Week 2: Plants

Another Tuesday, another preschool session! I have the first shift, so I teach for three weeks in a row and then I am completely done for the rest of the semester. This is nice, since the baby is due shortly after the third class. The kids have been really good and it is so much fun for Emily and Caleb to have some friends come over for a couple of hours.
Today we talked about seeds and plants. This was a much easier lesson to plan than manners!

We always start with opening the Joy School windows for each student that is there. They actually really love this.














One of my neighbors did the real Joy School program for one of her other kids, so she had the poster left from that. She also had this weather chart that we talk about at the beginning. I let the kids look out the window and then decide what the weather is like. Then we talk about what kind of clothes they should choose to wear. Too bad it is always hot and sunny here. Today was exciting because it was cloudy and hot. I love that one of the kids (besides Caleb) always moves the arrow to Rain when I give him a turn. He also told me he put on a raincoat to walk to preschool.

Then we talked about seeds needing dirt, water, and sun to grow and made a poster together about that. I had the shapes pre-cut and I just let the kids tape everything on and draw the sun and water.

Then we planted some beans. I'm not sure if they'll really grow, but I thought the kids would have fun playing in the dirt, poking holes, and planting beans.

While we were outside we collected leaves for leaf prints. As you can see, I think that might be an activity for an older group. The two at the bottom are by the two older kids.

Books are always a hit with this group, so we read Jack's Garden by Henry Cole to introduce the idea of seeds and plants. We also read Big Black Bear by Wong Herbert Yee to review manners (they love this one - it's the best one I looked at about manners) and This is the Firefighter by Laura Godwin and Below by Nina Crews as attention-getters when the kids were getting antsy.
They really like those last two books, if any of you future teachers are looking for good reading.

The time really went too fast - I think I would have been fine to have them for three hours, which is never something I thought I would say. I think the kids learned some good basics - what a seed needs to grow, what leaves are for, and what roots are for. Joseph thought I should teach them all to say "photosynthesis" just to impress parents, but we didn't get to that. :) Maybe that's what we would have used an extra half hour for!

I know this was a lot of detail, but I thought it might be helpful for anyone else out there looking for lesson ideas.

The Age of Aquarium

On our way to get groceries one day in Corpus Christi we passed this sandcastle souvenir shop and had to stop.

We bought a couple of little things and took this picture, but mostly it was the outside that was cool.

The next day we headed to the aquarium. We saw so many cool things and the kids had a great time, so I was surprised when I looked through our pictures and didn't find much.
Here's an exciting one of the aquarium entrance. Actually, I really did think this was a cool little entryway. Our family likes water. And it made Emily more curious about the place, I think.

I'm not exactly sure what this little bubble thing was for, but it was a cute idea. I probably should have read up on it so I could explain better. I do love this picture of Emily and Joseph checking out the little critters in this tank!

This is the tank we stood and watched for the longest.
The fish were huge and I thought that great white shark in there was pretty sinister looking. I think movies have done that to me.

We got to the aquarium around 11 and learned that the dolphin show was at 12. Perfect timing! We had time to walk around all the tanks without getting bored and then went outside for the show. We did have to sit out there in the heat for about 20 minutes in order to get good seats, but it was worth it.
Joseph is good at keeping the kids happy and entertained. Emily loves sunglasses.


I asked Emily to smile, but she would not cooperate. I believe she said, "Do you see this sad face, Mama? I can't smile because I'm waiting for the dolphins." Or something to that effect.
She's been funny about emotions and facial expressions lately. Sometimes I call the kids cats just to hear her say, "We're not cats, we're kids!" every single time. But once I did and didn't get the right response. I said, "Are you cats ready to go?" and she said. "Yeah, we're ready. But do you see that you have one sad cat (her) and one happy cat (Caleb)? I am sad because..." and then some reason that I can't remember. She's a cutie head, she is.

And finally, finally, the show started. Of course I had to take Emily to the bathroom right then. But when we got back it was really impressive. It was so neat to see those huge animals (450 lbs. +) up close and to see how high they could jump, how fast they could swim, and how intelligent they were. You could definitely tell the trainers and dolphins were totally in tune with each other. As amazing as all this stuff was, we didn't get any good pictures.
Here are the three trainers, each with her dolphin at attention in front of her. Sorry they're tiny.

