Still Dirty, Still Weird, Still Fun

Posted on August 9, 2013April 4, 2014 by Amy

1. Went to the Dirty Weird Zoo yesterday. It just wouldn’t be summer without a visit to the DWZ.

When we visited last year my girls were timid about feeding the animals, and Lass just wouldn’t do it at all.

Not so this year.

We ran out of bread, but they were determined to feed grass to the cows.

Still dirty and weird. I just love that place.

2. What do you do if someone rings your doorbell at 9:30 at night, when your husband is working nights, and you know that the night before your garage door had accidentally been left open all night?

Do you assume a murderer has come for you (and politely rung your doorbell)? Turn off all the lights inside? Turn on all the lights outside? Turn on your alarm system?

Do you go to your garage door after realizing there’s no one at your front door (which you can see through) and yell, “Who is it??” “WHO IS IT?!”

Do you look around for a weapon and then grab your husband’s hunting knife and stalk around the house looking out all the windows?

No?

Yeah, me neither.

But if I did do all that stuff I would have felt kind of silly when I called my husband to double check that the garage doors were all closed when he left, and realized that my mysterious doorbell-ringer was probably one of the neighborhood kids messing around.

If I hadn’t been terrified to open my door I would have gone out there and rung those kids’ necks! I mean, if all that had actually happened, of course.

3. Okay. Obviously, #2 is an account of exactly what I did last night when my doorbell rang shortly after my husband had left for work. Since there was no one at my front door (little jerk ran away!) and I couldn’t see through the door into the garage (note to self to have peephole in new house), I was convinced that someone was lurking in my garage, waiting for me to open the door so he could murder me. I kept the hunting knife on the chair next to me for the rest of the night, even though after talking to my husband and then hearing kids getting up to some foolishness outside, I knew that our garage doors were securely closed and that said kids were responsible for my panic. Or at least for setting it in motion. I guess I can’t blame them for my craziness.

I don’t know why I automatically go into extreme-plan-to-confront-crazed-killer mode whenever there is the slightest indication of shady business going on.

Like the other day when a guy came to deliver something for my husband. I had forgotten he was coming, and he wasn’t wearing an obvious uniform. So in my mind all I saw was a strange man at my door with no business there. I quickly assessed the situation, considered how quickly I could press the panic button on my alarm panel, looked for an easily reachable weapon (a heavy vase was the closest thing I saw), thought of a few different ways I could inflict pain with my hands/knees/feet, and then cautiously opened the door a tiny crack with my foot wedged behind it to hopefully impede an attempt at forced entry. Yes. I do know this is crazy.

Or the time my husband and I were in the drive through of Starbucks after church and a girl, who was probably around 20-ish and all of maybe 110 lbs, started walking along the side of our car. She was a little close for (my) comfort so I automatically scanned to be sure the car doors were locked, looked for the best way for my husband to drive the car out of the danger lane, and thought about how I would punch her in the nose and the put my knee into her face if she tried to carjack us.

I don’t mean to come up with this stuff. I’m not at all a violent person. It just happens automatically. I don’t know if it’s because I grew up just outside Detroit in the days when carjacking became a thing. Or because I read a few too many true-crime novels in my early 20s. Or because I worked in prisons for several years. Probably it’s all those things combined, plus a hyper-protective don’t-you-even-think-you’re-going-to-mess-with-my-kids Mama-Bear instinct. Plus a little bit of insanity for good measure.

It’s what I do.

4. We got the first draft of the plans for our new house yesterday. We have a few changes to make, but I’m very happy with the initial drawings.

5. I have some serious stroller envy.

Super Friend has all the good stuff. She brought this double jogger today for both of our stroller-size littles to ride in:

I’ve never had a jogging stroller, because I have had a total of zero interest in jogging since running my last marathon in 2008. But I want it.

Super Friend is also loaning us her Super Stroller again. We used it for our trip to Disney World, and though I carried sis the whole time it is capable of carrying all three girls.

She’s letting us take it on our trip to the Iowa State Fair next week. I need to get one of these:

6. I don’t think there’s any worse feeling in the world than needing to take your child to the emergency room to assess a potentially serious health threat.

