Week 26 - Red, White and Blue

Just dropping in to wish you a happy Fourth of July!

Week 25 - Trees, Trees, Trees

During our week learning about trees Grace and I were highly focused on watching a mockingbird build a nest in one the small oak trees in our backyard. One afternoon (thanks to cloud cover) we had a picnic lunch outside and enjoyed watching the busy bird build away. It was really quite fascinating I tell you.

There is one slight concern however in regards to this bird taking up house in our tree - mockingbirds have an aggressive side. We surely don't want our sweet and unsuspecting Sophie to be on a lizard hunt (don't worry she never catches any) one day and come up missing a patch of fur. Needless to say, this will be one situation that we'll being monitoring closely.





While reading the mountain of library books about trees this week, we came across a proverb that was quite fitting.......

Keep a green tree in your heart and perhaps
the singing bird will come.
~Chinese Proverb

We encourage you to step outdoors and enjoy the trees that surround you - you never know what you'll find!

Week 24 - All About Candy

We're quite excited that our summer routine has started around here. To keep things entertaining and not so humdrum (such as.... Me: what do you feel like doing today? Grace: I don't know!), we're giving our weeks some focus by choosing topics. There will be a new topic each week to keep the energy lively and fun. And there's no need to worry, there will be plenty of time for relaxing, swimming, meeting Daddy for lunch and the like.

So what do we plan to do with these themed weeks you ask. For now we plan on... visiting the library to obtain books on the given topic, reading all the said books, writing a story, getting messy with art and craft projects, completing a "large" puzzle and taking a field trip.

For this week Grace selected candy as the theme - which I believe has something to do with her LOVE of chocolate and fascination over the story, "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" by Roald Dahl. So in addition to reading over twenty picture books, we made a variety of candy (peanut butter cups, chocolate dipped oreos, "twix" bars, saltwater taffy - which was unsuccessful, and lastly, rock candy), measured and weighed candy, completed a 350 piece chocolate themed puzzle, wrote a story titled "Candy Land of Candy", went on a search for the new Wonka bars and finally, visited a newly opened candy shop in town - talk about a kid in a candy store, wow!






Well, enough about candy. Next week we're off to focus on a topic a bit less sugar laden....trees!

Week 23 - Catching Up

Sorry for the lack of posting around here, I suppose my goal of one post per week has officially bit the dust. I do have a really good excuse though - computer issues. Ah yes, ever since Dean upgraded our Explorer I've had issue after issue while blogging. However, I'm happy to report that the problem has been resolved - all by placing an order for Grace on the Gymboree website! I know it doesn't make sense, but after encountering a problem submitting my order, I called the helpline. And viola, the kind operator new exactly what the problem was (apparently I wasn't the only one) - issues solved!

So shall we catch up a bit? Ah yes, I do believe that would be a good idea. Here are some pictures of Grace during her final week of school.....


.....All smiles prior to Kindergarten graduation


.....Posing with Macaroni, one of the many animals Grace's class help support with the "Unless Project"


.....Atop the alphabet fairy quilt I made, which was our gift to Grace's amazing K teacher


.....Enjoying a cold treat from the ice cream truck during the end of school celebration


.....Lastly, all glitzed and glamored for her dance recital

I can't tell you how excited we are that summer break has arrived. So here's to relaxed mornings, reading a stack of books at one sitting, afternoon swims, messy art projects and the like!

Week 20 - From the Garden

One of my goals for this year was to have a successful garden, well at least a bit more successful than in past years. Armed with two wonderful organic gardening books (here) and (here), which were gifts from my parents over the holidays, I set to work reading, planning, purchasing, sowing, tending and watering this little garden of ours.

Although some might not define these spaces in our backyard as a success, we sure do! Oh yes, the heat and lack of rain (despite my frequent watering using the rain water we've collected with our rain barrel) have taken their toll, but we're being persistent. I'm hopeful that we'll produce enough tomatoes to make a dinners worth of spaghetti sauce or have enough zucchinis to make a full batch of muffins instead of a half ( which we made with our first homegrown zucchini - and better yet, Grace ate them!) or perhaps have enough fresh flowers to add a splash of color to our kitchen table through the summer.

Would you like to have a look around?


A climbing bean being supported by a corn stalk.


Roma tomatoes ripening on the vine.


Sweet onions growing a bit bigger by the day.


Our first homegrown zucchini was cause for celebration.


A sunflower which just fully bloomed.

We have much to be hopeful for in this garden of ours. But until the bounty arrives, we'll be keeping our fingers crossed. Happy gardening!

Week 19 - Family Bike Rides

Ever since this winter when Grace learned to ride her bicycle sans training wheels, Sophie and I haven't been unable to keep up with her on foot (for Dean it wasn't an issue because he has a bike). And you see, Grace much prefers to be on her bicycle versus on foot during our daily evening outings. This left us in a conundrum - how could we make each family member happy? Many ideas were discussed, but we ended up purchasing a bike for myself (I haven't owned or ridden a bike since my teen years) and a trailer for Sophie.

After a few tweaks (Sophie yelped like a banshee with the trailer's top down, so we devised a way to keep her tethered to the frame, leaving the top open), it has turned out to be the perfect solution for our family. So on any given night, the four of us can be seen riding along our neighborhood's sidewalks. It's really quite a hoot, I tell you.

Here are a few pictures taken after last weekend's ride.....




Hooray for family time and little bit of exercise!

Week 18 - Blooms

This post was initially intended for last weekend, but due to unresolved computer issues, it's a week late.

This is the time of year that our yard is filled to the brim with blooms. So, I decided to share a few in honor of Mother's Day (pentas with a little visitor, a stately magnolia and lastly, a delicate morning glory)......




And while I'm sharing flower photographs, it seems perfectly fitting to show you Grace's latest project from school - a nature mandala. This project stemmed from her teacher's fondness for the artist, Andy Goldsworthy. Needless to say, Grace loved every minute of creating this piece of natural art.


We hope you enjoyed the blooms - belated Mother's Day wishes to you!