Dog House

We don't have a dog house. We have a Slide/Playhouse that The Punk has outgrown and The Pup has taken over.
It's funny to watch these two together when they think no one is looking. They are like siblings, almost. When The Pup has something The Punk wants, then it can cause a scuffle. They are quite silly, this pair of stinky boys.

Toot Toot!

We took a little family adventure this weekend on the Forest Park Miniature Train at Trinity Park in Fort Worth. It wasn't The Punk's first time on the train, but it was his first time to ride with Daddy. And his first time since he's been allowed to eat popcorn! Somehow adding the popcorn element to the train made it much more magical. We whizzed through the park - passing the duck pond, and over the bumpy bridges - all while The Punk laughed and giggled and kept repeating "This is Awesome!".

And it was.

Hey Cupcake!

We hung out with Memaw today during lunch. She has a long lunch break, so we had time to visit the park and she treated us to some fancy cupcakes!

Walk in the Woods

We went for a walk in the woods today. We listened to the birds, and chased a few squirrels. We found some Geocaches, and some really interesting fungi. We didn't watch any TV. We didn't have the iPad with us. We just hung out, had a picnic lunch and sloshed around in the mud for a bit.
And it was perfect.

Pool Boy

I have my very own Pool Boy. All it cost was $10.00, and a few square feet of back yard space.
Look how happy this kid is! How can he be this thrilled in the water when giving him a bath is pure torture? Maybe I should install an outdoor tub...?

I love this kid.

I think we are going to have a great summer!

Graveyard Nature

My family has a long-standing tradition when it comes to learning how to drive. You do it in a cemetery. There are lots of roads to practice driving, turning and parking - and if you run over someone there is a good chance they are already dead. Poor taste, I know - but that joke was told to me by my Great Grandmother the day I learned to drive, and I still find it funny. When you have a 15 year old behind the wheel you want to minimize the damage if you can, so off we went to find a cemetery. The Punk's older brother was ready to start cruising the graveyard, so The Punk and I took a little time to go on a Nature Walk while Daddy gave the Older Son a driving lesson.

The Punk doesn't know much about death. He's 3.5, and luckily hasn't had any experience (that he knows of - we lied about he cat) with death so far in his short life. For this, I feel blessed. I don't want him to feel that kind of hurt or confusion for as long as possible.

So - this led me to have some answers ready for the "Where are we?" and "What is this place?" kind of questions I was sure we would face. My answers were prepared in vain. The Punk never asked, so I never volunteered. I guess he just assumed we were at some sort of park, and went about looking for twigs and leaves. I told him the rule about not disturbing flowers that were in vases, and he only stopped to look or smell them. Once he stopped pick up a small fallen flag, and replanted in the tombstone, and just kept going.

I love this child.
Our bounty from our walk: a Pine cone, a twig, some small wild flowers, some leaves, an acorn cap, and a small rock. And the Older Son didn't run over anyone - dead or alive. It was a good day at the Graveyard.

This post linked to: Preschool Corner and Montessori Monday

Chasing Bubbles

Summertime calls for bubbles, iced tea, and plenty of time outdoors. Sometimes the "lessons" we need to focus on the most are just having fun. Childhood only lasts a moment. I want to savor every bit of his that we can.

This post was linked to: We Play

Sorry, Pumpkin

A couple of weeks ago I planned on doing a lesson (and photo journal) of the sprouting of a Pumkin Seed. I dampened a paper towel, placed the seed in a zip top bag, and taped it to our side window.

Then promptly forgot it.

Life happened, and we became busy doing other things. A few days ago Daddy and I were in the back yard and he saw the baggie taped to the window - and pointed it out to me. Yikes! Our seed!

Nature went on without our assistance, and our seed had sprouted. And grown roots, And was more than ready to be planted. So much for the photo journaling!

This morning I rescued the plant from it's window prison, and planted it in a small pot to get it started outdoors. Ahhhh, that's better.

The Punk assisted, and we went to check on the rest of our seedlings and sprouts.

I can't wait until our backyard garden is in place next year. We (the Royal We - meaning Daddy) have been working on it this year, and getting it ready for the Punk and I to start gardening on a larger scale next Spring.

Until then we are container gardening in the front yard. It makes for an interesting entry way!

And we are starting to see results!

Inside / Outside Art

Today we went outside (in the rain) and collected a few textural items to bring indoors to play with. We also walked around the house (mostly the kitchen) to find objects that had interesting "feels" to them... and then we set to work!

Placing our Outdoor objects.

Covering with a blank sheet

This leaf was the loveliest of all. The Punk ooohed and ahhhed over how beautiful it was.

Then we went about our Indoor object placement.

The Punk is a "let's put it on like a hat" kind of kid :)

When we finished our rubbings we took the items out from beneath the paper nad matched them up with the drawings we had made. Sticks, straws, leaves, money - they were all very interesting to the Punk. I hope we can try this again on a dry day and take the paper and crayons on a nature walk!

Here we grow again!

Someone gave us this little gardening kit, so we put it to use today, and planted the seeds that came with. If all goes well we should have cucumbers, tomatoes and sweet peppers at some point this spring/summer. The Punk is more enthused with the watering can than the rest of it. I think the little garden stakes (with stickers) are cute - but I'm afraid they won't last once the plants are transplanted outside.

As for our last gardening post - our herbs have sprouted! The Punk loves to check on them every day, and we water them with a little medicine dropper. He heard (on Charlie and Lola) that plants grow better when someone talks to them, and I have heard him whispering stories to them when he's playing behind the curtain.

I took a little nibble off that bent chive leaf, and I'm impressed! I hope the plants continue to grow so we can transplant them outside with the others later on. I have a tomato plant and a banana pepper plant growing outside now, and we want to add more in a few weeks when we get a "proper" vegetable garden set up in the back yard.

My thinking is that maybe, just maybe if the Punk helps grow the food he might just eat it too....? But since I can't grow a chicken nugget tree that might just be wishful thinking.

This post linked to: Montessori Monday