I got KFC for dinner last night, because we had to eat quickly between a doctor’s appointment and our Baptism class. As dinner was just getting started I noticed that Lass had bitten off the end of her chicken drumstick and swallowed it. The remaining end was pretty jagged looking so hubby called the ER and they told us to bring her in for X-rays. If they saw the chunk of or shards of bone in her stomach they would have to do a procedure to try to get it out.

Well, I was freaking out the whole way to the hospital, knowing they were going to see this thing in her stomach, because I knew she had swallowed it and praying that it had not yet moved into her duodenum or beyond.

We got to the hospital, got the X-rays, and found…

Nothing.

(She got that ostrich toy after her X-ray.)

Nothing was visible in her stomach or further along her digestive tract. I texted my babysitter and had her look around for the piece of bone, thinking that maybe she had just spit it out.

Nothing.

The mystery was solved when we got home. Hubby picked up another piece of chicken and chomped the end off. He proceeded to chew it right up like nothing. It was super soft and broke right up in his mouth. He had me try it with yet another drumstick. Yeah, I bit right through that bone. And then proceeded to gag and spit it right out. It was disgusting, and I have a thing about textures.

Apparently my middle child doesn’t. I’m so relieved she’s okay.

7. Today Super Friend and I are driving an hour to attend a Scholastic Warehouse Sale. With only one child (her littlest). Do I need to tell you that I’m way more excited about uninterrupted Mommy Friend time than about the book sale? No. I don’t. But the book sale should be good too.

Hoping you have a great Friday and a wonderful weekend. We’re heading to the Farm today after my Mommy date.

The Zoo

Posted on August 1, 2013 by Amy

We went to the zoo today with our friends.

We’re talking about the letter Z is for Zoo this week in school, so what a perfect opportunity to take a fun field trip to a small local zoo? Plus “Go to the Zoo” is on our summer list, so we had to go.

I had never been to this local zoo before. In years past, we’ve gone to the place I fondly refer to as the Dirty Weird Zoo, which is closer to our house (plans to go there next week). This little zoo was delightful (except for a few stinky moments, unavoidable at small “up close” zoos).

I just loved how much the girls enjoyed seeing the animals and hearing all the smart things they had to say about them.

One of the first animals we saw was this guy:

I said, “Hm, is that a meerkat?”

Miss said, “No Mama, that’s a ring-tailed lemur.”

Well.

Though there were many, many really cool animals to see, one of the favorites was this pond with big bright orange fish (maybe koi?):

When we went to the Nature Center with my Mom a few weeks ago, Lass had no interest in stopping to look at the various animals. She just kept saying “Keep. Walking!” She wanted to get to see the opossum that day I think. Today she kept asking to go back to see the fish. Over and over and over.

Similarly, her sister kept saying, “Mama I want to save my allowance for: insert every single type of animal we saw today here”. The whole time we were there. My girls are nothing if not consistent/persistent.

Anyway, the fish were a big hit.

They both said they really enjoyed seeing the zebra and the baby giraffe too.

But they didn’t seem nearly as excited about those as they were about the bird house (Ew).

They all loved it, but the bird house totally grosses me out.

As does the petting zoo, which was also a huge hit amongst the short crowd.

I will say that, though I usually don’t much care for the petting zoo, this one wasn’t too bad. The animals were relatively clean and all very docile. Aside from one near disaster involving a two-year-old trying to manage a bunny while the staff member looked on and freaked out but didn’t really help, it was quite nice.

The other favorite with the kids was the playground.

It was a heck of a playground, with tons of huge play structures and several of these amazing merry-go-round things:

I loved these things. The merry-go-round was my favorite playground staple when I was a kid (though we never had one as cool as these!), followed closely by the teeter totter.

Considering that there are no merry-go-rounds or teeter totters to be found on playgrounds anymore, I was really excited for my girls to get to enjoy these.

My other favorites of the day?

