Reading up a storm!

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Lane started reading longer books and has really taken off. I think he started reading the longer books this month and he has already read a 4 book series about Knights of the Round Table, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (and he's almost finished with the follow up book), Little House in the Big Woods (with a good start on the second book), The BFG, and Mr. Popper's Penguins.

Instagram Snow Cones

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Frisco Jam

Bounce houses, football throw, intermittent live music and Tropical Snow Cones at Warren Sports Complex. Sorry, Mary, Lane said this was the best snow cone he's ever had. And I agree!

Dash Park Disc Golf

Our first disc golf outing since Lane learned about the sport during our recent trip to Arkansas. He wasn't feeling 100% (actually ended up taking an unheard of one hour nap in afternoon) so we ended up playing only four of 18 holes (are they called holes?) With plans to go back with Daddy sometime soon.

Eisenhower State Park - March 2013

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The new way to make a photo album: photo books by Shutterfly.

Japanese Wood Block Print Making

At art at Maria's today we learned about Japanese wood block printing and then created art on our own plate (following a wave example) (and thanks to Sprouts for donating 'chicken' trays :)) and made a print of it on white paper. I think they turned out so fun! Here's some of the project.

First we 'carved' our picture on the tray with a sharp pencil.

 

Then we painted the tray.

Then pressed it onto white paper.

Lane added extra details with a pencil after he made his print.

Lane's final. I thought it was neat how he left out a square in the middle. I mentioned they might want to somehow work around or incorporate the number/store imprint in the middle of the tray when they did their carving.

I think Rachel did this one. I really liked all of them, especially this one. Like how she made the dots stars. (She told me they were stars.)

I printed mine twice. This was the first time.

This was the second time I printed mine. Interesting how you can get such a different result with same original.

Here's Brooke's. She LOVES to paint.

 

I think everyone had yet another fun day at art at Maria's. I know we did!

Update for Hubby in Las Vegas

Chad went to Las Vegas for work yesterday morning. Instead of sending him a bunch of pics on his phone, I decided to post to our blog! It's only been since September! Lane went to his second day of preschool at North Texas Leadership Academy on Monday and Brooke spend the day with Grandma. Grandpa Rufus came over on Tuesday and I didn't get any pictures :(. He brought the kids balloons and he brought me flowers. He made an avocado salad for lunch and I made some potato soup with some onions he brought over. Later that day Brooke worked in the yard. She filled up her pitcher with soil. 

Lane made birthday party hats for Brooke's 2nd birthday. Here are the official photos!

 Today at art co-op at Maria's, we learned about Alexander Calder and his work. He was all about motion. He made sculptures, toys and mobiles. He was prolific. This is the kids just before watching a short video about Calder. We usually start with a short video about the artist and/or his/her style that Maria conjures up on BrainPop or Discovery Education.

For our art project, the kids all made mobiles. Lane is cutting out some pieces for his mobile. Serious focus!

  

 

Erin's new living room art! 

Two sweet babies!

More art for Erin's living room.

Lane's finished mobile.

Some of my favorite women!

Okay, here it gets fun. This is Lane's mis en place. He made meatloaf tonight so we can just throw it in the oven when we get home from his school/my work tomorrow night. He did a great job. Yes, he washed his hands first. And yes, he knows not to lick his hands, but brown sugar left on your fingers is just too tempting!

So he took the ball of meatloaf and split it in half, and those in half and quickly caught on how to make one ball of meatloaf into eight equally sized tiny meatloaves.

Yes, this picture is kinda gross. But it shows his final product. He learned a lot preparing this tonight. I think we're on to something.

While Lane was making tomorrow night's dinner, Brooke and I went out into the garden and collected some carrots. She and I also made a chicken pizza for tonight's dinner. She pulled and sampled the dough as we rolled it out, she spread the tomato sauce on the dough, with gusto I might add, and spread and sampled the cheese. We had great fun in the kitchen. It's hard to do because Brooke likes to be all up in whatever Lane is doing. Making two dinners at once helped in some ways (they were on opposite sides of the kitchen, each with something to do) but it also provided it's own challenges. (Lane needing help while Brooke splattered spaghetti sauce all over the counter and backsplash.)

We've been having a lovely assortment of birds around the back patio during breakfast. Lots of fun to watch them.

Chad will be home tomorrow night. Thank you for the motivation to get back on our blog. Maybe I'll pick it back up again.