Learning the Art of Patience

We always practice the art of patience by trying to catch minnows in the lake each spring and summer. We usually use our hands, but my niece left her net here which makes it much easier. O kept swiping (sp) at the fish to catch them and was getting frustrated. I reminded her that if she sat very, very still and was very, very patient they would come to her. They did, and she was thrilled. She named her minnow "Lucisander," and she loved Lucisander very much for the hour or so that she was in our bucket. When we went to pour Lucisander back in the lake, we discovered that she was gone from the bucket. This was a good lesson in determination since Lucisander was so determined to get back to her family in the lake that she jumped out of the bucket back into the water. O was sad, but I think she understood Lucisander's motivation. A few days later she asked if fish had good memories...she was quietly calling Lucisander's name and was wondering if Lucisander remembered her. Moments like these are what I want to remember from O and E's childhoods...we've put aside most of our Montessori and preschool work, and we've been spending hours and hours playing on the beach each day. It's a wonderful life, and I treasure every moment with my beautiful girls. God is good.

A Lesson Learned

I was suckered into subscribing to Mothering magazine by the promise of a free mini beco carrier. I didn't need another magazine to read, but I thought that O would love a mini beco carrier for her 4th birthday, and I've always been a little intrigued by Mothering magazine. So, a couple of days ago, I received a book in the mail from Mothering. It seems that the mini becos went fast, so they sent books to everyone else. HUGE disappointment. I called Mothering and left a message that I would like my money refunded since I only subscribed to the magazine since they were offering mini beco carriers for new subscriptions. Someone called from the magazine and was very nice. They'll cancel my subscription, but I have to go through the hassle and expense of mailing the book back. Grrrrrr. I would have thought that the people at Mothering would have been technically savvy enough to have a notice on their site that alerts subscribers when certain deals have been sold out...they only had 300 mini beco carriers, so after 300 people subscribed a message should have come up when the code was entered saying that the deal was no longer available. Anyway, what's done is done. I'm hoping that they'll cancel my subscription and just charge me for the book (I can save it for a birthday gift). I've learned a valuable lesson...don't subscribe to magazines just for the free gifts! Also, I don't think I'll ever be intrigued by Mothering magazine again...I'll stick to Living Crafts and Family Fun!

Conversation Jar

My mom made a Conversation Jar for us for a fun Easter gift. She filled the jar with questions and activities written on slips of paper. O chooses slip of paper each night during dinner, and we answer the question or do the activity. O really loves this nightly activity!

Where do you host your photos?

I've been using dropshots to host my pics for a while, but my account is full. I don't want to pay 60 dollars to host my pics...I need somewhere free! So, where do you host the pics that you blog? TIA

More on Earthboxes

Several people have asked for more info on the earthboxes, so here is the link. This is our 3rd (maybe 4th) year of growing our vegetables in earthboxes. Usually, we also plant tomatoes in typical containers, but the plants grow so much faster and produce so many more tomatoes in the earthboxes that we decided to only plant in earthboxes this year. We have our earthboxes on our 2nd story deck, so we have very few bugs. We are able to grow organic vegetables with very little work. We just have to remember to water them which is not as easy as you would think :)

Doing a Little Tinkering...

You can probably tell that I'm playing around with the layout of the blog. It's needed updating for a very long time, but I've never taken the time to do much maintenance. There's still a lot to do, but I've added a button for people to subscribe via email. Many people have requested this, so I'm SO glad to finally have it on the blog! There's also a link to subscribe in reader. I want to make a lot more changes, but I really don't know what I'm doing and have very little time, so it could be months before I get back to this :) Enjoy!

Gardening with Kids

For the 2nd year in a row, we have opted to plant our vegetables in earthboxes rather than in a traditional vegetable garden. Earthboxes are SO much easier to maintain than a traditional garden, and the plants grow so fast. We have grape tomatoes, heirloom tomatoes,yellow squash, bell pepper, cucumbers, and basil. Other than a little end rot on the tomatoes, the plants and vegetables are doing great. O is always excited when it's time to pick!

Painting with Yogurt

Since both girls were taking their 1st antibiotics, I'd been trying to get them to eat lots of yogurt. Since we needed a fun activity to do, I decided to let them finger paint with yogurt.

