School Time Adventures

dinosaur language

2011-09-15T22:47:00.000-07:00

I'm not really sure what I think of this whole blog thing anymore. I haven't blogged since Valentine's day, so I apologize if and when I do post if it doesn't seem too correlated.

A few weeks ago we went on a Field trip to the Dinosaur park in Ogden and had a lovely time.

Ever since our trip we have been reading books and talking about dinosaurs, naturally. Rue and River have been playing dino tag where they ROAR at each other as they run around. We were playing in the playland at Del Taco and 2 brothers about the same age as my adventurers came down the slide and were obliviously perplexed.

I asked if my 2 kids had hurt their feelings somehow. The little boy said, "That little girl was speaking spanish at me." The older boy replied, "Yeah and that boy went ROAR in my face."

I then yelled up the slide, "River and Rue can you come down here please?" They came down and I told them that these 2 boys were upset. River then explained, "We were just playing dinosaurs."

So, Rue's dinosaur language got interpreted as Spanish and River's dinosaur language was just a scary ROAR.

Happy Valentine's Day

2011-02-14T08:58:00.000-08:00

(We made a heart shaped peanut butter and honey sandwiches)

I have always loved valentines day ever since I was a little girl. I loved choosing each individual card out for my classmates and delivering it to them. As a teenager we would pass out Valentine's to random people in the halls and ask for their name so we could properly address the little card attached to the lifesavers lollipop. Now as a Mom I enjoy cutting out hearts to make Valentine's with my kids and I love making my homemade Valentine card to exchange with my husband. It's a day of love for everyone right?

Heart donuts

2011-02-13T11:15:00.000-08:00

This week we talked about the Letter D: Valentine's Day, Mail Delivery, and Donuts.

I thought about buying donuts and letting the adventurers set up a bakery store front but the quest of making donuts in preschool with the 8 children was beckoning me.

I found this recipe where all you need is pre-made biscuit dough from a can, vegetable oil and sugar. So I asked my husband to set up the camp stove on a folding table I brought indoors. He was a bit hesitate about having a camp stove with a pot of hot oil and preschoolers all in the living room. I am the kind of person that once I have an idea I will make it happen, so I listened to his concerns while I was scheming in the back of my mind how I could make this potentially dangerous situation... well safe.

I gave each adventurer their biscuit dough.

They rolled, flattened and then used the heart cookie cutter to punch out a heart!

I ran back and forth from my hot oil table that no one was allowed to come near to pick up the dough and fry them into donuts. You need to watch the dough closely because they only need a few minutes on each side.

Once the donuts cooled down a bit, I took them over to the "bakery work area" to be shaken in a Ziploc bag with powered sugar. The powdered sugar was on the table, on the floor, all over clothes and especially all over faces! The adventurers really did look like they has worked in the bakery!

What I would NOT do again:

*Make donuts on the day of our Valentine's Day party. The combination of candy, excitement, and party atmosphere turned me into a loud, stern, dictator to keep everyone safe around the hot oil.

*Use biscuit dough from the can. Using pre-made dough was great for the preschoolers who could care less about how it tastes. I don't every buy that stuff so I thought the taste was awful.

Candy heart drop: beat, beat, beat

2011-02-12T09:51:00.000-08:00

The candy heart drop was a fun and colorful game!

I love how the the hearts looked inside the jar:

First, cut out a paper heart that matches the

color of the conversation hearts.

Place the paper heart at the bottom of the

quart size mason jar.

We used Brach's candy small and large hearts.

There were 6 different colors.

We put all 6 of the jars on the floor and each child picked up a handful of hearts and dropped them into the jar. Beat, beat, beat was the sound of the hearts as they fell into the jar. The adventurers loved sorting out the hearts and pulling out the wrong color if it fell in. This sorting activity was great because it was movement based, rather than standing or sitting on one place.

Igloo story telling and constructing

2011-02-06T16:52:00.000-08:00

I love story time with my adventurers and decided that instead of reading a Picture Book we would do something else...they would just listen as I held up 1 picture of an igloo and told the story.

The story I shared can be found here, it's called "The Fire Owl- an Inuit folk tale". It's about a little Inuit Family who had their fire stolen from their igloo and how a snowy owl brought it back.

After I told the story there were supplies waiting for each adventurer to create an igloo.

marshmallows, tortilla chips,

and rice crackers shaped like disks

She wanted to build a big wall for the igloo.

There was some smashing of marshmallows involved to

build what was needed.

Here are some of the finished projects

From left to right: A big wall with people inside the igloo. A dog sled, fire, and a minimalist approach to an igloo. An Igloo with the fire outside, and a dog sled by a small igloo.

I for instant ice cream

2011-02-04T16:35:00.000-08:00

One reason I love to work with Preschoolers is that I get to choose activities that I never did as a child. Making ice cream in Ziploc bags is one of those! We have been talking about ice this week so it was a great science project, snack, and movement activity all in one!

Recipe:

1/2 cup whole milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon sugar
4 cups crushed ice
4 tablespoons salt (just regular 'ol salt)
2 quart size Zip-loc freezer bags
1 gallon size Zip-loc freezer bag
a hand towel or gloves to keep fingers from freezing as well!

Mix the milk, vanilla and sugar together in one of the quart size bags. Seal tightly, allowing as little air to remain in the bag as possible. Too much air left inside may force the bag open during shaking.

Place this bag inside the other quart size bag, again leaving as little air inside as possible and sealing well. By double-bagging, the risk of salt and ice leaking into the ice cream is minimized.

Put the two bags inside the gallon size bag and fill the bag with ice, then sprinkle salt on top. Again let all the air escape and seal the bag.

