Arboretum with Lucy

Lucy and I went to the Arboretum with our Itty Bitty Foodie friends. She had a great time. We enjoyed lunch at the cafe, taking shelter from the rain in the flower houses, the frog fountains and I can't wait for the new kids sections to be open. I never went to an Arboretum when I was little, but I imagine from Lucy's view it is a magical place full of flowers, butterflies, baby bunnies and fantastical houses.

Praying Mantis

I love bugs. Not the way Lucy loves them. She wants to kiss them and cuddle them. I just think they are fascinating. After seeing the praying mantises at The Lab, I purchased two eggs for us. We put them in this pop up bug tent, a bonus part of a generous gift of ladybugs from owner of the Lab, Melissa. We kept them by the back door in our bedroom. Their hatching woke me up at 5:30a.m.. It sounded like rain. And bugs. I was thoroughly creeped out and had to take them out of our room.

But in the morning I had a tent full of the cutest bugs. Lucy was delighted to have breakfast with them. I took them to Penn's school for parents and kids to ogle and that afternoon we let them loose in the garden.

Every day we go to the garden to see how many we can find.  Coincidentally, a day before ours hatched we found a baby praying mantis on a pacifier outside, so I guess this is good news on it being a  comfortable habitat for them.

Lucy: 17 Months

Lucy is 17 months. Her molars are coming in so she is either happy or she is not happy. The middle ground is television. She loves Elmo. She carried around one of Penn's big old Elmo books so we bought her some smaller Elmo books and an Elmo doll. 

She likes greens and strawberries and sweet potatoes and blueberries in her oatmeal. She likes bugs a whole lot. She's been wearing a roly poly in a bug locket necklace and she was delighted when our praying mantis eggs hatched. She likes dinosaurs and "Dino!' might be her cutest word yet. She can say "brother" but when we ask her to say Penn she says "Bob." She says "dhay dhoo" for thank you. She says "Off!" and "Up!" a lot. And she gets really bossy and says "No" too much.

Her drawing is getting more purposeful. She draws trees, horses, eyes/ears/noses, birds, butterflies, lizards, caterpillars and rain. I only know what they are because she tells me. I got her a little crayon wallet from Etsy that seems to double as an artists tool and a pillow in shopping carts.

Her nursing is on the rise. I think it's due to those swollen gums and how fast she is learning things. Nursing is kind of a quieting touchpoint for mind and body and I enjoy the cuddling and affection. But I am looking forward to the day when she is done. Yesterday I wouldn't nurse her because we were at Penn's school assembly and her sign for breast milk (tapping my chest) was more of a public assault.

When she is sad about something or has a boo boo she points to the source of displeasure and pushes out her bottom lip. This is adorable and sad and she is learning that it will get her anything she wants. Anything.

LOLA 2013

Every year Penn's school has LOLA night where the school gathers for an evening to explore nature exhibits, play in the Lakewood Outdoor Learning Area and have dinner. This year we enjoyed a line of food trucks and released homing pigeons. Penn's cubscout troop took shifts to pick up trash the entire evening.

The LOLA is a creek beside the school that used grants from the Texas Parks and Wildlife to turn it into a living, outdoor science lab. It came together under parents direction and grant writing. Parents at Penn's school make the most amazing things happen. There are even wheel chair ramps through part of it.











I still really love this video by the Advocate from 2011.

Cheetahs! Cheetahs! Fight, fight, fight!

Penn's soccer team, the Cheetah's, won 1st in the league this year and they recently placed 2nd in a 3 day long tournament. It was so close!

They had a great season. Penn had a personal best season with a lot of improvement coming on fast in those last few games. He scored some goals. He played more intuitively. He could see past what was happening at his feet and see what was going on in the game. This is starting to be a metaphor for growing up.

He wanted to play goalie for a while and coach wouldn't let him. He practiced at school every day for at least a month. Every day. Enough that he bought his own practice goalie gloves with his own money and he drug me out in the yard to throw balls at him. He begged his coach and finally, he was put in for a quarter. And he was great! The next game, due to some key absences, he had to play an entire game as goalie. We had no subs. We had no head coach. It was the only game we lost and that was a bit of a bummer, but there were a lot of factors, he still did a fantastic job and unfortunately that team managed to take a lot of shots.

His sportsmanship is top notch. He lets it get to him just enough to motivate him, but doesn't get down about a loss or a mistake. On the drive home he tends to recount only the positives.

Really my point is that Penn saw something difficult that he wanted to do and because he's not a superstar player he actually had to work at it. And his work actually paid off in real life. This is good stuff.

This is the last season of this team. Some of the players are moving on. We've all been together since September 2011 and I'll really miss the close player and family dynamic we have now. To new doors opening.

Cubscout Tour at Fox 4 News

Penn's cubscout troop toured Fox 4 News. It was super neat to walk through their studios and control rooms. Took me back to my UCA Channel 6 days.

Cubscout Tour of McCommas Bluff Landfill

Penn's cubscout troop took a field trip to the McCommas Bluff Landfill. It was fascinating to see where our trash and recyclables go. We drove across beautiful hills and it was strange to think they were all filled with trash. There were so many birds. Eddie opted to ride with us, much to Penn and Lucy's delight. I let Penn take some photos. He took the photo of me and Lucy walking and the photo of Eddie below.  It's my favorite.