Art comes to life

Spring Break offered lots of opportunities for fun things to do around Fort Worth. After having the kids' pictures taken, we headed over to Amon Carten American Art museum. That day, they were featuring artist Georgia O'Keefe. There were activities (and refreshments) for the kids. The timing was perfect since Beth and I had just read a library book about that very artist. At the museum, the kids were given cards with specific art to find, along with questions to discuss to notice and take in the art. There were docents available to talk about the art and artist.

Then, the kids had the opportunity to draw like Georgia O'Keefe. One of the painting showed a flower VERY close up. The kids got to pick a flower and were supposed to draw it close up. They were a little timid at first but did a great job!

I love exposing the kids (and us parents) to culture like this. I love that the flexibility of Kevin's schedule and availability of technology allow him to do things like this with us, while still working. We'll definitely need to make more trips to museums.

Spring has arrived!

Ah, Spring!!!!!! Of course, I finally post this, the day after a cold front came through. Well, I'm looking forward to the weather warming up quickly.

We've had so much wonderful time playing outside. Our house has become an active place for lots of neighborhood kids, playing with our kids for hours. Great fun!

The kids and Kevin snagged a bit of time to ride bikes. It was Jacob's first ride down the road, and he was pretty proud. It was great until they had to come back up the hill. It's a tough ride! Once back in the driveway, there was not time to lose- Jacob had to hunt for snails and roly polys and dig in the dirt.

The simple joys of spring! Great memories!

Campout

Oops! This has been sitting in the to-be-posted list for a while. Sorry.

We thought it was finally time to consider a camping trip for the kids. We were going to start with a backyard campout to see how it went. Well, Texas spring weather being what it is, it was going to be a bit chilly for sleeping outdoors (at least for us). No big deal- we'll "camp" inside. I made a huge tent in the living room, and we set up our air mattresses. We were ready!

We played games together, read stories and tried to settle in for the night. Only, Jacob couldn't settle down. We tried girls on one mattress, boys on the other, but then we discovered one mattress had a whole in it. So, Jacob and Kevin slept upstairs, and Beth and I slept on the inflated air mattress. Not a bad experience but really glad to be at home for this one!

Of course, the next morning, the kids wanted to play in the tent as much as they could. I love the simple moments, like Beth giving Jacob lessons on how to snap his fingers. I think we may be ready to try this camping this for real.

Life is good and full of great adventures, every day!

Zoo trip!

As usual, I've been crazy busy with life. But, this is spring break, and I'm enjoying lots of resting and quiet while the kiddos are having adventures at Grandma and Grandpa's house.

Beth had a day off school, spring was hinting in the air, and off we went to the zoo. For Christmas, Yaya and Popi give us annual zoo passes, and we certainly use them. This is the first year for Jacob to be old enough for his own pass. He was sure proud to take his picture and hold his card! One of the best things about having zoo passes is that we don't feel like we have to see all the animals in one day. This trip, we started with the animals we didn't see last time- the amazing reptile house.

Beth LOVED being able to take her own camera and take pictures. She learned a little more about how to use her camera to take pictures for where she was- inside or outside. Surprisingly, when it came to the opportunity for petting a snake, she was interested, but Jacob sure was.

At the end of the exhibit about Texas animals, there's a fun wishing well. When you thrown in a penny, you hear a wild animal sound. I gave them each some pennies, then we tried to guess what animals they were.

Jacob was quite amused by the turkey gobble and wasn't crazy about the jaguar (did you know they live in Texas?).

It was a fun day for just the three of us. I look forward to many more zoo trips- some as a family, some just me and Jacob. We always find adventure and learn new things!

The perfect day for an outing

We headed to the newly remodled Fort Worth Museum of Science for the day.

Ok, so that was a month ago. Sorry it's taken so long. Umm, it's not like I have anything to do besides blog, you know :)

Ok, back to the story. We'd tried to go to the museum a month ago but couldn't find a parking space. Beth was quite disappointed that day. So, today, no problem with parking, she was thrilled. Beth has been very interested in learning about dinosaurs lately. How perfect that there's a fantastic dino exhibit! Beth was ready with her notepad and pencil to do "research".

This museum is really more like a children's museum, with all the interactive stuff. We measured bones, looked at fossils in a microscope, put together dinosaur bone puzzles.... Jacob wasn't too pleased to get into the footprint replica (found in Texas!)

But, the best part of the dinosaur fun was outside. A fossil-dig! We had "shovels" and paintbrushes to dig and brush away the sand until we uncovered a bone. So cool!

Then, back inside for more adventures. In the children's area, we played with trains and grocery shopped, walked an "obstacle" course and spun tops. In the tinker area, we built a musical pinball course, used wind to push a sail-car and played with tinker toys. In another interactive area, we chose the craft room. Jacob tried stamps and marker toys and then just enjoyed attaching tissue paper to his page. Beth made a birthday hat (supposedly in honor of Jane Goodall's birthday).

After a stop for lunch in the cafe, we headed upstairs to the western area. How can a museum in Texas not have a tribute to cattle and the western fronteir?

Tucked into a little room were "horses" to ride while you herded cattle into the pen. Both kids had a blast on these!