Wrap the bag in the towel or put your gloves on, and shake and massage the bag, making sure the ice surrounds the cream mixture. Five to eight minutes is adequate time for the mixture to freeze into ice cream.

I rolled 2 ice cream bags in a towel and everyone had fun shaking and

jumping... making their ice cream firm.

The anticipation was high as each adventurer opened their milk bag to

eat the first bite of ice cream.

Yum, yum!

It may seem odd to make and eat ice cream when it's only 20 degrees outside,

but we all loved it!

Brown, Bear what do you see outside activity

2011-02-02T08:14:00.000-08:00

We read "Brown Bear, brown bear what do you see?"

All of the Eric Carle books have great repetition and pictures making them classic preschool books.

When we went outside to play I thought we could play a little, eye-spy game using the same repitition of brown bear, brown bear.

It goes like this,"Ava Bear, Ava Bear, What do you see?"

Ava: "I see a big tree looking at me."

Class: We all look for the tree she is talking about, "Is it this one?" Yes!

Teacher: "Carl Bear, Carl Bear, What do you see?"

Carl: " I see a snow patch, looking at me."

I repeated this until everyone had a turn and they all wanted 2 or 3 turns! It was a big hit!

Simultaneous meltdowns

2011-01-06T09:34:00.000-08:00

This pic was taken in the summer.

If the skies are blue and it’s not snowing it means I can go on a short bicycle ride with my two adventurers to our local grocery store. As we finished our shopping and began walking towards the exit to leave both children ages 4 and 19 months decided to have a meltdown at the same time for different reasons. There seems to be some kind of pattern or equation… shopping for over 1 hour = a meltdown as we are trying to leave the store.

As I was attempting to strap them into the bike trailer, both crying, both not wanting to leave, I just started to laugh. Laughing during this moment not only released tension, but it also allowed me sing out in my best Spanish accent, “Esta bien ninos”. During this moment I was able to step away from the emotional chaos and see this scene like the spectators who were giving me both pity looks and encouraging smiles. The 4-year-old was melting down because he found a $1 bill in my wallet and wanted to play the crane game because he saw the blinking $1 bill insert. The 19-month-old didn't want her jacket on and was trying with all her might to escape her jacket and the harness strap of the bike trailer becoming quite the contortionist.

During this approximate 5-10 minutes meltdown scene (time sort of just warps) I was able to keep my cool and laugh instead of scold. Since I was looking onto this scene as a spectator instead of the Mom, I realized how frustrating it would be for each of them to not be able to have what they wanted in that moment. A 19-month-old could care less if her jacket is on as she rides home in the bike trailer. A four-year-old doesn’t understand that his Mom is on a budget and can’t afford a crane game for $1 dollar, or the heartache she is saving him from once the prize is not won.

I wish I could say that I am always able to laugh during simultaneous meltdowns and see my children as individuals trying to understand the rules of their world. But the truth is I may scold, or become impatient, or have a really bad “Mama Meltdown”. However, if I can remember to laugh and try to act silly before getting tangled into the emotional chaos of the moment, the meltdowns seem to resolve smoother and we may all even have a smile on our face when it's over.

Noise maker Party Fireworks

2010-12-30T18:06:00.000-08:00

I know quite the title right? I apologize for the lighting and the overall quality of these pics. When we sat down tonight to see if this would be a good craft for the kids at the New Year's eve party I saw the point-and shoot camera on the table so I thought why not blog about it now!?!

Materials needed:

toilet paper/ paper towel rolls

stapler

black beans

crepe paper or streamers whatever you choose to call it

Take the edge of the roll and staple it down, make sure you have no large gaps.

Fill with black beans. For the toilet paper roll we used 22 black beans. Remember you don't want to over fill it drowning out the sound. Then staple it closed. Be sure to shake down the black beans before stapling.

Attach your streamers on the edges, we did 2 of each color on each side. Then wrapped some streamers around the middle. You could use paint, stickers or anything else that sounds fun for the exposed part, but I kept this really simple tonight.

Time to shake, shake, shake. My adventurers love to throw up any random objects (today it was game chips from Sequence) in the air and scream, "Party!" The mess to clean up afterward becomes somewhat annoying so I thought attaching the streamers to the noise maker will make a fun firework party, without the huge mess on the floor.

We are excited about bring in the new year with our friends and family tomorrow. Enjoy your New Year's eve Celebration!

family card 2010

2010-12-26T20:25:00.001-08:00

Snowtastic Snowflakes Christmas 5x7 folded card

Create unique Christmas cards with Shutterfly.

View the entire collection of cards.

Winter Solstice Skiing

2010-12-22T10:28:00.000-08:00

When we get this kind of snow at our house....

It beckons us to go up into the mountains....

And have a day of skiing.

At Alta resort they do "ski for free after 3" and you can see quite a few parents taking their child(ren) out on the mountain to enjoy this deal. Maybe towards the end of this season we will see if River is ready for that adventure. For the time being he just stays on the rope tow!

Going somewhat fast!

Pizza, pizza!

So grown up!

I think he was trying to stop.

It may be a little hard to see the sun, in this photo, but it was beautiful. I loved being in the mountains enjoying winter solstice outside with my family.

It was great to be able to enjoy the day with the shortest amount of light of the year, outdoors playing.

Winner- Winner

2010-12-15T22:20:00.000-08:00

V. Peterson-

You have been drawn out of the hat! You are the lucky-ducky winner of the 100th post celebration!

Let me know what address you would like me to send your package to?

