Garden Starters

We've started growing little plants indoors indoors for our garden this year.  We've also started a Botany study with the girls at the same time that will last through spring and summer, so we should all learn alot about plants and make our garden growing even more fun this year.  So far we've started tomatoes, broccoli, heads of lettuce, some flowers, peppers, cabbage and eggplant.  We're definitely going to be planting more corn, green beans, peas, and pumpkins this year, as well.  We also have already gotten some spinach and lettuce growing and we're excited to see our strawberries start flowering!

Science Museum at Aunt Denise's

We went to visit my sister in law for a couple of days in Dayton, Ohio.  They had just moved there last autumn, and this was the first chance we had gotten to go and see their new home.  We played at the park, visited, and went to a local science museum.  It was really fun for the kids, although it was a bit crowded that day due to Spring Break in the area.  They had a lot of fun and educational exhibits and we spent several hours there exploring.  I think one of the neatest things we did was a station where you put on these headbands and it measures your brainwaves.  The goal is to clear your head and think as little as possible in order to get a little ball to come towards you.  Ashley's favorite exhibit was a floor mat that lights up when you step on it.  They had a planetarium we got to see a show in, as well.  It was a nice visit.

A Cold Day at the Park

After we had visited with some friends one day, we decided to swing by the park on our way home.  I think it was in the 40s and the park was completely empty.   But we had our winter coats and the girls had a blast having the whole park to themselves.  We played for about an hour and a half and then stopped by the ice cream shop and got ice cream cones.  The girls kept telling me this was the best day.  :)

Baby Chicks

Some dear friends of ours became the owners of some darling little baby chicks this spring.  So I took the girls over so they could see and and hold them.  It was so sweet.  They all just loved those dear little chicks.  Ashley kept saying, "Awww.  It's SO CUTE!"  They really were.  :)

Picture Book Club

Our homeschool bookclub has always met once a month to discuss a book that we would all read as families.  Well, we've had so much fun that we decided once a month wasn't often enough!  So now we meet twice a month.  The first time we meet we discuss a chapter book we are all reading together and do two activities to go along with it.  The second time we meet, two families bring a favorite picture book along with an activity to do related to that book.  So far it's going great.  We met at our house this month for the picture book and the kids acted out a story for the first book and for the second book they made a picture using only 3 basic colors and blending them together in different ways.  Of course everyone also had tons of fun visiting and playing.  :)

Happy St. Patrick's Day 2011!

We had such a fun St. Patrick's Day this year.  We started out by making sure everyone was dressed in green, including Daddy.  :)  Then we made some rainbow cookies.  Basically just sugar cookies shaped into rainbows, frosted white, and then decorated with M&Ms to look like rainbows.  We also baked a chocolate cake and decorated it and made a rainbow fruit platter with cream cheese dip and marshmallows.  The girls made decorations with shamrocks, leprechauns, painted rainbows and pots of gold.  When it was time for the party we started by playing games.  First we played toss the gold coins (actually pennies) to the leprechaun, (a box with a leprechaun on it with a hole cut out).  Then we had a treasure hunt for a pot of gold - (a bowl of gold chocolate coins and Werther's candies).  After that we played find the leprechaun.  Daddy was the leprechaun and he hid and the girls had to find him.  He was very tricky and even stole their pot of gold a couple of times.  ;)  After that we got our treats and settled down to watch Darby O'Gill and the Little People.  We danced the Irish jig during the movie, like we do every year and the girls all made St. Patrick's Day charm bracelets during the movie. 

Baby Snowman

The last snow of the season came in March this year.  It was after an early springy period, so we were excited to have one more day to play in the snow.  There wasn't a lot of it, but it was the perfect type to build a snowman.  So we decided to build a baby snowman.  We built one the smae height as Ashley and the the girls even named her "Ashley".  We added blue buttons for eyes and yellow yarn for hair.  Ashley really liked the baby snowman, as well.  She kept giving it hugs and saying it was cute.

Fairy Signs

When we were out playing in snow, the girls found these signs of fairies.  They had me take pictures of them so they would always remember them.  :)  In the first picture you can see the fairies drew a number 5 and a number 8 in the snow.  Then in the second picture you can see there are little tiny footprints next to their playhouse.  After building our snowman that day, we spent that afternoon searching for snow fairies and playing that we found some.  :)

Dawes Maple Syrup Tour

We went to Dawes Arboretum for the Maple Syrup Tour as a family this year.  We took the self guided tour and read all the signs along the way ad discussed them with the girls.  At the end a wonderful lady showed us how the syrup was made and answered all our questioned.  She then gave us each a taste of syrup.  Everyone loved it except for Ashley who wouldn't even try it.  I supposed if we had brought a pancake to pour it on she would have gobbled it up.  ;)