Coastal Bend Nature Challenge: Snap a Critter

October 31, 2016 / Stacie / 2 Comments

*Joey and William will be guests here on the blog as they document our Nature Challenge journey for 2016.

The Challenge: Using any kind of camera, seek out 3 different categories of nature from these categories: 1. reptiles and amphibians, 2. birds, 3. mammals, 4. bugs and insects, 5. landscapes, 6. plants. Label the photos with the category and the location.

Spider (Bugs and Insects), Goliad State Park

Crawdad (crustacean), Cherryville, MO

Western Box Turtle (reptiles and amphibians), Cherryville, MO

Three-Toed Box Turtle (reptiles and amphibians), Cherryville, MO

Turtle (reptiles and amphibians), Nueces Delta Preserve

Turtle: maybe a red-eared slider? (reptiles and amphibians), Nueces Delta Preserve

(bugs and insects), Oso Wetlands Preserve

We can’t identify this one! We submitted the picture to butterfliesandmoths.org but we’re still waiting for a response (bugs and insects), Oso Wetlands Preserve

Bobcats (mammals), Oso Wetland Preserve

Dekay’s brownsnake (reptiles and amphibians), Oso Wetland Preserve

Fiddler Crab (crustacean), Nueces Delta Preserve

Pelican (bird), Port Aransas Jetty

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Coastal Bend Nature Challenge: UT Marine Science Institute

October 30, 2016 / Stacie / 1 Comment

*Joey and William will be guests here on the blog as they document our Nature Challenge journey for 2016.

The Challenge: Check out an Explorer Kit to become a scientist at the Reserve.

W: We went to the UT Marine Science Institute in Port Aransas. We checked out an Explorer Kit.

J: We followed the map and went to different stops along the way.

W: At each stop, we stopped and made observations.

J: Auntie Jessica read the cards from the kit to us which asked us questions. We had to be scientists to answer the questions. For example, we used the microscope to look at leaves and the refractometer to measure the salinity of the water.

W: I learned that an estuary is where freshwater mixes with salt water and the salinity changes rapidly. I also learned that animals use the sand dunes as protection.

J: I learned that the sand dunes block the wind and provide shelter for the animals who live at the estuary. I already knew what an estuary was since we visited Ms. Pringle last year.

W: We learned about barrier islands, too. I really liked going down on the dock. I saw a few brown pelicans there.

J: After the trail we headed into the Explorarium. I went fishing and I put the fish where I thought they belonged. There were lots of fun things to do there.

W: See you next time!

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Coastal Bend Nature Challenge: John E. Connor Museum

October 24, 2016 / Stacie / 1 Comment

*Joey and William will be guests here on the blog as they document our Nature Challenge journey for 2016.

The Challenge: Complete a bird scavenger hunt in the museum. Go outside to sight birds and create a journal entry of the birds seen and identified.

We went out to the Texas A & M University – Kingsville on Saturday, September 10th.

J: I liked the part where I had to look at the different habitats that are around the Coastal Bend area and find the birds.

W: My favorite was the roadrunner.

J: The Greater Roadrunner.

Me: Does anyone remember which habitat the Greater Roadrunner was in?

J: Mesquite Chaparral. It was the first habitat we visited.

Me: Are you sure?

J: Yes! Then after that we saw the Hollow Tree.

(We looked at the pictures to confirm) Me: Yep, you’re right Joey!

W: I pushed the button that made the bird sounds. Remember, Mommy, it drove you nuts?

Me: Oh yes, I remember.

J: I wish I had known there were birds sounds I could do. Then remember we saw some animal skins? Alligator skins and we saw an actual starfish!

W: I touched all of the skins, too. I liked the fur from the fox.

J: I liked the soft furry ones. They were good to touch. We saw birds at Oak Motte and the Dry Chaparral, too. My favorite habitat was the Hollow Tree because it looked so cool to live inside the tree. It looked nice and cozy. I’d want to be a bat living in there where I could hang upside down without being scared.

W: My favorite habitat was the Mesquite Chaparral where the roadrunner was. The Hollow Tree looked nice, but I liked the Chaparral best.