At the end of the exhibit was a display about what products we use that come from cattle. I'm quite amazed. Needless to say, no part of a cow is wasted. Then, down the hall, we found the temporary exhibit- CSI. I love the CSI shows. Not for the gore, but for the nerdy scientist part of the show. It was fun, for a little while. We had tired kiddos, so we didn't finish the investigation. A last stop at the gift store with their Easter money. I couldn't believe that Beth didn't find anything she had to have. She chose to spend her money at Target later. Jacob found a giant snake and a spaceship. Perfect ending to a great day out as a family!

Now, it's officially spring

Spring in Texas means bluebonnets. Once they have arrived, in early April, it starts to feel like spring. I may not mange to have my kiddos pictures taken in a studio as often as I'd like, but I will always have a bluebonnet picture.

The ladybugs were everywhere!

They were bribed with a trip to the playground after bluebonnet pictures, and they were anxious to get over there. I didn't get as many pictures as I wanted to, and I probably should have waited a little longer on the lighting, but at least I have the pictures.

Easter 2010

Warning: Long post with lots of pictures

We had A LOT going on with Easter this year, and it was so much fun!

Beth's class egg hunt

Jacob helped me put over 150 eggs out for Beth's class. Then, he got to help Beth's teacher say "ready, set, go" for the kids to take off running. They had so much fun and swooped up the eggs in a fraction of the time it took to put them out. It was also jean and filp flop day- what fun! Then we had a picnic in the gym (instead of blowing away in North Texas wind outside) followed by recess. At recess, another mom brought a baby goat for the class to see and pet. They all waited their turn patiently then back to the playground.

Decorating Eggs

The kids were so excited to decorate the eggs. Once I got everything set up, paint shirts on, instructions given to be very careful, it was time. It went so fast, and they had so much fun! They loved picking the colors, watching them come out pretty, then decorating dry eggs with stickers. It was very nice of them to let Kevin and I decorate a couple eggs too.

The Easter Bunny came!

The eggs were hiding around the living room, and the baskets were filled with treats. Both kids got a Scooby dvd (a current favorite cartoon at our house), fruit snacks, fun socks, chocolate, a pinwheel and another treat. They were thrilled!

Over 100 stickers!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thinking (tapping his chin) about where those eggs could be

All dressed up

Ready for church, to celebrate and honor the reason for Easter- Jesus dying on the cross for our sins, so that we wouldn't have to. Then, He rose from the dead after three days. How awesome to serve a Risen Lord!

Children's Choir

Beth's children's choir performed Easter songs at the evening service. How awesome to see all these kids learning songs about Jesus and enjoying singing them.

Ok, Dad, are you happy now? :)

Happy birthday, Dr Suess

March happens to be the month of Dr. Suess' birthday. We have plenty of his books around, so we had to do something fun. During Spring Break, we made Cat in the Hat pizza for lunch and read a couple books while it cooked. What fun adventures we can have with books!

A liitle wind

We were out enjoying the sun (and north Texas wind). The next day would bring a cold front, complete with snow. I love Texas!

Usually, the wind is too crazy to attempt kites, but today seemed just right. It took a little while, but we got the hang of it eventually.

The next day, Popi came to visit and brought NEW kites with him- a poison dart frog for Beth and a lizard for Jacob. Can't wait to try them out!

Lightning?

(not my picture, found somewhere online)

Last night, driving home from church, there was a lovely storm, complete with pouring rain and lightning. As Beth talked on and on about the lightning.

Then, Jacob, who always has to be part of the conversation, said, "I see McQueen." Okay Jacob, sure you did.

Beth continues on and on about the lightning, still, what would happen if it hit the car, the house.....

Jacob continues telling me he saw McQueen. I didn't see McQueen anywhere.

OH, wait a minute! LIGHTNING McQueen.

A Day out with Thomas

Every little boy's dream- meeting Thomas the Tank Engine. Jacob loves Thomas. We have wooden train tracks and engines, we have diecast engines, we have dvd, we have books... You get the idea. Thomas is a big deal at our house. I found out that Thomas makes a visit once a year to a train station about an hour from us. I knew we had to go! Yup, he was thrilled, "THOMAS!!!!!"

This was some setup! We met Sir Topham Hatt, the director of the railway. Beth wasn't interested, and Jacob would only go with Daddy. The kids got temporary tatoos- Jacob picked Percy and Beth picked Rosie. We played with trains and tracks. There were blocks and puzzles and stamps too!

We colored pictures. There was a great Thomas bounce house and slide. They giggled with delight! We even got to watch a little of a Thomas movie for a few minutes. We all enjoyed the toy train setup. I think it had at least 4 trains running, some complete with steam coming out and whistles blowing.

But, the best part of all was a ride on a real train. Thomas pulled the train along the track. A 30 minute ride in a passenger car. Beth wondered why we were going so slow. She loved that the conductor punched our tickets, even though it wasn't fancy like on Polar Express. Jacob was just mesmorized that we were riding with Thomas. He loved dancing, clapping and singing along to Thomas's songs coming through the speakers. At the end of the day, they both said riding the train was the best part.

Toot! Toot!

After we'd visited all the activities, we headed to the gift shop where they got little view finders for visiting all the spots. Then, Jacob picked a Thomas flashlight (he now has to carry all 3 of his flashlights everywhere). Beth picked out a Thomas art set. We feasted on wonderfully greasy fair corn dogs. Even Jacob, my picky eater, liked his. We had found all the fun we could handle, so it was back to the car to head home. Some were a little more tired than others. :)