This & That

My best accomplishment of the day: cutting Jack's toenails! Jack has had crazy toenails since he was a baby, and he has never liked having them cut. Usually I do it at night when he is asleep, but he has taken to wearing socks at night--for months on end. Today I finally told him if he would sit still and let me cut his toenails I would buy him something from the dollar section at Target. That was the best dollar I ever spent. Now he can wear sandals and not look like a feral child.

After that big event, we went to the library and to lunch.

Then it was off to do some grocery shopping, and of course, the park.

This afternoon we made our homemade water table. For a long time I have wanted a sand and water table, but Jay just does not see the need--he thinks I have a thing about tables. Imagine! Actually, the logical part of me agrees with him, but the other 98.4% of me thinks we really need one. The homemade one worked quite well and will even fit into the deck bench. Now I need to find something else to put the extra sheets in, though.

Even emptying it was fun!

While I made a lasagna, Jack entertained himself by cutting out stuff from the Oriental Trading Company catalog. I had to vacuum afterward.

This evening we played outside for a little longer--bubbles, croquet, soccer, and pirates.

Uniqua and Pablo got lost in the weed jungle. Actually, I don't think it is a weed, but that's what Jack wanted to call it.

Jack finally dropped off to sleep about 8:30. He says he is ready for more water tomorrow, so I am sure it will be another outside afternoon!

Easter Weekend

Here are a few pictures from our busy Easter weekend!

Hunting for eggs

Dressed up for church

Jack got in LOTS of outside time.

Even Boris had a good time. He found a new hiding spot at Grandma and Grandpa's.

Eight Weird Things

A few days ago, Tiffany tagged me to share eight weird things about myself. Since I can't upload pictures tonight, I thought this would be a good time to do it!

1. I have never eaten an apple. I have eaten them in things and I did once take a bite of an apple slice (is there anything I won't do for my child??), but I have never just taken a bite of an apple. I don't like crunchy foods.
2. I am a library school dropout.
3. I won a math competition in 6th grade.
4. I won Outstanding Biology Student in 10th grade. (Let's pause to give Jay time to stop laughing here. That one is one of his favorites.)
5. I had liked the name "Jack Henry" for a boy for quite a while--turns out it is the name of Jay's grandpa. Only ten years and one month later (yes, we're pretty quick around here!), we had our very own Jack Henry.
6. My best friend from all the way back in elementary school held one of my legs while I was in labor so Jay would be free to deliver Jack. Our upstairs neighbor was the delivery tech. That made me feel a little weird when I would run into him at the mailbox.
7. I got my first teaching job at the school my mom left when she had me. Down the hall were two of my dad's high school classmates and the principal was my 8th grade algebra teacher's daughter.
8. The most gorgeous dress I own is a colonial dress I had made for school. What's weird is I really thought I could still fit into it when I was 4.5 months pregnant. (Jay got a big kick out of that experience, too, I think, though he tried to seem sympathetic.)

So there are my eight weird things. Though I am sure some of you can think of plenty more right off the tops of your heads, I have had to think hard about these! If you have a blog and you haven't done this one, consider yourself tagged!

Zoo Day

Along with the 90% of the rest of the people in the metro, we took advantage of the beautiful weather and headed to the zoo.

Jack loves the playgrounds.

He told me he saw "darkness" in this hole.

Swimming bear

A cotton-candy eating squirrel

Jack was thrilled to have a sno-cone.

The sugar is kicking in!

Obligatory zoo car pic

Happy Spring!

Today was a beautiful start to spring! We stayed home most of the day and did some "springy" things like...

baking spring cookies and...

planting some flowers.

Time out for a cookie break!

We also met friends at the park and then went on a Sonic run.

For dessert, we had Aunt Delpha's Strawberry Tapioca Salad. Yum!

After dinner we had to play a bit more!

Since Squirrel Nutkin has been banned as a bedtime story (did I mention that he wanted to hear it before getting out of bed this morning??), we tried a different story. Jack didn't get quite so riled up, but it still took him a while to go to sleep. I wish I had half his energy!

Fun & Games

Today was a day for fun! We went bowling, had pizza, went to the library, and played. I am hoping Jack will be worn out and bedtime will be easy tonight!

Ready to roll

Punch and popcorn

Playing with puppets

Game time

Tomorrow should be another fun one!

Weather Lapbook

Last week we started a weather unit with a pre-made lapbook kit. I ditched it after the first day and we did our own thing.

The books we used

The cover--Can you tell Jack has finally figured out a way to get stickers off the sheet even though he has no fingernails?

Back cover

Inside

On the left: 5 senses rain book and wind experiment
In the middle: Types of clouds
On the right: Clothing sort (from the kit)

Under the cloud picture

Top: Weather Instruments book (from kit)
Bottom: Weather Wheel (from kit)
Side: More decorations!!

The Rain Book--Did you know rain smells like grapes?? At least to Jack it does...

Jack's drawing of what he saw with the magnifying glass.

We put Vaseline on some lids and hung them in the trees to see what was blowing around in the wind.

A giant nose!

Clouds we saw--just like in the book we read!

Making his cloud picture

We also listened to some different weather sound effects and Jay even got in on the action with a reading of Franklin and the Thunderstorm.

I'm not sure what we're doing next. In a couple of weeks we will be going to the Medieval Fair, so I've got to get to work on some knights and castles stuff. Jack saw the books tonight and has already started asking!