Family Trip to the Symphony

The Huntsville Symphony Orchestra held a free family concert this morning, just in time for Week 19! There were lots of fun musical activities for the children to enjoy before the concert began, such as this conducting lesson given by Maestro Gregory Vajda, HSO's conductor! He was so sweet to the kids, and he was really trying to teach them something - yes, I think he's great! There was also a musical petting zoo, hula hoops, face painting, and boom whackers. So neat!

Mary and Maestro!

The girls made egg shakers and decorated them with musical stickers. This was Mary's favorite activity. 

Anna also got a picture with the conductor!

After all the fun in the lobby of the concert hall, the music began! The orchestra first played the overture to Mozart's opera "The Magic Flute." Then there was a cello concerto from a contemporary composer, and finally the orchestra played "Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra" by Benjamin Britten. Anna couldn't hang, and she and the hubs left early to run some errands. Mary did pretty well, but the hour-long performance was just too long for her liking.

Overall, I'm very glad we went; Mary said that she enjoyed it, so no worries. :)

Happy Saturday!

Pumpkin Patch Field Trip

Things have been kind of crazy around here lately, but here's just a little of what we've been up to since last Sunday. At CC, the kids learned about abstract art and drew an abstract apple. The next day, we decided to look at some abstract artwork in some books we have and then do something similar. Mary really liked the art by Henri Matisse, so I gave her some scrap paper and let her 'paint with scissors.' She made an abstract thunderbolt for Daddy.

She's proud of her (very) abstract thunderbolt (above).  On Thursday our CC group had its first field trip of the year to a pumpkin patch/farm. Wow! It was so much fun! I'm so thankful to God for this great group of families. Everyone has been so welcoming and friendly our first year of CC!

Mary's favorite part was the corn crib. She could have stayed in here all day!

I think I mentioned before that Mary loves Greek mythology, and her favorite myth is Theseus and the Minotaur. So, when we ventured into the hay maze, of course we had to act it out! So much fun! I was, however, a little glad that we were the only ones in there at the time. ;)

Speaking of mythology, we picked up a book at the library last week that Mary has really been enjoying:

This fun book is about a game of basketball (obviously, right) between the gods and mortals, as told by the sportscasters. We are so not sporty, which is why I'm surprised that Mary and Anna like it so much, but it's really entertaining, especially if you're already familiar with some of the more popular Greek myths. They ask to read it all the time, so I thought I'd share it here, too (it's not mentioned in my Week 4 plans).

I feel like I've been out of the loop all week, and I hate that feeling! I've got some more things to post about, so I hope to get on top of things soon. In the meantime, have a great weekend, friend!

Week 3 - Field Trip!

This week we've been studying Ancient Greece. We don't live too far from Nashville, so we decided to take our very first Stroud Family Field Trip to see a replica of the Parthenon!

Mary looked at her Greek books while Anna watched Disney's Hercules (again!).

And here we are! Wowzah! It's HUGE! Oh, I should mention that although it looks like Mary was just released from the hospital in her white gown, that's really her goddess dress we made a few days ago. If I had know that she was going to INSIST on wearing it on this trip, I totally would've done a MUCH better job. Ha! But she loved it, so that's all that matters, right? ;)

Statue of Athena (42 feet tall!) and Mary doing a little dance for the visitors. Very sweet.

And then my baby girl decides to do her own dance out by the columns. Too precious!

My sweet girls!

Mary loves all of the Good Times Travel Agency books we've read so far. This Ancient Greece one is a favorite right now, of course.

Since we don't have class next week, we have another week to spend on this time period. I have a few more fun things planned, but we are enjoying taking it easy right now, too. Overall, our very first family field trip was a success, thanks to God and the very-patient hubs. :)  Our next family trip will be to the Tennessee Aquarium next month after we study fish. The hubs and I are SO excited about this one! Anna is ALL about some Nemo, so we know going to see the real thing will blow her mind! Can't wait!!