100th post Giveaway

2010-12-13T10:17:00.000-08:00

I have been really excited about sharing one of my most favorite books, "Simplicity Parenting" as my 100th post Celebration. I can't believe that I have already hit the mark of 100 posts and it has almost been a full year since I have embraced blogging! This past year has been full of a lot of growing and learning about myself and my children. "Simplicity Parenting" has been such a great turning point for me to start creating a rhythm in our home and to start simplifying the environment around us.

I would love to be able to give this book to all my friends, but since I lack the funds to do so, there will only be one lucky person who will receive this package in the mail.

**Just leave a comment of something you enjoy doing with children (indoors or outdoors) and your email if our aren't a google follower.**

I will draw the name of winner this Wednesday at 11:11 pm.

(Feel free to leave 2 comments if you would like to increase your odds)

Foam ball SNOWMAN

2010-12-12T23:10:00.000-08:00

There are have been so many great snowman crafts in the blog world I was having a really hard time deciding on which one to do (one that I saw or one I thought of). But I think I made the right decision. This was probably the best activity we have done lately to encourage imaginative play!

The materials:

*3 different sizes of foam craft balls (the dollar tree is where we purchased them)

*toothpicks to hold the balls together (used (1) full size and (1/2) size for the small head)

* 3/4 size toothpicks for the arms (make sure the pointed end goes inside the snowman)

*orange foam triangle with a 1/3 size toothpick for the nose

*black construction paper hat with 1/2 size toothpick taped to the back

*blue, black and red pipe cleaners cut really small for eyes and buttons

*blue felt for scarf

You can see that one snowman had his scarf around his belly. Each child was able to make the snowman easily by pushing the toothpicks and pipe cleaners in by themselves.

I love this pic a lot for some reason. I love the hand and shoes. I love the anticipation for the photo shoot to be over for this snowman so these 2 girls can continue playing. (The adventurers are used to me taking pictures of their projects so they wait as patiently as they can, um about 5 seconds, and the good news is that is usually all I need.)

A blizzard is coming, a blizzard is coming!!! The children were running around in the snow making this proclamation.

Luckily this snowman (with feet) was able to take cover for the awful blizzard that was approaching!

The adventurers had a really fun time with this activity! I was even lucky enough to get a video clip of them running around playing in the snow with their snowmen.

Sparkly Silver Snowflake

2010-12-09T15:53:00.000-08:00

This craft looks great, doesn't take much prep time, children enjoy doing it and Parents love it! Even had a few parents say they are excited to put it on their tree :) The inspiration to do this project with the adventurers can be found here.

What you need:

* 6 silver pipe cleaners cut in half

*clear tri-beads

*clear snowflake beads

*fish line

I put the beads into the tray and

made the snowflakes before class started.

To make the snowflake cut the 6 pipe cleaners in half. Wrap 1 pipe cleaner around the 11 pieces directly in the middle. Once it is tight pull away each pipe cleaner piece to go in the direction that looks best. (Sounds a little weird but makes sense once you make one.)

This activity was great to practice fine motor skills. We also discovered that the beads on the snowflake makes a cool sound when dropped.

When everyone was done playing I attached fish line to

make it a hanging ornament.

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The Tiny Snowflake by Arther Ginolfi

A cute book about a snowflake trying to find out what makes her special. She finds out that she is a sparkly snowflake that makes the snow glisten.

Random acts of Christmas kindness

2010-12-05T14:53:00.000-08:00

I enjoy following Katherine Marie Photography's blog. She shared a really inspiring post of counting down the days to Christmas by doing random acts of kindness advent style. To see the full post read it here.

Committing to do a little service each day leading up to Christmas would be soo much fun but also a little overwhelming. (I would feel really bad missing one day, than missing 2 days, etc.)

So instead of RACK (Random Acts of Christmas Kindness) as a count down to Christmas, I want to have about 4-6 presents with the service idea wrapped up inside. This way it will be completely random as to which service we will do that day as a family. (except shoveling snow)

These are some of Random Acts of Christmas Kindness that I am excited about:

*Tape candy canes and happy holiday notes to ATMS, vending machines, on cars, etc.

*Take a card and treat to hard working post office employees.

*Buy a hot cocoa for Salvation Army bell ringers.

*Ask a checkout clerk at grocery store what their favorite gum or candy bar is and purchase it for them.

*Hurry and shovel a neighbor's driveway of snow before they do it.

*Make a street pretty for Christmas (pick up roadside trash-Santa Style!)

The next few weeks will be a little busy for us, but I feel that these little service ideas won't take too much time and we will all have fun doing it. Plus this way we can focus our attention on the real reason for the season.

Simplify the Holiday Shopping

2010-11-26T11:57:00.000-08:00

I love this time of year when the white snow blankets the trees and houses and there is a peaceful stillness outside. It's great to cuddle up indoors under warm quilts, drink hot cocoa and listen to your favorite Holiday album. But this peaceful stillness and warm cozy moments turns into a frenzy once the advertisements begin to fill your mailbox and email inbox with the best Black Friday deals. One step into the store and you see the giant sign stating of how many shopping days are left until Christmas. All of this advertising makes you feel that you MUST buy, buy, buy and soon because time is running out! Every toy catalog features the newest, greatest toys of this past year and the special awards earned. You begin thinking that you MUST buy these items or else your child will be disappointed and wish they had different parents. Parents who purchased every single toy featured in the best toys of 2010 catalog.

I will admit that I love good deals and it is fun to shop for new things your children will enjoy but the real question is, "Does my child need more stuff?"

In Simplicity Parenting, pg. 22, "Too much stuff leads to too little time and too little depth in the way kids see and explore their world."

