Earth Day

We didn't do much today to celebrate Earth Day except to plant some flowers in the front yard. I guess that is better than nothing....

Going on a picnic

It's a girl day! The public school kids are out of school today for a weather day. The girls have been working hard to clean their room and decided to take a break and have a picnic. They found some wild flowers along the way....

Pool fun

It may be small but they can get wet.....  The weather is getting hotter every day and the kids need to cool off. What better way than with a kiddie pool.

Backyard fun....

Before the rain started again the kids spent some time in the backyard. Our yard is small but it meets their imagination just fine. I know in their memories the "shrub" they climb will be remembered as a huge tree. The drainage ditch will become "the river" in their backyard......

What did you find in your yard today?

I was putting some rock back around my plant bed after dad cut the grass. I spotted something bright hiding out in my fennel plant. I called Evan and Eliot over to check it out. Three fat caterpillars were hanging out. What did you find in your yard today?

Spring is here!

It is officially Spring! The weather has felt like Spring for a long time but now it is actually here. To celebrate we headed to the park and playground at the waterfall in Old Towne Helena. The kids had fun and when we got home we had a surprise waiting for us. Each child had a basket nest full of goodies set out for them. We don't celebrate Easter but we like to incorporate some of the old fashioned fertility symbols like eggs and rabbits into our welcoming Spring activities. Lyn dyed some eggs and Connor and Evan (with Ben's help) played the Wild Craft board game. The eggs made it on one round of hiding before they all were eaten.

St. Patrick's Day

The sun was shinning and the kids played hard. I took the 4 youngest to the St. Patrick's Day party at the library. Ben was a bit challenged by all the excitment.I was going to start taking him to group storytime at the library but he may not be ready for it yet. It would be one thing if he went to daycare everyday and wqs used to structored group activities with other todddlers but he stays at home. We will probably just stick with more informal play groups and play at the library. After the story at the party the kids could choose to eat some snacks or work on some craft projects. Of course food came first. I did not know there were so many artifically colored green snacks out there to tempt children. Ben was still a bit agitated so I held him as Annika, Evan, and Eliot worked on making leprachaun hats and bookmarks. We played in the preschool section for a little while afterwards but the kds were pretty tired even though we weren't there very long. Ben fell asleep on the way home and slept about 4 hours. Since the weather was so nice I encouraged the 3 little kids to play outside. They had peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and orange slices for lunch outside. When they became a little bored I brought out the ice for ice play. I showed them how to 'paint' with teh melting ice and just plain have fun with it. To put a St. Patricks Day twist on it I added a little green food coloring. They played for hours more......

And now some ice play pictures................

Almost Spring

The weather has been great lately. It has been warm and the kids have been spending more and more time outside. Evan is digging a hole, Eliot is helping Annika with her container garden, Ben is exploring the play tent, and Annika is great at handstands.

Annika's plant hunt

The weather today was really nice. It is way too warm for February. Annika always need a little guidance to help her organize her time so I sent her on a plant hunt so she would have goal while spending some time outside. I gave her a guide to edible plants and sent her out to find 5 different plant. She took a pad and a pencil to take notes. She came back with dandelion, wild onion, holly, gill over the ground, and one plant she couldn't identify. We will need to look up some more information to find out what kind of berries they are. Annika did great....

Another day at the park

It was great to be invited to a play date at a park today before the rains started. Ben, Eliot, and Lyn were my tag-a-longs. Everyone else was in school. Eliot met a whole bunch of other 4 year-olds to play with and Ben went up to every person his size and shared his crackers and started up whole "conversations". It is amazing how fast he is growing up. He is no longer my baby. He is such a toddler! 

A new playground in the neighborhood...

For two days in a row now I have taken the kids to a local playground. It is so toddler friendly. Since Ben is weaning I need to keep him busy and distracted so this worked out great. They were worn out by the time we left......

Hanging out at the waterfall....

Well, with record temperatures we had to go cool off at the waterfall in Old Towne Helena. The kids had a lot of fun. I only had 4 with me so my hands were not too full. We caught a crayfish by hand and a man was there with a net catching all sorts of animals. He caught a fairly large red eared slider and a lot of fish of all sizes. We took a fish home to dissect (one of Lyn's homeschool projects). It is such a nice place to spend the day. I remember tubing down the creek into the Cahaba River more than 20 years ago. Sometime everything changes and yet it stays the same. I added a slide show on the side bar to show some more pictures....