Mother's Day

Yay! I found my camera. My sweet husband had a special boys only day with Boogs on Saturday. I had the entire day to myself. I took my mom out to lunch and spent most of the afternoon with her.

On Mother's Day, Boogs gave me a beautiful bouquet of roses. We went to the Oasis for brunch, wandered around the shops for a couple of hours, and then went home for a nap. It was a lovely day.

Random Pics From the Past Week Or So

Grandmaman - a few pictures for you to enjoy:

Student-led Conferences - "The best part of kindergarten was... the chiks" I love this sweet & silly boy!

Crazy Hair Day at school. Boogs picked the colors and the style.

Home Depot Kids Workshop - making a planter box.

Planting a tomato in his not-quite-dry planter box.

"Can I get my feet wet?"

Apparently, Boogs does not know where his feet end.

I rolled his shorts up Daisy Duke style in an effort to keep them dry. It did not work out for us.

Hanging with "The J Boys"

Boogs is studying the bug on his arms.

Making french toast for breakfast. (Ignore the messy kitchen)

Boogs has started to like working on activity books.

Boogs lost his 2nd tooth on Wednesday, May 9th. He asked me, "Can we write a nice note to the Tooth Fairy and ask her to just borrow my tooth? I really want to keep my tooth for an old memory." We wrote her a note. She wrote back, agreed to just borrow the tooth, and left $2 under Boogs pillow. In the morning he asked, "Do I need to save these two dollars to give back to the Tooth Fairy for when she brings me back my tooth?" He is such a cutie!

Painting Our Sculpture

We had to rearrange our schedule this week. Our learning playdate was moved from Wednesday to Friday. Last week, we went over a very short history of sculpture and then gave the kids a block of clay and let them do whatever they wanted with it. Here is what they created:

This week, we gave them a variety of paint colors and brushes.They put these items to good use.

Oops!

There were a few mishaps.

The finished pieces.

Next week, we are going to check out a newly opened "all-abilities" park.

Lunches May 7th - 11th

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. 

The Magic School Bus Butterfly and the Bog Beast by Joanna Cole
Boogs is a BIG fan of The Magic School Bus series. He likes the books and the PBS show.  In this book, Ms. Frizzle's class is trying to pick out a mascot for their soccer team. One person suggested "The Butterflies" and another suggested "The Bog Beast".  Ms. Frizzle takes the class to the swamp to find out more about butterflies and bog beasts. After reading this book, I had Boogs draw a few butterflies that could easily be camouflaged in his room. I taped them around the room and had him try to find them. Boogs already has a few ideas about how to make his next butterflies harder to find. In the lunchbox: almond butter & jelly school bus (I don't have a bus cookie cutter) sandwich, fish crackers from the swamp, butterfly cut out of wax on Babybel cheese, swampy foliage salad, and soccer ball decorated pineapple container.

Digging Up Dinosaurs by Aliki
Boogs brought this home from the school library because he wanted to be sure I got a chance to read it.  We read it a few times during the week he had it checked out. In the lunchbox: pb&j dinosaur sandwich, cheese stick bone, sesame stick bones, mango layers of rock, carrot bones.

AlphaOops! The Day Z Went First by Alethea Kontis
This is a cute alphabet book. It reminded Boogs of The Scrambled States of America because one letter (state) was unhappy with its arrangement so it made everyone move. At the bottom of each two-page spread was the true alphabet covered up with each additional mixed-up letter. Boogs and I had fun singing the alphabet song with the mixed-up order of the letter. Boogs thought it was really neat to try and figure out which letter was missing from the new alphabet line. In the lunchbox: pb&j letter Z & A sandwiches, fruit leather letters, cantaloupe letters on top of blueberries, pumpkin seeds, and broccoli.

No Such Thing by Jackie French Koller
A boy is afraid of the boy-eating-monster under his bed. A monster is afraid of the monster-eating-boy on top of his bed.  This book has such a sweet and silly ending that it did not scare Boogs at all. He was a little upset that the book "stopped too soon." I won't spoil the story for you. You'll have to read it yourself. Boogs and I discussed how we would have ended the story. In the lunchbox: scared Babybel boy covering his mouth with cheese wax hands while lying on a  ham/cheese/bread bed, monster carrot finger with spinach, scared kiwi monster covering his mouth with spinach tortilla hands, Goldfish crackers, broccoli, and raisins. The kiwi monster was inspired by Another Lunch's kiwi Frankenstein.

A Sea-Wishing Day by Robert Heidbreder
A little boy and his dog are playing in their backyard wading pool, pretending to have a sea adventure. The first line of the book, "I wished so hard to sail the sea that the sea sailed right to me!", started their adventure. After a couple of pages, Boogs yelled out, "Oh, I get it! This is an imagination book? Everything happens cause the boy is pretending." The boy meets rogue waves, a nine-headed sea beast, finds a treasure chest, escapes from pirates, and has many other adventures. I asked Boogs if there is something he wished would become a real adventure. He said he wished his Battle Cards could turn into a real tv cartoon that he could watch with his friends. The boys in his kindergarten class draw all sorts of beings with super powers and then tell each other whose power beats who. In the lunchbox: ham & cheese boat, Goldfish crackers, fruit leather Coconut Island, "coconut" pistachios, gold & jewels fruit, nine-headed sea beast tortellini with pesto sauce, and a small container of salad (not pictured). I put this lunch into my very first ELB.