So what stuff do we want to give to our children during this Holiday Season? What is going to help them explore their world? What is going to enhance their imagination? This is a personal question that deems discussion with your partner/family. Some families are committed to only homemade gifts, some ban all toys that need batteries, or some say no to anything plastic.

A good friend told me that they just focus on 4 gifts for their children: something they want, something they need, something to wear and something to read. This framework of 4 gifts I think really helps to eliminate potential stuff that isn't needed.

Last week my husband and I were at Lowe's (our local hardware store) and I found a child-sized hammer and tool set. I was so excited! "This is the perfect gift for River, he can have his own tools and be a little wood worker just like his Papa," I thought. I quickly hid the tool set as I saw my husband, Eli, come around the corner with the kids. I took Eli aside and showed him the gift I was going to buy strategically so River wouldn't see. To my shock Eli said, "Why don't we just a wait until we know exactly what we are planning on buying." "But Eli CHRISTMAS is COMING! And what if this is not here next week!!" Then it hit me. I was totally engrossed in the "how many shopping days left until Christmas" coma. It took me a few minutes to wake up and realize that Eli and I haven't discussed together what 4 gifts we should purchase for River. Even if the tool set is one of the gifts we decide on I didn't HAVE TO BUY it right then.

So my advice to escape the shopping frenzy is to sit down and make a list together of the items you both think would be best for your children. Once you both have discussed what gifts you will be giving than hopefully you will be buffered from any future I-must-buy-this-now-because- it's-a-good-deal purchases. This way you can avoid buying gifts that are really... just more stuff.

Pine cone turkey

2010-11-24T11:16:00.000-08:00

I wanted to make these pine cone turkeys so we did. However anytime a glue gun is involved and I am the only adult with 7 children I will rethink the art project.

Can you see the glue gun spider webs?

The materials we used:

*pine cone

*feathers

*I cut out the felt head, beak, and waddle

(seems like we usually call it the gobbler)

*google eyes

*pipe cleaner feet

We just stuck in the feathers without glue.

This is the first way you can make the face

(as a side profile with an eye on each side of the head).

And this is the second way to make the face

(as a full face view with both eyes in the front).

Here is little Rue making a face while holding her turkey.

I'm not quite sure if he's being mischievous, adventurous, or bashful...

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Indian corn

2010-11-23T15:33:00.000-08:00

I had this idea brewing around in my head so I was excited to see if it was a keeper...and I think it will be!

Since frozen corn is on sale right now for Thanksgiving we were able to get a large bag for $1. We put the corn on trays in the dehydrator for about 4 hours. The cool leaf tops are actually from a plant in the front yard (sorry I don't know its name) which worked out great.

The materials we used:

*Dehydrated corn

*Thin cardboard from a cereal box cut into the shape of an ear of corn.

*Dried leaves

*Clear tacky glue (my most favorite glue)

*Scotch tape

Yes, even an 18-month old can do it!

River spread on the glue and then spread on the corn.

Ta-da!

I just used scotch tape to adhere the leaves at the top!

Free photo cards from shutterfly

2010-11-22T17:15:00.000-08:00

Free, yes my friends I said free photocards for bloggers from Shutterfly. I think a lot of us probably think of shutterfly picturebooks but they also make fabulous greeting cards and I'm most excited about the photo christmas cards. This whole special comes at a great time because this weekend my husband and I were trying to decide if we want to send a photo christmas card or a card with a 4x6 print. We probably spent over an hour looking at photocards on-line from costco, walgreens, and vista print wondering if we really want to use those templates for our annual Christmas card (mind you we have never sent out a photo christmas card)....so I'm excited to be able to get some nice looking ones for FREE!

There are a few different styles that Shutterfly offers that I dig:

The 5x5 square: here

here

I also like the 5x7 with 3 of more photos option: here

here (I like this one because you have room to write the annual write up)

here (you can fit a lot of photos in this design)

This is the first year that we have begun to think about Christmas cards before Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving place mat

2010-11-22T14:05:00.000-08:00

I have seen quite a few cute Thanksgiving place mats floating around and wanted to make one too! I found a place mat template ( I liked the formal placement of the fork, knife and spoon) and then added the "Happy Thanksgiving 2010" text for each child to practice letter writing. I wanted to incorporate the traditional hand turkey and then I wrote what each person was grateful for at the bottom. I laminated the cardstock place mat and then sent them home with the child!

I think this was one of the better keepsake projects

we have done! If you would like a copy just let me know what your email address is...

Leaf sensory tub

2010-11-16T22:31:00.000-08:00

This was a last minute "let's throw everything into the tub" kind of activity. We had used the acorns, pumpkins, foam leaves, and plastic acorns in other tubs.

I would suggest crumpling up the leaves because if not all the goodies fall straight to the bottom.

Happy Fall!

Leaves are falling

2010-11-12T15:20:00.000-08:00

There was a storm earlier this week and the first half of leaves fell from the walnut tree meaning time to PLAY in the LEAVES!!

My husband was home for about 30 mins of preschool so he was able to be the leaf thrower for a few minutes. I love what each adventurer is doing here...jumping, arms wide open wanting more leaves, shrieking, and ducking away. Such a great captured moment!

Then is was time to dig, scoop, scoop, dig.

And fall down into the pile!

I was reminded of a great lesson...kids just want to play outside. So go play outside with your favorite child today!

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We read Mouse's First Fall by Lauren Thompson which was perfect because we also wanted to jump and hide in the leaves just like Mouse and Minka!

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One of my favorite little leaf songs goes like this..

(Tune:Where is Thumpkin)

Leaves are falling, leaves are falling

To the ground, to the ground.

Red, yellow, brown, red, yellow brown

Look around, Look around.

