Host Curriculum Night

I loved having a houseful of mom friends over yesterday. They inspire me.
I hosted a curriculum/mom's day so we could chat and do a sort of 'show and tell' with some of our favorite curriculum. We had a great turnout and there was SO much information. I was a bit overwhelmed, but I learned a lot.

Nature Hike

I took the boys on a nature hike at Arbor Hills Nature Preserve.  We had a lot of fun and found a ton of 'treasures'!  After a couple of hours of exploring and hiking, our homeschool group met at the park's playground and the boys had fun with some good friends.

Medieval Times

With Mark working so many hours, the boys have been missing him terribly so I wanted to do something special over spring break.  I decided to take them to Medieval Times. I was a little worried that Cameron might not be able to stay in his seat and enjoy the show, but that wasn't a problem at all. The boys LOVED it! After the show, we had a blast with some of the other guests.  I had a glass of wine while the boys had a battle with 2 other brothers.  They battled for a long time while I chatted with their parents.  We called a truce, but I think my boys could have taken them!

Bike Path

We had a great bike ride to Natural Grocers with the boys. I love having the bike trail out back! It is so convenient and easy to get around the neighborhood.

Hockey Game

The boys and I went to the Allen Americans Hockey game tonight. I have never been to a hockey game before and was surprised how much I liked it. The energy level of the fans is off the charts!

My friend took this photo with her IPhone

St.Patrick's Day preparations

My husband and I just finished putting the shamrock scavenger hunt together for the boys int he morning. They must find the leprechaun's gold!!

Fort Worth Zoo HS Day

We are hanging out at my parent's house in Fort Worth after an amazing day at the Fort Worth Zoo with my family. The weather was perfect.

Sleepy boy

I am sitting in the van at the park with a sleepy 2 year old while other homeschool mommies watch my 6 year old. Have I mentioned that I ♥ my mommy friends? It does take a village...

♪♫ Hey good lookin....

Whatcha got a cookin! ♪♫

HS Rollerskating

I finally got a chance to take Cameron's Christmas skates to the rink when I took the boys to the homeschool friday skate day.  Cameron went around the rink with me a few times, but preferred to roll on the carpet (which he did really well for a 1st time skater).  Carson is doing great on his rollerblades.  I actually have already bought him the next size from the thrift store for a couple of dollars.  I just love a deal!

Really?!

How is it that my husband and boys can completely destroy EVERY room in the house when I left everything clean only 2 hours ago?

Movie Night!

We hardly ever turn on the TV, but about 2 times a month we have a special movie night. The boys are very excited about movie night tonight. Carson is going to make muffins. The boys have informed me that we are watching Popular Mechanics for Kids (again).

The reason for it all...

6 year old Carson, "Mom, you have such a nice face. Everytime I look at you, it makes me feel so good inside." ♥♥Awwwwww♥♥

Neighborhood friends

We had some friends in the neighborhood that were home from school for 'snow day' come over for a few hours to play in the snow.  I made some hot chocolate and cookies.  The boys had so much fun!

Texas Snow

It is quite a year for snow in Texas!  Today, we enjoyed the southern snow by making a snow cannon out of pvc pipe and an air compressor (doesn't everybody do that?!). We also tried to repair the snowman that the boys and I made a couple of days ago.  The roads were sheets of ice, so we were able to enjoy some of this snow day with Mark until he went to work late morning.  I spent the rest of the day with the boys getting cold in the snow and coming in for warm herbal tea over and over again.  What a fun and special day ♥

RMS Titanic

The boys are facsinated with the Titanic and they have so much fun creating the ocean liner out of paper, wood, bristle blocks and just about anything they can get their hands on.  Today their Titanic creation was made of Cranium Mega Fort.  Captain Smith looks ready for launch - hope they have enough life boats

Superbowl Sunday XLIV

We took fabric markers to decorate our own football jerseys for Superbowl Sunday.  Carson decorated the back of his shirt with Manning.  I made ribs, salad and corn on the cob.  I also made a cute football cake made with coconut flour. I love the watching the season's final NFL games!

Slidey's Birthday

Carson really wanted to have a birthday party for his Webkinz horse, Slidey.  I came up with the idea to cut out paper cupcakes and decorate them with markers and glitter.  Of course, all of Slidey's animal friends were invited!

5 little monkey in my tub

We had 3 siblings spend the night and had so much fun playing!

A day of the arts

I took the boys to the Meyerson Symphony Center today. It was a great program they had prepared for the children to learn about the symphony. I was really impressed with the organ and facinated with what they had to go through just to get the pipes in the center! Wow.

While in downtown Dallas, I took the boys to the Museum of Art. I can't believe the self control 2 year old Cameron has! Sitting through the symphony and not touching or running at the museum. He's more mature than me! We walked throughout while Carson read about various pieces to us.

Bubbles the Dolphin

I finally broke down and bought myself a Webkinz so I can play online with Carson and design my own room. I bought a dolphin and named him Bubbles. I am just a little too excited for a woman my age!

Dancing Raisins

We did a cute little raisin experiment with carbonated water that the boys loved so much, they did it over and over again.  They thought it was so funny to eat the plumped up raisins when they were finished.

The first telephone (built in our house)

Carson loves to invent things and says that he wants to be an inventor when he grows up.  He can tell you more that I can about DaVinci, Thomas Edison, Benjamin Franklin and many other famous inventors.  He was so excited when I presented him with this Alexander Graham Bell book and kit.  There were parts in the kit to put together your very own communication device.

