Sic 'Em

This weekend we headed down to Austin to watch the Bears take on the Horns.  On our way down, we decided to stop and take a few pics on campus.  And by a few, I mean close to 100.

I've narrowed down my faves...and it was really hard.  So fun seeing Knox walk the same steps we took.  Crazy it's been 7 years.

Here, Stephen is pointing to the third floor, second window from the left.  Stephen's abode Freshman year.

Sitting on top of the Baylor sign in front of the SUB

Walking on campus, probably to the bears

I spy Knox, walking the plank in front of Pat Neff

He loved Joy and Lady

Lady loved her nap

Mama's excited to see the new SUB

He hugged all bears in sight

The fam in front of Pat Neff

Our fam on the swing in front of the SUB

Knox loved swinging

I had to get in there with him for at least one!

We had so much fun, reminiscing on old times.  If it weren't for Baylor, Stephen and I would never have met.  It will always hold a special place in our hearts.

Once in Austin, my dad hooked me up with my favorite meal...his fried chicken.  Yummo.  We stuffed our faces, and hit the hay.  Saturday, the ladies did some shopping while the guys lounged around.  After the kiddos naps, we headed up to game. 

We made a quick pit-stop at the Green Mesquite to grab some yummy BBQ and then started our tailgate.

About an hour before the game, we started our walk to the stadium.  Our seats were pretty high up, and it took quite a while to get there.  The minute we hit our seats, Knox starts freaking out.  He's scared of the cannons (UT scored on their second play, and kept scoring...so the cannons kepts coming).  He was afraid of the heights, the noises...everything.  Stephen's parents were in a box with some friends and had some extra tickets, so we decided that he might be better down there.  

Nope.  We're in a box, all the food, drinks, candy and ice cream he could ever want, and he wanted to go home.  This is the face we saw the entire first half:

We stayed through the first half, but left at halftime.  We tried to watch the game, but honestly, we both were on Knox-duty the whole time and couldn't really enjoy it.  Oh well...that's life with a 2.5 year old.

Once he knew we were going home, this is how he acted:

We caught one last look at the scoreboard and headed home.  Unfortunately, we lost.  It wasn't a blow out, so we were pleased.  We had so much fun with the family all weekend, so it was a success all around!

{HomeSchool}: Weekly Wrap-Up

This week's focus was "God Made the Animals-Pets."  Knox is OBSESSED with Gracie and Bella, so this was a no brainer.  Throughout the week, we talked about his friend's pets (Blair-Kitty, Ella/Maren-Gatsby, etc) and also about his Gigi and Papi's dogs.  He helped me feed and add more water in G&B's bowl, and we also pointed out that they have 4 feet and no arms, paws with claws, etc.  

He loved being a helper, and doting on the dogs on his own.  He loves to let them in after they've been outside, and unfortunately has picked up on my lingo in reference to the dogs.  I heard a lot of "Gracie, get down." and "Girls, come in now!"  Oh well...maybe they'll listen better with more people yelling :)

We also worked on all of the colors, just as an activity.  Actually, this wasn't planned.  We had a big storm one night this week, and the next morning Knox and I were playing on the patio.  He was asking why everything was wet, and I told him that it had rained the night before.  He looked up in the sky, and then asked, "Where's the rainbow, mommy?"  He's a genius, I tell you.  Ha.  

I thought it was so cute that he made that connection, and so we decided to make a rainbow with watercolors.  I'm a bit OCD, so I typically steer clear of watercolors (mean, right?).  I just hate that with one little dab you can mix all the colors up in the tray and they never work the same again.  I'm fully aware that I'm a control freak, so we got over it quickly. 

I drew the rainbow on the cardstock, then let him paint.  He's two, so obviously he can't paint in the lines (or even know where to put each color).  I'd simply call the color out, and he'd put his paintbrush in the water and then dab it in the color I asked.  Then, holding my fingertip in the appropriate section, he'd color away.  I was really shocked how well he did.

He definitely exceeded my expectations!  Once we were finished I knew we needed to add a little "umph" to the cloud.

I got out some elmers and cotton balls and we made a proper cloud.  He loves it.  He knows all of his colors, but something about seeing them in this way made him really excited to practice them again.

