Our March to "March of the Penguins"

In defiance of our admitted lazy attitude today, we were determined to get out of the house and do something. Like go out and sit. So we did.

We all headed to the movie theater in the rain and huddled up to watch "March of the Penguins". This is only the 3rd movie that Grace and Jack have ever seen in the theater, which made the occasion extra special.

As a result of our inexperience in the theater, it instantly becomes a training ground, and you find yourself constantly reminding the children that they need to ask questions quieter. Jack seems to be really good at asking very loud questions during a pregnant pause in the movie. "MOM?? IS THAT A SEA LION? DID THAT PENGUIN DIED?" At the same time, you catch yourself being proud, thinking, my 3 year old knows what a sea lion is, and everybody else now knows he does too.

After the movie it was off for dinner, ice cream, and a good drenching under the water fountains at the mall.

Camping Day Mix Up

We'd been planning this for over a week. Jack and Dad were going to go camping at a father-son camp out with the church (Friday-Saturday). Grace and I were going to go in the opposite direction and have a mommy-daughter couple of days together with pottery painting, shopping and a movie.

At 2:00pm we were all packing and primping to go our separate ways, and excitement was in the air for both of the kids. Not often found separated, this was a different feeling for the children, and they both made sure to give each other a hug and good wishes before Jack and Dad pulled out of the drive way.

25 Minutes later, after Grace's dress was ironed, and I was dressed, the phone rang. It was Ken. No one was at the church, and he had turned around and started his attempt at catch up, thinking they had missed the clan. But after some more thought, he began questioning the dates. Sure enough, we were off by a whole week!!! The camping trip was next week. Jack was dozing in the back, and Ken mentioned that right before he fell asleep he had expressed how much fun he was going to have.

In the end, Ken and Jack spent a evening fishing and swimming at the lake, and Grace and I headed off to the mall to paint our pottery and shop for a few clothes for her. The really neat thing, was seeing them greet each other when everyone arrived home. It was as if they had been away for a week. They were both beaming, enjoying sharing news with the other that other had no knowledge of.

I Think I'm Beginning to Feel The Baby Move

I should be a pro at this now. But those first little muffled taps are always so light that your doubt lingers for a little while. I am finding that I get better at discerning a true baby movement from everything else moving in there with each pregnancy. These taps have been low and consistent over the last few days.

At 14-15 weeks...the baby moves. Now the real fun begins.

Preparing for our 3rd Term

XThis week we have taken a break from "school" year round, as happens when I need to go through the entire room and start packing up our term's nature study, composer, and artist items. It also includes dusting down all of the shelves. And somehow, as the kids get excited with the changes coming, the entire room becomes a hazard zone.

This term we are adding handicrafts for the kids including: stuffed animal making (from patterns), yarn stitching and putting wood models together with screws. The last two weeks we have spent getting a jump start on all of these, and I am impressed with how enthusiastic the kids have been and how quickly they can pick these things up.

I just spent the last two days ordering for our newest term, trying hard to merge CM and Montessori concepts to keep both Grace and Jack fully emerged and interested. Term 3 includes:

Nature Study: Fish and Aquatic Life
Composer: Beethoven
Artist: Renoir

I wasn't too sure how the kids would respond to fish, but a promising sign was given yesterday and today. In an effort to find sand for our Mantis bug box (I know they don't need sand), I pulled out an OLD fish bowl filled with sand and shells from our honeymoon on Sanibel Island. Instantly, the mantis were put on the back burner and the kids took to soaking, cleaning and drying the shells for further inspection inserting Ooos and Aaahs with this pretty one, and that neat one.

Sigh of relief...this should be fun. Especially when we bring our four gigantic pond fish in from the pond in the front yard to observe over the winter.

Imagination at Work

It is amazing to me how a child will eagerly use any resources available to create something from nothing. Grace showed our family a beautiful example of imagination and resourcefulness today. I had to take a picture. This multimedia piece of artwork originated from her discovery that she could make shapes out of a single string on the floor.


This piece of art literally took her less than 10 minutes. I didn't even see it in process, and I was in the same room on the floor with her!

Fishing Lures and Yarn

It is amuses me how a few interesting and simple (but new) things in a child's world will spark creativity to a new height for hours.

The kids have discovered that a box of squishy, colorful, hookless fishing lures, and a couple of large balls of fun yarn with a scissors, go a long way in the entertainment department. You would think that they might pretend to go fishing with all of those items. That connection has yet to be made.

Instead the kids have:

Created a game to see how many rooms the string can unwind through (upstairs and down)...Made new "friends" with the lures...Jack has found cutting string into bits to be easier practice for scissor use than cutting paper.

The "cause" is, we have never had lures or yarn in our house until now. The "effect" is, there are lures and string everywhere!

Our Puzzle Caper

At first, I thought the problem was that all three 100 piece puzzles were purchased from Walmart. What are the odds that all three puzzles would be missing 3-8 pieces each?

