Some Science-y Stuff

While we don't homeschool, per se, we do engage in some (very informal) "supplemental" schooling. And, since there's an interest in science from the household small person, we're trying to encourage that. A few science-y things from the past week or so:

- We watched the solar eclipse on May 20. Poked a hole through a sheet of white printer paper and held it over another, intact, piece of paper until we could see the glowing dot of the sun -- and the shadow of the moon moving across it. My mom was visiting that weekend, so she, Nora, and I were all outside doing this for a while -- we kept having to move to slightly different spots around the yard/neighborhood due to trees and the process of the sunset. We also got a neighbor girl involved for a little while after she came home from dinner with her family while we were all standing outside.

- When I repotted the ever-bearing strawberry we purchased at this spring's plant sale into a larger pot, I found ants herding aphids within the soil it had come with. While we had a brief discussion of the concept of ants herding aphids -- like the uncles in our family raise cows (sort of; the uncles raise beef cattle, while the ants drink the aphids' excretions -- which would be more the equivalent of dairy farming), the upshot is: we want to eat the strawberries. Not feed them to aphids. Which led to some methods of natural pest control: spraying the plant and the soil for a few days with a mixture of warm water, dish soap -- and cayenne pepper. (So far, it seems to be working.)

- We discovered, as a result of a 5-year-old kindergartener performing self-designed experiments with the equipment from the science kit she received for her last birthday, that
a) one good reason to have hummus containers (and their well-fitting lids!) on hand in the "plastic containers" cupboard is that they are clear, so they make a decent substitute for test tubes in which to grow the polymer crystals that have been mixed into a solution of water, red cabbage juice, citric acid, baking soda
b) regular spray stain remover will not remove red cabbage juice from a pale purple shirt; you need to use something like "Goop" -- or possibly another enzymatic cleaner
c) when the 1 tablespoon measuring spoon is missing from the kitchen, perhaps Mommy should check the baking soda supplies in the science kit

Weekend Update

Dear Weather: Get with the program! Tomorrow will be the first of May, and I'd like to be done for a few months with my feet feeling like icicles. Thank you.

Last Friday afternoon, I volunteered as a "book club" leader in the kindergarten class. That involves reading a storybook to a small group (thankfully, my small group was less rambunctious this time than previously; and this includes my kid) and then doing some activities based on the book. We read Dear Bear, about a little girl who is scared of the bear living in the closet under the stairs. Our activities included making bear puppets with paper lunch sacks, cutting and assembling (with glue sticks) sandwiches from coloring pages, and then having a brief tea party with a toy tea set and some pretend tea.

The weekend was cool and rainy. We spent time indoors, watching the Chimpanzee movie at our local movie theater and visiting the play area at the mall. Sunday was a special celebration of music at church, with musical participation from all the choirs -- from the littlest ones, including the three- to five-year-olds choir that Nora sings with -- on up to the adult choir, as well as the bell choir. (There were also some people sitting in the choir loft with trumpets, but they never appeared to play them. I haven't figured that out.) The music was wonderful and joyful, as befitting the Easter season, with the little kids giving a very enthusiastic singing of "We Are the Church" (which I also frequently hear practiced at home).

After church and dinner on Sunday, we headed over to St. Paul for the Minnesota Horse Expo. Unfortunately, I didn't realize until I had time to flip through the program on our way home that Kate Chenery Tweedy, daughter of Secretariat owner Penny Chenery, had been there. (Our family owns the movie Secretariat and has seen it many, many times --- particularly the smallest, most horse-obsessed member of our family.) We did, however, see and pet lots and lots of horses, and Nora took one of the free pony rides. She informed us that Chester was a nice pony. She was also impressed with the horses that had won prizes -- and the pony with the pink nail polish on her hooves. And we watched for a while as some members of a group that does gymnastics while standing on a horse's back demonstrated some of their techniques and talked about their training.

We also finished up reading The Unicorn Princess (Fetlocks Hall) by Babette Cole, a chapter book that was one of our library finds a couple of weeks ago. I don't think we knew what we were getting into: it's the first in a series that's essentially Harry Potter with unicorns instead of wizards. Between the British-isms, the horse terminology, and the words the author made up, I don't think either of us knew what was going on half the time. I console myself with the thought that it's increasing her vocabulary.

April Spring Doings

So, if I update once a week, can I call it weekly updates? I don't think so, since I'm still catching up on my remembrances of more than a week ago.

