The Garden

I think it is starting to get too hot for the tomatoes, although we have gotten a couple off of them!














cilantro is in bloom!

Gerbils, and other projects

Heather's underwater artwork



finally getting the flagstone deck in, had some extra rocks, so made a little path to the front door too.



Kingwood yardsale find - $40 for two TV centers. Turned this TV center into a bookshelf (put in shelves where the TV used to go) Was able to match the finish pretty well using old stains I found in the garage. Put in hinged cabinet doors (one of the doors was broken off when I got it). It will be nice for James room.


Meet the gerbils! We felt bad about Jame's hermit crab dieing, so went out to get some fuzzy indoor pets. Cage and TV stand from KWYS, gerbils from a little pet store up on Northpark. (Poor things, crammed into a cage, rather dirty - they have cleaned themselves off now though - lots of crazy animals at this store, prarie dogs, strange sort of rabbits, lots of variety) We have to tape the cage doors closed (Autumn gets them out, then we have to hunt around to try and find them again.) They seem to be nocturnal, I hope they will not keep James up at night! The black one is a girl, the grey/white one is a boy. There is still discussion about what their names should be... balckie? buggsy? They are cute - gerbils are supposed to be less likely to bite than hamsters, and so far it is true. They let you hold them, and come pu to say "hi" when you tap on their cage. Lots of tunnels etc. for them to explore.

End of school year stuff

Getting Down with Mamma Goose show:
The first graders all did a little musical play, different groups did different mother goose songs that we were remade for 50’s rock, “we will rock you”, army march “I don’t know but I’ve been told..” song, and Heather was in a western group singing old King cole.
Heather’s line: “only in Texas – Old King Cole was a merry old soul, and a merry old soul was he”

Then they did a western rendition of the song/poem “Old King Cole”.

Old King Cole was a merry old soul
And a merry old soul was he;
He called for his pipe, and he called for his bowl
And he called for his fiddlers three.
Naa – Naa – Naaa – Naa – Naa – Naa – Na Na Na Na Na Na Na (while holding hands running around in a circle)
Every fiddler he had a fiddle,
And a very fine fiddle had he;
Oh there's none so rare, as can compare
With King Cole and his fiddlers three
Naa – Naa – Naaa – Naa – Naa – Naa – Na Na Na Na Na Na Na




One of the hermit crabs died (I think trying to get out of it's shell into a new one?) Here is the other one - he shed his exoskeleton! Very exciting for the kids to see. The one that died is now buried in a play-dough jar in the back yard.



Heather’s end of year 1st grade graduation presentation. They all had poster boards with pictures on it that corresponded to words from “what a wonderful world”, they sang the song, and turned their pictures around that corresponded to words in the song. Then they made up their own words:

We see halls of children, teachers too, we see them working for moms and dads,
and we think to ourselves, what a wonderful year.

We see an alphabet of colors, the bright fun day, the fun filled day,
and we think to ourselves, what a wonderful year.

The plants of the science area, so big and so green, are also growing high as time goes by.
Making new friends is fun to do, we’ll miss eachother when school is through.
We worked very hard the whole year through, we do it all, cause we love you.
And we think to ourselves, what a wonderful year
yes, we think to ourselves, what a wonderful year. Oh yea.

Then everyone took turns telling everyone what their favorite part of the year was.

Heather said: “My favorite memories are birthdays because they are fun. I like first grade because I have a nice teacher. I like recess because I like to hang out with my friends. I like reading because I get better. I like horses because I was born to like them.