This guy, who sat right up at the fence and made funny faces at us:

And this next little guy, my fave for two reasons:

1. Obviously he is adorable.

2. Several months ago Miss told my Mother-in-law that she wanted to look on the computer for a picture of a fennec fox. I had never heard of this type of fox, but my MIL obliged, and I walked into the office at the Farm to see her and Miss scrolling through photos of little critters that look just like this:

A fennec fox.

I was more excited to see him than Miss seemed to be. Apparently she’s so over the fennec fox.

And I was just thrilled to see this hummingbird up close and personal.

Hummingbirds amaze me. They almost never stop moving and yet they always look perky and graceful at the same time. Don’t they ever get tired?? I kind of feel like I’m a hummingbird wannabe some days.

Today was a great day.

Summer Fun List Update

Posted on July 27, 2013July 26, 2013 by Amy

First of all, sorry about yesterday. Laundry and weeds and appliances? Yeah. Sorry.

I’ll do better today.

Some people have been asking me about our progress on our Summer Fun List.

Out of 51 things (the original list had 50, but I added “Iowa State Fair” to it when some travel plans changed), we have completed 28.

I just counted them up tonight and am a little surprised we haven’t done more.

But we’ve been having a heck of a great time.

Last night we went to the local old-fashioned drive-in restaurant for our family date night. We were going to have a picnic in the back of my truck, but there was a lot of loud and smelly construction going on right next to the restaurant. Hubby and I both thought that we could have handled the noise, but the diesel fumes were too much. So we went to a different place, with the plan to go back for our picnic either after the construction is finished or on a Saturday when the workers aren’t there.

Tonight our friends are coming over for a cookout and movie night. We’re having s’mores, and we’ll try to catch fireflies (second attempt). That’s three more things to check off in a few hours.

^Dancing/chasing when we went to an outdoor concert.

I have a date with Super Friend to take the kids to the (regular) zoo this next week. I think we’ll head to the Dirty Weird Zoo in the next two weeks too, probably when Daddy starts working nights again (we’re starting Z is for Zoo in school).

^Showing off some of the treasures we received after completing our library’s Summer Reading Program.

We have made lemonade and ice cream and I have some nice ripe bananas ready to blend into a popsicle mixture.

There are a few things we /can’t/won’t do until we go to the Farm/Iowa in a few weeks. We’ll hit the Iowa State Fair then of course, and while we’re there hopefully go to a cool butterfly garden they have. We’ll (they’ll) probably also sleep in a tent (or try to) and make sandcastles at the Farm.

I think we’ll get everything done, except maybe getting ice cream from an ice cream truck. I haven’t seen an ice cream truck on our street yet this year.

The best thing is that Miss has asked me if we can have a Winter Fun List too. We decided to have a Fall/Winter list, which already includes: Have a snowball fight, Make a snowman, Go deer hunting, and lots of crafts, all at Miss’s request.

For fun reference, with about one month to go, we have completed:

Pick Strawberries

Summer Reading Program

Find Outdoor Treasures and Use them to Make Art Project

Plant a Garden

Make Old-Fashioned Lemonade

Go to an Outdoor Concert

Go to the Park

Watch Fireworks

Make Firework Art

Go For a Boat Ride

Make Ice Cream

Do an Outdoor Scavenger Hunt

Read Books Outside

Water Play

Run Through a Sprinkler

Put the Sprinkler Under the Trampoline (this was a favorite!)

Picnic Lunch in the Yard

Catch Tadpoles

Go Fishing

Play Hopscotch

Go to a Splash Pad

Swim in a Lake or Pond

Visit a Horse Farm and Ride a Horse (these ended up being two separate outings)

Go On a Treasure Hunt Outside

Grow Caterpillars into Butterflies

Pick Wildflowers

Go to the Beach

Hunt for Bugs

23 to go!

The Rest of the Week

Posted on July 5, 2013August 2, 2013 by Amy

I’m linking up with Conversion Diary again today.

My seven quick takes are pretty much all about what we’ve been doing this week with Grandma and Grandpa, in addition to the horseback riding and scavenger hunt that I’ve already posted about this week. That’s because I’m in the middle of nowhere and I have nothing else to talk about. But I do have a fabulous recipe for you that I’ve been meaning to share. So I’ll start with that.

