Vetro Art Glass

Today we visited Vetro Glassblowing Studio and Art Glass Gallery in Grapevine.


Vetro has a incredible gallery full of colorful and beautifully made glass pieces. You can also watch live demonstrations as the artists work on pieces throughout the day. We first sat in some bleachers, which Nicholas thoroughly enjoyed walking up and down. Once the newness of the bleachers wore off, Nicholas sat down in my lap and we watched Becky and Travis work on making a paperweight. Nicholas really seemed interested in watching and learning about what was going on. We talked about how hard glass is at room temperature and how the artists have to heat it up in order to make it flexible enough to shape. We watched Becky as she repeatedly heated up the glass in the furnace until it glowed bright orange, worked with the piece for a while, and then put it back in the furnace.



We were invited into the work area for a better view. Travis warned Nicholas not to touch anything because you never know if it may be hot (good advice!). We learned about some of the different molds and tools used to shape the glass. Here Travis is holding one of the molds that can make the inner spirals inside a glass paperweight.


We also learned that the main furnace is kept at around 2000 degrees and the furnaces that are used to heat the glass, called Glory Holes, are kept around 2400 degrees. That's pretty hot!

Hanging out with Granddad

After nap time was over, Nicholas wanted to show off his fort to Granddad. Technically it isn't completed because we haven't even completed the first coat of primer paint on it but Nicholas has been playing in it for a while and loves it all the same. The idea for the fort was inspired by a fort that my Dad built for me when I was little. He designed it and built it himself and that made it so much more special than anything he could have bought. It was neat for him to see the fort that Stuart has built for Nicholas. He even went up the ladder where we hung out and enjoyed some icee pops. He was very impressed with the fort.


For dinner, we went to Mikado's Hibachi Grill. We love this place! They put on a great show as they cook your food to order right in front of you.


Nicholas always gets special attention from the staff there. They even fixed some chop sticks to make it easy for him to eat with.


We went over to a Halloween store to let Nicholas see all the spooky decorations and costumes. We all had fun looking around. Nicholas found these huge feet that he just had to try on.

Learning about the Post Office

We had an incredible time at our educational playgroup yesterday. It was especially fun because Granddad got to come with us. We met at Mrs. Julie's parents' house where we learned about the post office. Mrs. Julie talked to us about the post office amd she explained how the address on the package tells the postal worker where to send the package. Everyone got to stamp some packages and sort them at the post office.

The children used toy shopping carts or wagons to collect a load of mail from the post office.

Then it was time to deliver the mail. Along the driveway, Mrs. Julie had set up "houses" where various stuffed animals lived. There was Elmo's house, the Frog family, Mr. Cat, Mr. Dog, the Pig family, and the Ballet Dancer's house. Each package had a sticker on it to help the children recognize which house to deliver the package to. Then they walked up and down the driveway delivering the mail to the appropriate house.






They did a great job and we all had so much fun. When the mail was all delivered and the post office was empty, the children went back to the houses to pick up the "outgoing mail" and bring it back to the post office. Even Granddad helped to pick up some of the outgoing mail to keep the post office full.

Oh, they had so much fun and they kept the process going on and on and on.

After the work was done, Mrs. Julie had all the children sit on a blanket under the trees. She gave them brown bag lunches and they ate while she read the section of "Busy, Busy Town" by Richard Scarry that describes post offices.




After playgroup, we went to Fish City Grill for a great lunch. Nicholas enjoyed coloring with all the crayons at once.



Granddad is so good with Nicholas. He plays super hero games with him, tickles him, and acts like a 3 year old right along side him.

When we got home, Nicholas was excited to check our mail and load it into his "mail cart". After our busy morning, Nicholas and Granddad snuggled up and took a nap together.

