TreasuresInTerraCotta

For the first time the boys submitted entries for the County Fair!    Andrew did a "directed drawing" of a bird with fanciful patterns in Sharpie on water color paper.  Then he painted it with water colors.  It is in the top left. Calvin took some photos at the zoo.  It's on the right. The frames were high on a wall behind a fence because there were some ancient home models on the left.  So I couldn't get a photo of the boys with their entires, nor could I actually take a very good picture of them.     Here is the actual photo taken by Calvin.  I am having issues with my camera, so the actual 5x7 was not as clear as I hoped it would be, but he still received a blue ribbon.  Monday we ventured to the fair.  Behind them are their painted rocks.  Calvin painted a rectangular rock blue with buttons and nobs to look like a video game controller.  He received a bl...

We are back to school this week.  We have two more weeks of curriculum and we will be finished with Kindergarten.  Wow!  It will probably take us four weeks to get through it, but I can still say Wow! Calvin keeps saying that he will be glad to start first grade "after a few weeks break for summer."  Here he is doing a little breakfast reading.  We have read this book many times, but he sat and read the whole thing to himself a few days ago.  Tyler was so amused that he took pictures and video...all while Calvin was totally engrossed in his book.  This week is "Qq for Quail" which also includes the study of birds in general.  So we headed to the zoo for a little adventure.  Andrew chasing a duck.   Calvin chasing the same poor duck.  The duck escaped for a few minutes of peace.  But the lure of sandwich crusts proved too enticing to the duck so she quickly ventured out of the bushes, only...

After our early introduction to the butterfly life cycle back in September/October we spent last week actually studying "Bb is for Butterfly," the butterfly life cycle and that "God can make me new." Here are some highlights.  Caterpillars arrived on Monday.   Butterfly print watercolors.  Butterfly Magic at the Tucson Botanical Gardens on Friday with friends. (#31 from my 101 in 1001 list ) Gotta love those magnifying glasses!   Caterpillar snacks from Family Fun ( March 2011 ) (#38 from my 101 in 1001 list ) Butterfly snacks from Family Fun ( March 2010 )  Enjoying their snacks! By the end of the week we had five big fat caterpillars, but no chrysalids yet. We'll keep you posted.

Last week Calvin said, "I want to go search for gems." "Where? In the wash or at the park?" I asked. "No. In a cave." "Well...I'll have to think about that." I guess that's what I should expect when the Kindergarten lessons for the past two weeks have been "Rr for Rock" and "Jj for Jewel."  I got on-line and searched for Colossal Cave.  We've been there before and I wasn't feeling very excited about taking two boys through the 45 minute cave tour by myself. Especially since I was doubtful that we could actually find gems in that particular cave. I was surprised to discover that there are a lot of other things to do and see at Colossal Cave Mountan Park !  Picnicing, horseback riding, historic buildings, a butterfly garden.  Most importantly for us was The Sluice where in Wild-West fashion you can pan for gold.  Perfect! Fifteen minutes later we were headed East.  In and of itse...