Strawberry Picking At Sweet Berry Farm

Strawberry picking is one of our annual traditions. Here are a few pics from the last three years of picking.

2 years old, May 2008

Almost 3 years old, March 2009

4 years old, April 2010

Gotta Love the Texas Weather

Today has been a beautiful day for fun at the park and water play in the backyard. Boogs was trying to catch the water from the hose in his swimsuit pocket. I love the look of pure joy on his face. That water was c-c-cold!

Husband's birthday card

My husband will be 42-years-old on April 28th. This is the card I made for him using my Stampin' Up paper (Close to Cocoa, Creamy Caramel), inks, and stamp sets (Lovely As A Tree, Sincere Salutations). The 2nd card is what Boogs made for his Daddy's birthday. It is a "MONSTER" card.

Sunday afternoon

Boogs got home from his weekend with his grandparents around 1 pm. A good time was had by all parties, or so they tell me. It was such a gorgeous day that my husband, Boogs, and I decided to go play frisbee at the park. We ended up playing very little frisbee. Instead we hit the playscape, the trails, the sandbox a.k.a the volleyball court, and the swings. On the way home, Boogs suggested pizza for dinner. I said we could go into Randall's and grab a frozen pizza. From the back seat a little voice said, "Ahhhh...no, no, no. I meant GOOD pizza. Like the kind Daddy got me last time." We made a quick stop at Marco's pizza. After eating, it was practically bed time. Family time was a nice way to wrap up the weekend. 

Quiet Weekend

It was very quiet around our house this weekend. Boogs left Friday afternoon to go and spend the weekend with his Nonnie and Poppa (my parents). Friday night, my husband and I sat on the couch and watched an entire movie without interruptions. We spent ALL day Saturday at the NPC Texas Shredder Classic bodybuilding competition. My husband wanted to watch the competition so he could get a feel for what he would be doing in August. He is training for the NPC Capital of Texas Roundup bodybuilding championships. It was a long day. I enjoyed watching the bodybuilding and fitness competitors but then there were about 100 Bikini & Figure competitors. I just don't understand the point of the bikini and figure competition. Boogs will be coming home later this afternoon. I think I will take a little nap before he gets home.

My Kitchen Helper

Boogs has been helping me out in the kitchen for a long time. I love these old pictures of him in the kitchen. For dinner last night, he helped me make veggie pancakes. I took a picture of the ingredients for the pancakes but my camera will only show a thumbnail of it with the tag "unidentified image" underneath it. Hmmm... anyway. Boogs will only eat raw vegetables. I found the recipe for "Out of the Garden Pancakes" in the petit appetit cookbook when Boogs was about a year old. He has eaten them ever since. The only time cooked vegetables pass through his lips is when we make these pancakes. They are made with broccoli, asparagus, mushrooms, garlic, whole wheat flour, fresh dill weed, and a few other ingredients. I found the recipe online here:

http://organictobe.org/2008/07/07/out-of-the-garden-pancakes-for-kids-organic-recipe/

Happy veggie eating. Boogs cleaned his plate during this meal.

I feel old!

I made this card for a former 3rd grade student of mine who is now behind the wheel with a learner's permit. It is not a fancy card but I think she will get a kick out of it. Boogs enjoyed taking my picture and hamming it for me to take one of him. Some of my former students will be graduating from college this semester. That makes me feel really old!

Dancing Raisins

Boogs LOVES to do science experiments. Last night in the bath tub he was pushing around a toy boat to create giant waves. He asked me if the waves were a chemical reaction. He really wanted to see an explosion. So today after school we went ahead and did the "Dancing Raisins" experiment. We mixed water, vinegar, and baking soda together in a glass and then added a few raisins. The raisins sunk to the bottom of the glass, floated back up to the top, and then kept doing that for a couple of minutes. Of course we had to add more vinegar and baking soda just to see what would happen. The liquid bubbled up over the top of the glass, spilled across the table, and made a big puddle on the floor. Boogs was so excited. He yelled, "Let's do the explosion again!" The floor was already a mess so we did it a few more times. Boogs then decided that we should play "Catch a Raisin Fishing Game".  He drew a picture of a raisin in his Science journal. I wrote raisin at the top of the page and he was able to write it on his own at the bottom of the page.

