Our Fun Morning

Our cousin, Anne, called last night and asked us to meet her out at the horse farm. O was SO EXCITED. We met Bucky and patted his velvety nose, but the highlight of the trip was meeting a newborn (about a month old) foal. O couldn't wait to see the "niney" horse, and she was excited to see the baby drinking his "milkies ilkies."

Panning for Gems

We took panning for gems this afternoon, and she had a great time. She chose a blue shovel ("boo" is her favorite color), and she shoveled the sand and gems into the screens. Then she (with the help of daddy and grandaddy) shook the pan to loosen and wash away the dirt. She was excited to see the beautiful gems left on the screen. Her prettiest find is an amethyst geode.

Hiking in the Mountains

We hiked to a waterfall this morning, and it wasn't a very long hike, but it felt long since I had a 26 pound toddler in my sling! My sister borrowed my Beco for her California trip, since I was sure I wouldn't need it in the sweltering heat of the Bahamas :) Thank goodness, I had the sling! O loved touching the rock walls. We talked about whether they were rough or smooth and hard or soft. She was excited about seeing her first waterfall, but her favorite part of the day was exploring a cave. I recited several lines from one of our favorite books, We're Going on a Bear Hunt, while we searched the cave for bears. What fun!

We're Having a Great Time!

We left for our vacation on Friday, and we're having a great time so far! We started our vacation by visiting a local nature park.
Helping row a boat through a cypress swamp. She's been singing "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" ever since!

O observed bees making honey.
She was very impressed with the fish, and she kept asking to see "more fish."
She liked watching the king snake crawling around in its cage. This gave me the creepy crawlies, but I tried not to let O see that I don't like snakes.
She pounded rice in a rice mill.
Trying out a tree trunk chair.

Sorting and Matching Shells and Rocks

A few days ago O brought me 2 conch shells, and she said "niney (tiny)" as she handed me the smaller one and "big" as she handed me the big one. I told her that was a great idea for a montessori work. I gathered several shells and rocks that were big and tiny and put them in a basket together. I showed O how to put the big shells and rock in one basket and the tiny ones in the other basket. She caught right on and enjoyed this sorting work.
After she finished sorting the shells and rocks, I showed O how to match the big shells/rock with the tiny shells. She matched them quickly and then she was "done." (she loves to announce when she is "done!")

My Little Tree Hugger

We went to a nearby county park today, and O had lots of new learning experiences.
She was excited when I suggest that she hug the tree. She hugged each tree several times.
O didn't hesitate to walk across the Tree Top Canopy Bridge. I was a little nervous!
Checking out turtle shells and skulls in the Environmental Discovery Center.
Elliott was very impressed with microscope.
O's hand

Trying to Catch Minnows

We didn't have much luck, but we had LOTS of fun and got VERY wet!

O's Beach

O is in love with her beach. The lake is especially high this year, so we brought in 3 truckloads of sand to make a beach. We need to bring in a 4th, but I am REALLY dreading shoveling another truckload of sand. Its backbreaking work, and I was sore for a week after shoveling the last load. Luckily, Elliott shoveled the 1st 2 when we were out of town :) Despite the hard work, we are so glad that we decided to make beach for O. She LOVES it! She writes her name in the sand, rakes the sand, builds sandcastles, makes sand pies, etc. It freaks me out daily to live this close to the water with a toddler, but having a beach in our front yard is definitely a highlight of living on the water.

Feeding the Geese

O and I had a great time throwing bread to the geese this morning. It was a good lesson on the importance of being quiet since they swam away every time she was loud. I'd remind her to be quiet, and they'd come back.

O's Earthworm

O found her 1st earthworm on Saturday morning while Elliott and I were laying sod in the front yard. She was VERY impressed and spent lots of time calling for more earthworms. She eventually figured out that earthworms don't come when they are called! We were surprised and pleased that she wasn't scared of the earthworm, and I think she would have carried it around all day if we'd let her.

We're Going Camping!

Elliott and I are so excited to be planning O's 1st camping trip! We've been talking about one day taking our kids camping since long before O was born, so we can't wait. We've finally found a free weekend, and we hope the weather will cooperate. We're taking the easy way out by going to a campground where we can set up our tent right next to our car. Does anyone have any advice on camping with a toddler? I'm trying to figure out what kind of food to take, so any suggestions are appreciated! Thanks!