O and I put out 3 plates of plain yogurt. We tried to color one plate of yogurt purple with blueberries, but it didn't work that well. We made one plate of yogurt brown with chocolate syrup, and we left one plate of yogurt white. I taped a big piece of paper to the floor of the screened porch, and O dove right in. E was a little more hesitant. O smeared the yogurt on the paper and all over herself. She rubbed it into her arms and said it was yogurt lotion.

The girls had a lot of fun with this activity. We didn't get any great artwork out of it, but it was all about the experience, not the art :) Also, this was a great sensory experience for the kiddos. We may try painting with pudding once E is a little older and can eat pudding.

Life Sized (Kid Sized) Lincoln Logs

O had a great time building a house out of tobacco sticks with her grandparents a few weeks ago. The great thing about them is you can knock them down to build again another day. I think this is an activity that O (and E) will enjoy for years.

MMM...Smells Good!

I recently found a set of 6 glass spice jars at the thrift store, and I could not resist buying them to set up a scent sniffing activity for E.

To set up this activity, I put a cotton ball with a different scent in each bottle. (I plan to change the scents every couple of weeks). Right now the bottles have the following scents: vanilla, apricot oil, banana flavoring, pineapple flavoring, tea tree oil, and rubbing alcohol. O, E, and I sat in a circle and passed the bottles around and talked about the scents. O and I described what we smelled...she said the rubbing alcohol smelled "horrible," and the vanilla smelled "sweet." Matching scents is one of O's favorite Montessori activities, so she was very excited that "baby sister" has a similar activity for her shelf.

An Easy, Healthy Dinner

I don't have much time to cook, so I try to make things that are fast, simple, healthy, and don't require many pots or pans. This meal met all of my requirements, so I make it often :) I'm not sure what to call it...maybe Veggie & Chicken Couscous Casserole.

To make Veggie & Chicken Couscous Casserole, you need frozen carrots, frozen brocolli florets, whole grain couscous, and precooked rotisserie chicken (I love buying cooked rotisserie chickens from WM...one chicken usually lasts several days and makes my life so much easier). I saute the brocolli and carrots in olive oil and garlic. Once they are cooked, I pour in whole grain couscous and water (I don't measure anything...I just add couscous and water until it looks right). I shred the rotisserie chicken and add it in. This is a quick, easy, and healthy meal, and it's also great for mashing into baby food :)

Imbucare Box

We gave E this Imbucare Box for Christmas, and I introduced it to her last week (I found it for around 5 dollars and could not resist buying it for her). She LOVES it! I think I may have another Montessori girl on my hands!

E's Velcro Board

E is always right with us when O and I do Montessori work, but last week I laid out a rug for her and set her up with her own activities. She was so excited that she was practically vibrating :) Her arms were waving, and she was kicking her feet. She loves to be included in everything we do, and she felt like a big girl with her own rug!

I introduced the velcro board, and she thought it was fun (and tasty!). To make the velcro board, I put 2 strips of sticky backed velcro on a board. I put velcro on the bottoms of several objects for her to stick on the board. She loves to pull the objects off and immediately taste them. I watch her very closely and frequently check the velcro to make sure it is not getting loose. Also, I took off any small objects that could be choking hazards. (I made the velcro board for O when she was a toddler). I'll be setting up E's activities on our Montessori shelf soon, and we are all (O, E, and me) very excited about it.

Homemade Yogurt Smoothie

O and I recently made a homemade yogurt smoothie drink as suggested by a commenter. To make the smoothie, we poured milk into a glass bottle along with several spoonfuls of plain yogurt. O put the lid on the bottle and shook it to mix the milk and yogurt. She tasted it and declared that it had no taste and needed something more. She then mashed a banana and added it to the mixture (she loves to make concoctions and almost always includes mashed bananas in her recipes). She said her smoothie was delicious, so hopefully our days of buying yogurt drinks are behind us!

1st Embroidery Project

O recently completed her first embroidery project! She was so proud and excited, and I loved watching her intense focus and attention. For her first embroidery project, she chose red thread and did not want to follow a pattern. She just wove the thread in and out to make lines on her cloth. She was very engrossed in this activity, and we are both looking forward to more embroidery projects for her.