1. Cauliflower crust pizza. Dee. Lish. Us. It is a great way to eat pizza if you don’t eat gluten or grains. You start by making cauli-rice (which itself is a good substitute for rice):

Then add a few ingredients to make it into a crust (recipe here).

Before baking the crust:

After:

It’s surprisingly easy, and my kids LOVE it. Get the recipe here. It really is good. You can even pick up a slice and eat it like regular pizza.

One tip – Don’t skimp on the step that stresses that you must get as much water out of the cauli-rice as possible before mixing in the other ingredients. I wrap it in a towel and squeeze the heck out of that stuff and still end up pressing a paper towel on it after shaping it into a crust (but before baking) to get out as much moisture as possible.

Try it. You’ll like it.

2. Okay, here’s where I’ll get into telling you all about what else we’ve been doing with G&G.

Swimming:

This pool sits on a hill in my parents’ yard. One corner of it has no water. The opposite one, the “deep end,” has only about 8 inches. Still, you’d think it was the best thing ever.

3. Another visit to the local nature center. This time we got to see all the animals.

The snakes were still the favorite though.

My big girls both chose $2 rubber snakes as their souvenirs. They have been sleeping with them. Are my kids the only ones who like to sleep with fake rubbery snake toys?

Lass has even named a new snake species for hers – “Jumping, Flying, Camouflage Snake.”

4. The beach:

Chasing butterflies:

The beach was awesome until a work crew of half a dozen adolescent boys showed up on their lunch break and decided to go for a swim. In their underwear.

We got out of the water at that point, but we had already had a great morning.

5. I was just informing my husband that we are going out to dinner tonight with my parents and the girls. The conversation went like this:

Me: “We’re going out to dinner again tonight”

Him: “Okay.”

Me: “We’re going to try to get there at about 5, because it’s a sit down place where they bring food.”

Him: “You mean a restaurant?”

Ah motherhood, where every conversation is affected by thoughts of your kids and you feel the need to clarify that the eating establishment you will be attending has wait staff who will bring the food to you instead of a buffet or order-at-the-counter arrangement.

6. Because you know you were dying to see pics of our parade yesterday:

7. And the grand finale:

My parents have some friends who were kind enough to invite us to watch the fireworks at their great lakefront house, which just happens to be right across the bay from the spot where they launch the show.

No battling traffic. No porta potties. No crowds. Nice.

They even had some pre-show home fireworks in the yard.

We tried to catch some fireflies, but it was too windy. We could only see them in the woods, and it was too freaking dark for me to go very far into the woods, even for fireflies for my kids. Plus Lass heard a boom from some fireworks and she turned around and took off running willy nilly into the dark and toward the water, so we had to abandon Operation Firefly promptly.

But the girls forgot all about the fireflies when the big fireworks started.

Have a great holiday weekend.

Check It Off

Posted on June 30, 2013June 30, 2013 by Amy

When I wrote about our Summer List a few weeks ago, I mentioned that one of our to-do items was to visit a horse farm and ride horses. We were able to do part of that when we went to a horse farm with my Mother-in-law.

The girls had a great time seeing these beautiful horses.

But, Percherons are so huge, they aren’t really for riding.

The closest we could come to riding these big guys was to get a wagon ride.

The girls really enjoyed that trip.

But I still really wanted them to have a chance to ride horses.

Today we went on an outing with that goal in mind.

Near my my parents’ house is a wrangler camp where there is a riding stable. They have “pony rides” for little ones, and when my mom called this morning she was told that they were doing rides “all day every day.”

So we hurried and got ready. Which of course didn’t occur very quickly when getting three kids and myself dressed and sun screened, but we managed to hit the road a little after 11am. We arrived to the stable at about 11:45, only to see a sign on the door saying “Sorry, we’re out. Back at 1pm.”

I called the place again and got a message saying they are closed for lunch from 12 to 1. Apparently “all day every day” didn’t mean to them what it meant to us.

