Spring Day

"The first day of spring is one thing, and the first spring day is another."--Henry Van Dyke

Learning Lately

I'm certainly not as organized about it as I was before Alice, but we have been doing a lot of learning lately. There was a rainforest unit.

One night we tried different rainforest foods.

We made a mural of rainforest animals.

During our unit on bears, we learned how a bear's fat keeps it warm.

We did some Dr. Seuss activities and went to a Dr. Seuss party at the library.

The same week we were learning about the body, we got to visit a walk-through model of the heart!

With our homeschool group, we had an Africa day where we learned about Uganda and we made fruit salad at the end.

The next week we had Guatemala day. This picture makes me laugh every time. Why is he so surprised at how good a chocolate covered banana is?

Last week we rowed The Bee Tree and a beekeeper came to our homeschool group.

For a snack one day we had biscuits and honey like they do in the book. When Jay got home from work, Jack told him how we had potatoes and honey for snack. Details, details.

This week we are doing some Easter activities and keeping on with our math and reading. Just this evening, Jack pointed out QUICK on the fridge, so something is sticking!

Medieval Fair

Yesterday the kids and I hit the road for a visit to the Medieval Fair. The hat Jack is wearing in this picture is the one he got on his first visit a couple of years ago. This year we were not studying medieval times, but we read some old favorites all week in preparation.

Jack has become quite interested in--obsessed with, really--the Magic Tree House books. He spent almost the whole car ride (about two hours) going through one of his new ones.

As always, we began with a trip to the bouncer. It's $2, but the guy doesn't care when your kid gets out, so it's money well spent if they have the energy to burn.

This year Jack decided he wanted to ride a camel.

We watched a blacksmith for a bit.

Alice had her first taste of funnel cake. I did knock off the sugar before I gave it to her. I'm not that bad of a mom.

Jack made his own coat of arms.

Even Alice got in on the dress-up action. Jay says I am raising little nerds. Maybe so, but they're cute nerds.

We watched the circus and Jack got to throw the juggler his pins while he balanced. This took a while since the pins were half his size and he throws like his mother.

Later he got to go up on stage and they juggled back and forth over him. They joked about an accident in the previous city and Jack wanted to know if I was worried and what I thought the accident was. He loved it.

All in all, the day went wonderfully. We left our house at 9:00 in the morning and didn't pull in until 9:15 last night, but the only tears were when Alice was trying to go to sleep on the way home. (Jack was a little indignant that he wasn't allowed to get a pet lizard as his souvenir since I had said he could have something, but thankfully he was pacified with a toy dragon.) Jack is already planning what he wants to do on our next visit!

Seriously?

For the first day of spring, I was thinking about getting a new bird feeder to put outside this window. That's ice you see on the screen there. Seriously.

This kind of weather needs to end. I noticed someone busting out of their jammies at breakfast this morning.

We had lunch with some new muffin tin cups. We're staying in and having chili tonight. Not my favorite idea for a first day of spring meal.

I am so. over. winter.

Tulsa Air and Space Museum

We finished up our space unit with a trip to the Tulsa Air and Space Museum on Wednesday. We skipped the planetarium part because right off the bat, Alice had a diaper emergency that took about fifteen minutes to deal with, making us too late for the show. Don't tell Jack, because I didn't mention that part to him.

This was actually an out of order photo booth, but Jack thought it was pretty cool. They also had a neat looking exhibit where you tried to control a space vehicle, but Jack wasn't tall enough to do it.

Liftoff!

This plane was one of Jack's favorite things there. He spent forever playing with all the buttons and switches.

Upstairs, they had several different physics exhibits. Here you could try pulling yourself up on different chairs that had different pulleys on them.

The simple machines display was fun!

Jack also enjoyed making the balls stay in the air.

The museum must have worn Alice out, because she slept through lunch.

So we got to goof around.

At home, we worked a new space puzzle...

...and Jack flew the glider he got at the museum.

If only we had a big enough yard to really fly it...

Last week at Hobby Lobby, I found these astronaut snacks.

Jack and I both agreed that we would rather not eat astronaut food!

Next week we start a short unit on bees--complete with a visit with a beekeeper!

Another Wednesday

We stopped by Lowe's the other night before taking my mom out to eat for her birthday. Doesn't he look like he's having fun? Less than half an hour later, he was vomiting in the car. Thank goodness for all those free bags we got at the Baby Expo last weekend. A half hour after that, I was sick, too. We ended up with to-go boxes.

We are on the mend now and I will be spending tonight and tomorrow at a Charlotte Mason seminar while the kids stay with my parents. Next week is spring break, and I *will* get more posts up! Have a great weekend!

Nine Months

It's hard to believe Alice is nine months old already. She is into every. little. thing.

She likes baths now.

She likes books--mostly to eat, but sometimes to read.

She got a new bed this week. She's even been sleeping on it.

And today she had her first picnic at the zoo like a big girl. Time flies.

Happy Nine Months, Alice!