On Halloween we joined some dear family friends and went trick or treating. We first headed downtown to the Munchkin Masquerade and then walked around a block of houses in their neighborhood. At the end of the evening, after lots of fun and laughs, my boys each brought home a pumpkin pail filled with candy.
By the time we returned for our costume-decked adventures, it was late and time to get ready for bed.… Continue reading
We live in the mountains, and we routinely see wildlife outside of our house. However, the other day while I was reading to my 6-year-old, my 2-year-old announced, “Mama, Bird in house.” That got my attention.
Now, I would like to say this was the first time a bird has come into our house, but it’s not (though it is the first time at this particular house).… Continue reading
A few days ago, my friend and her two boys were over visiting. All four boys started out playing in my boys’ room (an amazing chance for us mamas to catch up!), and then decided to head outside to play. A minute or two after they all ran out the door, it occurred to me to ask, “Do your boys know what to do if they encounter a predator in our yard?”… Continue reading
The other day as I was cooking dinner, I heard my 6-year-old call, “Mama, you have to come out here right now. We found the biggest worm EVER, and we need to save it.”
That is a call that cannot go unanswered, so I turned off the stove and headed outside. I saw both of my boys leaning over the strip of cement that runs along our retaining wall.… Continue reading
We have several children’s books written by Julia Donaldson, and we enjoy them all. However, there are two that get read over and over and over in our house, and The Gruffalo is one of them (I’ll post a review of the other one in the future).
The Gruffalo is a fun book about a mouse who shrewdly outsmarts all of the animals who want to eat him.… Continue reading
Though summer is starting to fade, we still spend a lot of time outdoors every day. Now that the heat is no longer blistering in the afternoon, it’s a wonderful time to work on outdoor art projects.
One of our favorite outdoor art activities is covering our patio with chalk drawings.
Chalk drawing in this setting allows for big pictures or small pictures.… Continue reading
My 6-year-old has been eating a lot of trail mix lately. While I used to make it for him (sometimes I’d make it like THIS or with an array of variations), I realized that he is now more than old enough to make it himself.
So I had him make a batch with me a couple of times. I showed him the measurement lines on the side of our quart-size mason jar, and explained what they meant.… Continue reading
The other day while his little brother was asleep, my 6-year-old asked if instead of the normal reading together we do at this time, I would sit down and color with him. Of course, I said yes. He wanted us to both color in the same design. So he chose an image in one of our coloring books, I copied it onto two sheets of paper, and we both sat down with our colored pencils to begin coloring.… Continue reading
We’ve definitely had hot summertime weather for the last few weeks. We don’t have an air conditioner in our house, so in the afternoons things can get pretty warm. When the temperature creeps up, we frequently head outside for some water play.
Sometimes my boys pull out the hose and it hook up to a sprinkler. Often we fill water squirters with water and spray them into the air to make our own rain showers.… Continue reading
My oldest son is 6-years-old. This week, school starts here in our hometown. We homeschool our boys, so heading back to school doesn’t carry quite the same shift in our lives as it does in the lives of most people with children. That said, my oldest son is now entering First Grade.
A friend of mine, who’s son attends a local public school, stumbled upon this list and forwarded it to me asking, “Would our boys be ready for first grade in 1979?… Continue reading