trust in me, just in me...

trust in me, just in me
Shut your eyes and trust in me
You can sleep safe and sound
Knowing I am around

Slip into silent slumber
Sail on a silver mist
Slowly and surely your senses
Will cease to resist

Trust in me, just in me
Shut your eyes and trust in me

--Trust In Me (the Jungle Book)

a happy surprise

Thank you, thank you, thank you, Miss Mo.Wask!

for Mama: flickr set of my boys

my boys

serious and sweet

being boys

Mealy Oak Gall from an Ornamental Live Oak

(That just rolls off the tongue, doesn't it?)



The little hole is where the gall wasp exited. The boys and I just learned what these little things were this week. If you have never heard about the life cycle of the disholcaspis cinerosa, you can check out this site to learn all about the little girl who grew up in this little ball. :-)

the old school house

afternoon yummy

more math...2(x + 3) = 2x + 6

I love the math book that Aiden is using this year. Here he uses algebra tiles to help demonstrate distributive property.

math practice

clue

I played Clue with O...


hmmm...


putting the pieces together...


Mr. Green in the lounge with a lead pipe...O won.

at home in a b&n cafe

yes, we're still here

and still living and learning...

After watching several episodes of Engineering an Empire, the boys decided to make their own marvels.

a conversation in the woods

science in paper cups

up to his neck

and surrounded by friends at park day.

journaling at the botanical garden

country mice, city mice

Given an afternoon to themselves, the city mice went to the San Antonio Museum of Art...



and thought of their boys...



and then went to the river walk for dinner and found a Mardi Gras parade...



which made them wish they had brought their boys.

Meanwhile, the country mice...





probably didn't think of the city mice at all. ;-)

fresh air does a body good

from our outing last weekend in Friedrich Wilderness Park

my new motto

Seriously, I am going to make this my daily mantra. Lately, I feel stretched so thin in every direction that I don't feel like I am doing anything as well as I want to. ugh.

I liked this "fortune" so much that Aiden took a photo of it with my Nikon FE.

Educational Legos

This solar powered Ferris wheel was made using the eLab Renewable Energy Set. We also enjoy using the Simple Machines Set and the Motorized Elementary Engineering Level II. These sets are not cheap, but they are both educational and fun. I like that they include building instructions for many projects and that they are packaged in containers which keep pieces organized and easy to find. All of these sets and many other cool educational products can be found at www.legoeducation.com. (I'm looking at this and this for Mr. O's birthday in March.)

an update: coats 2 and 3

Here was the first. There may be more to come...

two sites we like lately...

Starfall.com -- free games, movie clips and interactive books for beginning readers

BrainPop.com -- short, educational cartoon-like clips on every topic under the sun. not free, but we feel like it has been worth the yearly subscription

cobalt blue in the afternoon

Aiden was inspired by Joseph Marioni's Liquid Light Exhibit at the McNay Art Museum, so he thought he would give the process a try.


I was inspired by my son's first layer of cobalt blue and by the light and the long shadows of the afternoon.

This is the first of at least three layers of color. I'll keep you updated on his progress. :-)

Sunday at the McNay

We went to see the George Rickey Kinetic Sculpture Exhibit one more time before it leaves the McNay on January 11. We so love this work, we wish it could be a permanent exhibit. It is amazing to see how the art so completely captivates all who see it. It was crowded yesterday, but that made it even more fun, because I enjoyed watching the reactions of people, young and old, to the movement of the sculptures. There were smiles and looks of wonder on all who saw the art. Wow! Since the Rickey Exhibit is just visiting, I could not take any pictures. Here is a non-Rickey work that was fair-game...


This is a small-scale model of Philip Grausman's 14-foot stainless steel, outdoor sculpture commissioned by the McNay.

a walk in the park...

It's 2009! Celebrate a year of science...

I was already planning to concentrate on science more with the boys this year, so I was excited to learn about this website while listening to today's Science Friday on NPR. cool stuff.