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JDaniel4s Mom

growing & learning with him

Deirdre Smith writes/owns JDaniel4’s Mom. After twenty years as a elementary school and technology resource teacher in Northern Virginia, she became a stay at home mom in upstate South Carolina. Her blog features ways she and her 5 year old are exploring learning, crafting, creating healthy meals and living life to its fullest. Deirdre can also be found on twitter as @jdaniel4smom and on her blog's FB page. You can also check her out on Google+.

Mice on Main Street And In My House

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Here in Greenville, S.C. we have a great mouse hunt on Main Street. Bronze mice are scattered up and down the street. Some are easy to find and others are quite difficult. I took my nephews down to search for them. We had a print out of clues that I found on the Mouse on Main website.

The mice are very popular and have even had a children’s book written about them called MICE ON MAIN: HOW NINE BRONZE MICE CAME TO LIVE ON MAIN STREET.

The link below is an affiliate link.

JDaniel is a little young to find most of the mice. I pointed one out to him when we were downtown for a Touch-a-Truck event. He thought mice statues were in his words silly.

I decided to have him decorate some mice with glitter glue and crayons. I would hide them around the house. He was given clues as to where I hid the mice. He had a blast.

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Two Red Ys

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We were exploring downtown Greenville and came across this red sculpture. It is titled Untitled. When JDaniel and I stopped to look at it, I asked him what he thought it was. He replied “Ys”. It really does look like two ys stacked together.

This sculpture is sort of symbolic of conversations I have with JDaniel some days. They seem to be filled with a least two whys.

Here are a couple of examples:

Conversation One

JDaniel:“Why did we have to stop car?”
Me: “There is a red sign that says stop on it in front of the car”
JDaniel: “Why sign?”
Me: “There are a lot of cars on the road and if we didn’t stop we could hit one.”
JDaniel: “Mom, no cars here.”
Me: “The law says I have to stop anyway”

Conversation Two
Me: “What color is that car in the picture?”
JDaniel: “Orange car”
Me: “Close. What color is that red car in the picture?”
JDaniel: “Orange car”
Me: “Honey, that car is not orange. It is a red car.”
JDaniel: “Why?”
Me: “They decided to make it that color in the book.”
JDaniel: “Why?”


Visiting the Children’s Museum of the Upstate

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I mentioned two weeks ago that I splurged and went to The Children’s Musuem of the Upstate. At $12 for both JDaniel and I, the visit was a special treat.

Here are some pictures from our visit:

The water play area was really wet. I got wet when he discovered you could point the toys and other objects at mommy. I didn’t have smock like JDaniel did.


Filling the car tires and adding gas were really fun for JDaniel.

This crane was built for him. The whole construction area was greatly enjoyed.

 

Visiting Happy Cow Farm

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JDaniel loved walking over the store at Happy Cow to get ice cream. The peach ice cream we got was wonderful.

They liked checking out the cows. Each thought the cows were really smelly.

JDaniel and his friend Joe loved this game. I don’t think they were playing it right, but they had fun.


Visiting the baby cows was fun too.

The best time was taking turns getting on and off the tractor. Each wanted extended periods of time this wonderful machine.

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Muffin Tin Monday- Create a Car

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Muffin Tin Monday- Create a Car

JDaniel had a create a car lunch. There were two whole wheat bread cars along with a mozzarella cheese car. Ham was used for upholstering the car. Bananas were the car wheels. Carrots were the windshield wipers.

Muffin Tin Monday- Let's Make a Car

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Birthday Books and a Birthday Box

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This week we are celebrating not only the blog’s birthday but my mom’s 70th birthday. JDaniel and I read two books about birthdays and decorated a box to hold the gift cards we are giving my mom for her birthday.

Links below are affiliate links.

Bella- Birthday Party by Mandy Stanley is about a little bunny named Bella that comes upon a birthday party picnic not far from her home. She is welcomed into the party and given a costume to wear so will be like the other party guests. ( They are all in costumes of one type or another) When the rain threatens to end the party, Bella guides the others to a natural shelter of trees and grass to have cake. My favorite part comes at the end of the party when Bella is given a treat bag that she takes home and shares with her whole family.

This is a wonderful book. The illustrations and story are so well done. Bella and all the other party-goers treat each other so well. They share and enjoy just having fun.

Who Made This Cake by Chihiro Nakagawa is one of JDaniel’s favorite books. A whole crew of little construction workers arrives at the boy’s house to make his birthday cake. The book walks you step by step through the process the crew goes through to make the cake.

Craft

We are giving my mom several gift cards for her birthday. JDaniel helped me decorate this lovely gold container with glitter glue from Dollar Tree. I wrote the G for Grandmere on the lid. He made most of the squiggles. JDaniel really seemed to like it.

Disclaimer: I am a blog book reviewer for the publisher of these books Tiger Tales. I was sent Bella: The Birthday Party to review. The opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Mrs. Matlock’s Alphabe Soup- Revisiting K

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Mrs. Matlock’s Alphabe today is called Alphabet Soup. She is having everyone in the meme point out a post that we loved. I really enjoyed writing about my sister Kate and her one special Easter egg in a post called just that Kate and One Special Egg.

I hope you enjoy reading it.

Reflecting on My Freshman Year of Blogging

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I have just come to the end of my freshman year of blogging. Much like my freshman year in I learned a lot. There were ups, downs, missteps, and glorious moments. I would like to share with you some of the things I learned this year. They may be things you learned, don’t care about, or are learning along with me.
  1. I started out with a routine of the types of posts I would write each day of the week. That hasn’t changed much. I like the structure of my blog.
  2. Hosting giveaways is a ton of fun and a lot of work. I started them to draw attention to my blog. Posting them many places each week takes at a lot of time. I didn’t intend and still don’t intend to be a giveaway blog per se. I totally admire the blogs that can do it. The number of giveaways and reviews is going to go down a bit. My plan is to add one or two a week.
  3. Finding a niche of friends to visit, comment on, and get to know is really important. I have joined several blogging groups (Mom Blogger’s Club and Secret to Success is Support) and participate in Mom Loop on BlogFrog as one of five moderators.
  4. Memes can be a great way to find new blogs to read, meet friends, and share with others that have similar interests. I am a part of several memes ( Muffin Tin Monday, Mrs. Matlock’s Alphabe, Wordless Wednesday, and stART) I don’t do all these memes every week. In the future, I think I will be cutting back to Muffin Tin Monday and Mrs. Matlock’s Alphabe. Not just because they comment back and they do with a vengeance. All the memes have people that comment back. I have just found a niche in these two memes.
  5. I have read a million times that it is not about the number of followers, subscribers, or comments. It should be about writing great posts and building friendships. The truth is I can get a thrill out of the numbers. I can also be touched by one comment or e-mail about a post that can be just as thrilling. I am going to continue to comment on tons and be better about enjoying the blogging experience.
  6. You don’t have to have exact goals or fit into a certain blogging mold. Some blogs do and have great success. I have an eclectic mommy blog that is growing and changing as I grow and change. I guess I am like a rising sophomore without a major.

 

Reading About Machines Constructing A B-Day Cake

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JDaniel just loves this book about constructing a birthday cake! Even with a pile of books around him, he wants to read this book over and over again. If you think your children would enjoy this book, you can order a copy of it so that they can read it over and over again just as JDaniel has.

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