And I thought this one was sweet. Who wouldn't want to be hugged by a dolphin?


After wandering around a bit more after the show we headed back home to good ol' Austin. The trip was fine. Our kids did great, even with no movies because of a broken DVD player cord. They're good little cats.

I'm Seeing a Trend...

Joseph was able to come with me to an ultrasound this morning thanks to a fantastic neighbor who was willing to babysit for a couple of hours (thanks Heather!). My doctor's office routinely does a 36 week ultrasound to check on the baby's size and position and fluid. Everything seems to be going well - the baby is developing properly, is active, is head down, and there is plenty of fluid.
There is just one issue: they think the baby is already seven pounds. And it still has three or four weeks to grow, gaining about half a pound a week. Hmm. Emily was 7 lb. 5 oz., Caleb was 8 lb. 14 oz, what's this one going to weigh?
If each baby is going to be a pound and a half heavier than the last, maybe we shouldn't have too many more!

First Day of School!

Living in student housing has many perks, one of which is the number of other small children living nearby. It is so nice to live close to so many other families at our stage of life. One of my friends decided to put together a little joy school for five of the kids Emily's age. Since they are so young, we are meeting once a week for 2-1/2 hours. This means that each mom only needs to teach three times for a whole semester of lessons. The group was considerate enough to allow me to teach first so that I can hopefully be done by the time we have this next baby. So, today was our first day of school! Emily is the only girl, smack dab in the middle age-wise of four little boys. One is missing in this picture, but it was still crowded enough to convince me to move to a bigger apartment before having our sixth kid. :)

The lesson was about manners and rules, so after some discussion our first activity was making paper dolls of our class (to show that we're all friends). Everyone chose one and dressed it. I had made four more chains the night before so each kid could draw faces on a set and take it home. Emily drew most of these faces.

Then we sorted helping and fighting pictures into happy and sad columns.

Then we had a snack. They were very well behaved for this part and it was kind of fun to have such a crowded table!

After the food was some free play and then a treasure hunt to practice following directions. The clues were easy for the kids to understand so they did really well in finding the treasure (little packs of Jelly Bellies) without too much help.


Emily carried her "prizes" around with her for a while after the kids left.
I would call her first day of school a success! Not as stressful as I thought it would be for sure. And it will definitely be a good and enjoyable experience for her as she learns to behave in a classroom setting throughout the rest of the year.

Beach Baby, Beach Baby, There on the Sand

Well, we finally took a quick family vacation this summer and it was so much fun! We are thinking about doing it every year. A friend had recommended a place to stay by the beach at Corpus Christi, so we decided to go stay there for a couple of days. We drove out on Tuesday (it took about four hours), arrived around 4:30 pm, played on the beach that evening and all day the next day, then checked out on Thursday and went to the aquarium. Then we drove home. So that's our story; here are some pictures and a few more details.
First of all, the hotel was great. It was right on the beach. Really. Right on it. Here's a picture from our balcony:
This was so convenient for getting the two little ones down there quickly and back to the hotel with no fuss. They absolutely loved the beach. They spent a lot of time playing in the sand, but were not afraid to play in the waves.
Here Caleb's working on a special concoction to feed us.

The kids always love playing with Joseph. He is by far the more fun and playful parent. I just do the stuff that keeps them alive.

Here they are, trusting and loving him enough to follow him into the depths of the ocean.

Here I am dragging Emily out with me. This is all you get of me in a swimming suit! :)

This is a bikini lady who for some reason the kids always wanted to play right next to so I couldn't get any good pictures of them. But then she took a picture for us in the water so I didn't mind her as much.

Joseph is an early riser/bad sleeper, so he got up early one morning to see the sunrise. I'm afraid I slept through it, but I thought this picture was pretty. Again, from our balcony.

And then he came inside to this. Quite the contrast, eh? Caleb is not really a morning person. He needs a good cup of milk to get going. Good thing he's Mormon because I'm sure he would be addicted to coffee otherwise.

Here's our busy daddy hard at work again. He doesn't like me to carry the kids because I've been having so many Braxton Hicks, so he does double the work. Good thing he's a cheerful, happy-go-lucky guy and the kids love him.

The kids were sad to go when our time at the beach was up. Emily spent a lot of her free time gazing out at the water longingly.

