June Cleaver Nirvana

Hi to all of you who partake weekly in the potluck. Oh, and if you are new around here, please scroll below to the Trapper story. You really should start there.


Happy, happy Monday! Whooo hooo.

I am not serving food today. You will have to bring your own to the potluck. Deal, people. Deal. (rebel tendency #1)


On Friday my mom and I took the three boys to the Dallas Museum of Art. The place is fantastic. The kids were very interested in many of the things we saw. They were as well behaved as boys ages 2,4 and 7 could ever, ever expect to be. BUT that didn't stop the staff of the DMA from yelling at us for the following (rebel tendencies #2-#5):

1. We had just gotten into the building. We were walking down the hall that lead to the galleries. I want to emphasize that there wasn't a piece of art within 100 yards of us when my 3 boys ran up an empty staircase in the corridor. *gasp* Then they ran down. *gasp* A DMA staff member ran to me quietly shouting, "children should NOT be on the stairs unassisted. They could fall and hurt themselves." I assured her that they have been independent in their stair climbing for years. I had actually been proud of them for choosing an appropriate area to run off excess energy. Whatever. (Rebel tendency #2)

2. The boys had been told not to touch anything. They had followed this throughout the museum. Toward the end, Rhett(2) found a glass case that contained some really cool drawings. He pointed to them. His pointer finger touched the glass case. *gasp* A museum employee ran to us and sternly reprimanded my 2 y/o for putting a finger print on a glass case that was sitting on the floor. Really? Of all the things he could accidentally touch this seems like something that did no harm. Whatever. (Rebel tendency #3)

3. When we entered the museum I had checked to see if they had a photography ban. Nothing was posted. I had taken pictures (many are in my yesterday's post) throughout (without flash...the art is so beautifully lit). I took the picture of the random father/daughter because the moment unfolded right before me. *gasp* A museum employee flew across the room to give me a 10 minute lecture on what artwork could be photographed. According to my lesson, you can only photograph art that was a GIFT to the museum. Hmmmmmm. I missed the whole part where anything in the museum wasn't a gift from a foundation, person or taxpayer (me!). Whatever. (Rebel tendency #4)

I know! Right now you are thinking...WHO IS SHE? Where is our perky, harmless Holly?


Rotten Sweet potatoes. (Rebel tendency #6)

I just realized that I skipped rebel tendency #5...and I am not even going to change it. (I know! I know!)

I am going to switch this segment around a little today (rebel tendency #7) to throw AllTop.com under the bus (rebel tendency #8). I have been watching my stats and have received a total of 14 visits through the AllTop.com site. I have been responsible for at least 4 of those (rebel tendency #9). So, should I go join the much more fun AllMediocre.com hosted by my favorite blogging buddy, Meg? Please vote with your comments. (yes, that would be rebel tendency #10)


Oh, I gave that slogan to Meg while still listed on AllTop.com. (rebel tendency #11)


So today I am off to celebrate Ryan's last day of school. Last day? Celebrate? Would it be wrong of me to dread that summer starts tomorrow (rebel tendency #12)...

This morning the three boys were conducting seperate science experiments:

1. Ryan--as pictured above he taped one whistle to the other so that when you blow into one, both get air
2. Reid--cutting a "dead" helium balloon and its string into a million pieces
3. Rhett--testing gravity by throwing each thing on my kitchen counter to the floor

I later tried an experiment of my own to see how much of the mess would the vacuum welcome.

We started the homeschool co-op a year and half ago. It is an educational playgroup that meets weekly and whoever is hosting creates the lesson or field trip based on what they excel at, are interested in or a whim! This week I subbed in for someone on short notice and was feeling very proud of myself for remembering that the library had pre-pakaged lessons (we found this out on a library tour through the co-op) and so I went and picked out the WINTER one. It had 5 books, some activities, a puzzle and some stuffed animals that went along with one of the books. I was feeling quite organized and proud until I went to get my email and received notice that another group (one WE started a few months ago) was "studying" snow on Friday and had rented a snow machine! Wow. So instead of sulking, we had our fun lesson on Wed. (see picture from Wednesday below) and then we all crashed their snow party today. What fun. The snow was actually big blobs of bubbles and the kids just went crazy. The moms took advantage of the huge photo op.

Speaking of snow, I learned on Wednesday that only 2/5 Texas SAHMs know how to cut out paper snowflakes! I spent a better part of my childhood doing this so I was quite shocked. I guess there is a link between growing up in a cold climate and the ability to cut tissue paper into works of white art.

This group is one of the highlights of our week. It is our homeschool co-op for 4 and 5 y/os. We have been meeting for 1 1/2 years and took this picture today for fun. Reid, of course, is the one with the blanket. For a more comprehensive report and tons more pictures, please refer to http://www.reesesviewoftheworld.blogspot.com/. OK, that is the first time I have used the link button and will try and learn the fancy link behind just a word or two--give me a break here...baby steps!

What a fun lesson today with 8 kids 5 and under, a bunch of collected sticks, leaves, acorns, etc. and inspiration from Ehlert's "Leaf Man". Teacher Miss Heather lead out a lively discussion about Thanksgiving and we charted our favorite Thanksgiving foods--turkey reigned supreme over pie, green beans and mashed potatoes? The top creation was Reid's which is explained as an "animal with 4 legs and some hair and some footprints". The second started out to be Rhett's but became mommy's when he lost interest (he did collect the items) and the bottom one is mommy's turkey. Today has been all about artistic expression with painting in blue in the morning followed by this extravaganza. The boys are even fighting over the "Mouse Paint" book as I type...is it fighting or artistic difference?

Yesterday we did our "hiking" a little closer to home. Ever since our home school group--Deb did a lesson on spiders, the boys have been very attentive about finding spiders. They then repeat "Miss Deb said not to touch them". Thank you Miss Deb! We took a picture of the spider below hoping to see all his eyes, but we found out instead he is a bit injured and missing some of his legs. Poor spider!
Later in the day, Rhett (almost 2) was hanging out near the 4 trees in the circle drive. He kept running back and forth between them occasionally peeling bark of their trunks. Awhile later he lead me over to them and in his binky-impaired speech explained to me that two of the trees had bark that could be easily peeled and two of the trees had bark that couldn't be peeled, "No!" It is funny, because I had never notice the trees were diffent. From an adult distance they all appear the same.

"Once children come to understand that objects are permanent, they start to group those which are alike and those which are different, the beginnings of classification. Children will engage in this all importatn intellectual activity on thier own for long periods of time if given the materials and freedom to do so. The infant's mastery is organized and purposeful, even if it is not obvious to us." from page 107 of The Power of Play by David Elkind

We traveled to the Frank Buck Zoo yesterday because last time we went my 6 y/o declared it "the best day I've had in 10 years". Not wanting to deprive him of another historic event, we returned. It is a great spot for kids under 8. The park in front of the zoo is large with a lot of different activities. There is a small train that circles the park that you can ride for $1. Zoo admission is amazingly reasonable ($5 for adults, $3 for kids). We fed giraffes. We fed goats. The kids ran their legs off. We investigated what all the animals eat. Our favorite was the armadillo that eats fire ants--yeah. We then went to eat at a local McDonalds pictured above. Overall, a pretty fun day!