Fallen Leaves...

Went to Mom and Dad's for a nature walk yesterday...beautiful day! Gathered leaves for a collection. Gonna use Modge Podge to preserve them and display them in some fashion....not sure how just yet.

Have a Blessed Day!

In An Old House In Paris That Is Covered In Vines...

Today we took a field trip to "The Big City". I DO NOT like to drive in large cities. I feel sorta like this whenever I venture into one...

Some things I don't like about "The Big City":

1: Off ramps run into on ramps forcing you to drive like a maniac to get to your exit.

2: One way streets

3: Being able to see the building I want to go to, but never able to get to it!

We went to see Madeline and the Bad Hat at the Tivoli Theatre. Lillie has had a love for Madeline since she was two and I bought the Madeline Story Collection...her favorite story, and mine as well was "The Bad Hat". So she was super excited to see one of her fave stories come to life. My dad went with me and in tow were Hannah and Sophia, two of my sister's daughters. We initially wound up at the venue listed in the directions, only to find out it was at the Tivoli but a nice janitor gave us directions. We could see the Tivoli, but couldn't find a parking lot! Everytime we'd spot one, we'd end up on a one way street that took us in the opposite direction. Finally we got parked and made it into the theatre. If you've never seen the Tivoli on the inside, it is a sight to behold. Made me feel fancy and underdressed to just walk in the door. Reminded me of an opera house and I was afraid to say "ain't" in fear of disgracing the very sophistication of this place! The gallery area was tame, however in comparison to the actual theatre. I said "Boy it sure is ornate in this here place" and Dad smiled and said "Yeah, almost...gaudy" He then noticed that the perspective was wrong on one of the stage props and we joked that it may well ruin the whole show for him (It is hard to have an artistic mind...oh yeah and teaching art in public high school forever, will do kooky things to you). The kids loved it, though and that's all that matters. We then went in search of a place to eat lunch and drove around downtown until I was quite frazzled and lost and decided to just give it up and head on back home in hopes of finding a side of the road picnic area. However, I could see the bridge I needed to be on, but had a hard time getting to it...seems my lot in life. We ended up eating on the porch of a nice log cabin convience store and it was good to stretch our legs and stuff our faces. Had a great day, sprinkled a little on us, but the temp was very comfortable. I didn't get many pics, but here's what I did get...

Thanks to my big sis for springing for the tickets and my dad for springing for the parking and to the LORD for getting me back to podunk...alive and well!

Just a Bunch of Stuff...

Isn't my Raccoon pack adorable? Okay, so they look a bit scary, I'll give you that. We ended Lewis and Clark last week and this week we're reading about Davy Crockett. THough historians say it is highly unlikely that Mr. Crockett wore a coonskin hat as much as he's pictured doing, but rather something he picked up as his popularity and legend grew. All the same, Lillie did a state notebook page on TEnnessee and the state animal happened to be the raccoom. I got a neat 20 page book about Raccoons off the Learning Island website. YOu have to check this site out, short, but informative books on a variety of topics. I made the kids these raccoon masks you can print here. ANd we played a short lived game of "Pin the TAil on the Raccoon" I got from FAmily Fun website. Lillie wouldn't let me blindfold her to play.




I found the book basket filled with...Josie. Lillie's handiwork, I have no doubt.Before anyone calls the law on me, here...my children CHOSE to get in this big ole' dog carrier. In fact, I've been trying to keep them out of it, with no sucess.However, it does seem to occupy them...
This week we've been listening to our tapes on the life of Jesus, in particular the ones concerning the events from the Triumphal entry to the Ressurection in observance of Ressurection week. We've been working on a simple lapbook that I'll post pics of later when we're all finished with it.

For science we've been studying birds and I have been fascinated at some of the ones we've studied. ONe of these is the bowerbird. THe male builds a very extravagant house and some even have rooms and then they decorate them...all this to impress a female. If a female likes the male's ability to decorate, she'll choose him. But she flies away to lay her eggs and never gets to set foot in the house. Here's a neat video that will explain better... DON"T FORGET TO PAUSE THE MUSIC PLAYER ON THE SIDEBAR!!!!!

Suppertime is always filled with drama...

ponderings on the future of our country... general weirdness... and unbelievable cuteness....Today, dad came over and we took a trip to the local park to play and have a picnic. It was great fun! Sunday I wore sandals to church...Monday I woke up to snow on the ground and it's been mucky and cold the last three days...so to say we were stir crazy is the understatement of the century.

After the wacky weather we've been having, it was such a blessing to be out on such a beautiful spring day. Have a great rest of the week and Happy Ressurrection Day. Let's each one take time to be thankful for the blessings of home and family that the Lord has given us and the hope that Jesus brings!

A Day at the Zoo

Back last year, I purchased a membership to a small zoo that provided reciprocal benefits to other zoos,which meant, basically, I could get into most of the zoos in my state for free, all year, unlimited visits. It was a great deal and well worth the money. Since I don't spend much money on school expenses aside from the occasional book or art supplies, I decided this was the best use of our resources. I mean, to be able to up and take a field trip to the zoo whenever and all we'd be out was our gas...a no brainer, right? Well, I bought the membership when gas here was between $4 and $5 a gallon, so I never got to use my membership because I couldn't afford the gas to get there.Then when gas went down, it was far too cold. Well yesterday was a beautiful spring day. Partly sunny, breezy, low 70's...very comfortable. So , since Jody's on spring break this week, we picked up my mother-in-law ( I really need to come up with another title for her cause we get along just fine and have a good time and I really am blessed to have her in my life.) and headed off to the zoo. It was a blast! It has been 7 years since I've been to a big zoo and not to this particular zoo since my childhood. I forgot how amazing and fun it is to be able to see some of God's most interesting creations at work (and play). When all was said and done, we were a tired, happy bunch devouring a picnic lunch in a parking lot. A super day with some super people! It would have cost us around 70.00 to go and I only paid $45 f0r my membership to that small zoo...what a deal! I asked the kids what their fave animal was and they had a hard time. Lillie liked the river otters (I did too) the best and Jackson liked the Mama Chimp carrying her little baby around and I'll have to say that was my favorite as well. Spoonbills that were bright pink...

Red Pandas...I love Red Pandas, they look like stuffed animals.

If you ever have any doubt that animals have personality...you should have seen this gorilla. My mother in law kept saying how sad he looked and he looked kind of shyly at her and then...stuck out his tongue at her! No joke! We all had a good laugh over that one. I love a gorilla's eyes...so expressive.I joked with Jody that this gorilla reminded me of him...he took it well and chuckled. Seriously, this gorilla looked either bored senseless or like his lady love just broke his heart. He just rubbed his fingers along the log and was all sprawled out...it was hilarious to watch him.

And here's some lounging we did on our own...


I wish I had gotten a better picture of the mother and baby chimp. It wrapped it's arms around it's momma waist and hung upside down while she carried it. And to say it was sweet and made a mom's heart flutter is an understatement. The daddy followed closely behind and the mom actually grabbed a baby quilt in her mouth and drug it over to a sunny spot, spread it out , and the whole family laid down together. It was neat.Was sorry I didn't get pictures of every animal we saw, there were so many. But we all had a blast and will be going back again in a month or so when there will be even more animals on exhibit!