Gardening!

Shay loves the outdoors. Me- not so much. One of the things she's been working on is her gardening. About a month ago, she planted with her Grammy.

Boxes ready.

Shay's box.

Grammy's Box

4x4 and 3x3 square foot gardening boxes.

They decided that square foot gardening was the way to go. I don't know all that much about it, but you can check out this link that will tell you more: http://www.squarefootgardening.org/. The white around the boxes is not snow. We found a use for all those credit card applications we get by shredding them and using them to keep the grass and weeds from growing up in the boxes. We already had Grammy's box from last year, so we only had to build one box for Shay.

The next day, after a trip to Johnson's to get plants, they got to work planting.

Look- she's in Jeans!

In front of Grammy's box.

Digging.

Planting.

Both boxes planted.

Planted this year are: cherry tomatoes, bush beans, zucchini, squash, onions, garlic, watermelon, peppers, marigolds, and potatoes.

My Rockstar

Shay's been really into her Tinkertoys she got for Christmas. She has been upstairs in the soon to be school room for hours! When I came up to see what she was doing, I found this:

Do you see it? A rockstar?

There is a guitar and a mic.

Ok, Mom, now let me be.

 A little while later, I heard her singing loudly and found:

Yes, she made this on her own!

Sing it!

She wanted to build a to scale guitar as well, but ran out of Tinkertoys. Guess I'll have to out and buy a bigger set!

Shay's Potted Herb Garden

Shay has been waiting to plant. It seemed like Spring would never get here! It lasted a whole month! (Today was 91, but felt like 100 with heat index- incidentally, Phoenix was in the low 80's today.) So last month, she got to work on her herbs. Last year my sister got this for my mom, and Shay has been eying it ever since:

Shay took the pic here. (Actually any pic in this blog entry that does not have her in it, she took)

Looked like fun and easy enough. Here are some more pics of her work, with some help from her Grammy.

All ready.

Some of her faves.

Adding the dirt.

Very meticulous.

So Grammy helped too.

Parsley!

Getting them in the pot.

And labeled.

And moving them.

Can't wait!

So proud of what she did.

It has been a month since she planted these. I will have to take a few pictures of how they have progressed.

Up next...The bigger garden!

Date with Mommy and Storybook Ballet

** It's been forever since my last blog entry. We've been super busy the past few months. It seems around here we have 2 seasons- Winter and Summer, so when we get a few weeks of Spring, we jump right on it and get as much done as we can before the heat and humidity hit. Hopefully I will be back to blogging more regularly.**

Last month, I took Shay on a "Mommy and Me date". First we went to dance class. Afterwards, we went to dinner at The Olney Ale House. We kept it simple- chicken fingers and fries. Shay especially enjoyed the root beer.

After that, we went to The Storybook Ballet at Olney Theatre. The performers were all older students at her dance studio. Sorry, no pics of the performance was allowed, but we did get to meet some characters backstage.

Dorthy from The Wizard of Oz (the dancer is also a helper in Shay's Dance class- much to Shay' surprise)

The Fairy Godmother and Mickey

The Cat in the Hat

Snow White

Maria (the main character in the story)

 Ballerinas

A cat from Puss N' Boots

A card from Alice in Wonderland

Queen of Hearts

Little Red Riding Hood

The Storybook "Book". All of the characters came out of the book and on to the stage. Shay was a little nervous about being so close to the book.

After the show, we went to get ice cream. We went to Coldstone where she chose bubble gum and sprinkles. 

MMMMM.

 

 

 

It was a great night. On the way home, she told me that it was "the best day ever." I need to make sure I have more special date nights in the future.

Meeting Dr. Michio Kaku and The Air and Space Museum

Shay loves science. She loves space. Two of her favorite channels are the Science Channel and The Discovery Channel. She will watch any and all shows on planets, black holes, galaxies, etc. One of her all time favorite shows is Sci Fi Science.  Dr. Michio Kaku is the host. Who is Dr. Kaku? Well, if you have been watching any of the earthquake/tsunami coverage, he's been on t.v. talking about it- especially when it concerns the nuclear reactors. I can't remember exactly why we were on Dr. Kaku's website, but on the sidebar, Shay saw that there was a book tour for his new book,  Physics of the Future, and he was coming to the area and could we please go? Get to meet someone she thinks is the coolest, and he'll be at The Air and Space Museum- so it's educational? Sure!

We got there early, so we looked around at everything. I think this is her fourth visit in her 5 years on this planet, so we've seen everything numerous times. Although this time she can read, so she read on and on. We've also studied this year about the Apollo Missions and she's been following the last  of the Space Shuttle missions, so I think she really got a lot more out of this trip.

Flight Suit from Shuttle Missions

Floatation devices for Apollo missions.

Gemini

Enterprise- didn't fly in Space. Look how big it is!

The book signing started at 2- but around 1:15, I noticed a line starting, so we went up to join the line.

Waiting.

Getting really excited with her book.

There he is in the brown coat!

Almost time!

We're next!

Dr. Kaku!

Writing an inscription to her.

Look at her body language!

He actually rendered her speechless!

All of us- why not?!

What did he say?

To Shayleigh: The Future is Yours! Michio Kaku

Her eyes lit up! I have never seen her saw awestruck by anyone. She could barely speak to him. After the signing, she hung around like a stalker waiting for the line to die down so she could get another chance to speak with him.

Stalking from afar.

Closer.

Almost a photobomb!

We did go over and speak with him again once there was no more line. He is a really cool guy. I didn't get any more pictures because he actually spoke to me!! Shay told him she was disappointed he wasn't giving a lecture today (she had it all planned out where we would sit, should the lecture occur). He confided in us that he too was disappointed and that he brought notes should he lecture. No, we weren't privy to those notes. He didn't know the next time he would be in the area, but lookout, if he does come back to the area to lecture, I know who will be in the front row!