Week 14 - Wondrous Webs

Grace and I are making more of an effort to walk to school each morning. It seems like a great way to start the day don't you think? The fresh air, sights and sounds of nature, a bit of exercise.... oh yes, it does make a wonderful day starter I tell you.

Here are some pictures that were taken on a particularly foggy morning. We were amazed at how many spider webs we saw along our journey. Thankfully, we had a bit of extra time to examine them up close. Grace thought the second web pictured looked like a piece of intricate lace, with all its dewy drops along the silky strands - it was by far our favorite to look at.





Come Monday morning we'll be at it again, in search of wondrous webs and the like - hooray for our morning walks to school!

Week 13 - Art Class

Grace just completed her latest session of "Discovering Creativity" at the Ringling College of Art and Design. I must say that Dean and I are quite smitten with the projects she's created over the past five weeks - she really stepped outside of her artistic comfort zone. Here are some of the treasures.....


Looking out the window for inspiration - she sketched a tree.


Her sculpture of a mother cardinal and nest using recycled materials, along with a poem she was inspired to write.


The altered art box she made with many horse-themed clippings. I plan to modge podge it since it surely will be used to store a plethora of treasures.


Her first cartoon, it's about Al the alligator and the importance of caring for our environment.


And last but not least, my personal favorite, her spring themed watercolor.

Sadly, Grace will have to wait until the fall for the art sessions to resume. But don't worry, in the meantime she'll be busy creating at home, perched in her favorite seat at the kitchen table with her sketchbook in hand. Ah yes, art created by young minds is the best, don't you think?

Week 12 - Our TNN Star

For the past two mornings Grace has had a guest appearance on her school's daily news program, "Tatum News Network". She took part in saying the Pledge of Allegiance and announcing the birthdays. She couldn't have been more excited - she smiled ear to ear the entire time she was on camera.

How does one obtain the privilege of being on TNN? Well it's quite simple..... by saving and saving and saving one's "Eagle Coupons" (which are earned for a variety of things, from remembering your homework to being kind to others and everything in between). It took Grace approximately six months of hoarding her coupons, which meant passing on multiple opportunities to "purchase" items off of the traveling gift cart, to earn her spot.




Dean and I couldn't be more proud of her, not only for the determination she showed by saving her coupons but then having the courage to be live on camera in front of her peers. So not only was a great deal of praise in order, but a special treat was as well!

Week 11 - Go Green

Our leprechauns are stopping by to say... Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Week 10 - Spring Break

Grace was off school this week for spring break - and it's been a busy week indeed. There was.... a visit to the farm, a backyard camp-out, a trip to Meme and Pop's, (while there, she visited the park and saw the movie "Gnomeo and Juliet"), time spent in the kitchen (making strawberry jam, loafs of bread, fortune cookies and little cakes for the birds), time in the garden sowing many packets of seed, listening to "Charlotte's Web" being read aloud, meeting Daddy for lunch and much time playing.

Although I took many pictures during our full week, I leave you with photos from our trip to the farm. The visit didn't go quite as originally planned. We went with the intention of picking strawberries but when Grace saw the "beautiful wildflowers" she decided to spend her time picking those instead, leaving me with the strawberry picking duties. I can't complain though, we enjoyed each others company and had a wonderful morning together - that's what matters, right?






Now that our week is coming to a close we've begun discussing our plans for the extended summer break. The ideas are swirling - oh the fun that awaits!

Week 9 - Turning Six

Over the weekend we had a small gathering of family at our home to celebrate Grace's sixth birthday. The chosen theme, as mentioned in the previous post, was horses and unicorns. The day was simply perfect.....


The food items we prepared were things that horses and unicorns would like to eat - carrots, apples, oat muffins, "haystacks", etc.


Birthday smiles in front of the horse quilt that Grace and I made together for this special day.


The handmade puppets which were used for an outdoor puppet show based on the book "Cowboy Ned and Andy". (Grace also performed the show for her classmates during her school party)


Opening birthday presents under the shade of our oak tree.


Ready to make birthday wishes (and eat a horse cupcake).

We can't wait to see what the age of six has in store for us!

Week 8 - Weekend at the Ranch

Grace decided on a horse and unicorn themed party for her sixth birthday. Her dream was to receive a horse as her birthday present. Since that was not an option, we did the next best thing - visit a horse ranch.

This past weekend we stayed at the Cypress House Bed and Breakfast taking in all the sites, sounds and smells of horses. The highlight of our trip was a two-hour forest trail ride where Grace rode independently on a sweet horse named, Rojo (just in case your interested, I was on Zia and Dean rode on Romeo). Grace was also able to help care for the horses during our stay (feeding, watering, etc). However, she drew the line at scooping the horse poop from the stalls - no surprise there!

Here are just a few of the many pictures from our weekend......






Oh, surely you noticed the cowgirl boots in each of the photos. They were an early birthday present from Meme and Pop. To say they've been a hit is an understatement!

So there you have it - a birthday well spent, wouldn't you say?