School Entrance Physical Exams

We are making the rounds to all of the health care professionals in preparation for kindergarten. In Kentucky (and probably everywhere), children must have a dental, vision and general health exam in order to attend kindergarten. I knew they had to have a health exam and up to date immunizations, but I wasn't aware a visit to the dentist and an optometrist were mandatory.
Of course, Jonathan has always had on time well child and dental visits, but he'd never had an eye exam other than the one given to him by the pediatrician, which is not acceptable for school entrance.
Tuesday we visited the dentist for his regular six month exam: no cavities! Yesterday was a visit to the optometrist: 20/20 vision!
Next Thursday we visit the pediatrician for his regular 5 year old exam.
I just registered him for his Kindergarten Jump Start day in late July.
I am finding I need a secretary to keep up with all of the forms and paperwork needed to enroll a child in school!

Where The Afternoon Took Us....

What a fun afternoon! We started out by stopping at the bank to deposit all of Jonathan's dimes, we do that once a year around birthday time, more about that later! Then we started driving. I took Jonathan to a candy outlet, I thought he'd like that, but they were closed for inventory. Next we headed down a winding road to Route 8, which runs parallel to the Ohio River. One of the things I love about this area is that we can take a drive in the country and we are still close to all a city has to offer.

We drove to Anderson Ferry, which transports cars across the Ohio River. For 50-cents, you can ride the ferry across as "foot traffic", so we parked the car and rode the ferry across the river and back. It's a great way to spend a dollar!

We hung out by the river for awhile, enjoying the breeze, watching the boats on the river and searching for treasures such as rocks and twigs. We sat at a picnic table and had a bottle of water from the cooler in the trunk of the car.

From there, we made our way through rush hour traffic to Florence, where we stopped at Culver's and had ice cream sundaes. Jonathan had a birthday coupon for a free sundae which was expiring in a few days, so it seemed like a good time to use it! Of course, the batteries in the camera died so I couldn't take any more pictures!

Next, we drove to Big Bone Lick State Park. I have only been there one other time, many years ago, and had forgotten all about it and even how to get there. The museum closed at 4 PM, so we couldn't go inside, but we played at the play area. We also hiked the trail out to see the bison that reside in the park. I discovered how out of shape I am! With all the changes in my life in recent years, I  have unfortunately not focused on myself very much. My husband and I used to walk a lot, and now a mile seems to be almost more than I can do! I need to do something about that.

We finished our adventure by stopping at a Sonic drive in and having our dinner on the patio. Again, we utilized a coupon for a free birthday meal for Jonathan.

The entire afternoon cost less than $10.00 (excluding gas). As we were riding the ferry, Jonathan leaned in close to me and said "Mommy this is living". I think he's right, it doesn't get much better than an impromptu summer adventure!

Off On A Lark!

Who knows where the afternoon will take us! It's 2 o'clock on a beautiful sunny summer afternoon. I have packed drinks and snacks in a cooler, put water shoes and an extra outfit for Jonathan in the car, in case we land in some dirt or mud. We have sunscreen, sunglasses, a camera and a few bucks. We are off on  a lark! We'll just drive until we see a place that looks appealing, then we will stop. We'll get home when we get home, sometime before bedtime.

Socks in Bloom!

Remember the socks we planted as an experiment? This is one experiment that has far exceeded any expectations I had for it! There are at least five different plant varieties in the planter. The grass is no surprise. Neither is the zinnia, as I had a bed of them last year, so I am sure some seeds found their way to the ground. There is also another plant with a white blossom, clover and one or two I can't identify.

We started in late March, and this is what the planter looked like in May:

The planter is surprisingly attractive and I am leaving it by my front door. This has been fun to watch and is something we may do again next spring.

Workin' On the Summer List

You may remember my summer fun list from an earlier post this month. The list has grown as we have added more simple and fun things to do. This past week we visited  Newport Aquarium, one of our favorite places to spend a few hours.
Today, the weather was just perfect! So we crossed off another item on our list by lying on a quilt in the backyard and watching the clouds. So relaxing and fun to decide what all the clouds look like! We also talked about the different types of clouds as we watched them drifting overhead.
After bath time and pajamas, I think we are headed out to cross another item off the list: lying on the same quilt to look at the stars. Ahh, Summer!

