The Mystery Bag

Jaxon came home from PreSchool yesterday again w/ another fun, little project! He proudly bounced up the stairs from his classroom, Mystery Bag in tow. He made sure to announce to me that he had been chosen to take home the special bag.

When we got home, he was on a mission to fill that bag, but Mommy being a little slow, had to read the instructions first! Inside the canvas bag was a paper lunch sack. On the outside of the paper sack, the word "Green" was written. His duty was to find items to place in the lunch bag that were "Green". He had the option of choosing a color, shape or number... I wasn't surprised that he chose a color or that the color he chose was green!

The only rules were that the items chosen had to all fit in the Mystery Bag and none of the objects could be live objects! I naturally assumed that he would head straight to the toy box and choose his big green tractor, but I was wrong! In fact, he didn't choose a tractor at all! I asked if he'd like to make a scavenger hunt out of the project and he thought that sounded like a good idea. So out we went in search of green objects!

He spotted something almost immediately that caught his eye. He headed straight for the tree in our backyard that we pick leaves from to feed to the bunnies and calves. He wanted to pick the green leaf himself, so he did like he always does, and started to climb the tree.

Successfully, he was able to reach the particular leaf he was after and was very proud to show it off! We continued on our scavenger hunt but the only other green object he showed any interest in, was of course a live object! He wanted to take the live object but after explaining the rules again, he settled on taking his rubbery grasshopper, "Grassy", instead!

We continued our scavenger hunt inside where he also chose his green boat, his green Percy the train and his green rubbery alligator "Chilly". He was so excited to show his friends his green objects!

When Daddy came home from work, we had to do a "practice showing". He was most excited about sharing the story of our scavenger hunt and the green leaf he had picked from the tree.

Jaxon was up bright and early this morning ready to show off his green objects as well as his Texas teddy bear for Teddy Bear Day. I can't wait to hear all about his special day when he gets home!

Our Favorite Side of Beef

It's hard to believe that Crutch has been with us now for almost a year! I remember telling Kent about him and hearing him say, "Well, you are the calf whisperer, we'll see what we can do!" Dad had asked if we'd consider working with an animal who had sustained injuries from trying to jump out of his stall in the barn. He came to us w/ partial paralysis in his hind legs, which meant he couldn't walk or even stand on his own.

It was October 22nd of last year, my brother Tony thought I was crazy for taking on such a big project that would probably end in the calf dying. If it had been up to him, they would have put Crutch out of his misery then. Dad repeatedly told me there was a chance he'd never come out of it and to not get my hopes up, but I felt it was worth a try.

The first few days were tough! We had to put him in a sling two to three times a day and hang him from the ceiling of our barn which involved me raising him on a pulley system, by hand! Jaxon would help me secure a piece of carpet under his belly that wrapped around his sides and back, which we then attached to the pulley. Jaxon would sit on the bales stacked behind him encouraging both Mommy and Crutch, "You can do it guys!", he'd say!

Once I got Crutch lifted into the air, I would then place his legs in position to where they'd be if he were standing on his own. And eventually he got strong enough to do just that! We then were able to start moving him around the pen. We'd bribe him with treats and he'd follow. This took several months but the day finally came when he was strong enough to be let out with the rest of the group. I was a very proud Mommy that day!

We started out slow, letting him out once a day for about 30 minutes at a time. He would run around that pen kicking and jumping, things he could have never done those first months! I finally got comfortable enough to let him out permanently and he has blossomed ever since. We were never able to sell him since he suffers from arthritis, but deep down I never wanted to sell him anyway!

Kent thinks I'm crazy for being so attached to a 1000 pound steer but after hand raising him and spending so much time one on one with him, I couldn't help but fall in love! I swear he comes when I call his name, he bawls when I walk back up to the house from the pen, he follows me around the fence when I mow and he keeps me company when I hang clothes on the line! I truly think he sees me as his Mommy and the day he leaves us, I will be the one standing at the fence bawling! When I told Jaxon that Crutch was going to have a birthday, he asked if we could make him a cake! I told him that cows don't typically eat cake, but then again, this isn't your typical cow! Instead, we decided to serve him up some of his favorites... watermelon rinds, tomatoes and popcorn! It's important to celebrate all of God's creatures, BIG & small!

Happy Birthday Crutch... you are loved!

Tuesdays w/ Mommy

Next week our routine will go back to normal but this week's Tuesday was an extra special Tuesday, because Jaxon had PreSchool. He was very much ready to go back after having a few days off over the weekend. He kept asking if he was ever going back and I was beginning to feel the same way!

It was also a special Tuesday because it was Library Day. Jaxon wasn't real excited about taking his books back but once I explained to him that he'd get to pick out more, he decided that'd be OK! Since the upcoming theme at PreSchool is all about farms, we went in search of some farm related reads.

