Magical Mornings

Fairies, their magical world and all the possibilities they hold, totally captivate my kids but especially Aria and Ben. Lots of our time has been focused on A Midsummer Night's Dream and our talk of fairies has increased. This morning when we were headed out the door I noticed this drawing attached to Aria's special tree in the front yard. It turns out she got up extra early, drew a special picture for the tree fairy and attached to the tree with a clothes pin :before I was even out of bed! (which was 7:30!) No doubt the fairies loved it as much as me.

The Cutest Little

baby face. I mean look at that drool and those eyes!

Around the Neighbourhood

Last night Zoe slept over (although there wasn't much sleep) and was therefore able to join us on our trip with Aria's (wonderful) preschool to a fire station and a 'classmates' family run mechanic shop. The kids and a great time sitting in the truck, looking at the tools and introducing their cousin to some favorite friends. Another highlight was walking under a hoisted up car.

Tirelessly Enjoying the Trees

It was a beautiful spring day, perfect for a surprise invite for a walk in the woods. The trail was a bit mucky but once we got past them it was wonderfully smooth. The highlight for the kids was burying a friend in grass and collecting pine cones. The highlight for me was the kids sowing my the network of groundhog holes they found. While we have seen many holes, this was the first time seeing them cleaned out. At some of the openings there were piles of pine cone chips, groundhog bedding that had been pushed out of the holes. Later we noticed the large amount of pine cone centers that had obviously kept this groundhog busy deseeding! Walking back to the cars at the end of the walk we did see the groundhog running around!

What never ceases to amaze me is the type of play that happens when we go to the woods versus when we go to the park. While the kids would never refuse a park day, they would easily choose a park with a wooded area or the woods over a park. If the park has a wooded area it is to the trees they very quickly gravitate. Their play never tires in the trees, their imagination never bores.

For He is a Jolly Good Fellow!

Happy Birthday Shakespeare! Today we celebrated this playwright's birth with a party. Family friends joined us, sharing some books and a very crafty and yummy cake that was a replica of the globe theatre. We munched on yummy sweets, looked at some favorite books and chatted. During the day the kids worked on creating little wire figures of the cast of Midsummer Night's Dream. They arranged them in a fairytale setting with flowers, logs, rocks, homemade toadstools and bushes. They were thrilled to have someone to share it with.
We also watched the Shakespeare's Animated Tales version of this play this afternoon, which the kids are absolutely loving (thank you K).

Earth Day

To recognize Earth day, which has been a beautiful warm and sunny day, we spent lots of it outdoors. This morning we did some yard work and garden clean up (note to self - decide what we are planting!) ate outside, tried our hand at skipping and of course some sidewalk chalk. In the afternoon we joined an organized event by some local conservation groups and painted the storm drains with a fish and the words no dumping. We were given a little explanation about how everything that enters into the storm drain flows down the pipes into the river, without any screening or filtering. Therefore everything effects the ecosystem of the river. To make people aware of this we painted the signs next to the drains and left flyers in the mailboxes of those close by. The kids really felt as though they were making a difference. It was gratifying to see a symbol of something you see as important on the street, put there by you. Unfortunately we didn't see many people out participating. I did talk to the organizers about the home school group organizing to do some painting.

The Marking of a New Season

After all our hard work we enjoyed the first trip to the ice cream shop. There is something wonderful about the sunshine on a sticky face.

Like Father Like Sons

Today was the first time out on the new dirtbike that Grandma and Grandpa gave the kids. We went to a nearby dirt field that was cleared for development. The boys were both a little nervous and a lot excited! They did fabulous, they were even a little daring (Elias the bike master decided to stand up!). I can see lots of summer evenings will be spent having a lap around the field...then of course Dad will have his out as well!

Frolicking Among the Frogs

We joined our home school group at a local nature centre for an evening all about Frogs! Frogs and toads happen to be one of our favorite parts of nature. We started off meeting some of the centre's frogs in residence, holding a tree frog (which we have yet to see in the wild) and learning some interesting things. Ben shared that last year I caught a huge toad in the garden, the facilitator shared with us that toads can live to be 30 years old and perhaps the reason it was so big was it's age. Wow! We were then guided through a slide show of local inhabitants and the sounds they made. Our elusive yellow bellied frog we kept catching last year at 'our' pond was a bullfrog!

The most exciting part of the evening was being in the marsh looking and catching frogs. The sound of the spring peepers was overwhelmingly loud. I have been in many a pond and heard what I thought was lots of frogs....it paled in comparison. The sound was so loud I had difficulty hearing people standing next to me, my ears were ringing even when we left!!! We were also able to hear some wood frogs, that Ben (the nature magnet) caught within two minutes of arrival! We will definitely go back- especially before the mosquitoes are out in full force. Great Night!

Hands on Discovery- Chagall

The kids have been asking to return to this children's museum a lot lately. A friend invited us to join them on a field trip to this very museum for some playtime but particularily to explore a travelling exhibit featuring Marc Chagall. It was a wonderful hands-on experience. The different stations included weaving, a computer screen wgich you ciuld press to change the details, a screen you could paint your own face - each activity connecting to a specific peice of art work. There were about twelve different stations. The stations are similar to how we approach art at home.

A Favorite From the Past

It has been at least a year since we last visited this children's museum. When we had a membership we were there quite frequently. There have been a few additions that we have enjoyed; but not enough that we felt the need to renew our membership. We went with friends whom shared many of the same favorites; the water table being the numero uno, the little 'space' cars, the large building blocks and the computers. We do enjoy it being so quiet during the day, it feels almost like its your own for the day.

Everyone is Doing it!

While driving down the street past a house with ballons on the outside

Ben: The people at that house must be celebrating Shakespeare's birthday today.

Aria: Everyone loves his plays.

*we are planning a party for Shakespeare's birthday on the 23rd.

The Perfect Solution

When your house is a disaster, truly a disaster; mud, clothes and outwear of all kinds on the floor, plasticine creations and books on every inch of table space, lego covering the carpet, dishes on the counters, combined with kids wanting to 'do' something and baby in the sling continually nursing the perfect thing would be....


a. scream and pull your hair as you tell your kids you are tired of the eternal mess and to clean it up or it all goes in the garbage!





b. blow it all up and start again.





c. get down the previously made volcano kit, the vinnegar, baking soda and food color and walk away to have a cup of java on the couch.

I must admit option b is always tempting, and option a has been tried and failed (more times than I wish to admit) Wow did choice c feel good.

An Artsy Kind of Day

It was a full day of viewing and creating art. Our first stop was an open house at the studio the kids take classes at. Elias and Ben each had an underwater diorama on display which they described to us. The art projects varied from paper mache to portraits to sketches. The level of artistic skill was very impressive. There were also a few art projects we were inspired to store in our mind for a later date.

We then headed off to the monthly family fun day at a nearby art gallery. We really enjoyed this last month and even more so this time. The kids made kites and animal head bands with paper in the two art rooms. The stations throughout the gallery consisted of a scavenger hunt, chalk board, felt murals, plasticine sculpting, weaving and story time. For the few dollars donation it really is a great value, with fabulous art work on display and very child friendly.