Splishing and Splashing

Last week we had many days in the 90s, so planned a playdate with the kiddie pool. Tonya and Carlton came over, and we did some painting and science experimenting--it was a fun, not-too-hot morning.

The boys started out in the pool:

I love their smiles! :)

They each would fall on their butts from standing, make a splash, laugh, and get up and do it all over again. It went on for a good while.

I got out Lewis' finger paints and stamps because he's been into that lately:

Here Lew is saying, 'My hands are dirty! Wipe them off!' 

Imagine that. :)

Meanwhile, Carlton was rubbing the paint around on his hands, without a care in the world. :)

Tonya brought over a science experiment for us to try--make your own lava lamp:

What's it going to do?

The bottle had baby oil and (red) water in it.

Adding the Alka-Seltzer

Whoa! That's so cool!

More! Again?

He loaded it up with the remaining Alka-Seltzer at the end and watched it all bubble up. It was very cool! I've never seen that one done before.

Spring has Totally Sprung

What a wondrous time is spring

When all the trees are budding

The birds begin to sing

The flowers start their blooming

(Pass It On from the Waycross songbook)

That song just came to mind as I was looking at my hooray-it's-spring pictures. We've been outside mowing and moving some plants around and planting flowers and vegetables, and I am loving it. Our dogwood is in full bloom, and there are redbuds in bloom everywhere we look. Our grass is almost all green now, except for a few small areas, so hooray! 

We've been trying to spend as much time as we can outside. As I was working and Lewis was playing the other day, he found his Batman chair in the garage and wanted to set it up and wanted me to take his picture:

Complete with cape, haha :)

We went to Home Depot this week, and I let him pick out some flowers. He was pretty broad in his choices: yellow flowers and red flowers. I found some Gerbera daisies that he gave the a-ok, and we finished with some pink penta, purple/blue something-or-other-that-didn't-have-a-tag, and a multi-colored moss rose. At home, he helped me fill up our pots with soil:

He eventually got bored, so I took over. As I planted the flowers, he went inside and filled his watering can. He then watered each plant, along with the kitchen floor. :) 

At Lewis' parent-teacher conference last month, they asked if we do any coloring, painting, gluing, etc. at home. Apparently, when they hand a marker or crayon or glue stick to Lewis, he isn't quite sure what to do with it. They said he colors/glues his face or clothes and doesn't immediately put it to paper. I've tried to get him 'into' coloring, but he doesn't stay interested for very long at all. So, my new goal is to try to do more art with him. The Easter Bunny brought some water colors and new paintbrushes, so we gave it a go this week:

 The little artist

He actually sat and painted for about 10 minutes before announcing that he was done. I was surprised that he kept at it for that long, and it was a pretty peaceful and quiet activity for both of us.

Our finished masterpieces

Clearly my art skills have not progressed from 5th or 6th grade. Lewis said his is a bug (upper left), alligator (lower) and giraffe (the sort of main yellow on yellow section). His paper is accidentally upside down, but just take my word on it. :)