Budding Scientists

My wonderful friend and colleague, Abby, and I lead the Young Scientists Club at JJH. Our kiddos have been coming early to school every Tuesday morning since October to conduct science experiments and competitions. These kids are serious about science! They even remember after holidays and show up bright and early to get their science on! :) Our culminating experience was the Clarke Young Scientist Fair held today.

JJH entered science fair projects and inventions into the fair. We also had two teams participating in the Tower of Athens Competition at the fair. To read about some of the inventions we submitted, check out this post. Ashleigh actually won second place for her "Monkey Protector" invention. We also had 3 students win ribbons for their science fair projects and one of our Tower of Athens teams won FIRST PLACE!! Woohoo!

Notice us both sporting our JJH gear!

Here are some pictures from today's events!



Landon loved touching the animal fur at one of the science centers.



Such a cool contraption! The kids enjoyed going for a spin!

Lan Man loved the playground break!

 Stacy and his project! He was so proud of that ribbon! We were all so proud of him and our other JJH winners!

Bianca grew several types of crystals. They were so beautiful!

Flor experimented watering her plants with different water solutions.

Hooray for our JJH scientists!

Landon Eleven Month Post

Landon turned eleven months old on March 8th! During this eleventh month, he has grown so much!! He is now an EXPERT at crawling and is almost walking. He walks around objects and has been practicing trying to let go. If you stand him up and scoot away, he can take 2-4 steps towards you before falling! We are already exhausted with a speedy crawler, I don't know what we'll do with a walker!

Landon's favorite toy is his ball! In this video you can see him rolling his ball and crawling! In fact, he is crawling so fast that at the end of the video, he takes quite a tumble!! This one actually resulted in a bloody nose. :( Poor baby!


Not only is Landon super mobile, but he gets into everything! His favorite thing to do is pull everything out of drawers and cabinets, climb on top of the dishwasher door when it's open, and sneak into the bathroom to play with his bath toys or play in the toilet (we try to keep the door and toilet lid closed, but really...you have no idea how quick and sneaky this kid is!!)

Landon is such a big boy who now eats regular food (mixed with a jar or two of baby food a day). His favorite food is pizza and chicken (Oh...and dog food!!). He also really liked the tacos he tried on Sunday. I tear/cut whatever we are eating into very tiny pieces for him to eat. He can also drink out of a sippy cup now! He is probably about 70 percent bottle, 30 percent sippy cup. We are working on the transition!

When he likes something he says, "Num Num Num" with every bite!

As far as talking, he says, "Dada," "Ba" for ball, and "K" for KJ. He still hasn't said "Mama." Philip, BB, and Aunt Sharon swear that he calls me "Ka" for Kathy when I'm coming near...I'm not sure if they are just saying that or if it is really true... Even though he hasn't said "Mama," he is still a big time Mama's boy, so it doesn't bother me too much.

I mentioned in an earlier post that I stopped nursing last month. Since then, it has been like an attack to his little immune system..stomach virus, bad cold complete with eye infection and ear infection, and the flu. Let's just pray that we are on the mend! The Brown family is sick of being sick!

My sleeping angel baby when he was sick.

Overall we have had an amazing month! Landon has kept us laughing, moving, and having so much fun! We sure do love this little boy! Can't believe he is almost a year old!!

I love my new chair from my "Dada!"

The cutest little Lan Man!

Frolicking on North Campus

Today, Philip left around 10 to work on his dissertation at the UGA library. Instead of Landon and I not seeing him all day, we decided to meet him around 1 and enjoy North Campus together while he took a little break from writing. After about an hour, we could leave and he could get back to work. The plan worked out perfectly! It was a gorgeous day, and North Campus was stunning!

Landon was very excited that Mommy brought his Easter egg basket. He loves playing with the plastic eggs in the basket.  I was hoping to get some Easter shots with our real camera (these are all iphone photos).

Our Little Egg Head!

Having fun with Daddy!

Why did you guys put me in a tree?

Ohhh! Look over there Mom!

Brown Family of Three <3

I'm a happy Mommy!


Philip came home several hours later, and I got him to move my sewing machine downstairs so I could work on a few projects! I'm not sure how long it will stay in the living room, but for now it is really nice to work in the center of all the action! I never work on any projects with it upstairs! 


My sewing machine is one of my favorite things in the world (that I just don't use enough--but am trying to get better at...). It was a very special gift to me from my grandmother, Helen Backes. About a year before she passed away, she taught me how to sew and gave me her sewing machine. I truly treasure both special gifts (the sewing lessons and the machine), and they bring back fond memories of my spunky grandmother. 

So far an awesome Saturday, which will continue as I'm about to head out to see Hunger Games with some friends! Can't wait! Did you like the movie? 

Imagination Library

When Landon was just a few weeks old, we signed him up for Dolly Parton's Imagination Library. Every month he gets a new book in the mail. He will get a book each month until he is five years old!

 At first when we signed up for the books, I expected them to be kind of like the ones you get in the Chick-fil-a kids meals...don't get me wrong, I LOVE Chick-fil-a! But I have a kid, and I'm a teacher, and I often throw those books away (shh...don't tell anyone). The books from Chick-fil-a usually have too many words on the page, are so flimsy, and just aren't that engaging. (Except when they had Zin, Zin, Violin and If You Give a Mouse a Cookie a few years ago).

