Monthly Archives: May 2014

Messy Fun

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It’s been very hot here this week. We’ve been spending lots of time in wading pools and running around in mini sprinklers. We have also been trying out new sensory experiences. Surprisingly, my twelve plus years of working with young children never led me to cloud dough. I had heard of it but until this week, never tried making it. It was super simple to make.

 

Cloud Dough
About 4 cups of flour mixed with about a cup of baby oil.

It creates a lovely crumbling, soft texture that can be molded like silky wet sand or scooped and poured like dry, silky sand. Ellie loved it. We’ve been playing with it out back all week now (stored in a large, plastic tub). It does get a bit messy though. I think it’s definitely an outside experience. We will continue to enjoy it this week, I’m sure.
cloud dough

pat

mold

ta da!

another mold

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Weekending: Mother’s Day Edition

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It was a really nice weekend. My mom is headed to Germany with my Grandmother for the week so we celebrated Mothers Day with her on Saturday. We visited the farmers market in the morning and headed over to my parents house that afternoon. I got to finish making the pinafore I had been working on, thanks to my Mom’s help and my mom got to enjoy a fun-filled afternoon with her favorite little person. Sunday we met up with a bunch of local Mama friends and their families for a little potluck Mothers Day picnic. The weather was lovely and so was the food and company. Jeff and Ellie made me a card and bought me flowers. It was a very nice weekend and a very nice Mothers Day.

pretty flowers

farmers market

avocados

hydranga card

gramma time

3 generations

a kiss for g ma

me and my shadow

oh gramma

the moon

picnic

run run run

kids

kids two

 

Portrait Project

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19/52
every day shot

eloise: I liked this photo because it represents our every day. You sitting in your high chair, eating a snack or lunch after a nap. I enjoy this time with you. We usually chat about what we will do for the rest of the day and I usually put on a record for us to listen too while we snack. An every day shot of my every day girl.

– joining Jodi for the 52 project! 

This Table

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*My computer has been on the outs these days (thus the quietness in this space this past week and weekend) so while it’s being worked on, here is a post that I had written a few weeks ago but never published  … hoping to be back up posting regularly soon …

 

 

This table has gotten so much use since we brought it home from the antique market last October. While looking through my photos of one single day, I noticed we’d used the table in four different ways just in one day.

Ellie eats breakfast at this table sometimes. And snacks throughout the day.

snacks

Art projects are regularly set up here.

art at the table

and of course it’s usually set up differently for play throughout the day. Sometimes with animals and playscapes. Sometimes with nature to count and explore.

nature table

It’s funny how a piece of furniture can be an intricate part of your day. I find Ellie at this table so very often and I love sharing this space with her and keeping it special and hers. It’s exciting to know this piece of furniture will evolve over time to be all sorts of things for her and eventually, when she grows too big for it,  maybe something else for this family entirely. But, right now, it’s Ellie’s table. Ellie’s space.

In The Garden

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I finally got around to taking photos of our garden this season. We’ve added two new raised beds and planted seeds pretty early on. We’re growing swiss chard, spinach, a few types of lettuce, corn, beans, tomatoes and broccoli. We’re kind of trying it all this time, seeing what grows best in that space on our side yard. It’s been hard to really get into gardening this year with so much else going on but Ellie and I try to get out and tend at least once a day (if we don’t, Daddy at least waters once a day).

ellie waters

more watering

and more wateringEllie loves helping to water with her watering can. She gets all the herbs on the deck and helps me with the raised beds too.
kaleOur kale has just skyrocketed. We eat kale around these parts at least once a day if not more. I’m running out of kale recipes. If anyone has anything else I can do with kale, please let me know, because as you can see we have A LOT of it!

discusting pumpkinsWe set out our Halloween pumpkins in the garden to decompose back into the earth but they are certainly taking their time.
one bed

two bed

hopsJeff’s hops have come back up and this year Jeff decided to plant them right into the ground on the side yard. I’m not quite sure what we will do when we move (we’re renting) but Jeff assured me we would somehow take our hop plants with us.
the whole garden
So there you have it. The spring garden of 2014. I’m hoping we have better luck than last year. We’ve already taken kale off our shopping list which is nice and we’ve substituted kale for pretty much every leafy green these days which helps us a tad budget wise too. Hoping we’ll get some more home-grown produce goodness soon. There’s nothing quite like a veggie homegrown.