Happy Birthday, Mom...

Today my mom celebrates 87 years! She is an amazing woman for many reasons...but let me share some of the things I most admire about her:

She has lived the past 20 years of her life with almost total blindness, not a choice any of us would make for ourselves, but she has done it graciously and without bitterness. She holds the record in her library system for "reading" the most audiobooks of any user... She is an amazing speller and knows all the answers to the crossword puzzle clues (without the ability to cheat with a dictionary or the internet)... She has an amazing memory, whether she's navigating directions for my dad or keeping her clothing organized by color in her closet. She has hand knit dozens of beautiful sweaters, several even after the loss of much of her sight...She is always dressed beautifully with a taste for well coordinated outfits...

But probably the virtue I am most in awe of, is her ability to savor a single piece of chocolate with her cup of coffee and make a whole bar last for days... I did not inherit that virtue of self restraint ... and haven't managed to cultivate it yet!

Well, Mom, I wish you a happy birthday and pray that there will be several more to celebrate!

All my love,

Galaxy Slime...

Every Friday Miss M and her brother, Mr. B spend the day at our house so that their mom can help their dad with some of the administrative work of his business. Naomi has taken it upon herself to plan some kind of "learning activity" to do with them each week.
On the most recent Friday, their mom brought the ingredients and sent a link to Naomi for making "Galaxy Slime", a sensory play activity.

 

The simple ingredients of Elmer's clear school glue, liquid starch and colored glitter, created a product that was slimy and oozy and kind of rubbery... a substance with both the qualities of "icky" and "very cool"! You could let it run through your fingers or shape it into a ball. I must say that it was substantially cleaner than playing in a mud hole but probably provided that same sensory experience.

Naomi mixed 3 different colored batches, which eventually ended up all mixed together, creating a sort of silvery gray color.

It was fun to watch the kids as they experienced and explored the unique substance. They probably spent more than an hour playing with their "slime". The looks on their faces capture it well!

 

 

 

Oh the joy of squishing slime through your fingers!