The books that Dolly Parton sends on the other hand are pretty good! Not to mention free!! Philip and I get really excited when they arrive in the mail. We always read the book to Landon right when it arrives and then that night at bedtime. I can't wait until he is old enough to look forward to the books coming in the mail too!

Some of the great books from Dolly! I'm curious to see if they continue to be age appropriate as gets older? Dolly is so smart! 

Landon looking at the latest book from Dolly (Corduroy Goes to the Doctor). How did she know this would be the perfect book for the Brown family in March? 

GA Tech vs. UGA Baseball Game

Last night while I was miserably getting diagnosed with the flu, Philip and Landon joined Aunt Sharon and Brittney at the UGA vs. GA Tech Baseball game.

They had such a fun night! They started off eating dinner at the Varsity. Philip and Landon love the Varsity. I'm not really sure what Landon ate, but I wouldn't be surprised if Philip and Aunt Sharon gave him a chili cheeseburger and french fries! :)



After they ate, they went to the game! We are really UGA fans, but Brittney's boyfriend, Evan, plays baseball for GA Tech. So Landon had to show his support to Evan. Landon was very proud that Evan got a hit!

It looked like my boys had so much fun together with Aunt Sharon and Brittney! I hated that I couldn't go to the game, because I love going to sporting events! Especially with the weather being so beautiful! But I'm glad they all had such a great time!

Brittney and Landon sticking their tongues out at each other!

My cute boy loving the game!

Such a sweet picture of Britt and Landon! He's a loved little boy!

GAGC Conference Callaway Gardens

Last week I went to Callaway Gardens with several of my Clarke County colleagues to speak at the Georgia Association for Gifted Children Conference. We had two presentations that went really well! We talked about the Schoolwide Enrichment Model (SEM) and how we put this model into practice. Over the past couple of years, we have developed a great deal of materials and processes for implementing components of SEM, so we shared a step by step guide for other teachers. Our participants were very excited by the information we shared, and we had about three schools inquire about visiting our system to see SEM in action! Very exciting!

I also attended some great sessions. For all you technology lovers out there, Brian Housand is an excellent resource! He is a professor at East Carolina University. Here is a link to his website. His 60 Tools in 60 minutes is full of amazing technology resources.

I also attended a session about leading a Socratic Seminar. I got so fired up about implementing this in my classroom! I can't wait to try this next week when I'm back from being out with the flu!!

I'm such a dork, but I really love conferences! I like speaking, and I love attending sessions to learn new strategies to try! GAGC 2012 was a great conference!

In addition to attending the sessions, we also enjoyed the beautiful gardens.

The Azalea Gardens

Abby, Me, and Jennifer enjoying the gardens!

Katie Hunter, Karen Higginbotham, me, Abby Hughes, and Vicki Krugman on the final day of the conference. 

Spring Break!!

Other than poor Philip battling the flu and a dentist appointment, spring break has been nice this week. I had a relaxing massage thanks to a graduation present from my sweet friends Marisa, Courtney, and Layla  and got to spend tons of quality time with my Lan Man!

Today was a beautiful, warm, and sunny day! Landon and I decided to lay out a blanket and bask in the sunshine. We stayed outside for probably an hour reading books, playing with his toys, and just being silly. If this is a preview of what summer will be like, I think I'm going to love it!!

I sure do love this kid!

Always sticking out that tongue when he's thinking! 

The sky was so blue and beautiful! This picture was just taken with my iphone! Nothing fancy! It was that gorgeous outside!!

Look at that cute face!

It's so much fun to play with Mommy! 

Our peach tree is blooming!

And some of our tulips too!

My spring break is officially ending tonight. I have to leave in the morning (at 6 a.m.) to present at a conference at Callaway Gardens. Luckily Aunt Sharon has a break tomorrow and Friday and has volunteered to watch Landon since Philip is not allowed to touch him. Prayers that my sweet hubby will feel better soon! This flu is rough!!

Infectious Laughter

Nothing makes a mommy and daddy smile more than listening to their baby laughing! Maybe this sweet video will make you smile too!

My favorite part is the snort at the end!
Love that Lan Man!

Our Weekend in Pictures

This was a busy weekend full of birthdays, family, and friends! Landon got a cold on Thursday and an eye infection, but it cleared up through the weekend.

Friday



Cousin Lexi came over to stay with us! She was a good girl this time!



 Landon and Mommy had fun making BB a birthday cake!

BB loved her presents!

Landon loved tasting BBs bday cake!

 Saturday

We were all excited that Aunt Sharon drove over to visit for the weekend too!

We hadn't taken a family photo in a while, so I made the boys take one with me!

Sweet boys!

Natalie, Joshua, Landon, and me at Charlie's first birthday party!

Landon is trying to share with his buddy!

Now the birthday girl has joined in the fun!

Such a beautiful birthday girl! Her mommy outdid herself on the fabulous Hungry Caterpillar party!

Then we headed to the Mall of Georgia with BB! Daddy and Landon were being silly at the food court!

Sunday

Landon figured out how to make an obstacle course with the coffee table.

KJ discovered the benefits of having a little brother!

Landon decided that maybe he would trade his crib for brother's dog bed!

We went to the park with the Wilcox Family and Hammarlund Family!

The boys played disc golf.

The girls and babies walked and enjoyed the sunshine.

Landon and his little buddy Tucker.

The Hammarlund Family

What a wonderful weekend! And the best part is that the fun will continue because I'm on Spring Break! Woohoo!