Lately, in our household: we learned a bit about how to use the library catalog to find books. This came at the request to "use the computer to find books about unicorns." We did a subject search, wrote down the title, author and shelving locations, and searched for and found the four titles deemed acceptable. (Our library system evidently has 76 children's books under the subject of "unicorn," but the catalog displays cover images, and some with jousting knights in stormy backgrounds were deemed "too scary.") So far, we've made our way through a Candy Fairies book, A  Valentine's Surprise by Helen Perelman.

After that library outing, we then attended our city's parks and recreation department's Animal Open House. The resident reptiles (turtles, lizards, etc.) of the Outdoor Center were on display, and additional animals were brought in for the day: a chicken, a couple of miniature horses, a raccoon (used in a demonstration by the city naturalist), a chinchilla. There was a display of pelts for the kids to feel and guess what they had come from, and a "quiz" game for prizes of a bottle of water or a box of Cracker Jacks. (I do think they could have geared the questions up a little bit from the toddler/preschool level for some of the kids. One of the queries was: "What color is a bluebird?") Nora also got her burning question of the day answered by the city naturalist: "Does anything hunt owls?" (Answer: "Other owls.")

It was kind of an animal-themed week, as it also included a kindergarten field trip to a nature center, and a special guest star at the Girl Scouts meeting: one of the other girls' family dog, who was there for a discussion about "how to take care of dogs and other animals." And we followed up the following weekend with a trip to the Minnesota Zoo to see the annual Animal Babies exhibit: bunnies, chicks, calves, piglets and excitedly hopping goat kids at the farm, a baby monkey clinging to its mother's tummy.

I spent part of a weekend this month volunteering at a fancy gala, too: I got to get dressed up and go to the ball -- to work the carnival games and sell the fundraising beads. :) The money from the event goes to support a variety of local charitable endeavors.

Nora and I made a pecan pie with the leftover pie crust from our Easter lemon meringue version and some pecans picked up on sale after Christmas. (I figured we should probably eat the pecans before they went bad. And we haven't attempted homemade piecrust yet.) I also baked some banana muffins for breakfasts this weekend with some bananas from the freezer. I've been in a bit of a menu planning rut lately, and I've kind of lost track of my freezer inventory, but I do need to see what other produce is in there that we should be eating down before the next season.

The weather this month has been alternating between lovely spring, and rainy. There has been some park time, but probably not enough. I did finally find a dry (enough) day to mow the lawn and trim the edges. I chopped off a bunch of dandelions in doing so, making the yard noticeably less yellow, but two full bouquets had already been displayed in a green vase indoors. I'm enjoying watching the birds this spring, too. I've seen wild turkeys wandering about on my drive to work, a ring-necked pheasant running across the street in front of my car in our suburb, robins hunting in our yard, chickadees perching in our trees, and a pair of purple finches sitting on our deck with nesting material in their mouths. And, upon our return from church choir last week, we helped the next door neighbor uproot some of the dozens of maple seedlings that had self-sown in her yard (with a brief discussion of how we'd end up living in a forest if we let them grow, and a suggestion from the five-year-old that we could turn our house into a maple syrup factory).

I'm attempting to enjoy spring as it's here (I did finally finish reading North with the Spring by Edwin Way Teale; for some reason, it took quite a while), but summer approacheth -- at least, in terms of planning kid activities. I need to get on that.

Dance class had costume/photo day this week (so they make sure all the kids are looking right for recitals), and they handed out the class schedule for next year already. I asked Nora if she was taking dance next year, and her reaction, in a tone of voice that assumed this was sooooo obvious, was "Yeah! Every year!" I guess there's an interest. (Which I knew: she frequently tries to teach me dance steps, and her dance teacher's evaluation sheet for her, with recommendations for next year's classes, said she's a natural dancer -- and "full of energy.")

And, oh yes, I also meant to write down: inspired by the litter we've seen blowing into yards in the April winds, Nora's current plans for her grownup years include being "a paleontologist, what digs up dinosaur bones, a mom, and someone who cleans up all the litter in the world."

