Celebrating Spring at Nash Farm

After the Blastball game, we went to a birthday party for some of Nicholas' friends. Nicholas enjoyed a sandwich, a piece of cake, and lots of fun playing outside with his friends. He even got to see some friends that were in his class at school last year. He remembered them right away and played with them as if they hadn't been apart for almost a year.

After the party, we went dropped in on the last part of a Spring celebration at Nash Farm. The farm was purchased in the early 1800's by the Nash family and is now a wonderful education spot to learn about animals and farm life.

We got to speak with a real beekeeper and Nicholas loved looking at the protective clothing that he was wearing. We looked at a little hive of bees and got to touch a real honeycomb. We learned about pollination and even got to taste some fresh honey. Yum!









Next Nicholas planted cantaloupe seeds. He was given a little peet pot and he got to decorate it with markers and stickers. Then he scooped some dirt into it and planted his seeds. Finally we gave it some water. He got to take the little pot home to grow. We will try to remember to water it everyday (fingers crossed).





Nicholas enjoyed playing on this old tractor until Mommy realized that the little pink sign on the front of it instructs us not to play on the equipment. Whoops!



We stopped for some lunch before moving on to the petting zoo. Nicholas enjoyed a hot dog and juice box.





The petting zoo was fun. We got to see baby goats being fed. They were only 4 days old! How sweet!





Before we left the farm, we had to hop on the hay ride.



Nicholas was happy just playing with the hay on the floor of the wagon. Look at his smile (and the ketchup on his face and the juice on his shirt). This little boy has had a fun day!

Blastball - Gators vs. Dodgers

Today Nicholas had his second Blastball game. I just can't stop taking pictures of him playing Blastball because he's just so cute in his little uniform!

Playing in the outfield - The kids get bored easily when they are in the outfield.

They rarely look at the ball that is about to be hit towards them. Here one child is playing with a cone, Nicholas is the one in the middle looking at Mommy and Daddy, and the other child is dancing. Well, at least they are having fun!



Here you can see that the ball is headed straight for Nicholas but he is busy playing with his friend Emma Rae so he never saw the ball!



Nicholas playing with a cone. Why are these cones so fascinating???



Nicholas does well in the outfield when he pays attention though.





(Nicholas is the one in the middle)




As you can see, if you catch the ball you must be able to really hold on to the ball. They don't quite understand the full concept of team play so sometimes team mates fight over the ball and even tackle each other until there is a little pile ups of players in a heap. Who knew that Blastball was a full contact sport?!

No doubt that hitting the ball and running to base is Nicholas' favorite part of the game. He loves the action! I love to see the big smile on his face!

All About Trains

Today Nicholas and I went exploring in Dallas to learn all about trains. We started off at Dallas Children's Hospital where we got to look at a room full of model trains running around their tracks through mountains, past towns, and over bridges. The detail of the exhibit was impressive. We noticed Spiderman swinging down from a skyscraper by his web. We found the a miniature version of Mount Rushmore in the side of a mountain. We even saw Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. I love that the hospital dedicated an entire room to provide this to the children at the hospital.









We enjoyed the model trains but I think the mountain structures may be just a little too big for children to be able to see all of the trains and all of the detail in the townscapes. Although it is only put up around Christmas time, the Trains at North Park is easier for children to see because the track areas are smaller and closer to the glass so the little ones can see the detail more easily. Also, it was quite a hike from the visitor parking garage to the train room. I asked if there was a closer place to park in case we come back again but I was told that I had parked in the right place.

Next we went to the Age of Steam Railroad Museum. There were rows of old trains that we could look at and many that we could explore inside. There were sleeper cars with rooms set up as they would have looked back in the day. There were dining cars, passenger cars, cabooses, and engines. Nicholas had fun exploring in the trains and he even started acting out scenarios as if we were real train riders. He likes to be a director and tell others what their role is and what their next line is. He always starts with "Pretend you are..." The old trains gave him new creativity for his scenes.

Finally, we took a ride on the McKinney Trolley. Yes, it is not a train per se but it does run on a track and it transports people. Nicholas said that this was his favorite part of the day. He loved the open air car. He waved at people on the sidewalk as we passed. He even had short conversations with a few people in their cars as they were stopped next to us at a red light. But most of all, Nicholas was excited because the driver let him blow the trolley whistle twice during our ride. In talking with the driver we learned that our trolley was 86 years old but there is another trolley that runs daily that is 99 years old. Another neat feature is that when the trolley is ready to start heading in the opposite direction, the backs of the seats can be moved to the other side of the seat so that you can always be facing forward. We had fun just playing with that!

This Week at MES

Nicholas was intrigued by a live dragonfly and caterpillar. The class hopes to watch the caterpillar turn into a butterfly soon.

Language: Nicholas reviewed initial sounds. The class enjoyed Beatrix Potter's beautiful stories and illustrations.

Nicholas defined which animals are hatched or born.

Math: Nicholas worked on Math Mats

Good Shepherd Lesson: Learned the story of the Road to Emmaus.

Welcome to My Water Party!

Nicholas was supposed to be brushing his teeth. He brushes first then I brush too just to be sure we got all of the surfaces. I was busy getting myself ready so I let him start without me. Well, he got distracted and never actually started brushing his teeth. When I went in to check on him, I saw that he had gotten out several of his little disposable cups that he uses to rinse his mouth. They were filled up with water.



He said, "Welcome to my water party! Instead of a tea party, we have water!". We each enjoyed several cups of water as well as some pretend sandwiches. Yummy!

Goodbye to a wonderful person

On Sunday, April 6th, we said goodbye to a wonderful young woman by the name of Vanessa Whitwell who left this world to live forever with Christ in Heaven. Vanessa was a worship leader and event planner at our church. She was an incredibly dynamic, passionate, and inspriring lady.

On Thursday, she got a bad headache, collapsed and later went into a coma. The doctors found that she had a blood clot in her brain. There was an operatation scheduled for Saturday morning but the doctors determined that there was nothing else that they could do. Our entire church was praying for her yet on Sunday evening she quietly passed away. She was 34 years old.

Stuart and I have been very sad the last few days because Vanessa had truly touched out lives like no other. Today we attended her funeral and I brought my box of tissues with me. As Stuart and I were discussing the funeral at home, Nicholas asked, "Who is it that died and went to Heaven?" I explained to him who it was and then without any other comment from him, he closed his eyes, bowed his head, and put his sweet little hands together in prayer. He said, "Dear God, please raise up Vanessa's family to you. Amen." His touching words and concern for the loss felt by Vanessa's family brought me to tears - again!

Looking for Bluebonnets

Every April, Texas fields and roadways come alive with our beautiful state flower, the Bluebonnet. And every April, you will see families plopping their kids in the middle of a patch of bluebonnets to get a great picture. And we are no exception. Of course, it always helps if your model is willing to cooperate with your plans.







With much patience, we finally got a few good pictures of Nicholas in the bluebonnets. However, we might try it again with better lighting. I really don't like the "raccoon-eyes" shadows that you get with outdoor pictures in the middle of the day.







After our little photo shoot, we all walked along a trail by the lake. Nicholas had fun trying to catch butterflies.









Here's a great shot Stuart got of a bee approaching a bluebonnet.



I zoomed in on the bee in this same picture. What a great picture of the bee in flight!