My girls could see horses out the car windows and were whining about getting out and riding them.

I pulled the car around to the back of the riding place so they could get out and at least look at the horses that were tied up along the fence.

As we were checking out these pretties, I was rapidly trying to figure out what we should do next.

Option 1: Go home and call it a day, get lunch and be down for naps at a reasonable time. Hope that seeing the horses would be enough to tide them over and then come back another day, earlier in the day, to ride.

Option 2: Find somewhere to have lunch (nothing was closer than at least a 20 minute drive) and come back to ride after 1.

Naturally, we chose Option 2.

We had a fun buffet lunch at the lakeside lodge and went back for rides.

I am so glad we did.

The girls had so much fun. They were excited that they got to ride big horses, instead of ponies. They smiled and chattered happily.

Miss told the handlers about our trip to see the Percherons.

When we asked Lass what her favorite kind of horse is she said, “This one I’m on!”

I loved watching them.

We didn’t get back until about 3. Naps were short. Girls were a bit crabby this evening. But it didn’t even matter.

This was well worth it.

Check it off.

A Little Adventure

Posted on June 23, 2013June 23, 2013 by Amy

We had a little adventure today.

I wanted to plan a little outing. Something to get us out of the house so my husband could sleep.

Nothing huge, but something different, and thus an adventure.

So, after church, I smeared sunscreen on three girls, threw a picnic lunch together, and we drove to a local strawberry patch.

Lass was really into picking.

She worked hard and picked more than either Miss or me.

It was hot and muddy, but we had fun.

I have to admit though, after getting home from church, I was really tempted to skip the outing. I hadn’t mentioned it to the girls. It was getting close to lunch time and I knew we would end up having lunch late and then taking naps late. I kind of wanted to just do what was easy.

Stay home. Play in the yard. Read some books. Lunch at noon, naps at 1.

Easy.

I had a moment of thinking, “Eh, forget it.”

Then I thought about our Summer List and how excited the girls were to cross off the things we’ve done so far. Okay, I also thought about how much I like to cross things off lists.

I thought about how this might be the only good chance we have to pick strawberries since Miss has camp this week and we are going to Kentucky the following week (where strawberry picking is already done) and I didn’t know if we’d still be able to pick after that…

I thought about how much fun they would have if we had a little adventure.

I though about how sometimes it’s better to not just do the easier thing.

So, I took away my option of saying, “Eh, forget it” by telling the girls exactly what I had planned for us to do. I just blurted it out so I couldn’t take it back and I would have to follow through.

The looks on their faces and the thrill in their voices when I said we were going to pick strawberries and then go to a park for a picnic lunch… Well, I no longer wanted to wuss out, but I wouldn’t have anyway at that point.

And I’m glad I didn’t.

I’m happy I decided to smear that sunscreen and pack that lunch and take the 30 minute drive that should have been 20 minutes but we got a little lost because my GPS didn’t recognize the address of the place.

We would have had a lovely day if we had stayed home and played in the yard and colored and read books.

But instead we had a little adventure.

It was a memorable day. I’m not sure if my girls will remember it, but I surely will.

It was so worth it.

Field Trip – Elephant and Piggie Style

Posted on April 26, 2013April 26, 2013 by Amy

A few days ago, I started our morning by telling my girls we were going to the children’s museum to see Elephant and Piggie.

I case you don’t know, Elephant (Gerald) and Piggie (who doesn’t have another name) are the characters in a series of books by Mo Willems. We were introduced to Mo Willems recently by my Super Friend who gave Baby Sis the book “The Duckling Gets a Cookie?!” and a Duckling stuffed animal for her birthday. My girls loved Pigeon and Duckling, so the Easter Bunny brought them some Elephant and Piggie books. And, wonder of wonders, they love these too!

Needless to say, they were very excited when I told them we were going to see Gerald and Piggie and hear a new book “Elephants Cannot Dance.” They immediately rounded up all their books and started reading them (they have them memorized).