J: After the habitats, we walked over to the Wild West room. I walked in and at first I thought we were just going to pass through it, but it turned out we were actually going to play in it. The Wild West room was made up of things to do in the wild west: ride a horse, take care of a calf, cook, pump water.

W: My favorite part was riding the horse with Katie. She was a cowgirl and she sat on the back.

J: There were also exhibits that showed how the pioneers lived. For example, they had an exhibit that showed a bedroom.

W: It was a really neat room.

J: Yeah, it really was. {sigh}

W: After we played for awhile, we went out of the museum, crossed the street and looked for birds on the campus.

J: We had to be very quiet. First we had to pick a spot, wait 30 seconds and then for 2 minutes we watched. Then after that we walked 120 steps and did the same thing. We repeated that five times. We saw a total of 5 birds and heard 3 birds, but we saw a lot of dragonflies and butterflies and we heard a lot of cicadas.

W: Some of the birds we saw were mourning doves. We always see mourning doves at our house.

J: We only got to see new places for three of them and then we walked back for the other two. I got to use my binoculars, which is always fun.

W: Okay, until next time!

Coastal Bend Outdoor Challenge: Create Your Own

October 23, 2016 / Stacie / 4 Comments

*Joey will be a guest here on the blog as he documents our Nature Challenge journey for 2016.

The Challenge: Select your favorite nature spot in the Coastal Bend and create an activity that can be done by other teams in the area.

Joey: I attended a Nature Journaling Class with Ms. Nicki Sohn at the Oso Preserve and I am going to tell you everything I learned. Then you’ll be able to go in your own backyard and make your very own nature journal.

First you are going to need a journal. It could be a blank book, a sketch book, a scrapbook, a notebook. Basically you need something filled with blank paper. I received a fancy bamboo journal at the class but I also have other nature journals. Some are blank notebooks and some are sketch books.

You’ll also need a pencil or a pen (I recommend a pencil because you can erase if you need to), some crayons or colored pencils, an eraser, a pencil sharpener and a bag to carry it all in. You might need to bring some water with you if you’re going out far from your house. If you’re really far and you’re hungry, bring a snack bag with you.

One kind of journaling you can do in nature is looking for evidence. You pick a spot. A place with trees is a good place to choose, but you really can choose any nature spot. Then you sit very quietly and look for animals. Then find out why they are there in that spot. You could also look for animal tracks and scat and journal about who you think has been there and why. You could also look for an interaction between animals. Whatever evidence you look for, record what you find and show it to your parents. Make sure you explain, in your journal, what you think the evidence means.

Another kind of nature journaling that is fun is called Stop and Jot. You find a place and set a time limit. Then you walk around it and every few seconds you jot down anything you hear, see, or smell in nature. When you are done observing then you can draw a map of what you observed. Include any plants or tracks that you might have seen! Later you can write about your observations. It could be a narrative or a story. I like to pretend I’m an animal in that habitat and I use my observations to make a story or a narration.

Another kind of journaling I like to do is where I read about and observe a plant and then I use pictures (if the real thing isn’t available) and I draw it and write down some fun facts about it. I like to do this when I study herbs. I also include a “Time to Be a Scientist” sidebar where I describe ways you can use the herb for medicine.

When we do nature study during our school day, I take my journal and go outside wherever we are and a choose a spot. I sit there for ten minutes and I draw whatever I see in my area. Then I label it, if I can. I don’t write much about it when I do this type of journaling, but you could if you wanted to. It’s really more about drawing though.

It is fun to get out in nature and to write and draw about what I see. You should get your own nature journal and get started! I hope you will come back here and share with me some pictures of your journals.

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Coastal Bend Nature Challenge: Urban Xeriscape Garden

October 22, 2016 / Stacie / 1 Comment

*Joey and William will be guests here on the blog as they document our Nature Challenge journey for 2016.

The Challenge: Visit the Urban Xeriscape Garden near downtown Kingsville. Walk through the garden and find as many different types of plant leaf shapes as possible, while marking off the leaf types we find.

J: We took a walk through the city park. I had a clipboard with a sheet of leaf types. We identified each leaf we saw not by its name (we knew their names by their signs) but instead by their leaf type.

W: I had to ride in the stroller because I was still recovering from my surgery. I helped Joey identify leaf types.

