Blinded Me With Science

The boy requested I take his picture with his poppy plant. They were learning about photosynthesis in science. Each kid planted a poppy seed which is now ready to come home. Since it was a windy and rainy day, he protected it by wrapping his jacket around the pot. The poppy is now ensconced on the kitchen windowsill, so it gets plenty of sunshine.

GOTR

Here is the girl after her first GOTR practice. She is in an after school program entitled Girls on the Run. It's mission is to promote confidence, critical thinking and a healthy lifestyle for young girls. The program includes a lesson at each meeting with topics ranging from community involvement to peer pressure. After each lesson, the girls train to run for a 5k race at the end of May. This was the girl after her first GOTR meeting. She loves it.

Of course I took the picture while she was facing the sun. She moved just as I snapped it.

The Newest Addition to the Family

This is Deacon the latest addition to the family. He is a 12 week old Shepard mix that we adopted from a rescue foundation. He is very sweet and is on his way to being house and crate trained.

I don't know why this picture continually comes out side ways, but I included it anyway.

So Boscoe doesn't feel left out. Here is a picture of him. His nose is a little out of joint because of the usurper (Deacon).

A Night Time Visit

Happy St. Patrick's Day! Last night we were visited by a leprechaun named Rainier. The kids made a leprechaun trap to catch any night time visitors. I don't think the picture shows the entire trap. It had a staircase for the leprechaun to climb. It also had signs and arrows that directed him to the pot of gold. The signs said "especially for leprechauns", "there's gold" and "jump in" among other things. There was a fake pot of gold at the entrance to the trap and more fake jewels that sparkled in the trap.

We know he went into the trap, as he left little foot prints up the stairs and into the trap. Evidently, we got a clever leprechaun this year that managed to escape the trap with some help from our cat. Who knew our cat was so helpful! The leprechaun left the kids a note.

It said;

I'm a little leprechaun dressed in green
The tiniest man that you've ever seen
If you ever catch me, so its told
I'll have to give you my pot of gold
Your leprechaun trap was great
you caught me but being trapped wasn't my fate
Your cat helped get me out of the trap you set
So my gold you didn't get
The way you built your trap shows you are smart
So I left you a little something green, sweet and tart
See you next year my dear
The leprechaun named Ranier

He left the kids each a little bag of green candies.

He managed to do a few mischievous things while he was here last night.

He made the water in the flower vase turn green. The water in the toilets was green. And, to top it all off, the milk in the refrigerator was green. He was a very busy little green man.

Winner winner chicken dinner

Those are the words the boy uttered after he beat his sister and I in Blokus.  He started the game with a strategy of blocking us in.  The girl and I had several pieces left that we were unable to fit. 

This and yahtzee are currently our favorite family games.  Though I have to say, I prefer the good old days when the children were toddlers and we had a chance of actually beating them.