Happy Halloween

2010-11-11T13:20:00.000-08:00

During school time we planned a trick-or-treat so we could all go together as a class!

I loved all the colorful costumes!

We then went to see the neighbor's horses. Hh, for horse and Halloween!

For lunch we made mummy, cat, and spider pizzas!

Our costumes: chicken, pirate, lady love bug, and ski bum.

We then went to the church party where I helped out with a few games. We did pop the pumpkin!

I loved the idea from Martha, but did it with less

materials and guess what, it worked great!!

Inside each balloon was confetti, candy, a spooky pin, or a prize winning ticket. Then we put the balloons up with duck tape. (After 4 hours it didn't look as nice as when we first put it up)

The classic fishing pond.

I love this one of the lady love bug with all the confetti in the background!

Munching on a few pieces of candy! (This same little boy had a headache and wasn't feeling well just 1 hour previous. I guess that's the power of a party and some candy.)

We went door-to-door trick or treating after the party and had a great time!

The counting of the loot!

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Then on Sunday we had a party to celebrate my friend's birthday. So obviously it was Halloween themed....

My husband Eli and I got a little excited about decorations food.

I loved these labels for our drinks!

I usually don't talk about how artsy and crafty my husband is, mainly because I like to think I have better ideas than his :) but these fun spiders were all his idea. (oh also the mice on the cheese and the silhouette pictures)

The birthday girl filling up her cup with some Black Death Tonic. (aka root beer)

Then it was time for some apple bobbing.

The dry ice inside the warm water was a weird sensory experience!

It was so weird in fact that I couldn't stop laughing about it!

We had a wonderful Halloween weekend!

Letter L for Leaf

2010-11-09T15:22:00.000-08:00

This week the leaves from the walnut, maple, apple, and cherry trees have all decided to fall down so the timing was perfect to focus on the Letter L for Leaf.

(the Letter L)

We gathered a lot of leaves from around the neighborhood and put them inside the phone book.

I put about 5 heavy books on top to make sure the leaves would be nice and flat.

Once the leaves were all pressed flat (about 6 hours) I took them out for the adventurers to study.

The adventurers sorted out the leaves and put the corresponding amount in the number square.

This Letter L on the back side of the number chart is probably the highlight of this whole activity. I was so excited to tell my husband that I thought I was so clever to have 2 activities with 1 piece of paper!!!! (Honestly, I know anyone else would have figured that out too, but because I am a little sick my brain is a bit foggy.)

The lovely L on the back side of the 1-4 number squares paper.

The finished L. I am also quite proud of this little Adventurer

because it is the first time she wanted to write her name on a project all by herself!!

River cut out a skinny L and glued these beautiful leaves on top.

I want to ski that mountain

2010-11-05T23:08:00.000-07:00

Tonight we were driving in the car together noticing the orange, red, and purple colors of the sunset against the mountains. We noticed how only the peaks had snow on it but soon the entire mountain will be filled with white, powdery snow.

River piped up and said, "I want to ski that mountain Papa." My husband responded, "I think that mountain is a little big for you." "But I could still do it!" River exclaimed spoken like a 4-year-old with some skiing experience. (River is used to hearing his Papa talk about the perfect line to ski. So if his Papa can ski down that mountain why can't he?)

(This pic is from 2 winters ago.

This is one of the few pics that you can see of me on skis.)

I am sharing this because I dread the cold, long, winter here in UT. Growing up in northern AZ the snow I experienced melted within 2 days. So to hear my little boy excited that he can ski "that mountain" helps me gear up for the winter and hope that this year I might get the hang of skiing.

Dia de los Muertos

2010-11-03T12:43:00.000-07:00

Rachel is River and Rue's Aunt and her birthday happens to be on Dia de los Muertos. So instead of honoring those who have pasted on (the real purpose of Dia de los Muertos) the party last night was focused on honoring the living.

The alter to Rachel (conveniently situated under her wedding photo) included: fake liquor, paper flowers, virgin de Guadalupe candle, beads, more candles, and food!

We made the skull head stamps out of potatoes and stapled it to crepe paper.

It's the tradition to make sugar skulls and paint them. So the boys put the sugar mixture in the mold. The skull heads are quite small but next year you better believe I am going to buy the large sized mold.

Eating pumpkin food (we also had roasted pumpkin seeds) is also part of the tradition so for Rachel's birthday cake we had pumpkin chocolate chip muffins. We drank mexican hot chocolate to go with it. (We used ghirardelli chocolate, milk, sugar, cinnamon and vanilla.)

River did a skeleton dance for us in the evening!

(notice the skeleton head on his shirt)

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For school time we made this:

The theme for this week is teeth so I incorporated that into day of the dead by having the adventurers paint the skull head using a toothbrush. For the teeth they used silvered almonds.

Weekly rhythm song

2010-10-28T21:58:00.000-07:00

The magic of rhythms is in the process not the particulars.

-Simplicity Parenting, pg. 114

River and Rue my two favorite kids

I have been trying to implement many of the suggestions mentioned in Simplicity Parenting for a few months now. Filtering out the adult world, simplifying the environment we live in, and being aware of over scheduling activities for my children, have been the first steps leading up to the most impacting change of establishing a weekly rhythm in our home.

This was a previous trip to Disneyland.

By nature I am a pretty spontaneous person and the idea of sticking to any kind of predictable routine makes me want to pack up my bags and drive to Disneyland with my kids, just because I can, and no schedule or routine will confine me! When I was pregnant with my first son I heard about these Moms who never went out of the house (for like a year) because their baby HAD to be in their own bed at 7:00pm. I vowed that I would not be like those first time Moms who forgot how to have fun once a child came into their lives. The result...we took my Son River with us everywhere we went and he stayed up later and woke up later than most children his age. When River was three, and Rue was just a few months old, I began thinking there was probably some value in having a bedtime routine, especially because now we have 2 children. However it took my Husband and I a while to be completely invested into any kind of "routine" but we knew having a bedtime routine was a good idea, we just wondered if we would be able to buckle down and do it.