J: We sat on a bench and we saw A LOT of bird poop. Then we looked up and saw why. There were a ton of mourning doves. Mystery of bird poop solved.

W: My favorite plant we saw was the Firecracker plant.

J: I liked the wishing weed we found and wished on. It was neat to see plants that grow in this area easily. Now we know what we can plant. Okay, until next time!

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{this moment}

October 21, 2016 / Stacie / 1 Comment

{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.

Coastal Bend Nature Challenge: Celebration of Flight

October 21, 2016 / Stacie / 1 Comment

*Joey and William will be guests here on the blog as they document our Nature Challenge journey for 2016.

The Challenge: Attend the Celebration of Flight (we were not able to make it on September 24th for the kids’ day so we joined in the celebration on the 25th).

W: We went to the Celebration of Flight. We saw hawks migrating.

J: I saw hummingbirds before I even saw a hawk. They were very cute and they were next to the hummingbird feeders. I knew what attracted them at that moment.

W: I saw them first and I pointed them out to Joey.

J: No, you didn’t. Daddy pointed them out to me.

W: Well let’s just assume that I did.

Me: Boys, focus please.

J: We got up to the hawk watch platform and pulled out our binoculars. There was a lady there who knew a lot about the hawks and she helped us find and identify some. I also knew that the lady we met last year must be there somewhere. She was! I was happy to see her again.

W: We saw both ladies?

J: Well, we saw a lady from this year and a lady from last year. So…if you’re talking about a different lady from last year, I don’t think so, but the lady that taught us about thermals last year was there. We talked to her. Don’t you remember? She told us about the tree that has leaves like sandpaper.

W: What? Ooohhh, yeah, I do remember that. And I remember her.

J: After we did some hawk watching and drawing, we went for a walk.

W: We went exploring and Daddy said, “Look!” and we went down a secret passage.

J: It was very fun except I didn’t like the part with the very tall grass. On our way back from the walk, we smelled smoke.

W: It was the beginning of a Native American blessing. First we got blessed.

J: They were burning sage and they used the smoke to give us each a blessing. It was like incense. Then the Native Americans did some singing. Then they did some dancing. They were blessing the hawks’ migration and also sending our prayers up to be carried to Heaven with the hawks. It took almost forever for the ceremony to end.

W: It was very fun to watch them sing and dance.

J: There was a Sun and a Moon represented in the dance.

W: After the ceremony we went to hold snakes. There was a Mexican Milk snake, a Rat snake and a Western Garter snake. They were fantastic. I love holding snakes. There was a lady there who said she was gardening and she stuck her hand in the garden and suddenly heard a rattle. It was a rattlesnake! She told us never to stick our hands into a place where we can’t see what we’re touching because there could be snakes. I think that was good advice. Okay, until next time!

Daybook

October 18, 2016 / Stacie / 1 Comment

Outside my window…these three are playing happily. {Enter sigh of gratitude here}

I am remembering…a quick visit with friends this weekend. We were honored to be invited to watch Hannah and Rebecca at their swim competition and then we drove out to the beach to splash around for a bit. Dax and William were thrilled to have the opportunity to learn and play Cricket thanks to Tim’s brilliant idea of bringing along his cricket bat and wickets.

I am thankful for…the week we had along a creek that was tucked into the side of the Mark Twain Forest in Missouri. My heart is joyful, my memories are beautiful, and my hard drive is full of incredible photos that I want to share with you. I just need a moment to catch up with my thoughts and reflections.

I am watching…Joey use the stencils I had as a kid. I remember many rainy afternoons in my childhood with my stencils and my handy crayon box by my side.

I am listening…to the MacGyver (clarification: the original MacGyver theme song…not sure what the new MacGyver theme music is but the show is certainly not the same so we’re skipping that and still watching the original on Amazon Prime) theme as Katie climbs up and down the playset.

I am wondering…which of my kids had my camera and took this silly shot.

I am laughing…at the contradiction in this picture. A bathing suit with an umbrella?

I am reflecting…on gratitude and how it’s woven into the inner seams of my life as I ponder my next post for Corpus Christi Moms Blog. (Did I send you over here yet? My picture on there? An excuse to pick up a new shirt during Talbot’s huge shirt sale!)