This post is linked to Lunchbox Dad's Throw Back Thursday Lunch Link-up

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. Be sure to leave me a comment to let me know you stopped by.

Sculpting With Clay

Boogs is really enjoying our Wednesday Learning Playdates. This week we decided to have the kids do something more creative and artistic. C and I were thinking about painting using pointillism. When I asked Boogs what kind of art project he would like to do, he immediately said, "We can make some things with clay and then paint those things the next time." That sounded like a great plan. Boogs helped me find a few books about sculpting at our library, we bought a ten pound block of clay from Michael's, and some wire (in case the kids wanted to use it to help structure their creations).

We quickly went through our two sculpting books and then just let the kids create. E was especially interested in the Egyptian sculpture pictured in The Story of Sculpture.

Unfortunately, I forgot my camera this week. So there are not very many pictures and the pictures I took with my phone did not come out all that great.

B went to her room and got a bowl she had made
at school to help her figure out what to make.

Boogs kept making and squishing his creations.
He finished working on a bowl.

E wanted his creations to look just like the
pictures in the book.

Boogs used his tools to carve images on the side
of his bowl.

C made a dolphin.

B also made a clay version of her dog.

Thumbs up! It's a hollow thumb that fits on your hand.

E's Nefertiti sculpture.

I made a coil pot out of clay. I work much better
with food. So, the next day, I madeBoogs a lunch
based on sculpture with a breadbowl, carved carrots,
and sculpted cereal bar hearts.

The kids are excited about painting their clay next week.

May the 4th Be With You! Star Wars Bento

Bento Bloggers & Friends are celebrating May 4th by having a May the 4th Be With You Star Wars themed blog hop. I can't wait to see all of the cool lunches these ladies have come up with today! I remember when I saw Star Wars the first time at the movie theater way back in 1977. Yes, I know I am old. One of my favorite scenes was the escape from the trash compactor. My sister, brother, and I used to act that scene out with an old cardboard box and a broomstick. Part of today's lunch is based on that scene. I think it is pretty neat that my son told me that was one of his favorite parts of the movie, too. Boogs and I read two Star Wars books this week - Star Wars Clone Troopers in Action by Clare Hibbert and Star Wars Heroes published by Scholastic.

In the lunchbox: marshmallow stormtrooper, carrot stick light sabers, nori Darth Vader, Yoda spinach tortilla quesadilla, leftover rice/beans/cheese/sour cream "garbage" with Luke, Leia, & Han cheese heads, chocolate Teddy Graham Chewbacca, pretzel rod to brace the walls of the compactor. The M&M filled light saber was for a treat after school and did not go to school in Boogs lunchbox. Boogs also had a few apple slices not included in the pictures.

Be sure to click the May the 4th Be With You button to see the cute Star Wars bento at Zoe's Lunchbox.

This lunch is linked to Lunchbox Dad: Throwback Thursday

Lunches April 30th - May 3rd

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. 

The Silly Story Of Goldie Locks and the Three Squares
by Grace Maccarone

Boogs enjoyed reading this book and using his homemade geoboard to create the shapes listed in the story.  Shapes were everywhere in the 3 Squares house. There were triangle, rectangle, and square noodles in the bowls instead of porridge. In the lunchbox: pentagon pb&j house, circle pepperoni bed, cheese triangle noodles, oval kiwi, rectangle chair pita chips, broccoli, and rectangle bed box of raisins. 

Boogs' pentagon house and rectangle
noodles.

Boogs showing me how Goldie slid right
off of the triangle chair.

A Seed for Sid by Jenna Walton

This was Boogs' reading homework for the week. Sid finds a mystery seed and plants it to see what will grow. In the lunchbox: Sid the squirrel cheese and salami, pumpkin seeds, orange "pumpkin", Chex and pita chip ground in the garden, broccoli shrubbery, and yogurt.

We planted a mini herb garden.
It contains five different kinds
of seeds. We examined the seeds
before putting then in then soil.
None of them looked like Sid
the squirrel's seed.

We are going to watch and measure
the growth of our herb garden over
the next few weeks.

The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey
by Trenton Lee Stewart

This is the second book in the Mysterious Benedict Society trilogy. We listened to this story in the car over the past several weeks. Boogs enjoyed this sequel as much as the first book. Four children must fight against the evil world domination plans of Mr. Curtain to save their mentor, Mr. Benedict. We had many great discussions about the difference between right & wrong, standing up for what you believe in, trying your best, and perseverance. In the lunchbox: marmalade and almond butter Shortcut ship, broccoli jungle on the island, four apricot children, homemade pretzel Kate's rope, Babybel cheese clock because time is running out, and strawberries.

Start Sculpting by John Plowman 

Boogs and a few of his friends began working on a clay sculpting project during our Wednesday learning playdate. This was one of the sculpting books that we looked through to get ideas and information about sculpting. One of the things Boogs made was a clay bowl. I tried to turn the fun of sculpting into Boogs' lunch today. In the lunchbox: bread bowl filled with ham & cheese, carved carrots with spinach, sculpted cereal bar hearts, pistachios, and applesauce.


Friday's lunch will be posted later as part of a Star Wars themed bento blog hop. Check back later to see how the force is with Friday's lunch. 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. Be sure to leave me a comment to let me know you stopped by.