Children's Museum

I took Boogs and one of his friends from Kindergarten to the Children's Museum. They had a blast! We stayed about 3 1/2 hours and it was not quite long enough to explore the entire museum. We will have to return soon.

Sort shape by feel 

Reflections

Giant shape sorter

Which one is the real Boogs?

Structure of a honeycomb

Fishing with a measurement activity

Planting a garden

Using a vacuum to deliver milk containers

Running the train station

Hanging out in the bat cave

Baby Bear Chair

Papa Bear Chair

Boogs went down this 3 story tunnel slide at least 20 times.

Building a wall

Create your own giant marble run for golf balls

Gravity rollercoaster

Kickball

We signed Boogs up for YMCA Kickball. He is really enjoying it. His group is the 4 - 6 year old kids, so he is one of the older kids on the team.

1st Practice

1st Game

Daddy was there to help the kids warm-up.

The Power Kick!

Running to 1st base.

Fielding the ball.

Pile-up to decide who throws the ball to 1st base. The runner
was safe by the time these kids figured out who should throw it.

Silly kiddos. Boogs likes hanging out with M and Z!

Our House Guest

My sister and her family went on vacation last week and asked us to take in a house guest. Skyler, my niece's bunny, stays mostly in his cage. How much trouble could one little rabbit be?


When my sister dropped off the bunny on her way out of town, she told me four things before she smiled and left: 1. He sheds horribly and should be brushed everyday (even though it was obvious that he had not been brushed in quite a while). 2. Watch out because he is like a goat and eats everything including paper, cardboard, and electrical wires. (She specifically said that he has never eaten fabric.)  3. We couldn't find the lid to his cage and he can jump out by himself. 4. He is very fast and will crawl into small places and hide for days.


Boogs has really enjoyed having Skyler stay with us this week. My husband and I have discovered that we might be allergic to bunnies. It is either the bunny or the mold/pollen counts in the air. The good thing about this bunny is that he is potty trained. So, we let him roam around Boogs' playroom. Boogs made sure there was no paper, cardboard, or anything else within Skyler's reach. I was in the kitchen one afternoon and Boogs yelled, "Momma, come quick! Skyler is eating my curtains!" Great! Luckily, Skyler only nibbled a very small hole in the curtain lining.

Overall, Skyler has been a good house guest. Boogs has really enjoyed him. I am looking forward to Skyler being picked up tomorrow. We have been brushing Skyler everyday on the back porch but there are still tumbleweeds of rabbit hair drifting all over my house. If my sister needs us to, we will take Skyler in again.

Olympic Bento Blogger & Friends Blog Hop

Each week I usually read books with Boogs for lunch inspiration. This week we have been inspired and excited about the opening of the 2012 Summer Olympic games. We can't wait to watch the opening ceremonies Friday evening!

Boogs was too young to remember the 2010 Winter and 2008 Summer Olympics. We have been reading about the origin of the Olympics and about the modern games. The three books we focused on during this past week are - Hour of the Olympics (audio book) by Mary Pope Osborne, Ancient Greece and the Olympics: A Non-fiction Companion to "Hour of the Olympics" by Mary Pope Osborne and Natalie P. Boyce, and Going for Gold! by Andrew Donkin. 

In Hour of the Olympics, Jack and Annie travel with their Magic Tree House to ancient Greece to bring back a poem. While there, they are able to observe the Olympics and then they get into a little bit of trouble. Fortunately, they escape in a horse drawn chariot. In the lunchbox: cheese stick Jack and Annie in the back of a pb&j horse drawn chariot with a cereal bar wheel, slices of colored quail eggs depicting the Olympic rings, salad with a carrot Olympic torch, "GO FOR GOLD" picks with orange slices and dried apricot gold medals.

Boogs loves to swim! He is super excited about watching the Olympic swimming events. In the ELB lunchbox: pretzel Olympic swimmer with cheese head and cheese swim cap, chicken & blue rice swimming pool, plum, and salad.

Olympic symbols lunch. In the ELB lunchbox: cheese gold medals, apple Olympic torch flames, pepperoni Olympic rings mini pizza, blueberries, and salad.

I am joining my fellow Bento Bloggers & Friends in a 2012 Olympics Blog Hop. Twenty-two blogs will be linking together to showcase Olympic bento and food ideas. Be sure to follow the hop button on each blog to link to the next blog's Olympic post. Next stop on the bento journey is Bento, Monsters. (All links should be live by noon on 7/27.)

Check out the wonderful sites I link to on my sidebar! If you want to see more book inspired lunches, click on the "lunches" label at the end of this post or My Story Themed Lunches Pinterest board. To see the previous Bento Bloggers & Friends hops click on the "hop" label.