In the schoolroom…reordering my way of thinking as I journey through Charlotte Mason’s 20 principles. I never realized what a Herbartian educator I am! Changes are afoot.

Around the house…well…the washer had an issue in the middle of the night on Sunday. The repairman just made it out today. That’s a lot of laundry stacked up and waiting to be run. Hate to admit just how reliant I am on that beast of a machine. Shhh, please don’t tell it I called it a beast…I really need it to cooperate.

In the kitchen…gluten free sugar cookies. I hardly ever buy gluten free mixes (they’re so pricey) and I rarely ever buy anything from Immaculate Baking (cause they’re, well, pretty pricey) but for some random reason (which I am not about to question) my grocery store had a blow-out sale on Immaculate Baking’s gluten free cooking mixes…as in $1.24/mix. That’s cheap in the gluten free world! I stocked up and we are enjoying our stash.

I am wearing…today it’s black shorts and a red faded Gap shirt. BUT last week, I was impressively dressed with this beautiful skirt my sister made me (although sadly for the skirt, I paired it with the same faded red Gap shirt I’m wearing today…it really didn’t do the skirt justice, so I’m keeping my eyes peeled for a different shirt to wear next time).

We are preparing for…Halloween. Decorations are out. Costumes are being assembled. Now I just need to turn their minds toward the meaning behind the celebration as we should be spending our time preparing our hearts for All Saints and All Souls Days.

Someday I am going to miss…conversations like this:

(in the car on the way to Yaya’s)

Katie: Mommy, I NEED you.

Andrew: No, Katie, you don’t NEED Mommy. You need water and food.

Joey: And air.

Mommy: And shelter.

William: Oh yeah, you definitely need shelter.

Andrew: Why?

William (sounding extremely serious and looking like the perfect know-it-all): Because without shelter, you could die from exposure.

Joey: Oh no, what’s that? Exposure?

William: I have no idea.

I am listening…to The Little Paris Bookshop. I love the idea that books can heal our souls.

One of my favorite things…Katie’s heart touches. Ever since she quit nursing (on her 3rd birthday), she always asks if she can give me a heart touch. She kisses me just below my neck and then covers it with her hand as if to seal it. I am going to be so sad when our heart-touching days end.

A peek into my day…caught these two loving each other during Bible time the other day.

Please visit The Simple Woman’s Daybook for more daybook entries.

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{this moment}

October 14, 2016 / Stacie / 2 Comments

Thinking About Skipping Out on Election Day? Here’s why you can’t…

October 12, 2016 / Stacie / 2 Comments

It’s easy to think that voting is just about the here and now. And the here and now feels like it’s more about me raising babies than me being political. But the truth is, voting is about the here, the now, and the tomorrow, the future. My vote affects the future of my children. The future of my grandchildren.

See, that guy (or gal) you voted for (or maybe voted against)? He starts to change things. Sometimes monumental things that have lasting effects.

Take, for instance, Abraham Lincoln. He forever changed the slavery status in our country. Bet there’s a mighty big number of folks who are grateful to the folks who voted in that election.

Does that feel too far removed to relate to? A more relevant topic might be where a presidential candidate stands on abortion. Maria Gallagher, a pro-life supporter, tells how she once voted for Bill Clinton never realizing that his Supreme Court nomination of Stephen Breyer would one day affect the women of Texas in a way she couldn’t morally support.

Really, if for no other reason, you should vote because the future of our Supreme Court lies in this election. Pop on over to Corpus Christi Moms Blog to finish reading my thoughts on why THIS election year is so very important…

With Every Intention

Inspiration to live a little richer, breathe a little deeper and appreciate a little more fully

Author: Stacie

Coastal Bend Nature Challenge: Snap a Critter

Coastal Bend Nature Challenge: UT Marine Science Institute

Coastal Bend Nature Challenge: John E. Connor Museum

Coastal Bend Outdoor Challenge: Create Your Own

Coastal Bend Nature Challenge: Urban Xeriscape Garden

{this moment}

Coastal Bend Nature Challenge: Celebration of Flight

Daybook

{this moment}

Thinking About Skipping Out on Election Day? Here’s why you can’t…