Going Bonkers

We spent some time burning some energy at Going Bonkers.  The boys were so happy that their best friend was able to make it.

Firefighters

I took the boys to meet up with a group of friends at the Dallas Museum of Science and Nature.  A favorite area is the fire engine and the dress up fire fighter costumes.

Christmas 2009

We had Christmas Eve dinner at my parent's home in Fort Worth.  We had a lovely and very tasty traditional Cuban Christmas meal.  Thanks Abuelo and Abuela!! It was a white Christmas as it snowed for most of the day and was blizzard-like outdoors when we sat down to dinner.  We had plans to go back home to enjoy Christmas morning in our own home and we drove in the snow.  We made it almost all the way home without too much trouble until we were on our last ramp at I35 and it was a complete sheet of ice!  We were stranded with other motorists for about 15minutes until our tires finally got enough traction to get us off the ramp and on our way home!  We were so lucky as we almost spent Christmas morning OVER Dallas in our van along with most of the other people stranded.

We had a very nice and relaxing Christmas morning with the boys and headed back to my parent's house to exchange gifts that afternoon.  Mark and I received the best gift of all.  Our two healthy boys are indeed a remarkable gift ♥

Carson's 6th Birthday!

Carson turned 6 today! I just can't believe how big he is getting.

Instead of a party, he opted to spend a special day with just the 4 of us ♥ It was freezing cold, so we bundled up and went to do the first thing on his list. First, we went to Adventure Landing to drive the go-karts and play in the arcade. Then we came back home for quiet reading time. After that, we went to Rockfish Grill where Carson ordered the green salad and grilled salmon. He said it was the best meal he ever had! Then we continued the fun at home where we sang happy birthday and ate the Star Wars cake that I made for him. Reading all the Star Wars novels over and over again created the theme for this birthday. Carson could hardly contain his excitement when it was time to open his birthday gifts! He was thrilled with some Star Wars gifts and a Learning Resources cash register.

It was such a fine day and he was so happy to have it all work out the way he envisioned. I Love him so much! I am the luckiest Mom in the world ♥♥♥♥♥♥

Digestion

We've been studying about digestion. Today we did a disgusting experiment that illustrated the importance of the lining of the stomach and what happens to food in the stomach and the path it takes in the intestines. The balloon acts as the stomach and the oil acts as the mucus that lines the stomach. Thank you uncle Joe for the gross science gift.

Snow Day!!

We woke up to snow this morning. The boys and I took a walk while we enjoyed the snow. It is too warm to stay on the ground, but was fun while it lasted. Despite errands I should do today, we may just stay home and play. Right now we are listening to Christmas music, reading Christmas books and putting matchbox cars together for an 'auto show' the boys are planning for later.

Beach Vacation

We are getting ready to go on a 9 day/ 8 night beach vacation in the Florida Keys. I am so excited, but I have so much to do to get ready to go! Mark is supposed to be taking off the day tomorrow so I can concentrate on laundry and packing, but he has brought a ton of work home. Wish me luck!
Wooooo Hoooo!

Cameron's first haircut

I was trimming Carson's hair and Cameron really wanted me to do his. I said sure and so he has just spontaneously received his first haircut. What a big boy he is getting to be. He sat still and patiently waited for me to finish. Pictures later :)

Meals on Wheels

We started to deliver meals for the Meals on Wheals program. I felt like it was one of the best charity groups that I could do with the boys so young. I was a little worried about the little training that I received before delivering the meals, but it worked out great. By the third stop, Carson was running to the back to pack up the next meal. Our total time for deliveries was just under 2hours. If any of you are thinking about helping others, this is a great program! I know both my boys felt good by helping others and many of my clients really enjoyed seeing the boys.
After we delivered the meals, we stopped by a park to play. A huge turtle fell over the bank about 6 feet and landed upside down. The water was too shallow for him to flip back over, so after a lot of work and risking my life...I saved the turtle. I am my boys' hero (and the turtle's).
Alright, enough with saving the world today.....goodnight.

Do I still have to cook now?

Carson loves to cook and he decided to make homemade bisquits. Oh MY! They were so good! We had to drive to Fort Worth so my dentist could adjust my temporary crown and we took some to Abuelo and Abuela. Carson was so proud to share his creation.

Richardson Fountain Festival

Mark went out of town for the weekend to visit his parents and friends. We decided to go to the Richardson Fountain Festival. Traditionally it is held outdoors near the big fountain, but this year's downpour forced everyone indoors. I was in a lot of pain still from my dental surgery (can you see my mouth swollen in the pic?), but we still had fun. Carson really liked the Maharlika Dancers. He has read a few books about difference cultural dances so he was familiar with the dance. Fun to see up close. We ran into some friends there and enjoyed their company very much.

Frontiers of Flight Museum

I took the boys to the Frontiers of Flight Museum to meet up with some friends. It was a great day to go as we pretty much had the entire place to ourselves and got a lot of personal stories from the retired pilots that volunteer there. The older gentleman in the picture gave us a short talk on the early flights of the Wright brothers. As we were leaving, I learned that he is actually a rocket scientist and I think he has traveled into space.
Both of the boys had a great time and it was nice visiting with our friends. As soon as we got home, Carson was busy replicating the Wright brothers' first plane. Then he read every book on flight that we had. He was really inspired.