If you come over to our home during bedtime routine you may be
required to put a pull-up on!

The stories and examples mentioned in Simplicity Parenting are so encouraging that I began to realize that creating a rhythm in our home is not about a daily, rigid, routine, where a family must feel confined to do only what is permanent marker-ed in for the day. Instead it is the "process not the particulars", understanding that we are doing (or not doing) things to build a "foundation of cooperation and connection" (pg. 102). Ding, Ding, Ding, I finally got it, I had my epiphany, light bulb moment. The whole purpose of creating a predictable weekly rhythm is for my son, daughter, husband and I to ENJOY the Sunday morning breakfasts, Monday wash day, or Wednesday cooking day because these consistent this-is what-we-do, can establish trust and a way to feel more connected to each other.

Mr. Baker-man

When I first began to adapt a more concrete weekly routine, the way I was approaching it all was not working for my spontaneous nature. I was focused on the particulars not the process. At the end of the day I was becoming somewhat depressed because I was not able to have the rhythm of the day go like it should and blamed it all on myself.

Then it hit me. . . I needed River (and myself + my husband) to have a clear understanding of what each day will look like. River will ask, "Mama what's today? Are the kids coming over or do we go to church?" He understands that we do very specific activities on certain days but really what does Monday, Tuesday or Saturday mean to a four-year-old?

So as River and Rue were taking a bath one night I wrote this song. I wanted us to have a fun song that we all would enjoy singing each day as a way of previewing for our day/week. I enjoy singing and make up songs often for the preschoolers... but that doesn't mean you will enjoy listening to it : ) This song has been a hit at home and instead of having to tell River that today is Tuesday, because it is Tuesday, we just sing our little weekly rhythm song.

You can listen to it here.

Sunday we wake up to the yummy smell

of Papa making breakfast.

Then we put on our nice clothes and comb our hair

and walk together to church.

Monday we wake up and put our dirty clothes

in the washing machine.

We clean, clean, clean.

We clean up the house

and peddle over to the library.

Tuesday is a school day.

The kids come over to play, play, play.

We find little treasures and make cool things.

We play outside and sing.

Wednesday we wake up we know it's gonna be

a cooking day.

We might knead some bread or make some applesauce

and eat a really yummy treat.

Thursday is a school day.

The kids come over to play, play, play.

We find little treasures and make cool things.

We play outside and sing.

Friday we wake up and get ready

for our exciting field trip.

We might go to the park or see a new place

and do some adventuring.

Saturday we sleep in.

(zzz chooo)

We wrestle each other other.

(Woo-hoo)

We go to the store.

(Yum, yum)

Then at the end of our day,

we rest from our play,

because tomorrow is Sunday.

First snow of fall

2010-10-27T13:12:00.000-07:00

This morning we had a nice blanket of snow, the first snow of fall. When we went outside to play around 11:30am there wasn't too much left and you could hear all the water falling down from the trees.

Rue stood in that spot for a few minutes before deciding to play in the snow.

At this point she is thinking...hmm maybe it will be ok to touch the snow.

River loved tramping through the wet snow with his rain boots!

"Look at this snowball Mom!"

Nothing like some fresh snow...yum, yum.

After River ate some little Rue decided that it might be a good idea to have some too!

Maple leaf

I love the contrasting colors in this photo.

In the driveway there was a really long, fat worm. Probably one of the longest fattest worms I have seen in a long time. It took River a few attempts to scoop up the worm.

This chicken sure enjoyed it!

spooky pictures

2010-10-26T14:08:00.000-07:00

I saw tin foil paintings here and decided that we should make some spooky pictures of our own today!

We used:

::foil

::metallic black paint

::a paintbrush and plate

::q-tips

This paintbrush already had some fun!

Each person painted the black acrylic paint onto the foil.

Then used a q-tip to make the outline.

Everyone at work!

The paint didn't take very long to dry. The great thing about the acrylic paint is that it will not flake off the tin foil. Now it's ready for some yarn to be hung up so it can fly!!

spider web and foam spider

2010-10-25T15:40:00.000-07:00

I saw this idea for a tangled pumpkin on I can teach my child, and knew we could use this idea to make a spider web, perhaps like the one The Very Busy Spider made in Eric Carle's book.

We used :

::wax paper

::mod podge glue

::black metallic paint

::dark green yarn

*I put about 1/2 cup of mod podge with about 2/3 of paint from the small bottle, into a glass bowl and mixed it around until the color was dark grey.

*I cut individual yarn spools (about 10-12 wraps around my hand).

*We used these plastic 2 section plates. In the small section I put in the paint mixture.

*Then each adventurer dipped their small spool of yarn into the paint to get it gooey-oozy.

*They spread out the gooey yarn on the wax paper to let dry.

*The yarn was dry enough when they came back 2 days later to pull it off the wax paper.

(Some adventurers made handprint spiders once they were done with the spider web.)

I love how they came out!

We made the foam spiders on the 2nd day once the webs were dry!

The spider web on the door leading outside.

To make the foam spider we used:

::foam squares cut into circles with 4 whole punch holes on each side
::pipe cleaners cut into 4ths
::googly eyes
::clear tacky glue

It's fun to mix and match the colored legs with the the red, orange, yellow or purple bodies.

