{this moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you're inspired to do the same, visit Soulemama to leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

Into the Woods!!! A Celebration Cake.....

created by Becky!!!!
Boy, that Becky of mine is amazing.....

99% edible.....

I need to get this girl a show on the Food Network!

Wordless Wednesday---Locks of Love Edition

Come and link up at:

Jolly Mom

Two of a Kind Working on a Full House

Go Graham Go

It's time to decorate...

those flip-flops that are on sale for $1.00!!

We used balloons for these.

It takes a lot more balloons than you think to decorate 4 small little flip flops....bit don't worry, we will finish up tomorrow.

Kitten's First Full Moon--Color Changing Milk

Today we enjoyed the wonderful picture book, Kitten's First Full Moon.
Little kitten sees the full moon for the first time, and thinks it is a beautiful bowl of milk.
While reading it I wanted to have the kids do a project that could be tied into the story.
I thought of Steven Spangler's experiment Color changing milk.
A very simple experiment with great results.
You need:
2% or whole milk
plates
food coloring
q-tips
Dawn dish detergent
Pour the milk onto the plates and let is sit and settle.
This is a great time to practice lapping milk like a kitten.
Carefully drop one color of food coloring into the milk, trying not to "mix" it up.

Dip the q-tip into the Dawn dish detergent

Dip the q-tip into the milk and watch the wonderful swirling colors.....

The first "dip"!

I love the looks on the kids faces as they did this---it works over and over.

Try not to mix the milk though, or it will all turn gray.

I hope you enjoy this sideways video....sorry about that!

Have you done something fun this week.....Head on over and "Show and Tell" at ABC and 123.

A Family Send-Off

We enjoyed a nice send-0ff dinner for Danny tonight at Grandma Collins' house.We are so happy that Daniel is on his way to fulfill his dreams.

My big baby girl and my little baby girl.
Danny and Luke---they are best buddies. Luke assures my that Dan will be back in "a few days". Poor fellas, it's gonna be hard on both of them.

Cousin Gabby, Kimmy, Grace, and Aunt Mary.

Laura

That would be an eclair Kimmy is enjoying....

Gracie and Aunt Mary

Grandma Collins, Danny and Aunt Mary

Danny and Laura---Is this Danny's first blessing? I don't really think so, there was too much laughing....

proud parents and our seminarian

Danny and his 5 adoring sisters.

Mark, Dan and Luke.

God Bless you, Dan!!!

You will be in our many, many prayers....

Times are about to change....

Two days before a big guy heads off to bring his dreams to reality...a little guy was on the Altar for his first Sunday Mass. When he saw me watching out of the corner of his eye, the small sideways smile he gave me made this momma heart melt....

One is on his way....

and another is just starting out....

Kindergarten Days---Week 9

It was Rr week here at Kindergarten, but it was also a very busy weekend, so I am finally getting this post up! (Forgive me)

These rainbow cards came from Confessions of a Homeschooler.

The printable available at this site are amazing.

I am using these rainbows for reviewing the letters we have learn here in our home kindergarten.

The Kumon Cutting Puzzle book is still a very popular activity.

The scissor work around here has been improving rapidly.

Another addition to kindergarten this week was the Highlights Puzzle Buzz magazine.

Working on rainbows.

An exciting addition to the house this week was Caddie the Caterpillar.

Gracie discovered it on Queen Ann's Lace out back. A black swallowtail butterfly caterpillar.

Rr is for rainbow.

We made a Queen Ann's Lace rainbow.

We gathered Queen Ann's Lace in the field's out back and put them into water colored with all the colors of the rainbows.

After about 2 hours we could begin to see the rainbow appear.

In 24 hours we had made a beautiful rainbow.

You can see the complete post about our rainbow here.

These Pip Squeak markers to were too cute not to photograph during a coloring session.

Do A Dot is always fun.

Rr is for Saint Rose of Lima

Math work this week consisted of a deck of cards.

We learned to play War.

It is safe to say that the kindergarteners in the house now know all the numbers from 2-10.

Rr is for raisins.

Reading time.....

We made rainbow bracelets using the energy of the sun and Steven Spangler's Uv Color Changing Beads.

We put beads onto pipecleaners for a quick easy bracelet.

After a few seconds in the bright sunlight the rainbow began to appear.

After a few minutes we had made beautiful rainbows.

And the good thing is that when you take them out of the sun, they return to their original white

color, ready to be used again and again.

Playing "Roll a Rainbow"

This game is from Confessions of a Homeschooler.

I love Kimmy's dice rolling technique.

Kimmy received her first haircut at a real beauty parlor this week.

Check out the whole post here.

Rr is for rocks.

One thing I have learned in over 23 years of mothering is that the simple things are the best.

A back field full of rocks and a bunch of paint can keep busy for hours.....

and that is a very good thing..

And the big excitement of the week was announce by Luke early Friday morning, "Caddie the Caterpillar has crystalized!!!"