Winterland of Gingerbread

Today Jadon and I attended a POD field trip to Main Event for the Winterland of Gingerbread hosted by TXVA. Once we arrived and signed in, we were given a wristband to play as much bowling as we like:

 The place was pretty empty when we first arrived, but it quickly filled up.  Jadon found a couple of kids to play bowling with us. He was having a blast! 

After bowling a few rounds, we took a break to vote on the best gingerbread house and take a few pictures in front of the giant gingerbread. Doesn't he look like a little politician?



Next we sat down to eat some pizza. It cost about $13 for two personal size pizza's and 1 drink.  I just love these pictures of Jadon. He is such a gentleman:

And then he is himself. . .SILLY!!!!!!

After eating we played about 2 more rounds of bowling. You can see that the place was starting to fill up with other home-school families. These events are wonderful!!!

The score was tied 3 ways by 53. 

And here, Jadon wins the game!!

After bowling, we went to the arcade section and played $6 worth of games it came out to about 4 1/2 games.  It is NOTHING like Chuck E. Cheese's were every game cost a quarter.  

Happy Holiday's Texas Virtual Academy.

See you next year!!!!

Jadon read his first novel

Jadon is not the one to pick up a book and read for fun.  He would rather play video games. I mean what child wouldn't.  I was determined to get him to like reading. I picked up a few books from the library. Three of them were from the "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" collection.  This is the first novel Jadon has ever read from cover-to-cover.  He started on September 30, 2010 and read a few hours a day before bed. Skipped a few days but came right back to it.  He finally completed the book in twelve (12) days on October 12, 2010. He has even started his own journal. He is so proud of himself and so is his dad and I.  He wants to begin reading the second novel tonight. Yea!

October 2010

Every year Jadon and I paint the windows in his room with holiday art. 

 We even decorated the front porch. Did you notice the silhouettes?

Cooking with Chef Jadon

Today Jadon woke up bright and early because he was excited about making pancakes. I will leave the rest of the story to him:

Good morning, I am going to show you how I make pancakes using a recipe from my reading school work.  It is called Patty's Pancakes, but you can call them Jadon's pancakes, ok?

First you need to lay out all of your ingredients:

• 4 Tablespoons of butter
• 1 cup of flour (I used whole wheat flour)
• 2 Tablespoons of sugar
• a pinch of salt
• 1 Tablespoon of baking powder
• 1 cup of milk
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla

Don't forget to clean as you go!

Directions:

1. Preheat the griddle to high. (I didn't have a griddle so I used the skillet.)

2. Melt 4 Tablespoons of butter over low heat on the stove.

3. While the butter is melting, mix the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder) together in a large mixing bowl.  

4.  Mix the wet ingredients (milk, eggs, melted butter, and vanilla) in a second bowl.

5. Slowly pour the wet ingredients into the bowl of dry ingredients and stir about 1 minute.

6. Pour batter onto the griddle, making each pancake about 3 inches in diameter or however big you want to make them just like I did.

7.  When the top of the pancake starts to bubble, flip the pancake over and cook the other side.

 

8.  The pancakes are done when both sides are brown.

 

 Top your pancakes with whatever you like. I chose strawberries and whipped cream

And strawberry syrup

Now it is time to taste the pancakes:

 Mmmmm, these pancakes are so good! You're gonna love it.
Hope you enjoyed watching me make pancakes.

The Old Man That Build His Own House

Abraham Lincoln's Log Cabin with a Modern Twist

By: Jadon R. Harris

Long ago, there was an old man that didn't have a house or a yard. Just until he got an idea. He found a few logs and he used the logs to build his own house. Some of the neighbors houses broke down. One of them left a roof behind and Abraham Lincoln took the roof and chimney and put it on his log cabin.  He did the same thing for the door. For the window, he found pieces of glass and glued them together.  Then he found a table from the future.  

Some of the trees fell down from the hurricane so he dug a hole with his hands and planted the tree in his yard. When he finished building his house he went inside and looked at it from his window. What a beautiful sunny day.

The End.

Mad Science @ Discovery Green

Took Jadon to see Mad Science booth at the Discovery Green today.  I was expecting more science experiments, but Jadon seemed to have enjoyed the bug display. They had a table set up with different bugs. They even gave him a free prize --Insect-a Vision, Bug Eye.  Mad Science offer summer camps, after school programs and birthday parties. Check them out http://www.madscience.com/

 I liked this microscope. It uses a photo slide. (I had to tell Jadon to not put his eyes on the shared instruments. Just saw the Bernie Mac show yesterday about Pink Eye. Be safe!)

This is Mad Scientist, Ross. I think that was his name. He was very informative and interacted very well with Jadon's and his 101 questions. 

We stayed for about 10 mins then I let Jadon play on the park. What puzzles me is that when we had to walk from parking to the park in the shade of an umbrella, Jadon felt like he was dying because he was hot and tired. But when he gets on the playground he is full of energy, playing around in direct sunlight. KIDS!

Eaten Alive

Jadon at the Health Museum. It's a big world out there. Don't get eaten alive.

Houston Zoo Field Trip With 3rd Grade Students

                                                                                                                                                        

I know this blog post is a week late; But better late than never, right? Well last week, May 6th, my step-mom, Evelyn, invited Jadon and me along with her 3rd grade class to the Houston Zoo. This would be our 2nd annual zoo trip together.  Here are a few pictures that were taken. Now once again, please excuse the blue tint on a few of the pictures. I forget the setting sometimes. Silly me:

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Here is Jadon with his Momo.

Now just look at that face. He is trying to fight back tears and anger because he got into trouble. I forgot what it was he did wrong, but looking at this pictures still breaks my heart. I am such a softy when it comes to my baby. But I have to be tough on him sometimes or he will walk all over me.

After the zoo experience, the kids went back to the buses for lunch. Look at all those goodies!

Once everyone received their lunch, we sat under a shade tree and had a picnic.  Girls on one blanket, boys on another. Where is Jadon, yep, with the ladies.  Well to be honest, he wanted to go with the boys, but he already followed me to the blanket so I made him stay with me to ensure he ate his lunch and not let trash fly everywhere. I ruin all his fun!

After lunch, the kids loaded back on the buses. Now since Jadon is homeschooled, he has never experienced being on a school bus. Therefore, he had the opportunity to load up with the students.

It was a great day!

See you next time, Momo. . .