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Within the confines of this blog, you will find bits and pieces of the life and times of myself, my family and friend dear and near., far and wide, few and far between. You will find bits and pieces of my world, tho small to some, but huge to me. You will find everything from 'soup to nuts',; recipes, hobbies,crafts, gardenings,loves of my life, GrandLoves-a-Plenty, and even my pets... Sooo, if you can handle family life, enjoy the tour of my 'Stuffings'.

Friday, June 11, 2010

Grams Summer School

School's out, summer is just around the bend, and the GrandLoves are getting more Grams time than usual. Yesterday was a good day to get a little one on one time for Sy with me and his Daddy.
Lots of fun was crammed into one day knowing that we were in for 4 days of rain.
Sy learned how to whistle with a blade of grass. He realized that the thin, fine zebra grasses do not make for good whistling because it breaks so easily.
Practice, Practice, Practice and....
"I DID IT!!!!!" I never saw such an excited little boy to accomplish his attempts at Whistle Grass, as he called it.
He caught a new friend that he named Hoppy. It's a tiny leaf hopper/grasshopper. He spent half an hour cutting paper and tape to build him his own little house. So cute.
We nearly stepped on this., a robin egg shell that was cleared from the nest after the hatch of Mrs. Robins egg. Sy was surprised as to how fragile it was. Notice the worn hand of this 7 yr. old. He plays so hard on the tire swing that he even had a small blister, a cut from 'who knows where', and some pretty dirt imbedded nails. I laugh at how dirty this kid gets in a few minutes play, let alone an entire day. He would rather be outside than in front of the TV or playing video games.
Sy is very curious about everything around him. He noticed all of these mushrooms and wondered if he could try one. I'm grateful he asks first. The answer was 'NO', never eat anything until you are absolutely certain what it is and if it can harm you. He wanted to know, how? I told him you have to do a spore test on them first, making sure to wash your hands after touching any new mushroom, and NEVER put your fingers in your mouth after touching them. WHY? WHY? was the no.1 question of the day. I love his curiosity and love of the outdoors.
Is That a little DEAR I see in the middle of the field? I pity the parent or grandparent that is afraid to let their children explore their surroundings. How else will they learn to love and take care of nature and their world.?
A little down time with Dad as he teaches his son how to play All The Kings Men. Sy says, "Is this like that game Chess?" His Daddy said yes and told him that when he learned this game, he would be able to play chess with him too.
"Higher, Dad, higher." We made a video later that day and he spun so hard that he could not stop. (I tried to put in on here but, remember, I'm the 'idgit' of the bunch when it comes to this tech stuff.) He finally wound down enough to say, "Oh, it's too diabolical!"....where do kids come up with this stuff...
We did lots of other learning too. He now knows how to extract the juice from a red clover flower with his teeth for a sweet treat, how to make mint tea out of peppermint leaves and steaming hot water, and that he can eat the flower of a chive as well as the chive stem. Dandelions make some pretty bitter wine, but at his age, dandelions are best used to hold under his chin to see if he likes butter or made into a necklace or crown.
All of this active play, the walks and education in one day with a GrandLove that is so curious and anxious to learn, and guess what else we did?

We burnt a cake.

Moral of the story:

Never put cake in oven, then,
go outside for the day
and Forget Cake is baking.

It turned a weeee bit crispy, but was still eaten.
With that, one last lesson,

Waste not, want not.
Cut the black stuff off, toss, eat the rest...
We were so glad to have had a beauty of a day outside. Today it rained cats and dogs nearly all day long. We much thank you for your Rain Dances and Prayers for a break from our drought.
Have a wonderful weekend
BlessYourHeartsWithMemoriesandCake

14 comments:

jack69 said...

You are the Queen, at least a Princess of teaching. This is great to see a child who would rather explore with Grandma than find her TV. A youngun must get dirty sometimes as they learn.
Of course you know you are teaching things that will be remembered for life. Yeah, I remember 'Do you like butter?'

Love the little house. Kids are creative if allowed to be.

This entry is inspiring dear lady and I don't care if I did lose the first comment, I won't this one because I will copy it. hahahaha!
Love from NC,
Sherry & Jack

Betsy Banks Adams said...

Oh Dar, aren't grandchildren just wonderful????? They have so much joy inside of them ---and are constantly learning SOMETHING... Of course it helps to have a Gram like you who teaches them as they 'play'......

You will enjoy the Grandloves more this summer.

Hugs,
Betsy

Cher' Shots said...

I just love the pics of Sy learning to 'whistle' with grass. That always amazes my Grand-loves too. Great post!

Fred Alton said...

What a wonderful grandmother you are! And teaching them seems to come so natural for you. Loved all of your photos - but the best one is of Sy in the field of tall grass. I love reading your blog posts, and learning from you. ☺

jovan said...

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best regards.

Anonymous said...

Loved all the photos. More kids should be outside exploring nature. I love to take my kids on nature walks...we see and learn so much.
I hope you have a great day!

Shelley said...

Your grandson obviously had a ball at your house! And how wonderful that you are helping to develop his love of the outdoors. There is so much beauty in the world and great lessons to be learned from nature.

Suburban Girl said...

I love that you caught that delighted little face. Perfect timing.

When we burn things...my husband gladly eats them. His family had a bakery and that is what he was used to eating all his childhood...the burned or stale products.

~mel said...

I LOVE burnt angelfood cake... seriously... I really do. Should of given me a call... I'd a ate 'her up.

imac said...

Eh, I remember blowing thru my thumbs with a blade of grass, many years ago.

Dianna said...

Dar, you are such a good Grandma! I have gotten "caught up" once again in reading your blog. You have some remarkable pictures...I especially enjoyed the one of your mom playing her guitar. All of the nature pictures are great...and I always enjoy going down memory lane with you. Sure sorry to hear about Bill's eyes. I'm glad he is realizing the need to to take care of that shootin' eye of his.

The long and short if it all is this, my sweet friend. If I were a kid I'd want YOU for my grandma! ;)

Love to you,
Dianna

This Is My Blog - fishing guy said...

Dar: What fun with the grandchild, it was a good day.

Lucy said...

Dar, you must have had the time of your life. I seem to run out of steam these days and have not been in, for a while but when I do get in I have a ball looking at really fun things. Of course that cake was good!!!

Naturegirl said...

Dar a future Nature Boy in the making!
I love it when children take an interest in thier earth and what's around them!Make sure that grasshopper has lots of bugs to eat and water too!