Kid Sayings Catch-up

I haven't recorded cute kid sayings and doings in a while, so I'm feeling a need to catch up for my memory banks. Here's a few highlights from the past few months:

Thanksgiving: We hosted Thanksgiving at our house last November -- just us, my sister's family, and my mom. That resulted in my five-year-old, my sister's four-year-old and her then-seven-year-old, who had declared themselves "the superheroes" at a family lakeside vacation in August, attiring themselves in superhero costumes -- at one point, this was blankets used at capes; later, they raided the dress-up bin to become a super ballerina/fairy, a super mouse and a super flower-headdress-wearing/tutu-attired/wand carrying something. (I suspect that may have also been a fairy.) They also had "flying practice": jumping off the steps leading down to the lower level of our split-level home. They never jumped off any steps higher than the third one up and, while I was speculating on whether we adults should stop this for safety reasons, my mom happened to inform me that, "I'd tell them to stop, but I remember doing the same thing." The things you learn about your relatives.

Christmas: The eve of our departure for Iowa -- which had been the last day of school before break -- Nora had a somewhat predictable meltdown. Her response, however, when I tried to reassure her about the part of her worries that entailed that she wasn't going to see her "best friend" for a "whole week!" by telling her that, "Well, you'll do different things over break, and M will do different things, so when you do see each other again, you'll have lots of new stuff to talk about" -- was met with, "But Mo-o-m! We don't wanna *talk* about stuff at recess! We just wanna run around!" How dare I.

January: Nora is taking dance lessons, and is immensely excited about the upcoming recital -- the one at the end of the dance year. She found out the date at a lesson in January and *immediately* upon coming home, had to tear up pieces of construction paper so that she could write the date on them so that her teachers knew when her recital was. (Yes, it's six months away.)

We had one day in January (a far cry from last year, for sure!) when the good sledding hill at the nearby park had enough snow upon it be open and we had time to use it, so we seized the day by spending an afternooon sledding. Several other children/families had had the same idea, and it may have been inspiration from some of the boys that led Nora to begin a practice of perching her plastic sled on the very crest of the hill, and launching herself onto it with running jumps so that it began its descent with extra momentum. (There are some days I think I gave birth to
Evil Knievel.)

February: Ah, the vagaries of elementary-age relationships. Nora knows a boy from our neighborhood who rides the same school bus, and she sees him sometimes at school. She told me that, the other day, W was "having a hard day. So I gave him a hug in the lunchroom. I think I made his day worse." We had a little talk about how second grade boys don't always like to be hugged.

Menu Plan Monday, Challenge Update, Weekend Review

Well, this weekend, I got my closet and dresser mostly cleared out. I still have a couple of drawers to organize and a couple of other categories to organize in my bedroom. There are a couple of big bags of clothes that will be traded and/or donated at an event this weekend, plus I worked some more on sorting the "stuff to shred" pile as a continuation of January's paperwork concentration. I'd say there are at least 29 items among both these categories (one for each day of February, as per Carla's challenge). While they haven't left my house yet, they will!

I worked on some of that paperwork stuff while the family watched the Puppy Bowl and Shrek (the latter as part of our free Blockbuster Online membership) over the weekend. I think I actually may need to start watching more TV in order to get things accomplished. Hmm.

I also finished reading The True History of Tea over the weekend and started on the book for church book group, Altar in the World, An: A Geography of Faith by Barbara Brown Taylor.

Saturday started out as a cozy day, lying in bed reading a bunch of books to the five-year-old. She and I also baked another batch of cookies on Saturday afternoon; this time, Sparkling Sugar Cookies. (They're sparkling because you flatten them out with the bottom of a glass dipped in colored sugar before you bake them. I have had colored sugar containers in my cupboard for...years, possibly...but I'm thinking they're not going to have the same shelf life as the five-year-old gets more involved in the cooking.) For the record, I keep offering chocolate chip cookies as one of the options for these baking sessions, but she keeps turning that down.

We also attended a children's theater production of Llama Llama, Red Pajama, based on the book by Anna Dewdney. It was part of the premiere run of this show, and, of course, they had to make some changes from the book -- primarily by expanding the cast to incoporate six different baby llamas and accompanying mama llamas. Each baby llama had their own personality -- a soccer player, a tap dancer, etc. -- and each also had their own "dolly llama." (Say that out loud. :) )

We went to the show on Sunday afternoon, in part because we could then incorporate our family's traditional weekly meal out into the day, without adding a restaurant meal to the week. We tried a newly opened barbecue restaurant in our town. It was OK, but I've had better. On the plus side, kids eat free there on Sundays.

