For 6 weeks Coach Catherine has been gently encouraging Grace to put her "face in the water," and use "big arms."Look! Six weeks later her face is in the water and she is using her big arms.
I loved swim season! It was so much fun to see the kids improve their strokes. They were so proud of themselves at the championship.
Grace brought home a dreidel and directions from kindergarten. I guess Adam has been playing in school for years because he was all over the rules. They taught me the driedel song and we feasted on gumdrops.
My childhood memories of Thanksgiving always involve place cards. They were central to preparations and the wonderful feast. This was the first year that Grace got really excited about making them. So thrilling for me!
Letterboxing is one of our families favorite activities. It is essentially a treasure hunt, searching for little boxes that have been left in the woods, parks, libraries... What kid doesn't like a treasure hunt?! The treasure is a hand carved stamp that you use to stamp you own log book. We bring along our own stamp that we stamp into the log book we find in the letterbox.
We have yet to "plant" a box. But we have some great ideas and hope to plant one or two this summer.
The best thing about birthdays is the leisurely dinner. We made Pop Pop's favorites - meatloaf, mashed potatoes and peas. Yum.
We have been at the town pool almost every day. I love the pool, it gets me away from my messy house and I get to hang out with my friends. Oh yeah, the kids love it too.
We had our first camping trip of the season. The weather was ideal and we had a great time highlighted by the campfires. It seems Adam takes after me and likes his marshmallows black.
Grace likes them cold.
We started what I hope to be weekly hikes. I found a great book with local hikes for children. This particular hike was touted as being great for bug hunting so off we went. Walking through the woods is just not as entertaining as I would hope for my kids. I am going to have to work some magic to keep them excited about the hikes.
Happy Birthday sweet Adam. I am glad that gummy worms and mud are still cool enough to bring to school. Having a 7 year old boy was fantastic I can't wait to see what it is like to spend a year with an 8 year old.
We attended our last playgroup this week. I have gone with one or both children for the past 6 years, that's the longest I have attended anything in my life. It's been my oxygen, I will miss it dearly.
It goes against my nature to wake a sleeping child, my children have early bedtimes so they can wake up on their own. I remember quite clearly the only time I have ever woke Adam up, he was about 3 and I just had to go to playgroup. I needed to get out of the house so that I could breath.
I had a delightful Mother's Day. It started off with bagels in bed and ended with a picnic dinner in the backyard. Adam made me that lovely firecracker flower and Grace decorated the beautiful snap dragon pot. I received the beautiful bowl from my mother and kids. It was my Aunt's bowl, and I just love it.
We turned the soil for our garden today. I want to keep this simple so we all picked one thing to plant. We will be enjoying tomatoes, watermelon, strawberries and swiss chard. Yum.
Since my children were toddlers their bedtime routine has pretty much been the same: dinner, bath, game, books, bed. I have come to hate the books. Any other time of day I love reading books, the more the better. The bedtime books have become about length for Adam. He picks out books that he has no intention of listening to so we end up being annoyed with each other.
Not a long term solution but books in the backyard was fun tonight. The popcorn and pillows were distracting enough to forget about going for length.
Grace and I recently read Fairy Houses by Tracy Kane. The beautiful illustrations in the book seemed to have sparked Grace's imagination. She spent the afternoon quietly gathering treasures and building delightful houses for visiting fairies.
We mixed oil, water and food coloring to create these little lava bottles. I thought it might be fun to do the same thing with blue coloring and add a few little animals to ride the waves.
I love this time that Adam and I spend creating, I want to find other ways to connect with him. It seems I spend quite a bit of energy trying to get him to do things. I want more time to hang out and just be with him. I don't think I looked forward this much to summer vacation when I was a kid.
I think spring may be finally showing her face here. Adam zipped off the bottom of his pants and has been playing outside all afternoon. I could not be happier. I can't wait to open every single window in this house.
School has been canceled for two days now. Checking out all of the puddles at the park was fun but I think the kids are itching to get back to school.
Grace decided today was her baby's birthday. She started planning the menu and activities yesterday. We played pin the tail on the donkey, read books and enjoyed some Easy Bake cakes. Fun!
I love, love, love watching Adam play soccer. Does that make me a Soccer Mom? I love the big smile on his face, the careful way he goes after the ball when there is girl nearby, when he stops to check out a cool pebble, and the quick wave he gives me here and there. I just love it.
Spring break has been a great week. I love having my kids all day long. I love the endless hours stretched out if front of us and hate how fast they go by. I love being able to do things on a whim or do nothing at all. I love watching my kids move through boredom to that place where their internal world comes alive. Yet, I am quick to create an activity for them when they say "I'm bored." I have to stop doing that, stop stealing their abstract thinking, creativity and play.
It is also the time to plan for camps/activites for the summer. Coming away from this week I am left wanting to create solitude this summer, time for them to create worlds, hopes, desires and dreams.
I love easter eggs, they make me smile and feel good. Grace had the most fantastic idea, you can color each half of the easter egg a different color! She is so crafty.
We saw a few flurries while hunting today.
Searching the haystack is a favorite activity each year.
Graced decided to remove herself from the fray with an armload of hay:
We made these to send as Easter Cards. The little glittery eggs are suppose to be hiding in the grass.