I managed to tear them away from the books so we could get dressed and make the 30 minute drive to the children’s museum with time to make several parking errors, fill a parking meter with most of my quarters only to realize that it had a 30-minute limit (you’re welcome red car that pulled in after me), finally find a place to park, and get inside, with time to spare before the program started.

The girls killed time with some construction vehicles,

mirrors and squishy toys and

vegetables.

It wasn’t planned this way, but we ended up meeting Super Friend and her husband and their kids for the show. Super Friend walked in with her kids, and her kids and my kids exclaimed simultaneously, “Our friends are here!!”

There was so much anticipation before the entrance of Elephant and Piggie.

They finally came in and…

Sat down.

Apparently the costumes they were wearing didn’t provide them with much ability to see, because both of them needed to be guided to their seats by a “handler,” and they did not get up again for the duration of the story time. At least Piggie waved a few times.

The girls were so excited to see them, they didn’t care one bit. I was the only one who was disappointed I think, becasue I thought E and P were actually going to read/act out the book.

The woman who did read it did a great job though and had the kids up and dancing and spinning and having a good old time.

We got to “meet” the immobile, mute Elephant and Piggie afterwards. It was a very stimulating experience…

The girls got to do a craft, making hula skirts out of paper afterwards.

While we were crafting, Miss got wise to the fact that it wasn’t really Elephant and Piggie there at the story time when she looked hard over at Piggie next to us and saw a gap in the costume at the neck. Some guy’s hairy neck was showing, and my girl figured that one out right smartly. Later she told me, “Mom, I don’t think that was the real Gerald and Piggie we saw today. I think it was just someone dressed like them.”

Afterwards the girls had lots of time to run and play with their friends and explore some of the rest of the museum.

We don’t go there enough. It has been about 2.5 years since we were there last, so neither of them remember being there before, but they’re already asking to go back.

We used up all of our usual school time to go there, so after we got home Miss asked when we were going to do school. Surprisingly she wasn’t that thrilled when I told her that our trip to the children’s museum was our school for the day.

It was a great “field trip.”

Southern Adventures

Posted on April 11, 2013 by Amy

We are visiting my parents this week. Just take a look at all the fun:

Sunday we went to the circus.

Baby Sis stayed home with Grandma and Grandpa.

The big girls had a big time.

They both said the horses were their favorite part of the show.

Monday we went to the local nature center.

We saw turtles and snakes. Owls, vultures, a hawk, an eagle (I’ll never get over how beautiful those birds are). Whitetail deer, fallow deer, wolves, a coyote, a bobcat, a groundhog, and an opossum (this one had all four of his legs and an intact tail, unlike our friend under our deck). I think these guys were the favorite:

Each time I made my (pathetic) turkey gobble call sound they would all puff up and gobble really loudly all together. They were so loud they scared the crap out of the girls, who thought it was quite hilarious.

We’ve been reading a gazillion books and going to story time with Grandma.

We’ve been flying kites and playing outside.

We’ve had lots of running outside. I love watching them run.

Being outside (without full snow suit attire) has been nice for all of us. There’s something about feeling the wind in your hair that is good for the soul.

They’re having ice storms where we live, so we’re taking full advantage.

Sun, warmth, and Grandma and Grandpa. Doesn’t get any better than that.

Homeschool Art Show

Posted on January 5, 2013 by Amy

Recently, I heard about an opportunity in our homeschooling group for the kids to have their artwork displayed at a local downtown store during our town’s Gallery Walk, which occurs the first Saturday of every month.

My girls love to paint, so I jumped at the chance for them to participate. I told the girls about it and bought them some special canvases on which to create their pieces. Neither of them really understood what the heck I was talking about when I said their art would be on display in a store downtown. They didn’t really care about anything other than having the chance to paint. And paint they did.

They each did a painting for the Gallery Walk and then did several more.

Miss did paintings of her sisters and then created this Self Portrait.

I thought about taking Miss’s self portrait for the Gallery Walk, but she didn’t want me to take that or the painting she did of her sisters anywhere.

So we sent these:

The one on the left is Lass’s, Miss’s on the right.

