Thursday, May 31, 2012

Brilyn Gets A Boom Box

 Brilyn is at that age where her language seems to be
taking off. She's learning new words everyday!
And she LOVES music!

So - we got her a boom box with microphones so she
can sing along! I used the same technique with
my own kids and they were all early talkers!
Brilyn's Daddy probably enjoyed the
baby boom box as much as anybody!
I hope Brilyn enjoys hers, too!

She's already learned to control the volume!
See her hand on that knob!
She'll be learning those songs and singing
along in no time. And singing is just talking to music!
I love listening to her talk!

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

A Garden Party

 I can't think of anything Grace would rather do
than have a tea party!
 And with the weather turning warm and the flowers
in bloom she's been wanting to have her
tea parties outside.... in the garden!
 She just loves serving tea... and cake...
or cookies or other yummy treats!
Especially CHOCOLATE!
 And she almost always uses her manners!
The proof is in the pinky!
And she's got that down!
What a lovely little hostess we have, here!

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

The Pool Slide in Action!

Here is Gracie demonstrating the pool slide in live
action! It is sooooooo fun!
She can now slide all by herself, too!

Monday, May 28, 2012

Super Slide

Heather, Dustin, Grace & Olivia got me this super fun slide
for Mother's Day!

Olivia tested it out!

 I think she likes it!
 She slid down it over and over again!
And tomorrow - I'll show you how well it worked in the pool!

Friday, May 25, 2012

Butterflies

 Our little butterfly garden is growing nicely and we
have had lots of visitors!
We get a lot of these - Red Admirals!
(and yeah, I can plainly see that they are orange, but that is their technical name)
 We also get quite a few of these
Great Spangled Fritillary Butterflies!

 And we get a lot of
West Coast Ladies!
(Grace has not asked about the West Coast Men)
West Coast Ladies look like Painted Ladies!
The only real difference is the dots on the hind wings.
In a Painted Lady they are white and in a
West Coast Lady they are blue!
And another Red Admiral!
Grace really enjoyed chasing this butterfly.
We chased it all around the yard and the whole
time she was talking to it.
She'd say... "It's okay! I just want to be your friend!"
"I won't hurt you!"
"Come on sweetie.... I just want to look! I won't touch your
pretty wings!"
"Who painted your wings? They're so pretty!"
It was so cute!

Thursday, May 24, 2012

Mountain Boomer

YES!
In Oklahoma we have mountains!
They're small.... and nothing like the mountains
they have in Colorado, but none the less
they are mountains!
This is Elk Mountain!
 Home of many Mountain Boomers!
 Mountain Boomers are colorful lizards that
scurry about on the rocks and make hiking more interesting!
And since our mountains are small... they're great for
beginners and out of shape Grandmas!
Scenic... but not too treacherous!

Anyone up for a hike?

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Lady Bugs!

 When Gracie spends the night it seems we
always have a few spontaneous
science lessons!
 She loves to discover!
Here are a few lady bugs from a recent lesson!
We saw one lady bug without spots, so this prompted questions!
Why doesn't he have spots?
Is he a man bug?
Why do some lady bugs have spots and some
lady bugs not have spots?
Why are some lady bugs big, and some small?
Why? Why? Why?
Don't you love it when a kid asks why and you don't
have the answers?
We looked them up!
Not all lady bugs have spots. Some have more spots than
others. And some have spots that are shaped differently
than others.
Male lady bugs are lady bugs, also - not man bugs!
And the female lady bugs are larger than the
male lady bugs!
Lady bugs are also hatched from eggs
and if you look at the underside of the leaves in
your garden you might see some!
And that's probably enough answers for a three
year old! Hopefully, I'll gain a bit more
knowledge by the time she is four!

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Oklahoma Prairie Dog Pups

 These are Prairie Dog Pups!
Prairie Dogs are a common site in
Southwest Oklahoma!
There is a Prairie Dog town on the refuge
and the parks have several of them
in town. This litter of Prairie Dog Puppies
is in Elmer Thomas Park. Grace and I stopped
to visit them on our way home from the
new playground!

Monday, May 21, 2012

The Tea Room!

 I'm making new additions to my tea room!
 I have a new border that will eventually go all
the way around the room!
I'm using the wire plate holders to put little saucers around
the top of the walls and cup hooks to hang matching
tea cups from the ceiling!

Isn't it cute?

Friday, May 18, 2012

Giddy Up..... Olivia!

 Olivia tried and tried and finally she got on this horsey
ALL BY HERSELF!
And then - she gave me this big proud grin!
I'm so glad I had a camera ready.
Don't you just love that look of accomplishment?

Thursday, May 17, 2012

Learning To Ride A Bike!

 Look who is riding a bike!
 She can petal it all by herself and she
does pretty good - at least when she's going downhill!
 Keeping those petals moving uphill can
be frustrating, though. Sometimes you need a good
push from a grown up!
But, Grace is hanging in there. She keeps trying!
Someday she'll be buzzing all over the neighborhood and
I'll be trying to catch up!

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Learning to Make Mud Pies!

 Grace has enjoyed making mud pies for quite some time
and Olivia loves to play in the dirt - so teaching her
to make mud pies, too, just came natural!
 Grace is putting a candle in her pie!
And Olivia is making sure hers is super sweet! She's sticking
herself in it!
 But - I don't think it was quite as sweet as she had
hoped it would be!
After tasting her pie, she wanted to taste Grace's.
But - Grace said no! Hers was simply too pretty
to let a baby mess up!
Anyone want the recipe?


Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Science

Grace loves SCIENCE!
She loves looking at things through a
magnifying glass and investigating!

So - I thought she might like playing with a
magnet, also! This is a stong magnet that I bought
for another purpose - but I decided to use it as a
science tool first!
 Here - Grandpa is asking Grace why she thinks some
things stick and some things don't.
 We went around the house and gathered several small objects.
Then Grace would guess whether or not the magnet
would pick them up! The magnet would pick up the scissors by the blades - but it would not pick up the scissors by the handles. This told us that the magnet would pick up the metal but not the plastic part and helped us form ideas to test out.
 We let Grace guess whether the magnet would pick up the various things we had collected. Then we tried to see! For her first time playing with a magnet she did pretty good!
 Yes - the magnet will pick up a musical bell!
 Actually, the magnet liked the bell so much
it didn't want to let go!
 But - the magnet would not pick up a plastic block!
 It picked up a spoon - yet it would not pick up a stainless steel fork! This tells us that some metals are magnetic and some are not.
 It picked up this nut. And it also picked up the bolt that the nut came off of.
And it picked up this skinny screw driver!
Playing with magnets is lots of fun!
And guessing which items the magnet will pick up
and which ones it won't is a very good
beginners science project!

I wonder what we will discover next?