Science Party: FUN

Jonathan had so much fun at his party. He loved every single scientific demonstration and every hands-on experiment. I truly think each and every one of our guests had fun. Even the parents in attendance enjoyed themselves! Mrs. McDaniel truly made the party special. She was so good with the children and she shows her love of science with her enthusiasm. We were so fortunate she agreed to be our professor!! Take a look at the fun!


Getting the children in a circle, ready to sit down



Tornado in a bottle



Ready for the first hands-on experiment



Air flow demo with balloons

An explosion of color!

Cloud in a bottle-a favorite with the kids

Look at those faces!

More balloon fun

Again, look at those sweet faces!

The "marshmallow masher"

Air/water pressure, another favorite

Volcanoes!

They listened so intently to instructions

They had a little help when they needed it

The finale, Coke & Mento geysers

Opening presents with each guest

The kids were so precious!

Time for cake

Happy Birthday, Dear Jonathan!

I loved every minute of this party: the planning, searching for all the right products, bringing the months of preparation to fruition, seeing the children learning while having so much fun. I had lots of help along the way: my sister, Pat, was a huge help with every step of the planning, Mrs. McDaniel for volunteering her time and talent and my niece, Michelle, for photographing the party for me. A great big THANK YOU to all of them!
My wish for Jonathan, and for every child, is that they all realize their full potential and be all that they can be.

Science Party: Details, Details!

Attention to detail can make all the difference in the overall look of just about anything. Even if individually they may go unnoticed, I still believe the details make the difference! Here are some of the little things that combined to make the party setting special and unique.
This is what the children received as take home treats. It was a bit of a challenge to find  fun, science related favors!

The take home bags contained a Pop Rocks Edible science experiment,found at Party City. Test tube bubbles were from Dollar Tree. Bug jars with a magnifying top are from Oriental Trading Co. Inside I place three sponge capsules to grow when placed in water. A package of chocolate rocks from the Cincinnati Museum Center completed the bag.

The rest of the take home items were part of the party decor. I found these neat science theme sticker sets at Oriental Trading Co. I put them in white envelopes with each "professor's" name on them and placed them in a metal rack that was a yard sale find. It was also used at last year's baseball party to hold Cracker Jacks.

Each child also took home test tubes filled with Nerds candy. These were placed in a glass vase from Wal-Mart and labeled "Science Nerd". Glow sticks were placed in glass vases labeled "Radioactive Rods" and then placed on a round mirror. Each child left with five of these.

There was a clipboard hanging on a hook which said "Bowen Laboratory Observation Notes". This was used to record the gifts and the giver's name when presents were opened.

The hands-on experiments for the kids were prepared with all ingredients pre-measured. They were placed on trays and ready to go to keep the activity flowing as smoothly as possible. Most of the ingredients to be mixed were placed in small cups with lids. I found these at a garage sale last summer, 25-cents for all, another of those purchases I had nothing in mind for, just seemed like a good deal! Similar cups can be purchased at GFS Marketplace or Sam's Club. I placed "Open With Caution" stickers on them that I printed myself. The little beakers containing the green colored water are made for mixing hair color and were purchased at Sally's Beauty Supply.

I really liked the "H-2-O" water bottle labels that were part of the printables package I purchased. They took some time to do but were so worth it! I also had several varieties of single packets of drink mix available to flavor the water. Pouring and mixing the flavor packets almost seemed like a science experiment!

Jonathan thinks no party is complete without balloons, so of course we had to have several of those on the mailbox!

Finally, here's one of the little lab rats on the watermelon test tube. They just made me smile!

This was one of my favorite posters. A child can become anything they want to be with encouragement and hard work. They are never too young to be encouraged to pursue their interests and see where it takes them!

Up next, as I wrap up what I thought was a super party, the FUN!