My Mom's First Published Book!!!!!

I'm so proud of my mom! So this little book review may be a tad biased. :D

I just wanted to brag a little bit and perhaps give you an opportunity to purchase a beautiful new children's book that's just been released. This little book, called "Salty Seas & His Heroic Friends", is a story of a shrimp boat as he and his friends learn the importance of friendship and teamwork.

The phenomenal artwork was provided by my mom, Paulette Ferguson. A Hammond, LA native, she studied Fine Art at the Southeastern Louisiana University. Although she works in mediums such as watercolor and acrylics, she prefers to work with oil paints. She also teaches adult and children's art classes.

If you'd like to order a copy of this sweet book for your own home, you can print out an order form here. You can also view more of her artwork here.

Enjoy!!!

Field Trip: Pumpkin Patch

Today was my Kangaroo's Field Trip day to the Pumpkin Patch. We joined up with a different homeschool group from our usual group. This was our first outing with this particular group. We met some new friends and just enjoyed the day out in the country at the pumpkin patch.

Getting pumpkins painted on the face.

See the green shrubs behind the pumpkin coach?

Turns out that it's cotton! Wow! This is a big pumpkin!!

Lunchtime!

Yum! Yum!

After lunch, we went to the corral where there were some animals to touch.

Photo op!!

Nothing says "Autumn" like a bunch of pumpkins!

First Day of Kindergarten

Well, we did it. We got Little Bird enrolled in public school. I had to take her to take a little test on Monday. I was both excited and relieved when the teacher enthusiastically told me that Little Bird already knows about 3/4 of what they're gonna cover this year. She just didn't know many of the sight words or her home address and phone number. Otherwise, she recognized all the alphabet letters, knew the sounds they make, counted to 30, and many other things. Plus, since she turns 6 in September, she'll be one of the older students in Kindergarten. The teacher said she couldn't begin to tell me how smart the decision to wait was/is. I look forward to a very positive Kindergarten experience for my Little Bird.

I'm a tad concerned that she may get bored with the material at the school, butI have stuff here at home to supplement her with as well as her involvement in 3 extra curricular activities this year (BTW, is 3 too much ? - choir, dance, and piano lessons).

I still have my reservations about putting her in public school since I wanted to homeschool my little ones. However, I felt that I haven't been as diligent as I should have been. On the other hand, I must've done a decent job seeing that she did so well at the testing. I also have Kangaroo at home for 2 more years also. I can still homeschool her and get her prepared. I'm also planning to allow her to play hookey for education field trips with a homeschool group that I have Kangaroo in. Hopefully, that won't offend anyone.

All that being said......on the first day of school yesterday, Little Bird was so excited that she couldn't sleep the night before! She was awake and out of bed before the alarm!

Hugging Kangaroo Bye Bye

Hugging Daddy Bye Bye
At her classroom door.
Settling in for the morning.

When I picked her up from school, she just chattered all the way home about her day. She told me how they went on a tour of the school (disquised as a bear hunt). She told me about how they played on the playground. She mentioned a red box on the playground that the children stand in.

If they're quiet, they receive a blue ticket to be used at the end of nine weeks for the purchase of treats in the Positive Behavior Store.

She also told me that for lunch they had Salad (with Ranch dressing), Fish Sticks, Fruit Salad, and Mashed Potatoes which they apparently make better than I do (according to Little Bird). She was so excited about the Salad!

When we got home for the afternoon, she didn't want to change out of her uniform and even begged to sleep in it for the night!

She's even more excited about her upcoming "cheese wagon" ride on Monday morning!

2nd thoughts on homeschooling

I've been struggling with this homeschooling idea. In the beginning, I had no doubts whatsoever that the Lord had told me what to do. I still believe that He told me homeschool my girls. However, I have not been as diligent as I first thought I would be. I feel like I've failed my Lord and my girls by not "teaching" daily. Little Bird is now practically begging me to teach her how to read. I sit with her on my lap, read to her, help her sound out little words, help her write these little words, etc. However, Kangaroo can be a distraction yada yada. I'm not trying to make excuses.

For the very first time, my girls participated in separate activities today. My Little Bird excelled where she was as did Kangaroo. They seemed to enjoy and thrive in their times apart.

For a while now, I have been struggling with the ideas of registering Little Bird for Kindergarten, even though she'll turn 6 years old shortly after school starts. However, her late birthday may be a benefit to starting Kindergarten a little late.

I have prayed for another "sign" or "Handwriting on the Wall" so to speak, but am not getting this sort of communication from Him at this time. However, there is a hint of peace about signing her up for Kindergarten.

I guess my REAL struggle is with the idea of "letting go". On the other hand, I still have my Kangaroo at home for a couple more years.

I request prayers from my praying friends. Thanks for listening.

Learning about Bees

If I haven't told you already, my dad is a beekeeper. He captures swarms and helps them move into their new home, usually an empty yet prepared hive. He made one of the hives as and observatory hive. It has glass sides so you can see what's going on inside of it. The girls and I went over for a visit to get a closer look at the bees. Here are some pics of the bees.

Here's my dad pointing the queen out to Little Bird. Don't you just love the tree face?

Here's the queen. Can you see her? She's wearing a white dot on her back.

After observing the honeybees, we followed some free range chickens around.

Then Little Bird enjoyed a frozen mango fruit bar.
Overall, we had a good time at Pappy's and learned a lot.

LIHA PowWow Field Trip

On Friday, we enjoyed yet another outing with the BRHA to visit the Louisiana Indian Heritage Associations Spring PowWow. I have included some links on this post so be sure to check them out for more information.

