Color Me Mine

CoOp met last Thursday at Color Me Mine for a morning of painting fun! When I told Reese where we were going for CoOp, he instantly knew what he was going to make...a coffee mug for Daddy :)

He chose the colors & the mug and got right to work...

That tongue...comes out when the brain works hard!

"Mommy, don't show Daddy what I'm making until we pick it up when it's finished!"

The Color Me Mine lady was very nice.

She took the kids to the back room to see the kiln and told them about how they fire the pieces, and that it cooks them at 1,800 degrees! Wowza!!

We learned that if the pieces are fired and are touching at all, they will be permanently stuck together. And it takes about a full day to fire the pieces.

Who knew?

Texas State Fair...thanks BurbMom.Net!

Thanks to BurbMom.net and GMC, Reese and I enjoyed a free day at the Texas State Fair a few weeks ago!



We met up with lots of our buddies, rode tons of rides, had a fantastic *free* lunch at the GMC tents, & even got to check out the 2010 GMCs. I was truly impressed with the gas mileage of the new crossovers!

Fun with my boy!

We LOVED the Lego Tents!

Where is Reese anyway?


Lots of building opportunities at the Lego Tents...
We were challenged to build something that "started with an A, but not an apple" in 2 minutes...Reese built a jail for our Alpaca...

And Mommy built the Alpaca!

It was really hard to think of something that started with an "A"...

We rode lots of rides with our buddies, then the boys got their faces painted.

Reese was frustrated that he had a limited selection to choose from (Mommy would only pay for the cheapest category of face paint, Reese wanted the full-face paint that cost $20!)

So he ended up choosing the scorpion, which was scary enough to please this boy...

This was us riding the gondola...

We had never visited the State Fair before (and I've lived in the DFW area for 11 years now!) and I'm glad BurbMom provided this opportunity so I would drag myself out there. The weather held out and stopped raining for a day, the rides were fun, the crowd was not bad at all, & Reese and I had a fantastic time.

Apparently though, we missed a whole bunch of the exhibits that are a big part of the State Fair. Next time we go, I'm going to see if we can tag along with someone who has been before (Deb!, Melissa!) and they can show us the ins and outs!

Homeschool PE

Holly invited us all to her parent's house on Eagle Mountain Lake today and boy was it fun!!!

We were the first friends to arrive, so Holly's Dad gave Reese a big ride on the jet ski.

Hi Mom!

After a bit, Holly hooked up the "Poparazzi" to the back of the jet ski, and Grandpa and Reese pulled Holly, Bianca, & I behind on this awesome toy. I don't think I have laughed that hard or been that scared in a long time. Reese & Grandpa zipped us around a corner and turned us completely upside down in the Poparazzi which was, in Reese's eyes, awesome. Mommy & the other ladies totally upside down in the lake!

Mommy's friends Bianca, Holly, & MeLissa take the Poparazzi for a spin!

Reese didn't come out of the lake for 3 1/2 hours, except to eat...which mean ole' Mommy made him pause and do!

Throwing mud was great fun!

Along with going for rides on the Poparazzi, it made a great "mountain" that the kids climbed all over...

Waiting for another ride...

And about two minutes into our car ride home, Reese was O.U.T.!

Thanks, Holly, & to the Harders for having us over today. It was so much fun!!

Summertime!

Thanks, Mel, for inviting us all over to swim on Friday! Playing with our CoOp buddies is the perfect way to spend a hot summer day.

Practicing the art of relaxation...

Waterslide fun in the sun!

One of the best snacks on earth...

Cheez Its!

Tune in tomorrow to see what happened when we ate Fudgesicles in the 106 degree heat!

Make New Friends, But Keep The Old....

The end of this "school year" is bitter sweet... Reese is excited to be a First Grader, but it also means that some of our homeschool friends will start 5-day-a-week school next year.

We are really, really, really, (did I say really?) going to miss spending every Wednesday with our CoOp buddies. We have been together for 3 years, and while I don't think this is goodbye forever, we won't have our scheduled-in-stone Wednesday time together.

Some of our CoOp friends have been friends from infancy. Reese & "Bean" have been big friends since they were lap babies at our Early Childhood PTA group. I instantly took to Bean's Mama and I'm sad that I won't get to hang with my friends next year as well.

Reese & "Bean" at the Pumpkin Patch, 2005

Reese & "Bean" at the Dallas Arboretum last week...

Reese was really, really, really (did I say really?)

done with Mommy taking pictures....

The more I look at the last picture, it looks like one of those bad Olan Mills photo backgrounds...but it was an entire house made from purple flowers, surrounded with a white picket fence. All us Mommies wanted one of these for ourselves in our backyard. It was just beautiful!!

More Evidence...Homeschoolers Suffer From Lack Of Socialization

Or not....

We visited the Dallas Arboretum on Wednesday with our homeschool buddies...

