Art Show

Emma had a few pieces of art up at the most recent studio open house.  We stopped by for a few minutes to grab a couple pictures.

She had one more piece but for some reason I did not get a picture of it.

We are done with art classes until fall.  There were a couple I thought she might be interested in but the timing of them just did not work out. 

Speaking of art, we are going to do an at home art class starting in the fall as well as any art classes she is interested in.   At home we will just cover history and artists and different types of art.  I was just getting ready to order for the fall when I stopped by a used home school curriculum fair and came across the book I wanted to use for $10! Brand new!  It retails for $42!  The only difference is that it is 1st edition instead of second. 

Right place at the right time

(For some reason, the layout will not stay the way I want it so if it seems jumbled sorry! That goes the same for other posts as well, I do not always check them out before or after I post them but Blogger tends to mess them up occasionally!)

Recently we took a day trip just south of here to scout out camping spots. On the way up the Colorado National Monument the Emergency Broadcast System was doing their test over the radio so that sparked a conversation on what it was and why it was used. We used the example of tornados so then the questions of how is a tornado formed came up and at that point Dave took over the conversation. He is the science question guy!

Meanwhile hours later we are taking a nice nature walk around one of the lakes, through dry area, muddy areas and even some snow drifts! We spotted evidence of moles and porcupines and deer!

And back to the subject of the post… How things just fall into place. I was standing not too far from the lake and heard a sound that sounded like a ton of fish jumping out of the water over and over. I look over and there is water whipping around in a circle moving across the surface. Best we could figure was a dust devil type wind moving across the surface of the water. Nothing developed but Emma was able to see the idea behind tornados…

On the way home we saw an actual dust devil as well so another visual aide!

Garden update

Our garden is thriving!  Of course the biggest challenge is still ahead because the heat has decided to come full force already.  We are due to hit 100 degrees on Monday.  It is going to be tough to keep those plants happy especially since I am afraid of overwatering.  Guess I will have to just go above and beyond what I think they need and they should do fine.

We have been enjoying strawberries already… They are small but yummy!  We have 2 peppers growing!  And the tomatoes and green beans are flowering.  The seeds we planted for sweet pea and sunflowers have sprouted.  Of the starters we bought we have only lost one, and that was out of our control.  It has been a very WINDY month and the poor plant just snapped.  Considering all, I am thrilled that was all we lost.  We were worried about the broccoli for a while as well as the other pepper plants. 

Recent pics (and they look wilted due to the heat, I should have taken some this morning)

One of our two peppers!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Broccoli doing well!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  Tomato plants growing big!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Couple of the green bean plants.

Lesson in estimating….

Emma had an orthodontic appointment yesterday and every month they have a game.  We are new to the office so have only witnessed two games and both have required Emma to estimate numbers.  The first she needed to guess how old each of the employees were (based on pictures on a board) and add them all together using a calculator.  Age estimating is not something I expect her to be able to do or that I think I can teach her!  This month they had a jar full of mini marshmallows and wanted a guess to how many were in there!

So Emma looked at the jar and I asked her if she remembered how many 10s were in 100 which she replied 10 to.   Then she guess 120 marshmallows.  When I realized the contest would still be going on during her next appointment I kind of joked we should go home and see what 120 marshmallows looked like so she could see if she should guess higher or lower at the next appointment.  The Tech seemed to think that was a great idea!

So we bought a bag of marshmallows at the store and I glanced at the stores canning jars and I think they were using a quart size jar.  So today we set out counting marshmallows. 

First Emma counted 120 (in groups of ten and recorded them using tally marks).  When she was done, she turned to me and said “I think there are more than 120 in the jar!”

Second, I looked though containers I had and found one that was 32 oz.  Filled it up with marshmallows and Emma counted those and this time had me make tally marks.  There were 200 in the 32 oz.  I told her that I thought the jar they used would hold 2 of the 32 oz jars and her eyes lit up and she said “I think I will guess 400 next time!”

Smart girl!

 

The bowl on the left is the bowl holding her guess of 120.  She is in the process of counting how many were in the 32 oz container.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Maybe it is sort of cheating but she is learning a great lesson on estimating and learning how many of something might fit in containers.  This is actually something I have been thinking of doing for a fun activity for a while after seeing a guessing contest for gum balls.

Oma and PopPop have been in town visiting the last couple days. We pre-planned to go bowling so Oma brought her ball and shoes so she could bowl with Emma. It was a lot of fun and Emma did great. Some frustration when the ball would leave the boards a little too soon but as she gains speed I think she will be happier!