Happy Earth Day!

Happy Earth Day! In honor of Earth Day O and I have decided that we will start picking up litter every time we take a walk. Elliott and I used to do this all of the time, but we've gotten slack since O was born, and its time we started again. O loved being the trash spotter. She pointed and called out "tash, tash" whenever she saw trash, and I picked it up and sorted it into either a trash bag or a recyclables bag. I am always astounded by the amount of litter on our road. We live about 15 minutes from the nearest town, and I guess people think its ok to litter on a country road. It's not!!! Its disgusting and despicable. We hope that if we keep the road clean, that people will stop littering. Maybe if they don't see the litter, they won't think its an ok thing to do. Its worth a try.
We have another Earth Day project planned for this afternoon after Elliott gets home...We are going to try to catch tadpoles! I'm very excited about this. I just hope that we can find some tadpoles. The frog population in our lake has decreased drastically in the last few years, so we are hoping that if we raise the tadpoles until they are frogs and then release them that it will help the population to grow. It will also be a fun learning experience for all of us.

We Love Gorillas

I've always been fascinated with apes, and I think O might share my fascination. She loved watching the gorillas when we went to the zoo on Sunday. I could have watched them all day, and I think O could have, too. Elliott, however, was not that interested :)

O's Mini Museum

I got the idea to have a mini museum for O's treasures from one of my library books. The book suggested collecting small milk cartons and cutting the tops off then fitting the boxes into a shoebox. As I was reading I remembered these letter press boxes that Elliott gave me years ago to put my small shells again (obviously I never got around to it). We found the boxes in the garage, and they worked perfectly for O's mini museum. This is the bigger of the 2 boxes. O loved arranging her leaves, rocks, acorns, and gumballs on the small shelves. We are going to have lots of fun finding new objects for her museum each day!

Planting Seeds

After we finished making our terrarium, O and I planted seeds in our egg carton. We got the idea from here. Hopefully, we'll have some tiny basil and lavender sprouts in a few weeks!

O's Terrarium

1st we spooned the rocks into the bottom of the jar. Then we added a layer of ground charcoal. Next we added a layer of spaghum moss (sp).
The next step involves putting a layer of soil into the jar. We put to much! Oops!
O lost interest after we finished putting in the soil. She went to rearrange the herbs in our herb garden while I put the plants in the jar. Unfortunately, one of our plants was too tall :( She came back to help when it was time to water the plants. She was a little overenthusiastic, and the plants may die due to overwatering!
Here is our finished terrarium. O really liked putting the rocks, stick, and animals in the jar. Do you see the gorrilla hiding in the leaves and the lizard peeking out from under the log?

Terrarium Trays

I can't wait for O to wake up. We went shopping after storytime this morning and got everything we need to make a terrarium. I just finished setting up the trays, and we'll get to work after she wakes up from her nap. I'm very excited, and I think O will be excited, too.

Learning to Steer

O is learning to steer our pedal boat, and she is SO proud! Now that the weather is nice, we are looking forward to daily pedal boat rides on the lake.

Planting Herbs

O and I planted basil, rosemary, and lavender seeds today. We started by breaking up packing peanuts and putting them in the bottom of the pots. (A great way to recycle at home!)

Next we put soil in each pot and patted it down. O is stirring the packing peanuts in this pic :)

Then O made an indention in each pot with her finger. I put a few seeds in each indention and covered them with soil. Hopefully, we'll have some little plants in a few weeks!

Making a Bird Feeder or Naughty Squirrels

On Sunday afternoon Ell, O, and I made bird feeders out of pinecones, peanut butter, and bird seed. We had fun finding pinecones in our neighbor's yard (our pinecones were too small), spreading the peanut butter on the pinecone, and sprinkling the bird seed the pinecone. I planned on making 3 or 4, but Ell and O lost interest after one. We hung it in the tree, and we excitedly checked on it this afternoon. It was gone! There were a few scraps of rope under the tree, but that was it. Naughty squirrels!