Thanks to my friend Holly over at June Cleaver Nirvana

for sharing this picture she took!

"Does he ever get to see other children?"

I took Reese to the pediatrician this week & he asked me this question...
"Does Reese ever get to socialize?
Does he see other children?"

I wish he understood the greatness of our friends.

And the fact that we come together to learn & explore.

Wednesday, we gathered to play outside & then

Learn about fractions...

They took turns, shared, played together, discussed, participated.

They were not confined to a classroom to accomplish this.

We gathered in a garage

(which was insanely clean & organized by the way!)

and sat around the group table...

learning with our friends.

Does Reese ever get to see other children?

Why, yes he does.

And what a group of wonderful children it is!!!

Welcome Spring!

Reese & I welcomed in Spring Monday with our friends & took a hike!

It was a perfect morning with great buddies...

Reese checks out the map to find our trail...

Gotta have a good walking stick!

OK, so behind this picture is a really nasty story.

But you don't really want to know, right?
It's seriously gross.

OK, well...
We kept finding these great owl pellets along the path.
What is an owl pellet you ask?
Owls swallow their food but cannot process the fur & bones,
So they "vomit" these leftovers formed into tight pellets.

Science supply companies sell owl pellets, and as a middle school student I got to pick an owl pellet apart. Inside are tons of bones, teeth, a skull or two. It truly is fascinating stuff to see what the owl ate!

So imagine my excitement when WE found owl pellets on our hike!

I began picking at them with two sticks...
but that was hard to pick out the bones to show the kids.
Besides, what's a little regurgitated fur & bones on your fingers before your picnic, right?

So I started picking through them with my bare fingers.
We had antibacterial wipes. We had antibac gel.
I figured I'd be clean enough to eat later.

There were certainly neat things in the owl pellets.
We found part of a skull, perhaps a mouse? It had a row of tiny teeth along the jaw.
Really neat!
We also found front teeth that maybe belonged to a rat...
some vertebrae...

I had some extra ziplock baggies with us, so I started putting the owl pellets into the bag for us to take home and pull apart more.

I could not get over how many owl pellets we were finding!

When we got home, I emailed the educational director of our hike location to ask about what kinds of owls live in the area we were hiking.

The email I got back turned my stomach.

Apparently, while there are owls around the area, what I was digging through...
with my bare fingers, right before I ate lunch...

was

COYOTE SCAT!!!!!!!!

Yes, dear friends,
Yours truly was digging into coyote crap. And I carried a bag of coyote crap home, and I split said bag of coyote crap with our friends to take home!

Owl pellets really ARE cool,
Coyote scat looks a LOT like owl pellets and are certainly
NOT COOL.

Moving on....

There were tons of footprints along the path...
A raccoon (below), deer, coyote (duh), dogs....

There were also little bones scattered here & there,

Which I did not have to dig through feces to find...

Ribs...

Our keen-eyed buddy, ER, even found some beaver teeth!

About 2/3 through our hike, we stopped by the creek for lunch....

It was a spectacular day....

Except once we got home.

Then I was just completely GROSSED out...

I won't be leading any nature hikes any time soon!

Snippets...

As always, since we've been back from vacation, I've been bad about keeping up! In fact, I just unpacked my camera computer cord today...sheesh...

Reese, in the Maui airport, waiting to come home....

After trying to adjust to the time zone difference, we had to get ready for the cold weather again!

Reese had his first practice with his baseball team...

We had errands to run & stuck in a lunch date together along the way...

We saw Green Eggs & Ham performed by the Ft. Worth Symphony. Thanks, Alpha Buds for going with us!

This year, we had GREAT front row seats!

Another day of baseball practice, but this time the weather was beautiful!

Spring means that it's time to plant our tomatoes...

Two bushes this year with nice, big tomatoes!

Working hard to make sure they're watered well...

We also went to see Flat Stanley, The Musical with our homeschool buddies. It was a fun morning, including a stop at the park for a picnic lunch after the play!

Reese loved the big light fixture, so he asked me to take a picture of him with the lights...

It's that big upside down cone at the top :)

We also checked out some local children's artwork on display at the Irving Arts Center.

Reese's favorite pieces were the masks...

We ran errands all together. Had to get some baseball pants!

And we had another day of baseball practice...except this time it was REALLY hot outside!

I can't tell you how cute I think this little guy in his batting helmet is...

Bat. Check. Ball. Check.

Eyes opened?

Oops!

And today....

We headed to the gym early for Mommy's 8:30 class and then

fun at library story time!

Alrighty...

all caught up now!

Homeschool Swim @ AquaKids

A local homeschool group we belong to hosted a swim day at AquaKids this afternoon...
Reese had a blast doing cannonballs, going down the slide, & playing volleyball with the other kids...

It was a perfect activity for today!

Mommy took pictures...