Since I didn't really have anything "artsy" to use for the pet section of our lessons, I used trusty google images to find some pictures of Chihuahuas.  Once I added their names to the collars, I let him go to town coloring them.  He loved seeing them in cartoon form, and still laughs every time he sees them in the kitchen.

Pretty fun...next week is review, so we'll be getting our letters, animals, shapes and colors down so that we can move on!

Have a great weekend, and happy learning!

State Fair of Texas 2012

Ever since I can remember, we made a yearly trip to the State Fair of Texas.  Even when I was in Belgium, I snagged a trip home around fair time and made it.  Since Knox was born, we've made it a fun family trip.  The first year, he slept through half of the Baylor/Tech game at the Cotton Bowl.  Last year, he spent hours driving cars.  This year, we had a blast.  He did drive the cars...all of them.  But he also just took in the scene and enjoyed himself.  We all had a great time!

You can't go to the fair without getting a Fletcher's corn dog.  Knox didn't love the breading, but chowed down on his hot dog!

We headed over to the petting zoo after our photo sesh with Big Tex (which totally mesmerized him when he talked)...Knox LOVES animals.  He had the best time feeding all of the ones he could, and if he was able to pet them, he was in HEAVEN!

See...the camels were a fave!

I love that he has his hand in every cage that says "I BITE."  No incidents, thankfully!

His absolute fave.  We talked about them all the way there, all the way home and all week long.  He loves giraffes!

After the petting zoo, and a serious wipe down with rubbing alcohol, we headed over to the car show.  Not sure how many years we'll get without having to pay to ride rides...so far all he wants to do is drive the cars. Free fun!!

It got late quick, so we made the trek back to the car.  This year they had a village of Chinese lanterns.  It was a serious rip off to get in, so we stole some pics from the gates.

Pretty cool!

We had such a fun time, and already can't wait to see the fair through his eyes next year!

{HomeSchool}: Weekly Wrap-Up

This week our home school theme was "God Made the Animals" with a focus on farm animals.  Since we went to Owen's Farm (here), I considered that a major activity.  We talked about the animals, different characteristics, and the sounds they made.  We also made distinctions about where they are found (geese-water, horses-stables, etc).

He talked about the animals for a few days, and I think he believes that all goats will eat out of his hand.  Hopefully we never run into a stray goat...does that even exist?

The other themes of the week:  color-green and yellow, shape-circles and lines, numbers-1, 2, 3 and letters-h-k.  I need to do a better job at the letters, so next week we'll really focus on those.  

Colors...we've got those down.  For a fun activity this week, we combined colors and shapes and made "Baylor Circles."

Pretty simple.  I found a few different sized cups, lids and yogurt containers for the different sizes.

He really liked this activity, and did a great job of stamping (and not wiping)...though only for a little while.  Then he wanted to get messy.  I'm always directing play time, so I let him just go with it.  It's no surprise orange is his favorite color, and he requested blue to go with it.  I'm going to say it wasn't a coincidence, and my kid is just a complimentary color genius :)

He did a few circles, then just wanted his hands dirty.  He combined colors, wiped, smeared and had a great time.  My OCD needed to add a few more circles once he was done.  Since his hands were really dirty, and we needed them clean for our next project, I had him "dab" them in a meaningful way...and I get another fun reminder of his chubby hands at 2.5 years!

While the paint was out, I decided to do a little Halloween craft.

He's OBSESSED with paint on his feet.  I think it's from all of the seasonal crafts when he was little, and I would paint the bottoms of his feet (and it would tickle).  He's always game for a little foot painting, so we went with it.

(Stephen was home early to catch the shots...love his sweet face in this one)

His feet ghosts are the perfect addition to our living room wall!

Our last activity for the week was using cause and effect skills.  He's still a bit young, but he definitely learned that when you add water to a coffee filter, the colors bleed.

And he loved spraying water.  LOVED.

(Check out that mouth...he's working hard!)

We did an orange one, too.  Figure we'll add a jack-o-lantern face and hang it for Halloween.

After all the spraying he needed a little hydration.  Love that boy!

Happy learning!