Officially Started Homeschooling

Yes, we officially started homeschooling today. All of the public schools in our city started today so I figured it would be a good time. I told Brenna last night that we were going to and she was so excited! When we woke up this morning she had her breakfast, took the dishes to the sink when she was finished and then sat back down at the dining room table. She was there for the longest time before I realized it and I asked her what she was doing. She told me, "I am waiting to start homeschooling." I thought that was so cute! Now before you start thinking that she was just sitting there all alone I must say that you can see the TV from the table so she WAS watching cartoons while waiting. LOL
So our first day was successful. She really wanted to do what I call "table work" (yea, we'll see how long THAT lasts! LOL) so we practiced writing her letters and her name and played some fun math games to help her with addition. She started calling me Ms. Brandi but I put my foot down on that one. She giggled and thought it was funny. :)

Well I sure hope every day goes as well as today - probably not but I can HOPE! :)

So today's "priceless moments" that I wouldn't trade for the world and make all this completely worth it:
- Brenna gave me an apple from the fruit bowl this morning and told me that "all teachers need an apple!"
- Tonight before bed she came up and gave me a big hug and said, "You're my best friend Mom and I love you!" Now who wouldn't want to spend all day with someone as sweet as that??

Camping Was A Success!!

Wow, we had sooo much fun on our trip! We went to Garner State Park, which is in Hill Country just west of San Antonio. It is so beautiful and quite breathtaking - especially if you live where we do where the land is all flat. That picture above was the scenery from our camp site. What a sight to wake up to every morning.

Brenna was so good and loved every minute of it (well except when I MADE her take a cold shower cuz there was no hot water LOL). We played in the river every day and went tubing two miles the day after we got there. It was fun cooking on the fire and roasting marshmallows at night. The site we got was just about 30 yards from the bathrooms and showers, so that was nice, especially when I got woken up at 7am to a little voice saying, "Mommy, I have to go potty."

We also went hiking one morning and hiked to the very top of that hill in the picture above. Brenna did GREAT and we were both highly impressed with her. She was such a little trooper and never once complained. We were not going to go all the way but SHE is the one who insisted and kept pushing US to keep going. I told her that she was probably the very first five year old to ever go up there. That made her happy. :)

We are definitely going to make this a yearly thing. We got a State Park book and would like to take about two camping trips a year. I am so glad that Brenna likes it as much as we do.
I created an album with all the pictures from our trip so if you want to take a look then click on this link....
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v23/raving_butterfly/Garner%20State%20Park/
(hope it works! If not email me and I will send them to you!)

More on my tadpoles....

Ok, so yes, I am obsessed with these little guys, but it is so much fun to watch them grow and change! What other pet can you get that will completely change into a different animal?? All three of us are into it now and will look at them about ten times a day. It's fun to just sit there and watch them. The big ones (we have nine) are such fast swimmers now and I noticed today that a couple of them are starting to grow legs!! Very, very exciting for us. :) I took some pictures of them that I have posted below. The picture with the tadpole swimming vertically is a pretty good one of the tiny little legs - you can barely see them under the tail. The other picture with the tadpole on the floor of the tank is one of my big ones too. You can tell how big they are getting by comparing it with the 4 day old baby that is just to the right of it. I am not sure how many babies I put in there - maybe about 20 or so. I still have about 50 in a tupperware container that I can not put in the tank because that would just be too much. Not sure what I will do with those. Maybe I will use them for food for my new turtle. Yes, we got yet ANOTHER animal! It is my childhood all over again. We got him from my brother. I posted a picture of him as well. He is a red-eared turtle and spends most of his time in the water. His shell is about 5 inches from head to tail so he is a good size. He will go up on his dry spot a couple times a day and bask in the lamp I have for him. Right now the poor thing is in a 10 gallon aquarium but we are buying a 55 gallon one from a friend so he will have a bigger and better home VERY soon. I feel so bad for him right now so he has spent quite a bit of time in the bathtub (yes, I disinfect it every time!) and just swims around so gracefully and has a ball. I am looking forward to getting that tank set up too. He will be in turtle heaven! :)

HOLY TADPOLES!

So our tadpoles hatched - my goodness we have A LOT of them! Free shipping or delivery (and advise on raising them!) if anyone wants some! LOL I think there might be about 150 or so. Why, oh why, did I get so many?? When I got the egg sack from my Grandma it did not look like THAT many. I seriously have a TADPOLE FARM now. Brenna thinks it is the coolest thing tho. I guess in a couple days I will transfer some to the big tank. Maybe we will have to take a trip to our local park and let some go in the lake because I do not think my tank is big enough for them all.

Family Vacation

Brendon, Brenna and I are taking our family vacation the week of August 19th. We are going camping! I am so excited about it and am really looking forward to it. We are going to a pretty big, popular place about 5 hours away (not saying exactly where cuz this IS the Internet - I have my blog set as private but you never know...). We have been planning it for the last week and I have so many lists going - I like to be prepared! :) Brendon and I used to go camping a lot before Brenna was born and have not gone in so long. Brenna is finally old enough I think to where it won't be so stressful. She is so excited and can't wait to go. I will post with pictures when we get back!

Update on our Tadpoles

Well I gave away all my goldfish that we had in our fish tank (they are very messy fish and not good to have in an aquarium) - took them to Mom and Dad's pond where we got the tadpoles from. So now I have converted my 10 gallon aquarium into my tadpole/frog habitat. We only have 9 tadpoles left from the 30 we got. During my first water change I lost a lot of them but I now have it down to a science. The nine that we have are thriving in their new tank and it looks like they should be getting their back legs soon. After their back legs come in then the front ones develop and soon after that they get their lungs and become cute little frogs. :) The rock that is sticking out of the water in the tank is for the frogs to climb on once their gills are gone.

We have yet another tadpole project going on besides this one now too. My Grandma has a pond in her yard as well and she spotted a bunch of tadpole eggs the other day and asked if I wanted some. So now we are "hatching" them! It is pretty interesting to see the eggs change from perfect little circles into tadpoles. Right now they are tiny, squirmy and bean-shaped and they should hatch in a day or two. I will leave them in small containers for about a week or so and then transfer them to the aquarium. It is all really neat to watch and Brenna just loves having them and is learning a lot. Here is a picture of the eggs - it didn't come out very well but Brenna insisted that I post it anyways. You can see some of them pretty well.

Well I will post about them again when we have frogs!