Signs of Spring!

Little white flowers

Clovers

Dandelions

Bushes with new leaves

Ant hills

Buds on tall trees

Fungus on a stick

Holes in a leaf from a bug eating lunch

Being able to write outside

Seed pod

A nest

A snake hole

A spider--it's hidden very well!

A plant breaking through the dead leaves

Slice of Life: Burgers on the Grill.

We eat as naturally and as healthy as we can in our house. Really, we do. I am a firm believer that just because something really tastes great and you love it, doesn't mean you should eat it every time you want to. If that were the case, I'd eat donuts for every meal.


With that, we rarely eat red meat. If we have it, it's the leanest kind we can find and even then, it's not often.


I am not a meat lover. I am especially not a red meat lover. Enter: the Mushroom and Swiss Burger from Martins Supermarkets. 


Evan bought some of these luscious burgers for our grill last night. My mouth was practically watering just thinking about them. I blame it on being 32 weeks pregnant. I could resist these delicious morsels of meat more if I weren't pregnant, right? Our toddler son, Ian, was sick all last week and had no appetite, so he was very very excited to be having burgers too. 


I stayed inside and worked on the fruit salad and baked sweet potatoes while Evan grilled. Meanwhile, Ian spent his time waiting for his burger by walking around the grill saying, "I smell some-pin! I smell some-pin! Where's my burger, Mommy?"


I sliced some hearts of romaine and tomatoes and chopped some onions for the grill basket. I could "smell some-pin" too.


Finally the burgers came in with Evan from the grill. Carefully I put a little cracked pepper mayo on my toasted bun (I was going all out!), then layered grilled onions, lettuce, and tomato. I made Ian's plate as well, while he said over and over, "Where's my burger, Mommy? Where's my burger?"


Finally, we all got to eat those mouth-watering, juicy burgers layered with a perfect vegetable crunch.


It's summertime--in March!

What Nonfiction books have.

We're noticing some things that MOST nonfiction books have.

This is our list so far of what nonfiction books have. We're not done yet!

Slice of Life: Mrs. Overman: I'm Sweating.

I am sweating.


It's the middle of March in Indiana, and I'm sweating.


I just spent some time outside during my break, walking the track behind our school. I love walking out there. It's surrounded by a cornfield, a country road, and a creek snuggled down in the woods. Cranes flew by, dew sparkled in the grass, a robin sat on her nest, and a man with his old Chocolate Lab sat nearby.


There's something about sweating in March that is unusually special.

Slice of Life: Mrs. Overman and the weird bird.

My son has been really sick this week and we've lost lots of sleep. I don't know about you, but when I lose sleep, I start hearing weird things in the night and kind of feel a little delirious when I actually get some sleep.


It's very strange.


So last night was the first night all week my toddler has been feeling better and went back to sleeping his usual, stress-free 11-hour night. Oh, the glorious bliss.


I was sleeping--hard--and suddenly awoke around midnight hearing a very strange bird chirping outside our open window. I listened quietly for a minute and distinctly heard four sharp "chirps": BEEP, BEEP, BEEP, BEEP!


What a weird bird!


I waited and heard it again.


BEEP, BEEP, BEEP, BEEP!


I was in such a stupor that it took me a few minutes to get the sense to walk around the house and stop this "bird" from chirping. I walked quietly across our squeaky floor--what in the world in our house makes this sound?


It wasn't the microwave...it wasn't the dishwasher...the smoke detectors were fine....


Finally I heard it again. BEEP, BEEP, BEEP, BEEP!


Oh yes...the washer! It's usually on silent. Why is it suddenly beeping at us? 


I asked Evan. "Did you turn the washer song on high? It's beeping really loudly."


"No," he said. "Ian was in the laundry closet earlier this morning. He probably did it. He must be REALLY feeling better!"


Mischievous toddler = feeling-better toddler


Yay!

Figuring Out What's Important.

We put some rocks and sand in a sieve and shook them around to see what happened. The little bits of rock and all the sand fell through the sieve, and the big chunks of rock and sticks stayed in. Our brains work just like this when we read. We hang onto the big, important things and let the little things fall through.

We read "Thunder Cake" by Patricia Polacco. While reading, we talked with our partners about the important things our brains kept in them and the things we just let go and forgot about.

These are the "big rocks"/important things our brains held on to.

These are the things we shook out of brains like the sand and little pebbles that went through the sieve. They weren't important enough to remember.

This is what we asked ourselves when we were done reading. We decided Patricia Polacco wanted us to know a few things, like maybe it's good to distract yourself when you're scared, and maybe everyone is scared of something.

Slice of Life Challenge: Day...?

Makensie

Abi

Nick

Kendra

Mya

Makensie

Mark

Nick

Gavin

Dylan

Beau

Abi