Author: Joyce

Old Acquaintance

I met an old acquaintance at the mall yesterday.  The parks department is hosting different programs to go along with the Photography Show this week. The program yesterday was about reptiles and amphibians.  The kids and I got reacquainted with Snuffy, the Corn Snake. I think this was the first time that Allan has met him.

I really don’t like snakes, and holding them is not my favorite thing to do. But when the kids were little, they did not want to hold them either.  I dared them to hold a baby Rat Snake  that a friend had. Well, they dared me back, and I ended up holding the Rat Snake too. Mark discovered that he likes snakes a lot!

I learned a very important Mommy lesson. Don’t dare the kids to do something I don’t want to do 🙂  I ended up holding a salamander once because of a dare too, but the photo proof of that is lost somewhere.

Everyone enjoyed playing with Snuffy yesterday except for Andrea and Megan.  Megan kept far away from Snuffy, and Andrea was keeping an eye on Megan. When we got home, she said she sort of wishes she could have held him too.

I still don’t want a pet snake, but Snuffy is okay once in awhile.

 

Photoshoot-Mark

Mark and Megan Mark by tree I needed some nice pictures of Mark. He is growing and changing so quickly, that I am having trouble keeping up.

Since August, he has outgrown me, changed his voice and can out eat me (and Allan) for any meal.  I have heard many rumors that this is only the beginning!

Because of this, I rarely can get the camera to see what I see.  But while we were playing at the park, Mark’s personality was really showing through.  I loved how he kept playing and exploring, but taking quick breaks to look at me for a picture. I treasure the times he discovers something exciting and still yells for me to come look.

Mark on logI am so fortunate to have the privilege of watching Mark grow. I am thankful that he can learn at home so I have extra time to watch him change and mature.  God has a wonderful plan for Mark, and I am loving being a part of it.

 

 

 

Fungi

MushroomsMark thinks that these are “Stairstep Fungi”, but I am not sure what kind.  We found these yesterday on a log we sat on.  I really like the colors, but the nut on top really caught my eye.  I wonder who’s lunch we disrupted.

Mark

Mark.bwMark and I had a “date” while the other kids had Science Sleuths at Oxbow today.  Megan was with us being “princess” but she had to follow us around and do what Mark wanted to do.  Mark is the prince, and princesses follow their princes around :).  She did a good job most of the time.

Mark discovered a new path. He wanted to go by the water, and he found some steps that I have never been down.  We found some neat places to explore and Mark found what we think are snow fleas.  He also found the bones of a buck in the water!  Very neat, but sort of gross too.

While he played, I took pictures of him and Megan. I have more nice ones of him, but I think this is my favorite.

Sledding

Adrian enhancedThe weather has been very mild this year, so even though the snow is not very deep, we thought we would try sledding.  The hills were hardly used with very little soft snow so the kids had  trouble getting their sleds to go very fast. Megan learned very quickly to make the ride “scarier” by screaming the whole way down. Everyone enjoyed getting outside, though it was a “tame” day at the sledding hills.  Megan and AudreySledding

Crystal Bubble

Crystal Bubble

This morning, the kids went next door to help the neighbor shovel her driveway.  Megan wanted to go too, so she started that way without me.

This afternoon, we were being silly and playing with bubbles in the house.  We discovered that some of them would bounce on the carpet before popping.  I am not sure how long we played with the bubbles, but it was a lot of fun.

Bubble

Broken Bubble

Playing catchThe weather was perfect for blowing bubbles last night and this morning!  If you blow bubbles in freezing weather, they will freeze.  The closer the temperature is to zero, the better the ice bubbles are.

You can watch frost form on the solution on the bubble wand. Gently blow on the wand to warm the solution before blowing a bubble.  If a breeze catches the bubble just right, the ice bubble will float becoming more opaque just before it shatters.

School Today (Inauguration 2013)

Swearing inEven though a lot of children had a long weekend, we chose to have school today. We worked on our math and did some reading.

Then, for history, we watched President Obama’s taking the Oath of Office. It was interesting listening to the kids as they discussed what was happening.  They have been paying attention in history!  We asked Megan to point out who President Obama was when she saw him. She did a good job.  If asked who our President is, she replies “Omama”.

To reward their hard work on a holiday, we will take a “snow day” one day and go sledding.