We began our pow wow adventure with a music lesson exploring some Indian songs written and performed by Humanities Scholar Debroah "Dee" White Eye. She handed out various aboriginal rhythm instruments for the children to shake and rattle while singing along with the songs. She also had some CD's of her children's music for sale.

After the music "station" we moved on to a TeePee set up and learned about different indian dwellings and daily life. Mr. Tom "Strong Bull" Varnado introduced us to some of the primitive tools and toys. We also learned about various games the indian children played. Let me just say that this section was lots of FUN!!! Mr. Mike Spiller was quite the game host! Isn't it strange how us grown ups forget that Native Americans had children too? I mean, they weren't ALL about warriors and bravery, etc. There were children who played games and had toys just like us!!!

We then wandered around a little and experienced some awesome face painting and made a craft to take home. We were running short on time and had to leave before the Indian Fry Bread was ready for snacking. We missed out on the Circle Dance as well.

Zoo and Me Field Trip

This morning we got up early to go on a Zoo field trip. Since it was a special program at the zoo and it’s the Easter holiday with all the kids out of school, I just KNEW the place was going to be overcrowded. Imagine my surprise when we drove up and saw THIS nearly empty parking lot!!! Woo Hoo!!! A few more people arrived after us but it never completely filled up as I had expected it to.

This was an interesting sight as we entered the zoo. A floating granite globe that can be turned. We opted to save exploration of this for our departure.
We started out meeting our guide, Ms. Stacy, who led us on a walk through the zoo to introduce us to some of the animals. Our first stop was at the Cheetah cage where Ms. Stacy asked us some questions about how fast a cheetah can run. BTW, they can run up to 70 mph for a short distance.

At the elephant exhibit, we saw the backside of the elephants since it was breakfast time for them and they didn’t care to have company. We did, however, learn that they can be 11 feet tall, so to show the children how tall that is, Ms. Stacy stretched out a measuring tape to 11 feet. Then she told us that the elephants weigh 6000 lbs!!! She used a calculator to add up each child’s weight to see if the entire group could weigh as much as an elephant. The children totaled only 500 pounds, meaning they weigh maybe as much as an elephant’s trunk!

Then we went to visit the Jaguar exhibit, but Mr. Jaguar was busy eating breakfast too so we didn't get to see him. However, we learned that they can jump up to 30 feet!!! We had a jumping contest to see how far we could jump. 30 feet is a LONG jump!!!

Next, we went to see the Andean Condor. What an ugly bird! But magnificent too! This bird has a wingspan of 10 feet! Again, Ms. Stacy pulled out the trusty measuring tape and measured the children’s height to show them how big 10 feet is.

Next up was the bat house. We didn’t get to see any bats because they were sleeping but the children learned about them and had a wing flapping contest.


Then we went to the Safari Theatre to make a bat craft, have a snack, and have a close up encounter with some other creatures. We got to meet a chinchilla and some hissing cockroaches!

The chinchilla has surprisingly soft fur and is simply adorable. I think I want one for a pet!

My girls never cease to amaze me. As rambunctious as they are, they are terrified of insects…...any kind of insect. So, I was a bit apprehensive of their reactions when Ms. Stacy brought out the hissing cockroaches. I was pleasantly surprised that Little Bird didn’t freak out when presented with the opportunity to stroke the back of the hissing cockroach. She politely waved it away with a sweet, “No thank you. Not this time.” I was astounded that Kangaroo joined the gang of kids gathered around Ms. Stacy for a chance to pet this insect and my jaw literally dropped when I witnessed that she actually TOUCHED the critter!!!! I was thinking, “THIS from a child who RUNS SCREAMING bloody murder from a ladybug?!?!?!”

After a quick photo op, we got on the zoo tram for a ride around the zoo to see some other animals we missed. DQ and girls get ready for the ride.

Ms. Stacy poses with my girls.

Then we played around with the floating granite globe at the entrance to the zoo before calling it a day. We would have stayed longer but I had some other chores to get done before day’s end.

I'm planning another zoo trip soon to the Audubon Zoo where "they all aks fo' you".

Topsy Turvy Tomato

I'm thinking that my girls watch a little too much TV. Every time they see one of those commercials selling a product that you can get "only on TV" my Little Bird will say, "We need THAT Mommy!". Well, on date night last night, my hubby took me to Home Depot (yeah, an original date idea .... hear the sarcasm?) and we ended up over in the gardening section. I spied this Topsy Turvy thing that Little Bird had been oooohing and aaaaahing over for about a week. The price tag showed that it was only $10!!! I mentioned Little Bird's fascination with the product to DH and he decided it would be a good idea to purchase this product for her and Kangaroo. He said it would be very educational!

So, we get home after our date. I was so excited to show this to the girls but they were already in bed asleep. DH decides to open the box for examination and promptly exclaims, "It's just the planter! No tomato seeds or anything else!" He then decides to that we'll keep the Topsy Turvy a secret until me and the girls get home from church the next day.

While we were gone to church, he went out and bought some tomato plants, potting soil, and plant food. When the girls and I got home, we ate a quick lunch and then he began putting the Topsy Turvy together explaining every step to the girls as he went along.

Then he helped them with potting soil, plant food, and watering the plant.

The girls admire their handiwork.

I didn't have a whole lot to do with this Topsy Turvy experiment, just that I pointed it out to DH at the Home Depot. So, I just stood by and took the pictures of this experience. Oh, and please excuse hubby's lack of clothing.....that's his yard work outfit and he stopped his yardwork to introduce the girls to the Topsy Turvy.

Edited to add: (5/13/09) The Topsy Turvy requires watering twice a day!!!