My Garage is a Mess

Adios Winter! Gringo Fiesta II

Did I really not blog even ONCE about Gringo Fiesta II?
How did this happen?
We had a lovely 10 day Feasting of all things capable of sending you on an urgent run for the potty, where you might exclaim "Fire in the Hole" upon your arrival.

But we are seasoned Gringo Fiesta participants and therefore have built up a nice tolerance for the massive amounts of guac, salsa, jalapenos, beans and onions that were consumed over the past week and a half. The kickoff party was at our house with The Meadows and the Glovers (since Tia is "Mexican" and all). We laughed so hard that night, I wonder if she hid a little something something in the Tres Leches cake she brought.

Maybe it was my Sangria.
Either way, it was a fun night. I can't believe I didn't take any photos. 10 days later, the "Closing Ceremonies" were hosted by the Meadows, because about 3/4 into the week and a half of feasting, the girls both came down with ear infections, and I had a sinus infection and some sort of nasty virus that knocked me out for a few days. Kasey stepped up with some rockin' carne asada tacos and they did NOT disappoint.

What we learned:

= awesome.

It Happens

For everyone out there feeling like Mother of the Year, today.

Busy Bees Under the Sea

Today was a blast.
It's always a blast, but today was a particularly fantastic day, even though I wasn't feeling particularly fantastic. I heart preschool.

March
Letter of the Month: U
Shape of the Month: Clover
Number of the Month: 4
Colors of the Month: Light and Dark Green

3rd: Under the Sea
Book: Commotion in the Ocean by Giles Andreae (used for dramatic play activity)
Book: Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister
This is a classic and I highly recommend it for every house with small children.
Book: Dolphin’s First Day by Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld
(the kids made dolphin sounds when I turned the page. I had them tell me what they saw happening in the pictures, rather than read the story to them, because it was very wordy and not age appropriate, but the illustrations were fantastic.)

Dramatic Play: Underwater Adventure I used a roll of blue tablecloth, Busy Bee artwork, and crepe paoper to decorate the classroom like the ocean. Let them be a fish, and octopus, a shark, an eel, a whale, a squeaky dolphin, a crab, a starfish…
Fine Motor Centers:
1) cutting 8 legs for octopus artwork
2)Magnetic fishing pole (I don't have a picture of this, but it's a cute plush magnetic fishing pole, with magnetic fish, turtles, and starfish for the children to pick up
3)Ocean Adventure magnet scene4)Aquatic life flannel board (whale, shark, crab, lobster, starfish, alligator, and several fish)
5) Let's Go Fishing! (always a hit)

Sensory: feeder fish in a tub for the children to pet, feed, and care for.
Talk to the children about being gentile with the fish, and how to care for them. (um...yeah, I failed to do this until after I had encouraged the children to just reach in the tub and pet the fish. I had no idea they'd actually be able to catch one! Oopsie.) Check out the video footage of my Busy Bee's sweet cat-like reflexes, as well as me freaking out when I realize there is a live fish trapped between his fingers. I say a panicked, "okay" after every word after that. Also, my voice does not always sound this terrible. I've been fighting a sinus infection for a week and I feel and sound like garbage.

Art: Paper plate Jellyfish and octopus wind socks

Math/Science: Sand dollar size matching
I also put out a jar of sand, the conch shell at this center, along with a magnifying glass for the kids to examine them with.

Practical Life: What do fish need to live? Why can’t we live under water?
One of my Bee's brought a conch shell to show and tell.

"What do you hear in the shell?" answers were: "the wind", "this is a phone? My Dad is calling me! Hmmm, he's whispering too quiet, I can't hear him enough", "waves", "there's a bear in here", and "a toilet!"

Language: U Words-the kids came up with "underwear", "underground", and "us". We'll add to this list all month as they think of more U words to share.

Gross Motor: "Green" Fishing
I set up a clothespin fishing center and let the children “fish” for items that are green during our end-of-class circle time. Some of the items were a frog, a turtle, Peter Pan, a crayon, a block, and a fake plant.

Music and Movement: Aquatic Songs
A Sailor Went to Sea Sea Sea
Slippery Fish
Tiny Turtle Tim
Baby Shark

Cooking: Ocean Blue Jell-o
Snack: blue jell-o gold fish and whales
PS-when I make jell-o or instant pudding, I put it in old baby food containers. The kids love having their very own mini cup of jello.

The Other Baby

Sometimes, when Corbin gets bored, he shimmies his high chair across the kitchen to play with the baby we keep trapped behind the glass in the baking cabinet. They are good friends.

Baby Lovin'

Look who made himself nice and comfortable zipped up in my hoodie while we worked on the fence Saturday afternoon.

{Discouraged}

I took these the other night when I decided to get my feet wet on "Project: Meg-Needs-a-big-fat-table."
Later that night, I think I was referring to it as "Project: Meg-is-crazy-to-think-she-can-do-this." and "the reason I can't park in my garage."

ick.

I lost a little (ok, a LOT) confidence and wondered if the hard, salvaged wood was a good idea.
See those black marks on the end of the boards?
No bueno. The wood is SO dense that my circular saw (even with a relatively new blade) kept kicking back smoking, and making unattractive cuts.

Problemo numero uno: I have a steel blade rather than a fancy (cough, expensive) carbide blade, and cutting these bad boys is not for the faint of heart.

So... this morning, I loaded all the lumber back into my mini van (slash pickup) and went back to visit Glenn Beck (Why yes, I DO just like saying his name) with the plan to pay him to let me use the tools in his shop.

Glenn is a nice guy, so he was eager to "teach me to fish". Yay!
I learned a lot of cool tricks, used a planer for the first time today, and ripped my first board on a ginormous table saw. It was a rush. I want one.

And that Glenn is a chatty guy. He taught me a little about growing peanuts (yep. Sheena, I'll be calling you.) hulling walnuts, raising chickens and skinning mules.

Lessons learned today:
-Glenn Beck is rad.

-I'm not afraid of getting my arm chopped off by a big, noisy, machine, as long as I am the one operating the big, noisy, machine.

-I want chickens....maybe not now, (I'm sure the neighbors would love that) but some day.


I also borrowed an electric hand planer and will be attacking the leg posts later in the week.
I made ROCKIN' progress today.

I just needed the right tools.
Photos soon.
Be excited.