We also put fangs on the front of these ones!

(Did you know that most spiders have 8 eyes??)

**********************************

The book that we read with this spider art project was:

The Very Busy Spider by Eric Carle

The adventurers enjoyed touching the web on each page and noticed how it became more and more complex.

bats

2010-10-23T09:05:00.000-07:00

As soon as I saw these bats at Filth Wizardry, I was so excited to dig into the massive pile of toilet paper rolls that I have been saving to make these!

This one was mine.

River wanted his bat to have 3 eyes.

The whole bat family.

Here are the instructions.

We used black metallic acrylic paint, googly eyes, construction paper and of course the toilet paper roll. It was great fun!

Spider Hunt

2010-10-22T09:40:00.000-07:00

We have been talking about the letter S this week for spiders snakes. So a hunt for spiders and webs was inevitable especially since we read:

by Doreen Cronin pictures by Harry Bliss

All the adventurers wanted to find a daddy long legs after reading it. Sadly we weren't able to find one, one adventurer said, "I'm glad we didn't see one because it is SO big and might eat us."

This is my favorite spider web pic. We found this web inside an open circle cement post.

The first spider sighting.

I think this is a common garden spider.

This pic makes the spider look bigger than it really was.

A different angle of the same spider web pictured above.

Spider webs on the old chicken coop not been used.

The inside of the old chicken coop was filled with all

sorts of webs.

It was interesting to watch how some of the adventurers loved the spider hunt and how others never wanted to participate at all.

Growing up in Arizona I remember seeing tarantulas come out after it rained in the spring and summer. I loved watching the large furry legs scutter about on the dirt. I wish my preschoolers could have seen something larger than a daddy long longs crawling outside...but then again only half of them wanted to see the spiders we did find.

Easypeasy Halloween garland

2010-10-21T14:54:00.000-07:00

As soon as I saw this easypeasy fun Halloween garland at Twig and Toadstool I knew it would be the perfect decoration for us to do! The print outs can be found at The ToyMaker the third row down.

Rue painted the cat with markers and watercolors. River painted the skull, owl, and pumpkin with watercolors. I love the owl!

V for Vacuum

2010-10-20T12:25:00.000-07:00

In the Amazing Action Alphabet program V the Vulture vacuums so loud that her sister Violet can't hear herself as she practices the violin. So I knew we needed to do some activity involving vacuuming. The obvious would be to use the vacuum, but I wanted the adventurers to have a little more fun...that's when I thought of the hungry hippo!

Everyone threw down legos for the hippo vacuum to eat.

Everyone ran away from vacuum to be safe on the couch.

****

To make the letter V we used a large bounty paper

towel cut into 2.

Then everyone colored the V with washable markers.

The last step was to spray the V with water to allow the colors to spread.

The finished V's drying.

October Sensory Tub

2010-10-20T10:59:00.000-07:00

I know everyone has been posting what their sensory tubs look like, so I thought hey I might as well post mine.

*I used rice with a few black beans for color. (Truthfully I didn't want to spend $5 on 5 pounds of black beans, so instead paid $3 for 6 pounds of rice.)

*orange spiders

*black bats

*a few white skull heads

*stretchy skeletons.

*stretchy skeletons cut into pieces

*googly eyes

*glow in the dark snakes

The hit of the tub were the glow in the dark snakes! We had a glow in the dark party in the laundry room while we ate our spooky snacks. I totally felt like I was four again!

It's fall...TIME to go OUTSIDE

2010-10-18T08:06:00.000-07:00

On Thursday we took a field trip to pick apples from a neighbor's tree. It was such perfect weather! We had a great time together exploring our neighborhood together. As parents/educators we can become trapped into thinking that children need to always be engaged in highly educational activities, reading only Caldecott Medal and honor books, or tinkering with the latest "Melissa and Doug" toys when really all they need is to PLAY OUTSIDE!

By playing outside we were able to work on large motor skills (jumping, hopping, climbing), science (talking about how an apple becomes an apple tree, and why leaves change colors), math (we counted our apples, the chickens), verbal/linguistic (we sang songs and talked about everything we saw), and well you get the idea.

The adventurers all held onto the rope as we walked around.

Red, yummy apples!

Finding apples on the tree.

We must have all watched this digger for about 20-30 mins picking up asphalt in the scoop and dumping it into the pile.

I was just as enthralled as the kids!

The girls wanted to show us this cool spot... A spot right next to the train tracks where they were doing more construction!

Everyone was waving to the steamroller operator. I felt like

I was a part of one of my childhood favorite books

"Busy Day Busy People".

This is one of my favorite pages from the whole book... the people looking through the holes to see the construction workers busily building. I felt like I was one of those kids popping my head into the hole to watch all the construction workers work!

Everyone decided we should just eat our apple right here,

so we did.

River and Miss M went roaming about still holding onto their bags filled with apples and found chickens.

Not everyone finished their apples so when one child threw their apple to the chickens so did everyone else! As the chickens began pecking on the apples a turkey came staggering out! Not what we were expecting to see.

As we walked back to our little classroom I was so happy to spend time on this wonderful fall day appreciating all the things we were able to see just 2 blocks away from us. I think I am falling in love with this neighborhood we live in and it's only been 5 months! There are not many places where we can see horses, steers, chickens, a turkey, construction workers, and be able to ride our bike to the library, grocery store, 2 parks, costco, target and all the other strip mall stores.

Apple people

2010-10-16T08:22:00.000-07:00

River and I were looking at our 100+ apples wondering what kinda art project we could do... the result... an apple family to look like the Kerr family!

This is me... Mama Apple Kerr

First we looked through magazines to find people that

would work.

