Snow Day in Texas

When I went to bed last night, I kind of figured that the kids would not have school today, and sure enough after a night of fitful sleep (due to the sound of sleet hitting the windows), I woke up at 5:00am to find that M didn't have school today.  I turned off my alarms and snuggled back in to bed and sure enough...not even 10 minutes later, M was in our room.  He was up and ready to go.  So much for sleeping in on a snow day.

After living in Ohio and Kentucky for a while, I'm not all that amazed by snow.  The kids, however, were harping on me incessantly all morning to go out and play in the snow.  I'm not sure what they thought it was going to be, but I tried to explain to them the difference between full-on snow and the weird sleet-ice-trace-amount-of-snow combination that we had going on.  In any case, I made them eat lunch first and then we went outside to explore the winter wonderland.

Snow Eater Extraordinaire 

Ice Stomper Extraordinaire

Looking for more snow to eat.

A bright sunshiny snow day!

Snow ball fight!

February 1, 2011

July 16, 2010

Bulbs are Fun to Plant and Grow!

I hope everyone had a safe and happy holiday season!  We had a great time hanging with family and friends.  M and L really seemed to understand Christmas this year.  Perhaps we've watched 'Talladega  Nights' a few too many times, because the kiddos were extremely excited about Little Baby Jesus's birthday.  What about Santa, you ask?  Why yes, Santa had a big influence over us this year.  It's amazing what a phone call or an email from Santa can do to elicit good behavior from children.  We've spent the past few days playing with new toys, chowing down on holiday goodies, and watching (and re-watching) 'Alvin and the Chipmunks' and 'Night at the Museum.'  If anything, I'll be glad to see the kids go back to school so that I don't have to hear the high-pitched chipmunk voices for a while and don't get me started on Ben Stiller's comedic hijinks and excessive mugging.

L received a unique gift from her Nature School teachers.  We found this school in Summer 2009, when M attended a one-week summer camp there.  In addition to its summer programs, River Legacy Nature School also offers a NAEYC accredited preschool.  Last year M attended the Wednesday morning program and this year L is enrolled in the full-day class that meets on Mondays.  She absolutely loves it there, which is why she was so excited to get to work on the holiday gift from her teachers...a paperwhite bulb.

Thanks Ms. Toni and Ms. Ellis!

Assessing all the components and getting ready. 

Filling the bottom of the cup with a layer of gravel. 

Placing the bulb on the gravel. 

Adding gravel until only the top of the bulb peeks out. 

Every bit of gravel has its special spot.

Adding the water.

Hopefully the bulb will thrive, provided the cats and the kids leave it alone.

Happy 2011 Everyone!

Gloop

Today we made Gloop and let me tell you, there's nothing like jammies and science to get the creative juices flowing.  M and L were very excited about the whole process.  From the measuring to the mixing, they were very involved.

To make Gloop, you will need:

2 Cups white school glue

1 1/2 cups water, room temperature

1 cup warm water

3 teaspoons borax powder

This recipe for Gloop is adapted from The Sandbox Scientist (Ross, 1995).

Add 1 1/2 cups of room temperature water (add food color to this water if desired) to the 2 cups of glue in a large mixing bowl.

Getting the glue into the bowl, wasn't nearly as messy as I thought it would be.

Our Gloop will be yellow!

Dissolve the borax powder in the remaining 1 cup of warm water and slowly pour the dissolved borax into the glue and water mixture, stirring constantly.

Knead the Gloop with your hands for about one minute, until it is smooth and has lost its stickiness.

This doubles as a constructive way for kids to release some of their pent-up energy.

Once mixed, the M & L let their imaginations run wild...more or less.

Matthew's snake.

Lauren's "worm snake."

If stored in an airtight container, Gloop can be used repeatedly and lasts almost indefinitely, though I'm not sure I want to think about the environmental ramifications of this stuff.

Oh What a Week it's Been

It's been just a bit over a week since my last post and I'd like to say things have been pretty carefree and easygoing around here, but alas, things have been quite the opposite.  Shortly after I posted "Preschool Pro," I went upstairs to gather the items that the kids need for swim class.  When I went into M's closet to retrieve a swim suit I noticed that the closet was humid and wet, which wasn't good since Colleyville, and a large swath of Texas, had just been subjected to Tropical Storm Hermine.  Apparently Hermine wasn't content with just hitting our roof, rolling into our gutters, and watering our lawn for free.  She wanted in, in a big way.  Pretty much every item of clothing in M's closet was, in one way or another, wet - some were dripping, some were damp, and some were just too close to clothes that had been contaminated with roof-attic insulation-sheetrock rainwater.  I grabbed pretty much everything out of the closet (we got the rest later), threw down some old towels, and then wrangled the kids out of the house to swim class.  Later that evening, after the kids were asleep (M's camping in the guest room for time being), Steve and I assessed the situation.  As if the saggy ceiling, dripping water, and mysterious growth isn't enough, it turns out that we had placed a stack of M's baby pictures and my baby book (from the 70's!) on the top shelf of the closet - pretty much directly under that ominous looking ceiling.  Uncool Hermine.  Uncool.

The ceiling in M's closet - 9/8.

Here's Steve doing his best to dry out Matthew's pictures and my baby book.

We took this the very next night.  It appears to have gotten bigger and I think I heard it laugh at us, too.

Flash forward a week and a day.  We're pretty much where we were a week ago.  Sigh.  Apparently we aren't the only ones in Texas dealing with water issues.  We have confirmed appointments for a number of people to come out tomorrow to look at our, shall we say, situation.  Hopefully we'll be able to get the ball rolling on getting this fixed.  In the interim, we've made M's room off limits and have taped a tarp over the offending area of the ceiling.  I just braved exposure to whatever it is that may be growing in there to snap this picture.  

Lovely, right?  It's definitely laughing at us.   I'll keep you posted, I have to go sanitize my lungs now.