Spit on Plants, History of Paper, Railroad Switching, and Blimps

May 30, 2010, Roman time:  During our walk, the boys and I noticed what looked like spit on the stems of some plants.  Jade asked me about it, so I got him to thinking.  After seeing two of them, I offered the theory that perhaps an animal came to eat some plants and actually did leave its saliva.  He said maybe it was some sort of animals' eggs.    We walked a while more, and Jaden spotted another plant that had the "spit," and he said, "Momma, see there is no evidence of the plant or anything around being chewed."  I delight greatly whenever I hear things like this.  I praised him for his logical thinking, something a good scientist needs.

It may have been this day, but I think it was the week previous, that Jade lost his only arrow when he was practicing his archery skills.  I am hoping Nathan gets him some new ones for his seventh birth anniversary.  I've ordered everything that I wanted to get him.  This will likely be one of his best birth anniversaries ever.  I'm so excited!  He'll love what he's getting, I'm sure.  Of course, they are very practical gifts and will help him grow in knowledge.  We have ticket vouchers to a show in Branson with tigers.  Jade was asking me more about tigers recently and said that he would like to have a tiger.  I told him some do have tigers, and he continued questioning me.  We so far did not know where we were going this year for his birthday, but I then knew where we should go.  This is actually a show to which I wanted to take the boys last year during the Feast of Tabernacles, God's annual thanksgiving feast, but they had already closed down the show for the winter break.  

May 31:  Jade did a math page for addition practice.  We read the bible, as usual, and I think he wrote his typical paragraph.  Some days he has not, but most days he does.  He has also skipped some days for his Explode the Code (which I usually have him do the first and sixth days of the week).  Well, most of the days he has not skipped, but he's not done the entire lessons, but rather two or three pages.  Anyway, he's nearly finished.  His penmanship is improving quite well, and I don't have him sitting at a desk writing all day, either.

During our walk we looked again at those purple insects I mentioned in the last post, and we noticed that they appeared to be in different stages.  Some hardly had any purple "fluff," and they were smaller and had no wings.  The complete ones had purple "fluffy" looking covering all over, with a wispy, curled-up "tail" of the purple stuff, they were larger (though still small), and they had wings.

June 1:  We went grocery shopping, and we saw the Goodyear blimp.  I drove down a side road so that we could see it better, and I took pictures.  I have several of that day and a few days later, on which day was even better, as I got pics of it flying to its landing spot, went down the same side road as I did the last time (Airport Loop), and took pics of it on the ground and then taking back off.  Here are just a few:

 

June 2:      This day we read June/July issues of Your Big Backyard and Wild Animal Baby, the boys' magazines to which my grandpa subscribes for them.  What do you know?  We read about spittle bugs, which explained what the spit was on those plants.  In addition to our regular activities, Jade read aloud one reading lesson and answered the questions, from his Grade 2 CC book.   Among the many questions Jade asked this week, one was about paper.  He said he liked how wrinkled paper looks, because it reminds him of the "old paper."  I said he meant papyrus.  Another thing he asked about was how trains change tracks, when I explained how they sometimes had to change.  He originally asked where was the "end of the railroad" and that it must "go forever."   The boys watched Youtube videos on the history of paper, the birth of writing, brief history of written language, manual railroad switches (I explained that it's mostly done by signals now), railroad history map in the U.S., and the African dung beetle.  

I tried something different this morning for breakfast.  Cinnamon roll muffins.  They looked ugly, but they tasted okay.  The boys loved them, but I am not in a hurry to make them again.  

June 3:     Nathan and I celebrated ten years of marriage.  :-)  We got our new Needak rebounder delivered via UPS this day so we can bounce and jump to good health.  It's something we've talked about for about three years, but with almost any large purchase, we usually consider it for quite a while.  We really like it so far.  

Jade wrote each of us a sweet notes and drew us both a picture.  Here are the envelopes:

Nathan had to work this day, so we had a dinner together (minus the boys who stayed with a friend) a few days later.  The children and I went out, and the boys and I saw the blimp again.  We had to go out to get Jade's glasses and get Liv some clothes from Old Navy.  He says they make everything "swirly," so he's not wearing them for now, until I can get him back to the optometrist to figure it all out.  I asked whether he answered her questions honestly (this is his second year getting tested), and he said he did.  

Right before we left for town, Jaden came to my bathroom where I was brushing my teeth, and he said something quite clever to me.  I love listening to him.  He said, "Momma, I was just thinking.  A company--like a store--is like a father, and employees are like the sons.  Then the store is like the mother, and the [goods] are like the fruits."  While I may not agree 100% with this analogy, I liked what he said, and I'm glad his little wheels are turning. 

June 4:  During out walk today, I assisted Jade in uncovering a spittle bug underneath all the spit.  The boys liked seeing how the bug hid underneath the spit while it feasted on the plant juices.

I was inside nursing Liv, and I let Jade go outside before the rest of us did, and he came rushing in excitedly, because he rescued a chipmunk from Sylvester (our cat).  So we all got to pet a chipmunk!  

June 5:  On the sabbath day we enjoyed a good portion of the day outdoors in the nice weather.  The boys' lesson was about Paul and Silas and how they were thankful, even while enduring hardship.  Toward the end of the sabbath we roasted hot dogs and marshmallows outside, much to the boys' delight. 

Until next time...

Peace.  :-)