Javelinas and another Cowboy

Do you remember my post about The Gingerbread Cowboy?  I wrote that the gingerbread cowboy was chased by javelinas and noted that I had never heard of javelinas before.  Well, now my children and I are quite familiar with these interesting creatures.  Javelinas are relatives of swine, but not true pigs, and they are also related to the hippopotamus.  They are very bristly (as the author notes, "very hairy on the chinny-chin-chin").  Before I knew better (thanks Karen), I was calling them javelinas with an English "j" sound at the beginning, but obviously the word is Spanish so the initial sound is "h".

This week we read, The Three Little Javelinas by Susan Lowell.  This book is a southwestern version of The Three Little Pigs. The setting for this story is actually the vicinity of the Tohono O'Odham Reservation near Tucson, Arizona, but the author notes that the setting could really be almost any dry southwestern area where javelinas, coyotes, tumbleweeds, cacti, and adobe houses are found - which includes parts of Texas. 

We also enjoyed Bubba, The Cowboy Prince, A Fractured Texas Tale by Helen Ketteman.  This book is a parody of  Cinderella and is set in Texas.  The fairy godmother is a cow, and the hero, named Bubba, is the stepson of a wicked rancher.  He wants to go to the ball to dance with Miz Lurleen, but he smells like cattle and has nothing to wear.  You can just imagine what happens next.  My favorite line from the book is said by Miz Lurleen, "There goes another ten-dollar Stetson on a five-cent head."  How funny is that?  Does anyone really say that in Texas?  I hope so.  This book is a fun read, the illustrations are great, and I tried my best to read it with a Texas accent - ha, now that is hysterical! 

I really enjoy reading different versions of fairy tales.

The Legend of the Bluebonnet

We are really loving learning about Texas for our Fifty States Project.  There are so many great books and wonderful things to learn about the Lone Star State. 

The Legend of the Bluebonnet by Tomie dePaola tells the story of how the bluebonnet, the Texas state flower, came to be.  This is a beautiful story of a young girl who has lost her entire family to the drought and sacrifices her most prized possession to save her tribe.  I really love this book.  I am not sure if C and R really understood the story of sacrifice, but they did enjoy the book.

After reading the book, C and R made their own bluebonnets.

First, they used green markers to draw the stem and leaves of their bluebonnets.  Then, they finger painted the flowers.

Happy Groundhog Day

When I saw this Groundhog Day hot cocoa, I knew I had to make it!  You can see that these groundhogs saw their shadows.

You can find directions to make some Groundhog Day hot cocoa for yourself at Gourmet Mom on the Go.

Circles

Challenge your child to draw something using only one shape and see what he or she comes up with.  If I had to draw something using only circles, I would draw a snowman.  C obviously has much more creativity in his little five year old self than I do!

He even made the mouth out of circles.  I was very impressed. 

If you try this with your child, please let me know what he or she creates!

Punxsutawney Phil Comes to Breakfast

Tuesday, February 2, is Groundhog Day.  Last year, I saw these groundhog day pancakes at Gourmet Mom on the Go and bookmarked them with the intention of making them this year.  Well, believe it or not, I remembered and actually made them this year.  I think they came out great.  This is how you make them:

First, cut an apple in half and take out the core and seeds.  Then fill the hole with a scoop of peanut butter.  The peanut butter is not necessary, but it adds some protein and tastes yummy.

Then, place each half of the apple cut side down on a plate.  This will provide the base for two groundhog day pancakes. 

Next, make some pancakes (any recipe will do) and cut a small circle in the center of your pancakes.  Lay the pancake on top of the apple and place a doughnut hole ("munchkin" in this neck of the woods) on top of the opening.

The munchkin is the groundhog's head.  Cut a mini marshmallow in half and use some icing to stick both halves on as the whites of the eyes.  Then use more icing to stick some m&m's on for the eye color.  Stick a red m&m on for the nose, and two peanut butter chips for ears.

We used some green icing to look like grass and pink icing for some spring flowers. 

Now, let's just hope that Phil does not see his shadow.  We are ready for some spring weather here in the northeast.

Have a happy Groundhog Day!

Red Rectangle R

You can hardly see the letter "R" but it's under there.

Penguins

We have been enjoying a few penguin books this week and we made the cutest paper plate penguins to sit and read with us.

If you would like to make your own paper plate penguin, click on the link above for directions.  I like this craft because you only need two paper plates and paint.  We used googly eyes but they aren't necessary. 

Here are the penguin books we are enjoying:
Penguin Dreams by V.L. Walsh - a cute book about a penguin with big dreams. 

Antarctic Antics:  A Book of Penguin Poems by Judy Sierra - a fun collection of poems in which the author imagines life in the Antarctic through the eyes of the chicks in an emperor penguin colony.

Penguin Pairs:  Counting by 2s by Amanda Doering Tourville - count by 2s adding up the penguins as you go along.  This book is part of a series called "Count the Critters".  The other books in the series feature odd or even numbers, counting by 3s, and more. 

Tacky the Penguin by Helen Lester- this is a great book about a penguin who is a bit odd, but his oddities pay off in the end.  This is a good book to use for teaching tolerance or individuality.

We strongly recommend all of these books!
To see more book projects, check out stArt at A Mommy's Adventures.