First game was 52 and the second was 33.

Her first ball...

This was the best frame. I thought I got the second ball on video but did not. She ended up getting the spare!

Best first ball, however she went past the foul line so it did not count. Not sure why they were turned on for open bowling.

What her ball is capable of and this is one of the things that frustrates her. Again, more practice and a little speed (couple more MPH) and she will be happier I think!

First camping trip of the season….part 2

As we were finishing introducing Dorje to the canoe, the wind picked up again so we decided to go exploring to see what was in the area. Goal was to find more camping area… free if possible… Did not find the free camping but found some other neat areas to camp.

Dorje realizing water may not be as horrible as he thought. We will continue to work on it.

Thought we may have taken a couple steps backwards when he ran into a swampy area thinking it was solid ground. Ended up in deeper water than he had been in before!

The area we were exploring was a HUGE rock climber attraction. Someone had set up a rope swing in a cave like area and Emma had a blast swinging around!

The next morning Dave had to take off to make a couple phone calls for work so I started packing up our tent and eventually woke Emma up to get dressed and start packing her stuff up. It had been VERY windy the night before and to my surprise Emma had slept through the entire thing! Dave and I both woke at times thinking the tent would be dismantled.

As I was getting Emma up, I looked up at the sky.

Changed my thinking and started putting stuff in her tent to stay dry and told her to stay put. Had no idea how long Dave was going to be and there was no way to call him since our phones did not have a signal where we were.

Dave made it back as the rain was ending. Could have been a lot worse but it was enough to chill me to the bone. Two nights of not sleeping well (first night really cold and the second due to the wind) and I slept most of the way home. Dave and Emma stopped a few times to fish and Emma caught a fish the second time they stopped!

Overall a successful trip. We were made aware of what camping gear we are missing and plan to correct that buy the next trip!

First camping trip of the season

Figure I should get this up before we go on our second trip… not that we have one planned any time soon.

This was planned because a friend of Dave’s wanted to go camping.  We were going to join him and his girlfriend… well, the friend ended up in Nebraska and we were by ourselves.  Loaded the van up with tent/sleeping bag, life jackets, oars and wood… and a cooler which we filled up after securing our campsite… oh and the canoe strapped on top of the van.

Photo of the van and campsite.  Taken last day of trip, but only one I have of the van.

 

 

 

 

 

Campfire the first night.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was too windy the first day/evening to take the canoe out, but it died down just long enough the second day that we went out for about an hour.

Once back on shore, we decided to introduce Dorje to the canoe and see if by any chance we might be able to get him out with us at some point in the future.  First step getting him in the boat and allowing Dave to push off and row around a little with just him and Dorje in shallow water.  Anything more would require a life vest for Dorje because we are not sure he could swim given his size and weight.

Success so far!!!  He is not a fan of the water but did a lot better than we imagined he would!

More in part two…

Hope we do not kill it this year…

Last year we had no luck gardening.  Although we did not give it much of a chance.  I think Dave attempted to start some seeds and they died as soon as they went into the ground.

This year we are going all out and hoping something survives!  We have one major strike against us, in that we are practically the only area in the valley that does not have irrigation water and we live in the dessert.  So city water it is!  And we are not fighting to have a lawn this year so I am not going to too worried about our bill.

I tried hard to find a before picture and the one I found does not really do this area justice because it looked nothing like this when we bought the house just over 2 years ago.  We think this picture was probably taken summer/fall 06, maybe 07 and we bought in 08. 

The lawn did not look that nice and the deck and stairs were rotten.  They were taken out right away and just now are finally almost done… well, stairs are, the deck area and part of the grassy area have become our garden. 

This morning before we got to work planting.  Dave built the planters to the right of the stairs while I was up in Montana and we put the retaining wall and other planters in this past couple weeks.

 

Three tomato plants and a lot of marigolds.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Planter in front has 5 pepper plants and onions.  Still need to plant to the back left.  We are thinking lettuce.

 

 

 

 

Two cucumber plants.  Sunflowers along the fence on the left.  Two rows of sweet peas on the top.  Planning on putting radishes along the bottom and maybe middle.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  This is part of the other larger planter.  Right now has 4 broccoli plants.  Going to add spinach and carrots tomorrow.

In the front of the photo is a smaller bed that runs along side.  It has strawberry and onion.

 

 

 

 

The planters that run along the stairs have strawberry and green beans.

Added in one small bed by the stair planters and tomato bed.  Has sweet basil  plant and chives and oregano seeds.

 

 

 

 

We also have 2 mint plants we will be putting in a container to grow. 