Caleb is kind of a copycat.

The rest of Emily's spare time was spent reading this bodice ripper romance novel she dug out of a closet. You can kind of see how awesome it is by the picture on the cover.

Caleb spent his time saying "night night!" and lying down on the tile floor to go to sleep. Look at those blue eyes! I still can't get over it.

Packing up the car to go home. It was a fun trip.

We'll save the aquarium for another post because really, this one's too long already. Congratulations if you made it to the end! More to come!

Little Orphan Annie

Our family went to see a free production of Annie put on in the park the other night. We weren't expecting much, since it was free, but it was surprisingly good! The band sounded great, the singers were very talented, and the set was pretty nice. Mostly it was a fun family activity. Unfortunately the weather has been pretty warm and humid lately, and this felt even worse packed onto a hillside with hundreds of other people. I felt really bad for the cast, since a lot of them were bundled up in winter coats because Annie is set around Christmas time. There was a nice (warm) breeze that provided some relief every 45 minutes or so... Joseph and I kept thinking about how nice the evening would have been if we were in Utah! We parked pretty far away and walked in with the double stroller so we wouldn't have to pay for parking. If the play is free, why pay for something like parking? We couldn't bring ourselves to do it.

Caleb was all about hydration. He loved the CamelBak.

Emily is our salty snack lover. She was eating popcorn the whole time.

Right before the play started. The kids were really well behaved and we had a fun time. We did leave during intermission because it was getting too late and Caleb couldn't handle it.

Here's a random picture that I had to post. Caleb loves the hand mixer and offers help whenever it's in use. Here Emily had some spare time to assist as well. This crepe batter was very well mixed. All three of them made sure of that! I love how dark Emily has gotten this summer!

Welcome Home, Joseph

Photography by Emily the evening Joseph got home.


That last shout out to Joseph was aimed at Washington DC, where Joseph spent the last four days. He was gone from 5:30 am on Monday until about 6:30 pm on Thursday for a workshop with a bunch of researchers who are all funded by the National Science Foundation. I think this is the first time Joseph has been gone for more than just a long day at school since he defended his thesis back in November of 2007. Yes, we have been a little bit spoiled, but we are pretty grateful to have Joseph around as much as he is. I expect he will start taking more trips to conferences soon, so this time was sort of a practice run.
Things actually went a lot more smoothly than I had anticipated, but I can't really take full credit for that. Our neighbors helped out a lot, babysitting Emily when I had a doctor's appointment and watching Caleb when Emily had gymnastics. Another neighbor invited us over for dinner when she and another friend were both husbandless for the evening. We are so lucky to have so many good friends living nearby! The kids were really good and I was careful to pack the days full of activities so they would sleep well for me.
As smoothly as things went, we are so glad to have Joseph back home with us.

Dear Daddy...

We love you!!

This Food Needs Extra Blessing

Caleb's high chair is right next to the radio, so he has appointed himself the man officially in charge of music. We always turn it off for prayers, and lately he has been doing this kind of sporadically.

Here we are in the middle of lunch. Music needs to go off.










Caleb takes it upon himself to say a prayer if one is not being said at the moment.










Enthusiastic celebratory "Amen!".










Back on with the tunes.










A little bit of dancing with sister egging him on...










Whereupon the process begins all over again.










What a pious young man we are raising!

Miss Emily

The other day Emily, Caleb, and I were playing outside in the refreshing morning humidity. Caleb was pushing Emily on a little riding toy back and forth on the sidewalk in front of two maintenance workers who were sitting on a wall talking to each other. I had to run inside to grab something and Caleb followed. When I came back out I found my little Emily perched on the wall between the two big workers chatting happily with them. They informed me that she had committed to helping them with the apartment they were working on. Fortunately she withdrew her offer shortly and came inside with me and Caleb. She sure makes friends quickly. I could probably stand to learn a thing or two from her about that. :)

Lately Emily refuses to wear shorts. I bought her several pairs of really cute ones for this summer, but all she wants to wear is dresses. Luckily she has a couple of cute play dresses. And I don't usually buy clothes from Target, but every once in a while something catches my eye as we are walking through, like this gem. You've gotta love their prices too. I have to say, Target is one of my favorite stores.