So far, we have had one no spend day in February: the 1st. Today could have been another one, but DH has to go to an out-of-state funeral, so he will be buying gas. This is the last family member of that generation on his mother's side to pass away; the last on his father's side passed away last fall. That means it's down to his generation. (He is one of the youngest.)

At least my doing after-school kiddo care for a couple of days will give me time to bake Zucchini Bread with last summer's shredded zucchini that I thawed from the freezer, and thereby provide breakfast material. (ETA: No, it won't. I did make brownies from a mix in the cupboard.) I am also going to try to have my book group at my house tonight instead of trying to reschedule everyone (we usually meet at a bookstore's coffee shop). We will see how that goes.

Here is this week's menu plan, starting with what we ate over the weekend.

(You can see more menu plans at Org Junkie's Menu Plan Monday link-up).

Saturday: Apple Oven Pancake.

Sunday: DH was happy with chips, salsa and chili cheese sauce in front of the Super Bowl. Nora and I partook of a few of these, but we also had a "real" supper -- of Scrambled Eggs and Toast (with "Grandma Jam," as we call it -- my mom makes it from her rhubarb patch every spring).

Monday: Goulash: we have enough macaroni left in a container for a two-people meal, but not three. It will get thrown in with some already-browned hamburger from the freezer.

Tuesday: Macaroni and Cheese with Tuna: a childhood favorite, from boxes and cans  from the cupboard (not really DH's favorite).

Wednesday: Black Bean Taco Bake. Nora requested tacos recently, and we need to use up more of those tortillas from the fridge, plus some homemade salsa from last summer's veggies in the freezer.

Thursday: Brats and Sauerkraut. We have several jars of sauerkraut in the cupboard. We need to get eating.

Friday: Probably Pizza.

Saturday: Grilled Cheese Sandwiches and Tomato Soup? It depends on the day's activities, and who needs to get where when at what time.



Disclosure: Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. If you make a purchase on Amazon after clicking through one of these links, a portion of the proceeds goes to support this blog, at no additional expense to you.

January 2: Christmas Trails Off; Beginning of a New Year

Happy new year!

We're finished with our three (one on each side of the family, plus our own little nuclear family) Christmas celebrations; the calendars have been transferred, and "real life" starts up again (sort of) tomorrow. (There's still no school.)

No white Christmas this year; we did get a white New Year, but it's unlikely it will last to the end of the week -- which is when I'll be putting away Christmas (I time it for Epiphany).

I do plan to put some more thought into New Year's goals/resolutions/whatever you'd like to call them; they're kind of broken into themes this year, with sub-goals in each theme. Right now, let's just say that January's themes are "finances" and "organization" -- because, well, it's January.

So far, in our downtime, in keeping with those themes, I have gone through and entered receipts into spendingdiary.com; balanced the checkbook (including inputting more money into the school lunch account before it starts up again); purged and filed coupons; created a sort-of grocery list for the week and a meal plan; did a purge and clean-out of the refrigerator and its attached freezer (which included cleaning up the popsicle juice stains from last summer -- both flavors! no I didn't taste); started on a new inventory of what exactly is in our freezers and pantry; did a kid artwork reboot and magnet reorganization on the refrigerator; and cleared off some of the papers, junk, etc. from the kitchen island (a major hotspot in our household).

I also finished a reread of The Metcalfe Family Album by the lights of the Christmas tree (along, um, with significant portions of Christmas/birthday candy...); and played numerous card games of "Blink." I was able to win over the five-year-old once. I quit handicapping her. The whole family also enjoyed the Rose Parade on TV today, and a higher-end restaurant Sunday buffet yesterday.

And the five-year-old took an hour-and-a-half long bath today. This

(seen here on the day of its arrival from Santa Claus when we celebrated our family Christmas) could have had something to do with it.

Suddenly, It's *Last* Summer

So, it seems that I took the summer off from blogging. That wasn't exactly intentional (at least at the beginning), but we had a good summer full of beach visits, berry picking, birthday parties, family reunion, festivals, parks, picnics, pony rides, science experiments, State Fair, swimming lessons  -- and a weeklong stay with family at a lakeside cottage. (There was debate as to whether it was properly a "cabin" or a "cottage." The dictionary was consulted.) With the travel and the activities -- and the soaking up the sunshine before a Minnesota winter (we're supposed to get a light frost tonight) -- wow. that went fast.