Saturday, May 31, 2008
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)!
Friday, May 30, 2008
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.
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.
Thursday, May 29, 2008
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:
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!"
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!"
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
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!
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!
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
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.
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.
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