(You want some kind of separate head, arms, legs to cut out.)

Attach the body parts to tooth pics with scotch tape.

Stick them all in.

Whalaa, a Mama, Papa, Brother, and Sister!

Apple matching letters game

2010-10-14T19:06:00.000-07:00

Every Fall we pick a whole lot of apples

so I thought the adventurers might have fun with this really simple to prepare letter matching game.

I had some colorful lowercase letters.

The uppercase letters were a little small and
lacking in fun colors.

I wrote the letters we have been working with

on paper plates.

The adventurers had fun matching the apple letters

to the correct plates!

Family traditions

2010-10-12T22:08:00.000-07:00

Family traditions counter alienation and confusion. They help us define who we are; they provide something steady, reliable and safe in a confusing world.

SUSAN LIEBERMAN, New Traditions

When the blossoms on trees turn into large, delicious apples we begin searching for trees in our neighborhood that will make this year's cider party worth coming to. We move often (we haven't lived anywhere longer than 16 months) which makes the hunt for apples really enjoyable since we have never picked apples from the same tree two years in a row.

We began our Sunday search party with 2 strollers filled with children, a step stool, and plenty of bags to put the apples into.

As we find apples that are worth picking, I begin rehearsing my approach line. "Hi, we were just walking by and noticed you had some apples falling down into that empty lot and wondered if we could pick some apples from your tree." Usually folks are pretty happy to let us pick the apples they had no intention of using, that means a few less rotten apples spoiling on the ground for them, and yummy cider for us!

Picking apples can become a greedy and dangerous endeavor. You begin to wonder if you can reach that beautiful, big, non-worm hole, perfect apple hanging just four inches out of your reach. Once you are able to snatch that one off the branch, your eyes spy an even bigger, more beautiful, non-marked apple and you begin devising the plan of how you can get that one off the tree without it falling into the rotten, mushy mess of apples below you.

This is our 4th year we have picked apples from neighborhood trees and have juiced them using the heirloom turquoise Champion juicer my Grandma passed on to me. My son River has always been apart of the process of picking, sorting, and juicing. It was so precious to see him explaining to his younger sister who is 16 months, which apples are good and which ones are bad.

I believe that good traditions, traditions that you want to keep as a family just happen. When we first picked apples four years ago we never thought that this would be a way to gather our friends and family together to celebrate fall, we simply just picked apples. I feel so grateful that we have lived in area that has allowed us to walk in our neighborhood to pick apples from neighbor's trees. As a child I remember reading books about the whole community coming together to harvest apples. I remember the colorful pictures of Papas on ladders picking the apples and Mamas in the kitchen making cider and baking pies. Having a tradition that celebrates the Fall harvest is a way for us to not only feel connected to each other but also to feel connected in the changes of the earth. Traditions bind together Mamas, Papas, Sisters, Brothers, and friends to feel united in purpose and united to each other.

Pumpkin Patch Fun

2010-10-12T13:44:00.000-07:00

We read the book, "Pick a Pumpkin Mrs. Millie" in class before we went on a field trip to Wheeler Farm!

I love Rue's determination to pick up the pumpkin by herself!

They were trying to decide which pumpkin to pick...

They finally made their decision!

Deborah from Teach Preschool shared with me a little song she made for picking out a pumpkin. We sang it over and over looking for pumpkins that are all different shapes and sizes.

I made sure the adventurers pointed to the P's in

PUMPKIN PATCH.

These 2 held onto their red tickets the whole time they went through the maze.

River deciding which way to go.

Getting ready to go on our tractor wagon ride.

We saw some more animals while riding around.

I love this pic...it makes me wish I had a nicer camera!

One of the beautiful roosters roaming around.

The hissing geese who will hunt you down for more bread!! It's actually kinda scary...

Petting the goat.

There was a large area filled with feathers from the geese the adventurers found and wanted to float them down the stream.

Then they needed large sticks to help their feather to get un-stuck.

The cage of no return! These two played by the stream for about 40 mins. I love the fact that kids don't need much to be entertained. They loved doing this more than all the other activities!

Pumpkin seed face

2010-10-11T15:10:00.000-07:00

One way to use pumpkin seeds is to make funny, scary, or silly Jack-o-lantern faces!

All you need:

pumpkin

pumpkin paper cut outs

glue, glue, and probably more glue

The adventurers each took a turn scooping out seeds.

They put the seeds into a large pan.

At the art table we had the pumpkin cut outs
ready to be glued upon.

(The adventurers all went crazy with the glue.
We are talking hours upon hours to really dry!)

River made this one... he said it's a scary werewolf!

Pirate Popcorn Pumpkin Patch

2010-10-08T13:02:00.000-07:00

I, the great pirate Poppy wanted my fellow pirates to find some the the treasures that got caught in the Popcorn Pumpkin Patch.

The treasures were much harder to find, then what ye see here.

Each Pirate used their plump, plastic, pumpkin to fill it with the treasures to be found!

Each pirate took a partner, so 2 treasure seeking pirates per

popcorn pumpkin patch.

(This way there was a more equal chance to all receive the same amount of treasures.)

The pirates squealed with delight as they found all the treasures!

Pirate coins, pumpkins, skull heads, monkeys and pebbles.

I have done quite a few sensory bins and this by far was the most fun for all the adventurers. They loved been able to keep the small treasures they put into their own container. They kept asking me if they could keep the treasures..can you tell they are use to just sorting everything out to play with not to keep? Plus having eatable pumpkins and eatable sensory fill (popcorn) added an additional element of fun!

Here is a pic of the eatable pumpkins so you know what to look for if you have never bought them...

I really do love Fall themed activities!