone? I remember that young couple who met at college. So young, naive, and full of the joy of experiencing life. Well, we may not be so young and naive anymore but we are still basking in the joy of just experiencing life. Granted, we aren't zipping down to Hawaii anymore to go scuba diving 90 feet below sea level with sharks and manta rays (or renting a Ferrari for the day just because we can!). But we still enjoy every minute of our life together and cherish the little every day moments that really make life so precious. Stuart and I have such a wonderful relationship full of love and laughter and the joys of Nicholas and our new baby on the way. God's love and blessings just overflow!

Love is patient and kind;
Love is not jealous or boastful;
It is not arrogant or rude.
Love does not insist on its own way;
It is not irritable or resentful;
Ot does not rejoice at wrong,
But rejoices in the right.
Love bears all things,
Believes all things,
Hopes all things,
Endures all things.
So faith, hope, love abide, these three;
But the greatest of these is love.

1 Corinthians 13; 4-7,13

Cute stuff!

Sometimes Nicholas likes to argue with Stuart or me about who loves who the most. After Nicholas says "I love you" one of us might say "I love you more!". Then Nicholas has two responses he usually gives. His most common one is, "I love you as big as a giant on top of a giant, on top of a giant, on top of a giant, (repeat for 12 more times), on top of the BIGGEST giant in the world!!!" His other response might be "I love you one hundred million hundred thousand hundred!"

This morning Nicholas asked me a question about where something was. I couldn't remember. He said, "Did your thinker run away?" Then he looked across the room and shouted, "Hey, thinker! Come back here!"

Camping Indoors

Earlier in the week we had talked about going camping this weekend. But then it started looking like there would be bad weather all weekend so we didn't reserve a camp site. Bummer because now it looks like the weather will be nice. But have you ever tried to find a camp site on the Friday of Memorial weekend? Ha! I'm amazed no one laughed at me for asking. I called all the camp sites I know of within a 2 hour radius of here and everyone was full. Nicholas was so diappointed. He absolutely loves to go camping.

Later tonight I was talking with Stuart when I heard a rustling sound in the other room. I peeked in to find that Nicholas had set up his play pop-up tent in the living room, complete with sleeping bag and flashlight. He said, "We're ready to go camping!" and he invited me in his tent. Now, this is a child-sized tent and I'm not child-sized so it was quite humourous as I tried to get in it. But we had a good time pretending to camp and roast marshmallows. I'm so glad he knows how to turn lemons into lemonade!

Learning about Police Officers

Today we visited our local police department on a PTA outing. Nicholas wasn't excited about it. "We've done that before", he said. We did just go in December for one of my turns to host our educational playgroup. We talked about strangers and how to keep safe. I reminded him how important it is to be safe and that we would have fun even if he has already heard all about it.

I'm so glad he decided to go because it was very different than what we did in December! We started off getting to look at some of the cool police vehicles. We saw the sky tower that they use in shopping center parking lots and at athletic events. All the children loved watching it go up and down.





We also learned about the Citizen Patrol program and got to look at some of those vehicles. Nicholas and Emma Rae put their arms around each other while they listened. How cute!





Then we got to look at and crawl into a real patrol car. The cars are really sharp looking.



I told Nicholas this had better be the only time I see him in the back of a police car!



Nicholas loved getting to sit in the driver's seat where all the cool gadgets are!



Officer Caldwell then showed off the lights and siren on the car. That was loud!



While waiting to go inside...



Next we went inside and talked about how the police officers train. Officer Caldwell showed us a real baton. Then he showed us the training equipment and every child got to go up to him and practice with the training baton. The training batons are foam covered so they don't hurt as bad and Officer Caldwell had a well-padded shield to protect his leg. All of the boys were quick to raise theirs hands to participate in this.





The most excited Nicholas got the whole time was during the tour of the police department when he and some other boys found a Star Wars poster in someone's cubicle!



Then we went back outside behind the police department. Officer Caldwell talked to us some about how they handle prisoners. Nicholas and some of the other boys were much more interested in studying a bug they had found!



Look at our little SWAT team!



At the end of the tour, each child was given a safety coloring book and a police officer badge sticker.



After the police station we took the kiddos to a nearby park to play. Nicholas taught some of the other children about "Inja Turtles". I've tried to explain to him that they are Ninja Turtles but he says, "No, mom. That's silly! They are called Inja Turtles". Ok, there is only so long that I'm going to argue with a 4 year old. It's really quite pointless once they have their minds made up. Then we had lunch and ice cream at Braums. Yum!