Boogs Marches to His Own Beat

Went to a birthday party this weekend that had a pony ride and a petting zoo. When I told Boogs about the pony ride he insisted on wearing his "cowboy" hat to the party. We made the hat out of paper at our library story time last week. He also HAD to wear his shirt that says "Mom's Little Buckaroo" because that is the only cowboy shirt he has. I love that he's such a creative and imaginative little guy. I can't believe he kept the hat on for the petting zoo, pony ride, and for bouncing on the trampoline. He is such a cutie! This is birthday season for us with most of his friends turning 4 close to Boogs' birthday. So, in the last 6 weeks he has shown up at parties wearing a superhero cape, a construction vest, a mailman costume, a now a cowboy hat.

Fitness

Had my latest fitness assessment with my trainer this morning. I am down a total of 35 pounds and am now at 17.8% body fat. My husband is training for a body building competition in August. I am training along with him. I have a couple of months to decide if I want to enter the competition myself. I just can't see myself getting up on stage in a bikini and posing for a group of judges. Maybe when I lose a few more pounds and get in better shape I will feel like competing. The nice thing about competing is that is gives you a goal to strive for. In January, I took up running again after a 15 year break. So I have been competing in 5Ks and 10Ks to keep me focused on 3 runs a week, longer milage, and getting my speed up. I think I probably need to compete so that I will try and have some will power with my eating habits. For right now, I am just enjoying working out with my personal trainer three times a week and running three times a week. It has made such a difference in my confidence and how I feel about myself.

Saturday Morning Science

We did two experiments this morning.  #1 Making dull pennies bright with vinegar and salt.  #2 Picking up ice with string. Boogs has a Science Journal where we record our experiments and results. We have been keeping a Science Journal since he was about 18 months old. It is fun to look back at some of the things we have done.

Shaking the pennies in vinegar and salt.

Science journal page from the Lifting Ice With A String experiment.

Thank you card

This is the thank you card I made (25 of them) for my son's birthday gifts. Had to keep the Halloween theme going. 

Busy, Busy, Day

I got up and ran 3 miles this morning in 29 minutes 11 seconds. When I got home I set up the art easel for Boogs. He loves to paint. After painting for about 30 minutes, Boogs asked to do Science experiments. We do a lot of experiments together and he also likes to do them on his own. Today he wanted to do it on his own and just have me get out the supplies - beaker, graduated cylinder, pretend microscope,  food coloring, measuring cups, corn starch, test tubes, tongs, etc. I got everything out for him, including the scoop of corn starch then I went and took a shower. Boogs decided that he needed more corn starch and climbed up on top of the cabinet to get the box which he then dumped all over his art mat. It was such a mess. He was having so much fun. I let him play until 9 am (yes, all of this was before 9 am) and then we cleaned everything up together. My floor needed to be mopped anyway. We made it to the library in time for story time, went shopping, had lunch, watched a movie (Darby O'Gill and the Little People) and then headed back to the library for an afternoon marionette show of Sleepy Hollow. We came home worked on a quick Science experiment with water, food coloring, and celery. Dinner is in the oven and we still have two hours to go before bedtime. I am worn out.

  

 

First Blog - Getting Started

April 13, 2010

I have been thinking about blogging for quite a while. I love to read mommy, cooking, stamping, science, kid activity, and fitness blogs. I mainly want a place to write down memories. My only child just turned 4-years-old and time seems to be speeding by so fast I don't feel like I have a chance to take it all in.

My son, Boogs (short for Booger Bear) turned 4 years old last week. I love little kid birthday parties and always have fun planning for his birthdays. This year Boogs decided he had to have a Halloween birthday party for his April birthday. I really got into the Halloween spirit with our party foods: cheese stick fingers, orange jack-o-lantern fruit cups, mummy dogs, jack-o-lantern birthday cake, spiderweb seven layer dip, and deviled egg eyballs. I even made a Frankenstein pinata and had the juice boxes on ice in a cauldron. Boogs and his friends wore Halloween costumes and had a good time.