I had purchased the puzzles on a whim, since Grace had showed a really interest in puzzles and needed more of challenge than the puzzles we had on hand. We have a perfectly square sized coffee table down in the basement that is waist high and accomodates the art of puzzle solving.

I gave Grace instructions on laying out the puzzle, finding the corners first, and then finding all the edge pieces - to frame things off and eliminate some of the overwhelming feels that can occur when you first "dump" the puzzle out. Grace listened to the instructions, and set to work putting the first puzzle together (a lamb in tulips). She worked on it for a few hours, and I assisted with encouragement and a few pieces. As we neared the end, I did a quick calculation, and agonized knowing that we were short by 3 pieces. After looking under couches, tables and everywhere else...I think..."It's Walmart - what do you expect?".

Grace handles the missing pieces well, and unphased dumps the next puzzle out: A golden retriever puppy. This one takes longer to work on. A few minutes here, a few minutes there. After a few days, it is complete - minus 5 pieces. I couldn't believe it! What are the odds?

Determined...she dumps the next puzzle - a kitty. Days later...it is complete, but once again, short up to 6 or 8 pieces. We have looked everywhere for the missing pieces to all of these puzzles, and found nothing. And then a clue. One gummed up puzzle piece shows up in the mouth of our 80 lb. Golden Retriever (Maggie). The next day, we find her with another.

Maggie has been snacking on puzzle pieces for two weeks!!! She is the only 8 year old dog I know who finds used tissues to be a delicacy. We should have put it together. But she is stealthy! Never once has she been spotted actually swiping the pieces from the table.

Bad dog. Bad, bad, dog.

Moth Riker Mount Completed

The last two moths were identified by Grace today and copied to be added to the riker mount. It is rewarding for all of us to see this process completed and surprisingly professional. Pretty cool.

Spread 'Em!

For this terms butterfly and moth study, I purchased a wonderful sample of about 35+ butterflies and moths that are native to the Southeast region of the US from a venor online. This has been a big hit with the children, and has caused much excitement and anticipation. It has also resulted in at least two pulverized butterfly specimens.

The specimens arrive (dead, of course), and with their wings closed. Each one is invidually wrapped. It feels like Christmas all over again to reveal what beautiful specimen is underneath the paper. To open the wings, you relax them by injecting boiling water into their abdomens, and placing them in a humid relaxing chamber for 24-48 hours. Once relaxed, their wings can be laid flat on a spreader and pinned down with paper and pins to dry.

After experimenting with a number of samples graciously included in the set, relaxing the butterflies has worked out surprisingly well. Yesterday was my first attempt at relaxing the butterflies and moths that I would really like the children to focus on. And this morning we set about spreading the moths that had relaxed well(The Sphinx varieties).

For prep, the kids cut on straight lines to make strips of paper to lay over the wings. For Grace (5) this is a breeze, but for Jack (3), being lefthanded with no lefthanded scissors this was more difficult and frustrating. Note to self...buy lefty scissors. We were able to successfully spread the Tobacco Hornworm Moth, Pink-spotted Hawk Moth, White-lined Sphinx, and Rustic Sphinx Moth. These are all HUGE moths that were able to take on a lot of the injected water, which is why I think they relaxed the easiest.

Tomorrow Grace will have the task of identifying the moths from a group of pictures, and then for copywork, labeling the moths that were place this evening in a riker mount.

Happy 4th of July!

Thanks to better planning and familiarity with the location and event, we were prepared for everything our day had in store. We kicked off the 4th by heading to the rides early on. Grace was tickled to be able to ride one of the ponies in the corral. She almost had to be pulled out as she made sure to greet her pony face to face and offer a few nose rubs and encouraging words in exchange for the ride.

Then it was off to the train ride with Daddy!


After the petting zoo, the kids hit the giant sandbox (a big hit for us last year), and we were able to cool off a bit from the heat for the next 45 minutes as they played. It was one of those days where you can feel the sweat rolling down the midline of your back.



A couple of hours before the fireworks, Ken took Jack for a water ride, and Grace and I headed toward the cotton candy stand. A huge line had formed, and we waited for 30 minutes for that fluffy blue stuff. Meanwhile, we watched as storm clouds and lightning began rolling in. The rain held off though...until it was our turn. Just when they were about to reach in the machine to get Grace her much deserved cotton candy, the supervisor halted everything and notified everyone that they were closing shop due to the severity of the lightning above.

How could they do that to a little girl??? Grace broke down in true crocodile tears. But soon we were both drenched, as a huge downpour fell on us all, and cracks of lightning surrounded us.

We met up with Ken and Jack and huddled under our one big umbrella for an hour as we waited the storm out. Right before the fireworks were scheduled to go off, the rain stopped, and the "biggest firework display in the southeast" went off without a hitch.