Half birthday

A few weeks ago, we celebrated Silas' half birthday with a few friends. I made him a crown as part of an ever-expanding costume collection.

He entertained friends:

And enjoyed the yummy cake from Monica's Waterfront Bakery:

 
Showing off his crown the next day:

I can't believe my boy is half way to 5 already!

School year wrap-up and Habitat Hollow

 Yep, still playing catch up.  Bringing you to the end of preschool year 1, we have the hatching of chicks...

Silas' class music recital: all I can say is that Silas is actually following along.  Whenever I go to anything where he is expected to move along with something, he usually just stands there. Maybe it's just me being there...who knows.

And, we are done with the school pics.  On to (or rather, back to) Stillwaters.  Last time we were there, Silas showed me the Habitat that he had built in Habitat Hollow.

So very proud, he was...

Adjacent to Stillwaters Environmental Center is Gordon Elementary, and bordering Gordon is a nature preserve and trail leading here, Carpenter Lake.

Kind of reminds me of Wisconsin.

We celebrated Silas' half birthday last Friday.  I'll post pictures of that soon.

Preschool, year 1, part 3

Here we go with round three...

Art

 and more art...

Sharing time...Silas show's everyone Orangutan, on loan to us from Patrick.  

If you've ever wondered how to give an orangutan CPR, just ask Silas: 

Okay team, we've got the briefcase.  Make the swap at 0900 hours.

Then meet us back at the bat cave.  This is serious business, boys.

Self portrait.

What can I say... he's an abstract thinker.

I've got a few more stragglers to post from the end of the school year.  As for the new school year, Silas made it through his first week (his classes are Mon-Thur afternoons).  This morning, he was practically shaking with excitement.  I asked why we was feeling that way.
"I've got school today and I'm so happy!" he replied.  Yea!

Preschool, year 1, part 2

The trip down preschool memory lane continues...

Outside exploration:

Learning to be helpful:

They can come over and wash my dishes any time...

Field trip to the post office:

Everyone mailed a letter to themselves.

See?

Then we waited to see how long it would take for the letter to arrive. Ours came the very next day!

Playing bus (one of his favorite pastimes) with a friend:

Music and sound exploration:

That brings us to March. More to come...

Preschool, year 1, part 1

We just received a disk filled with pictures Silas' teachers took during the 10/11 school year. Silas just started a new school year today, so I thought it was good timing to share some images from his first year of school. Above, Silas on his very first day, with Teacher Debbie.
Art.
More art.
Who can forget Halloween!


This is the picture they used for the Christmas ornament Silas made for us:
This brings us to about November. Stay tuned for the rest of the 10/11 school year...

Last September, Silas was pretty apprehensive about starting school. Things could not be more different this year. He's really excited and is so glad to be back with his classmates and beloved teachers!

Backtracking: forgotten summer photos

There's so much that I haven't posted yet from this summer, so here's a combo-post for you.

Silly boy:
We went to the Underwater Naval Museum. Silas LOVED being on a sub, which he was (sort of).
What little kid wouldn't love to see this:
We got an awesome farm table for FREE! We love it!
We went to Port Townsend, several times.
While there, we got to watch a boat being made at the Wooden Boat Foundation.
And we hung out...basking in the sun, while there's still sun to bask in.

In the garden

I've been meaning to post some pictures from the garden for, oh, several months now. Here are a few pictures from today. Above and below, this is the flower garden I started this spring.

To give you an idea of how far we've come, this is what the space looked like last summer:

I've got three raised beds this year. There have been successes and failures, as is usually the case in gardening.
I've got lots of these squash below. The kids who sold the starts to me at a farmer's market said they were acorn squash, but they look more like patty pans to me. Either way...
An incomplete list of the produce I'm growing this summer: peas, chard, spinach, zucchini, pumpkins, corn, 5 varieties of tomatoes, potatoes, radishes, strawberries, onions, garlic, broccoli, cauliflower, red cabbage, and green beans. Happy harvesting!