I didn’t ask either of them what they had painted or to give a name for their paintings. Both of them did so on their own though. In case you can’t see the cards on them, Lass’s is “Rapunzel’s Magical Hair” and Miss’s is “Picture of Wisconsin.”

Tonight was the Gallery Walk. I told the girls we were all going on a date to have dinner and ice cream and go see their paintings on display. I didn’t think they would really get the concept of having their artwork displayed for others to see unless we actually went and saw it and saw others seeing it. So we did.

We started out with dinner at a small cafe downtown.

I realized recently that we don’t take the girls out for dinner enough (um, ever). When we visited my parents we took them out to a local buffet and they thought it was the coolest thing ever. Neither of them had done that before. When it occurred to me that they don’t ever get to do that, I decided to remedy the situation and begin taking them out to eat more often.

So tonight we had a girl’s night out “date night” (Daddy wasn’t home). They had mac and cheese for dinner and chocolate ice cream for dessert.

After dinner we went over the the store where their art was displayed. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but it was really fun to see them see their art and accept compliments on it. There were several other homeschooling families there and they were very kind in their comments to my girls about their paintings.

It was also a great experience for them to see the artwork done by the other kids in the group. There were really great pieces, including photography, fused glass, paintings, textural drawings, cut paper art, colored pencil drawings, and even a castle sculpture made from marshmallows and toothpicks. The girls really got into looking at the different types of art.

When I first signed them up to participate in this I wondered if I was being kind of dumb since they are so young. I thought maybe I would seem silly since they aren’t technically of “homeschooling age.” I thought they might not even understand the idea of being in an “art show.”

They probably wouldn’t have if I hadn’t taken them to see it. And Lass probably still didn’t really quite get it.

But I don’t feel silly about having them participate in the experience anymore. They had fun. They got to paint, which they always love. They got to have a special night out with Mom. They got to see their artwork on display with other pieces by older kids. They got to explore and enjoy the other art and receive compliments on theirs. They thanked the mother who organized the show.

And now we have our next craft project already planned out. I happen to have mini marshmallows and toothpicks in my cupboards. Sculptural art lesson, here we come!

Our First Homeschool Field Trip

Posted on October 16, 2012October 16, 2012 by Amy

One thing I was nervous about when trying to make the decision about whether to homeschool our girls was finding a local group of homeschoolers with whom we would fit. It took a while, but I eventually did find a group and was really excited to start going to functions and meeting other homeschooling families. Then I realized most things the group was planning were geared toward older kids or took place during nap time. So I’ve been stalking the group’s FB page, waiting and hoping for an activity that I could get to with Miss, if not all three of the girls. Today, we made it to our first field trip.

We went to the fire station.

The trip occurred during nap time, but I got a babysitter for the two younger girls and told Miss she could skip her nap today. While we were driving to the fire station, Miss asked me why Lass and Sis couldn’t come with us. I told her that they were too young to skip their naps. I said how excited I was to have some time to spend just with her. Know what she said? “Yeah. But I wish my sisters were with me.” Love this girl.

She got a big kick out of the firefighter in his “robot” suit.

After our lesson on fire safety, we got to take a tour of the fire station and look at all the trucks.

I loved this. It reminded me of many, many visits to the fire station to see my Dad when I was a girl. I talked to Miss about how her Grandpa was and her uncle is firefighter as we walked around the station. I told her that Grandpa’s fire station had a pole that the firefighters slid down when the fire alarm rang, and that I used to slide down it (okay, just halfway) when I was little.

She got to check out the engine.

It was a good afternoon with my oldest girl.

I must admit I was very nervous going to this field trip. I felt like the new kid in school. I really wanted to meet some other families we could connect with on our homeschool journey. Unfortunately, the situation was not really conducive to lots of visiting with other moms. I did meet one other mom briefly, but there was no chance for chatting or bonding. I had fun anyway, and I can see us doing this regularly. Except for the nap skipping thing. That didn’t work out so well come bedtime tonight.

After our field trip, Miss and I rounded out our special afternoon together by getting some ice cream. This girl takes after her mama. She loves some ice cream.