One of my favorite books growing up was, Charlotte's Web by: E. B. White. I look forward to the day when I can sit and read that story to my kids but since Jaxon's attention span isn't quite there yet, we found the next best thing...

Wilbur's Adventure is a Charlotte's Web picture book for the younger reading crowd. It's a really cute story about the adventures Wilbur has before meeting Charlotte.
Farm books are pretty easy to find, we ended up bringing home 7 books this time. We of course couldn't leave w/out picking out a book w/ John Deere tractors. John Deere's All Around the Farm is jam packed with colorful pictures and incredible facts from the field to the farmhouse. Plus, it has an entire chapter dedicated to Dairy farms, which we a partial too obviously!

We sat and flipped through each chapter last night w/ Daddy. I think he was pretty surprised at all of the knowledge Jaxon has already obtained from just being around the farm. Kent had never even seen a combine until after we met and Jaxon could name each header attachment that was used for different crops!

Jaxon's first field trip at PreSchool will be to a Dairy farm, luckily it won't be Grandpa's farm, he'd probably not want to go back w/ the class when it was time to leave! They begin their farm theme on Monday and their field trip will take place next Thursday.

As for our at-home field trip, I am still working on that! It's hard to know where to go when you are surrounded by farming. We will kick things off this afternoon, (if it doesn't rain), with a birthday party for our favorite Holstein, Crutch! He is turning 1 year old today! And if you're reading this, you are probably thinking I'm crazy... just wait till you read that post!

Labor Day Parade

Jaxon was thrilled to be apart of the Labor Day Parade this year in our small town. He has asked several times about riding on a float but has never had a chance to do so. When his teacher said his class was welcome to ride on the school float, we jumped at the chance to participate! Daddy was really nervous about him riding w/out one of us, but managed to get past his nervousness long enough to enjoy this first time experience!

The great thing about a small town parade is that even when you ride a float, you still get to watch part of the action if you are close enough to the beginning! Which means, you still get plenty of candy!

Homemade Watercolor Paints

OK... I'm not a fan of Martha Stewart, but I have to hand it to her, she's got some really good ideas (or at least her henchmen do)! While Jaxon was away at school the other morning, I decided to take a little time to enjoy the view, well not The View, The Martha Stewart Show, you get the idea. In other words, I wanted to sit on my butt and watch something other than Kick Buttowski for a change!

The only thing that held my attention and made me want to continue watching was the topic she was discussing w/ her guest star, Brendan Fraser. Together they were making homemade art supplies for children, one of which was watercolor paint. The thing that attracted me the most to this project was the chemistry element of combining white vinegar w/ baking soda... I knew this was something Jaxon would LOVE!

It's a really quick and easy project and you can try the colors out immediately. I attached a link below to Miss Martha's site which gives a better definition than I could, of how to recreate this experiment at home with your child.

http://www.wholeliving.com/article/homemade-watercolor-paint

Here are a few candids from our little experiment!

PreSchool Project #1

Jaxon brought home his first school project yesterday, a book that he and his classmates created together with the help of their teacher. Each student was asked to draw a self portrait... this was Jaxon's! The book was inspired by Eric Carle's "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?". There was a letter from Jaxon's teacher in the front of the book explaining the idea behind their project. She asked that we parents take the time to read the book with our child and write comments at the bottom of the page. Here is Jaxon sharing the story with Daddy, he was really proud of his drawing and so were we! It was really neat to see everyone's artwork! Mrs. Amy has a very talented group of young artists on her hands!

Tuesday's w/ Mommy ~ Coffee Bear Art Project

After a very exciting Monday and first day of PreSchool, Tuesday seemed a little drab. Jaxon was really disappointed to not be going to school and let me know it all day long! Since it was so hot again there wasn't much desire on either of our parts to spend anytime outside, which meant Mommy needed to have her game face on when it came to entertaining.


In an effort to buff up Jaxon's ArtBoard a bit, I began doing some research on a few new projects to fit w/ the theme at school, "Hungry Bears". Jaxon loves using glue and wanted to try out his new bottle that he picked out while school shopping, so this seemed like the perfect project.



You will need...

• Construction Paper (any color)

• Dry Coffee Grounds

• Marker, Crayon, Pencil, Pen (whatever you choose is fine)

• Glue

• Paintbrush

Start by having your child dump a scoop or less of dry coffee grounds into a bowl and set to the side.

Next, have your child draw a picture of a bear w/ his/her marker, crayon, pencil or pen.

When they have finished their drawing, have them fill in their bear with drops of glue.

After they have applied the drops of glue, ask them to spread the drops around with a paintbrush.

When they are done spreading the glue around, have them sprinkle the dry coffee grounds all over their bear, making sure to cover every bit of glue.
After they've finished covering their bears in grounds, discard the extra into a trashcan or Zip Lock bag for next time.

Jaxon decided to call his finished product, Coffee Bear!