Trees and Tents

It is my goal in life to take pictures of my kids looking awkward.

And to dress them in ridiculous outfits.

It makes me happy. So does waking up to this:

I'm going to throw this out there. I don't know how people don't co-sleep with their babies. I'm not saying they're doing it wrong, I'm just saying that I don't know how they do it. How do you sleep apart from that tiny little body that just cuddles into you? Now there are plenty of times I want my children away from me...in an inescapable box...on the moon. But when they are sleeping is almost never one of those times. Peanut sleeps in his own bed, next to ours, on Ox's side of the bed and I miss him terribly.

Moving on from my granola ideas that make you uncomfortable...

We went to the zoo with Grammie (somehow no pictures of her). Peanut most wanted to see the Rhinos

Why yes, when I take pictures of Cat in the carrier you are pretty much always being forced to look at my boobs.

Peanut made a friend. 

Aunt Emily, Uncle Lance and Little Flower were there too (LF is 2 months younger than LC).

In super sad news, our apricot tree fell down in the last wind storm. It's my fault- last year I let it produce (accidentally, by just forgetting to pinch the buds) and I knew it really needed longer to work on its roots before working on fruit. :(

Our pear tree has an as yet unoccupied nest. I hope we get baby birds. Note: I have to stand on tip toes and hold the camera blindly above my head to get pictures.

Ox and Peanut camped in the yard. Cat and I helped set up but then slept inside. Note: this is our side yard. If they had slept in the back yard the dogs would have destroyed the tent trying to get to them all night.

Before they settled down for the night we roasted marshmallows inside.

Mother's Day happened. Since I had already received my gift (little speaker for my iPod) it was a bit blah. But Grammie got a necklace from all the kids, with the names of all the grand kids etched in it.

Moving on...we did some important cave building.

And ate corn

And played in the park with friends

And played in the tub

D is for Dinosaur!

I have no misconception that more than a handful of people will be interested in these posts. However I do want to document them. So here goes...

Peanut and I used to do preschool work together before Little Cat came along. We've been on a break for a bit but we're ready to dive back in. Each week will have a letter-based theme. Other than that things will be flexible.

We started with an easy one: dinosaurs. Peanut loves them and there are a ton of activities available. 

First I separated out our Dino books for easy reading access.

The week started with a trip to the Sam Noble Natural History museum- it was their free day (first Monday of every month!). 

Even little cat got in on the action.

On Tuesday we started our main activity. 

I made dinosaur eggs:

1 c dried out used coffee grounds (recycled from ox's work)

1 c flour

1/2 c sand (stolen from local playground)

1/2 c salt

3/4 c water

Mix by hand. Form around small dinos. Bake at 200 for 30 mins.

Peanut got to break them apart and find the new dinos inside. He loved it!

Next we combined these new dinos with all his others. It's a little ridiculous.

Then the sorting began. We sorted by definition...

And diet...

And locomotion...

Size

Bone structure

Timeline

And location

We did this a couple times during the week and as we categorized we counted.

We also did letter D writing practice but that us boring so I didn't take a picture.

Our last main project was watercolor. Peanut has been interested since we went to an art festival and an artist there, named Spencer Mellow, let him help. 

He insisted on wiping his shirt across the paper just like Spencer Mellow had.

The dinosaur part of the project came from me drawing dinosaurs on the paper in white crayon before he started. Then they surprised him.

Overall I liked most of what we did. 

The most labor intensive part was learning about and classifying the dinosaurs so that I was able to teach him. This will probably be true of every subject we study.

The most difficult part was that Peanut really knows more about dinosaurs than I do, since his show of choice is any Dino documentary, and he speaks with such conviction that I'm not always sure when he knows something or is making it up.

Steam Engines and Parks

 Note: I'm not sure why my images are coming out so blurry. I think they're loading at a smaller size but it's not the normal setting. I do these post on the blogger app now so I'll hopefuly find the setting responsible soon...

This week has been pretty busy. The weather has been all over the place! Here's what we did old to new for a change.

Note: We also started home preschool with Peanut again but I'll post that separately and probably won't link to it on Facebook.

Peanut was overly dramatic, in a way only 3 year olds and teenagers can really be.

But slept often enough for me to remember that I love him.

Little Cat was adorable as long as I never paid attention to anything else.

She also tried blueberries...

And broccoli.

While a lot of our activities are just snaiL, Peanut and Cat, we got to go to the steam engine show in Pawnee all together. Even 30 degree, spitting icy rain weather didn't diminish the fun.

Cat stayed wrapped up like a burrito and strapped to me almost the entire time.

Peanut got to experience some old fashioned fun, or child labor as we call it today.

The engines really were amazing. 

On our way out of town we drove through Pawnee Bill Ranch to see the Bison and huge horses. Even as an adult with plenty of experience dealing with wild animals, I'm always a little convinced they want me to get out and hug and kiss them.

Peanut gave his first talk in church and broke my heart a little when I saw how big he's getting.

And we messed with Little Cat in a way that can only be described as baby torture.

Finally the sun came out and we had a great morning at the park, with Ox getting to join us for lunch. Cat's first outdoor swing and slide.