This one comes from the “because nothing is ever good enough the way it is” file, and comes to you courtesy of my oldest daughter Daisy, who came up with this by herself and insisted that I photograph it and informed me that it was unquestionably a ‘blogworthy’ project.  She learns quick, that one!

Materials:

pieces [...]

We’re feeling much, much better, and thank you all so much for your kind comments and emails.  The week of recovery gave us a little extra bit of quiet time and some much-needed peace.
Friday, though, the weather was so lovely and the kids so stir-crazy that after lunch we packed up and headed to the [...]

So I’ve been trying various things with Jasper since school started for his sister and some have worked great (smashing playdough, for one) while others, well, not so much (anything drawing-related). With this one I’ve really hit it. I have one word.
Rockets.
Seriously, it seems like boys are generally very transportation-oriented, and rockets seem [...]

Labor day has passed and Summer really is winding down. I noticed this morning that all the kindergarten girls who were wearing sundresses two weeks ago have all switched to jeans and hoodies. I’m not ready to give up yet, though! We’ve got a least a few weekends of gorgeous weather left [...]

I love to be outside. I so appreciate the expansiveness of nature and its juxtaposition against the tiny details you find if you look at anything up close. An anthill under a leaf, the pattern of veins on a leaf, the scent of a butterscotch pine…there’s just so much to find. Of course, [...]

Jasper’s nature picture, with maple leaf, maple seeds (samaras), pine needles, pine twig, pinecone, bark, and a tiny flowerOver the weekend we had a ton of work to get taken care of so we were outside most of the day (except when our neighbors were celebrating something with an outdoor karaoke party). [...]

I just loved this idea for making paint ice cubes–another nice way to get the mess of painting outside where you can just hose the kids off when they’re done. Also nice for toddlers who would have fun with paint but trouble with a brush.
Josie really liked Pepper Paints’ painted sticks. We’ve [...]

It’s my eternal struggle. I want the children to paint, I truly do, but it can just be so so messy…especially for a two year old who paints for two minutes then requires ten minutes worth of cleanup (and a bath to get it out of his hair). Often enough I bite the [...]

We go to the Zoo a lot. More often, perhaps, before Adelaide was born, but it’s close by and we have a membership (a bargain at $50/year) so it’s easy to stop in for an hour or three. During the Winter it’s particularly fun since there aren’t many visitors and we can just [...]