This week at MES

This week at school, Nicholas reviewed the three primary colors and how to blend them into new colors. We have worked on this many times at home as well. He worked on Montessori touch boards. He reviewed how to use a knife to butter a tortilla (again, something we've worked on at home). He also learned how to divide a tortilla into many different parts such as half, fourth, etc. He did phonics work on the sound of the letter "T". He learned about bats. The 7 continents were introduced. The Good Shepherd lesson was on the Blessing of the Animals.

Granddad!

Nicholas was very excited earlier this week when I told him that Granddad Owen was coming to visit us for the weekend. He told his teacher all about it. He said, "Granddad is coming for 3 nights and 4 days!" and he held up the respective fingers as he said it. As we were leaving, his teacher told him to have a great weekend with his grandfather. Nicholas corrected her and said, "His name is Granddad, not Grandfather!" As we drove away, he said to me, "How silly! She called him Grandfather instead of Granddad!"

My Dad flew into town yesterday afternoon. He went with me to pick Nicholas up from school. Nicholas was so excited to see Granddad! He was talking non-stop and playing games with Granddad. We tried to get him to nap but he just kept bouncing in his bed and singing songs. When Stuart got home from work, we all went to dinner at Cantina Laredo. Nicholas was proud to sit next to Granddad. However, he was also so excited and overly tired from not napping that he had trouble sitting still in his seat.

Granddad read aloud to Nicholas at bedtime last night. They sat in the glider rocker and read The Life and Times of Ants and Pinocchio. Nicholas was so tired from the excitement of the day that he almost fell asleep before Granddad had finished reading. When they had read the last book, I turned out the lights and Nicholas wanted to just rock with Granddad in the glider. I had to get a picture of them because it was just so cute (it was actually dark in the room but you can't tell because of the camera's flash).

Oh, the things I do for that boy!

No matter where we are, Nicholas is always coming up with creative scenarios for us to act out. We were recently at CVS Pharmacy to have a prescription filled. While we were waiting on it, Nicholas decided that the little space under the counter was his house. Then he told me that the other counter was my house. He said, "I'm in my house. Now get in your house. C'mon, let's do this game!" It was crazy but I just hopped right into my house and played along. Nicholas later came over to visit me at my house.

Fortunately, there weren't many people in the store at the time to point and laugh at me. Unfortunately, Stuart was cracking up and pulled out his cell phone and took several pictures of me! It was fun. I love to encourage Nicholas and his overflowing imagination. Oh, the things I do for that boy!

Homeschool Day at Mainstay Farm

This morning we went to homeschool day at Mainstay Farm. We had a blast. We started in an old dairy barn where they were showing a movie about how pumpkins are grown. Then we went to the scarecrow line-up where you get to dress your own scarecrow in a shirt, overalls, hat, gloves, and shoes of your choice. We talked about how a scarecrow's job is to protect the crops from being eaten by birds. Nicholas seemed interested until he found some dried up vines and he decided he was done with the scarecrows. Did you know that almost anything can be a pirate's sword? Look at this scary spider! Nicholas was fascinated with this prickly weed we found. We talked about the difference in grass and weeds. Next we had to play on the giant bales of hay. Nicholas had fun running on top of them but then he discovered jumping down off of them into the piles of hay on the ground.


Finally we made it over to Goat Scape Mountain. You put animal feed in a can on a pulley and hoist it up to the top of a telephone pole. The goats walk up a series of platforms to eat the food at the top of the pole. We talked about how goats have a unique climbing ability. Nicholas just loved this bumpy gourd so we bought it and took it home with us. There were so many beautiful pumpkins and gourds! There was even a display to show you the names of the different pumpkins. In one section of the pumpkins, we found an old wasp nest that was no longer in use. We talked about wasps and studied the nest.

We stopped to eat our picnic lunch and Nicholas said the blessing. After lunch we went on a hayride. Our driver was a little silly (can you tell by the chicken hat?). Look how cool this tree house is! It's three levels high! We had lots of fun exploring it.
There was even a giant wooden maze to play in!

Thank you, Mainstay Farms, for such a great day!