Email

The email "bings" from my phone throughout the day prompted a conversation about what emails are. My explanation..."information from one person that kind of flies through the air to someone else."

A few minutes later I see this..."Look Mom, we're sending email!!"

This is Little Miss A sending a picture from the top of the stairs and Mr. D scrambling to catch it. :)

Hair Do by Drew

Little Miss A was more than happy to have her bun shish-kabobbed by Mr. D.

Day at the Museum

We met our bffs downtown for a fun afternoon at the Children's Museum...no Rexy or anything like that, but still TONS of fun!! :)

Every time we go to the museum, Little Miss A and Mr. D become immediate pins balls and the giant space that surrounds them is the machine. They go bouncing from one place to the next within seconds...make me crazy!! They worked the kitchen, manned the trains, operated the dairy farm, acted like Austin bats hanging under the Congress Street bridge, learned about Mexican culture (pinatas, music, food, etc)

All this "ping, ping, pinging" (hence the blurry pictures) while Little Miss A is clinging to different animals from the pet clinic..

They did, however spend a lot of time in creation station. :)Little Miss A made a kaleidoscope and a hat. Mr. D made a new and improved light saber...shocker, I know. :)

What a great day with great friends!!!!

Presents!!!

Little Miss A and Mr. D are constantly giving gifts to us. Wrapping treasures up in blankets, tying them together with belts and bands and such. Recently Little Miss A started adding a sweet touch to her finished products...hair BOWS!!! :)

Ear Piercing Studio

Little Miss A has created her own ear piercing studio in her bedroom. She lines up her stuffed animals and pierces their ears. At one time, I counted 13 earrings in Ms. Giraffe...and her ears are TINY!!! :) This cracks me up. Little Miss A has TONS of earrings in her jewelry box and they are usually ALL in her animals. She switches them every day...now if I could get her to change her own as often as she does her S.A.s. :)

This is the other video I have been trying like crazy to upload...maybe I'll try it again later and it will work. :(

Happy Earth Day!

In honor of Earth Day, the kids have had a week full of Earth friendly activities. Today was extra special though since every Thursday is "show and tell." (Their favorite day of the week!!) Today the kids got to bring something showing how they reduce, reuse or recycle to help protect our environment. So, yesterday after school we did the QUESTy thing and raided the recycle bin to reuse some of this past week's recycling items. :) I was showing A & D different types of "cool" trash...lessons I do with my students ALL the time. Mr. D immediately began planning by picking up the first thing he saw (Big Red soda bottle) claiming it was a rocket, then started adding details, a launch pad, boosters, etc. Little Miss A found some cool pieces, but needed a little help "figuring" out what to make. She ultimately ended up with a Princess castle with lots of towers. :) After assembly, we decided they needed color, so we searched through cans of spray paint in the garage to find our favorite colors. (Yes, I am STILL the spray paint queen...I guess that's why I do what I do at school.) Apply color and voila...2 pieces of recycled art. :)

It was so fun to do activities with my own kids that I do with my students all the time. :)

The Recipe

The concoctions are continually being created at the Caswell house. Here is today's surprise...

Ingredients:

oranges

salt and pepper

water

grass/weeds

Directions:

Peel oranges. Add remaining ingredients. Mash. Stir. Done.

I'm glad I was able to convince Mr. D not to drink it. :) Before I even had a chance to do to the same with Little Miss A, she said "Don't worry Mommy, I would NEVER drink that nasty suff!" Smart girl. :)

The Egg Factory

I just realized I hadn't posted this from last month. It's too funny not to share...


The kids were learning about winter and enjoyed an afternoon cup of hot cocoa. (The kids have become addicts BTW, have I mentioned that yet?) After a fun sequencing activity, the kids were able to decorate their mugs. This is Mr. D's mug. It is called the "Egg Factory". Just as it sounds, this is a factory where eggs are made. The center can only be described as a conveyor belt, although he didn't actually call it that and the people all over the place are workers that make sure that the eggs don't break. I have NO idea where this idea came from, but this egg factory has been coming up in conversations A LOT lately. Whether or not the factory is open, asking if we'd like to visit, telling us how to get there and reminding us of what they do there. Two weeks ago we were driving a different way to gymnastics and dance when Mr. D tells me to "turn left."
Me: "Why?"
D: "Because the egg factory is that way!!"

Holy crow, seriously? I have no clue where that road went, but I am determined to get back there with him and just check it out. Had we not been running late for gymnastics, I totally would have turned just to see what was back there and where Mr. D would lead us on this wild "egg hunt". As soon as we continue the search, I'll post an update to...The Egg Factory!! :) What a funny little guy!

Roger, Houston. We Have Pipe Cleaners!

Thank you so much Miss J, for this idea. On Saturday morning, leave a craft out for the kids to create something. Then wake you up with whatever they've made, allowing the kids to get the creative juices flowing first thing in the morning AND a later wake up for Mom and Dad!!! :) A & D LOVED this!!! So did we, bought us an extra HOUR!!!! This looks like the tiger got in a fight with the pipe cleaners and the pipe cleanes won. Who knows what it really is, but man they had fun. We had pipe cleaners EVERYWHERE, but it was SUPER simple clean up so I'll take it. :)

Creative Minds...

Little Miss A is totally creative in her imaginative play. She can entertain her toys for hours with the combined toys interacting with one another. The babies taking their pets (stuffed animals) with broken limbs wrapped in robe ties to the vet (barbie) then going for ice cream (my little pony). It goes on and on in a thousand different scenarios...so "not just one thing can be out at a time, Mom. I need them all." My Little Miss A replies on a pretty regular basis. I would secretly love to only have one thing out at a time. For her to be able to clean up as she goes would be WONDERFUL!!! I know I get overwhelmed when I see the toys mounting up. Her creativity also comes out in every picture she creates. Every little girl she draws has stunning eyelashes, beautiful jewelery, elaborately decorated clothes, etc. Usually not a space left on the page to add more details to. These elaborate drawings usually end up being pictures in the babies house to help her pets feel better.

Mr. D is creative in the things he makes. I think I posted earlier about his stop sign that he made. (Gosh he carted that thing everywhere for the longest time, showing cars they needed to stop while we were crossing the road, driving by, coming to a stop light, etc.) His newest creation that really cracked me up was his watch. Little man had a Spiderman watch that we haven't been able to locate since before the move. (I think he may have left it at the park the last time he wore it...can't tell you how many treasures that little boy has donated to the park through the course of his 5 years!) Anyway, he decides to fix that. As I am making dinner, he goes upstairs to solve his problem, saying he can't tell me, he can only show me when he's done and that it's a surprise. He comes back downstairs about 30 minutes later with the cutest Spiderman watch. He has taken his Spiderman band-aids out and placed two of them exactly end to end around his wrist and has written numbers on the top in marker. :) GREAT idea!!!

So at the end of the evening we have a mountain of toys strewn between Little Miss A's room and the game room. A counter top full of experimentally used band-aids and wrappers...I was wondering how many attempts it took to create the perfect watch. The answer...apparently the entire box. :) Then it was on to the the study where there are several markers around and marker marks on the desk. (I guess he needed to lay the band-aids flat to draw out his numbers and the small band-aids didn't quite give him enough room for all that he wanted to include. (No getting mad at that...how could I?) I know my house is not a museum by any stretch of the imagination, but wow creativity causes confusional chaos!!!! Secretly, I love it!!! I totally love seeing what their little minds come up with everyday!!! There is no limit to what they can do!!! :)