I snagged the table at a garage sale for $3.  Just happened to be mentioning that to the lady running it, that the main thing I was looking for was a small patio table and she said she had one out back they were not using.  She had decided not to put it out since she was not selling the chairs with it.

Playing catch up!

I am way behind in my posts… In the next couple days I will have posts on our camping trips as well as how our garden area is developing.

Emma had two teeth pulled a week ago. Tomorrow we go back to the orthodontist to have molds made of her teeth. This is get the ball rolling on getting the lower lingual holding arch ready. I can already see her two adult teeth moving into place since the two teeth were pulled so that is exciting. The arch will have to wait until she gets some fillings done. I dropped the ball on flossing so I can not even blame the cavities on her. She is one of the 25% “lucky” ones that is prone to cavities if she is not on top of her flossing.

An hour or so after her dentist appointment last Friday. She said later that it was a lot easier than she thought it would be!
Afterwards, it was off to Moon Farm for a school field trip. We saw friends we knew there as well as met up with a friend who had the day off from her school.

Emma on the monkey bars at Moon Farm.

That evening it was off to a fair at the mall. Dave thought she needed something special after the dentist visit!

She was able to go on all the little kid rides this year but not as many of the bigger kid rides as she wished she could! She was able to go on the hang-glider ride and had a blast! You can hear her every so often in the video below!

Emma and her finished masterpiece at art this week! They worked hard on creating a watercolor painting with a mountain, water, and grass in the foreground! She will have 2-3 pieces of work on display at the next art show for the art studio!

Watercolor art class

I finally remembered to bring a camera with me to art class.  This session, they are learning how to paint landscapes.  Today, Emma added a tree to her sky that she painted 2 weeks ago.

  Emma after painting the tree.  Getting ready to add leaves.

 

 

 

 

 

  Adding paint to her sponge. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  Zoomed in on her tree, not the whole painting.

 

 

 

 

 

   Painting grass on a  hill.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Adding birds to her sky.

Emma had a consultation appointment with a local orthodontist today.  Her dentist is wanting to pull 2 of her baby teeth and I felt it was time to talk with an orthodontist to make sure everyone was on the same page.

I stopped by two yesterday.  The second one was able to schedule an appointment for today to talk about everything.  The first, we talked directly with the orthodontist and he took a quick look at Emma’s teeth and agreed with the dentist and said that he would suggest also taking the canine teeth if the other two were close (within 6 months) of coming in.  The second does not agree with taking teeth to just make room, but did think it would be ok to take the two that the dentist suggested but then install a lower lingual holding arch and wait to see what happens.  The arch will prevent the back molars from creeping forward and taking up extra room.  At least this is how I understand it to be.  It is a less expensive approach if indeed we do not need to be pulling teeth before they have a chance to fall out on their own.  But there is also no guarantee she will not need more teeth pulled either.

One of the forms that needed to be filled out for today’s appointment was a “Fun Facts To Know About You" that I had Emma fill out with very little help.

This was a final copy since she started in pen and was crossing out as she would decide to spell a word differently so she rewrote it in pencil.  I gave her the names as well as hints of rules she might know but not the actual letters.

Glad I got the picture in the previous post!

I was getting ready to floss E’s teeth tonight and flat out told her to just pull her tooth out.  She is not a wiggler and has been scared to pull it out.  Her last one fell out while brushing her teeth.  So she went for it and out it came!  So bedtime was postponed even longer while we made out the envelope for the Tooth Fairy and took some pictures.  My sister had sent me a photo and told me I was too copy it next time Emma lost a tooth since I missed the opportunity with the first tooth. 

The photo she sent me… Me with my first lost tooth.

 

Similar with Emma:

Such a nice day…

The weather has been strange lately… warm then cold and warm again, spring weather! 

Emma wanted to play in the water today since we are back to warm so it was a good time to see how last year’s swim suit fits… 

 

  And this photo is in case I do not get another tonight.  She has a very loose tooth which is about to come out.  The adult tooth is already up  behind it.   More on teeth later after her appointment tomorrow. 

Evening Stroll

Took a little side trip on our way to the grocery store this evening, which turned into a two mile hike up on top of a bench of the Colorado National Monument. The first half mile was a very steep climb from a starting elevation 4800 ft. up to 5280.  Emma was a champ and took the whole hike with barely a whimper. We saw many spring wildflowers a small lizard on the trail, and great views of the valley with passing spring showers. Start of the trail.

 

our van is waaaaay down there.

looking back at the bench we had just been below those upper cliffs.