Fun With Photos

Boogs and I were hunting through our art cabinet and rediscovered an old favorite activity book, Hand Art by Klutz/Chicken Socks, and some fun monster stickers.

Boogs searched through the book to find a handprint picture for us to use for creative inspiration. Since we recently finished reading The Castle in the Attic, Boogs was very interested in the dragon handprint craft from the  Hand Art book.

First we traced our hands on blue construction paper.

Next, we spent a little bit of time photographing ourselves by the brick wall because it kind of looks like a castle wall.

Then, it was time to put the parts together.

Boogs said, "I put a water muzzle on this dragon so his fire could
not reach me. His flames are trapped in his mouth."

Boogs was safe from my dragon's fire by having him sheltered
behind the brick wall.

 We had a couple of leftover photos. I grabbed them and put them to use.

Oh no! Boogs got eaten by a monster.
He also got slobbered on by a big dog.

 This was such a fun activity!

Lunches July 16th - 20th

Boogs' lunches are inspired by the books we read at bedtime the previous evening. Each night, Boogs reads one book to me and I read two books to him. I usually post his lunches once a week. Click on the "lunches" label at the end of this post to see lunches from previous weeks. 


A Regular Flood Of Mishap by Tom Birdseye
This book tells the zany mishaps of a girl named Ima Bean who was just trying to help out when she saw that her grandfather had left his fishing pole at the creek. While trying to get the pole, Ima fell into the water, reeled in a huge catfish, and broke grandpa's pole. She then ran home to get something to fix the pole. Unfortunately, she chose to pull the string off of the gate, which opened and let the mule out. One thing led to another until the whole farm was in chaos. Ima decided to "skedaddale out of there as fast a frog off a hot frying pan." While she was running away, her family caught up to her to bring her home because "you're always family even when you goof!" Boogs really liked some of the sayings in this book. His favorite was "Grandpaw Bean will be as excited as a fly at a marmalade picnic". I could not help but read this book with an East Texas Piney Woods accent. My grandma's name was Ima Love and she lived out in the country, so I kind of read it with an accent that reminded me of her. Boogs has always loved similes, sayings, and metaphors. When he was three, we were getting into the hot car and he said, "Whew, it is as hot as a bee in a lunchbox in this car." He still comes up with some interesting phrases. In the lunchbox: pb&j big old catfish, Babybel Ima Bean with fruit leather hair, pretzel broken fishing pole, sesame sticks fish bait, marshmallow "egg" with chicken pick, blueberry & blackberry creek, and salad.

The Castle in the Attic by Elizabeth Winthrop
William received a model of a wooden castle from his nanny. The castle came with a knight made out of lead. William's touch brought the knight to life. Soon, William joins the knight's quest to take back his kingdom from an evil wizard. This book has action, adventure, magic, and a good message about relying on yourself & doing what is right. Boogs liked this story so much that we are now reading its sequel. In the lunchbox: salami & cheese castle, pistachio muffin dragon patrolling the castle, salad with magic carrot & mushroom token, and strawberries. 

Silly Stories To Tickle Your Funny Bone: Wallpaper from Poppleton Forever by Cynthia Rylant
Wallpaper is one of eight story excerpts included in this book of silly stories. Poppleton the pig has invited his friends over to help him wallpaper a room. The friends are not up to the task - mouse is too small, goat tends to eat the wallpaper, and llama is so hairy he keeps getting stuck to the wallpaper glue. Boogs loved the pictures of the goat eating the wallpaper. Poppleton takes everyone out for ice cream and then comes up with a new decorating plan that does not involve wallpaper. It is a very silly story. In the ELB lunchbox: ham Poppleton on cheese toast, pretzel rolls of wallpaper, dried apricot, Zbar ice cream cone with marshmallow "ice cream", kiwi, grapes, broccoli, tomatoes, and yogurt.

Pumpkin Heads by Wendell Minor
Boogs favorite holiday is Halloween. He frequently picks out Halloween and Christmas books on our weekly trips to the library. This book has pumpkins of all shapes, sizes, and faces. Boogs' favorite pumpkin was dressed up as a witch. Boogs read this book to me and had no trouble figuring out any of the words. Some days he happily reads to me and other days he acts like reading is the most dreadful thing in the world. So, I am willing to check-out every holiday book our library has to encourage him to find joy in reading. In the ELB lunchbox: cheesestick, two pb&j jack-o-lantern mini sandwiches, chips, cherries, and juice.

Be sure to check out the wonderful sites I link to on my sidebar! If you want to see more book inspired lunches, click on the "lunches" label at the end of this post or go to My Story Themed Lunches board on Pinterest. I would love for you to leave a comment to let me know you stopped by.