Prince & Princesses

Today we spent time making Princes & Princesses. In my curriculum, we were to be working on our Fairies and Fairy Houses but Maia had different plans. She said she has enough fairies and that she needed some princesses... so that's what we did! We used popsicle sticks instead of clothespins because we ran out!

Christmas Decorating

We spent some time putting up our tree and decorating on Wednesday night. Maia had a cold but she didn't let that stop her from having fun.

I highly recommend taking the time to write your child's name and the year on the back each time you receive a new ornament - if it was a gift be sure to mark down the person who gave it to them. My husband has some from the 1970's and its so cool to look at them now with the kids and remember back. The girls really enjoy looking on the back of each ornament they have to see how old they were and when they made or received it.

We also put out our nativity set and decorated our mantle. I can't believe December is already almost here!

Fort in the Woods

Dee & Keira were outside for hours the other day and finally came in SO excited telling me all about the Fort they made in the woods. Of course I had to go check it out... What a great job they did! They even have a bathroom area - and our kitten loves playing too (do you see her in the fort?)!

Tree of Thanks

Every Thanksgiving we make a Tree of Thanks... We gather branches during our nature walks before the holiday, color and cut leaves out and string them on our tree.

Everyone in our family writes something they are thankful for at any time leading up to Thanksgiving and when we have guests we ask them to do the same. It's become a really nice tradition and I hope to save all of the leaves from years past to put into a scrapbook that the girls can one day look back on.

Homemade Cranberry Sauce

This year we made homemade cranberry sauce for Thanksgiving. It was yummy and the girls had fun cooking as always!

Martinmas Puppet Show and Shields

Did you know that November 11th is The Feast of St. Martin? More information on this saint can be viewed HERE

To celebrate, Dee and I performed a puppet show for the children and then we made cardboard shields. Here are some photos:

Backyard Evening Campfire

On Friday, we made our outdoor fire pit. Everyone enjoyed looking in the woods for rocks to put around the hole and Maia was my big helper when it came to digging.

Then this weekend, Brian and I took the girls outside after dinner to use our new fire pit for the first time. It was honestly one of the best times we have had together as a family. We roasted marshmellows and sang songs. Keira and Dee played tag outside and Maia stayed close to me fascinated by the flames. If you are using my program and haven't already done this, please do... it was so much fun and a great alternative to plopping the kids in front of the tv after dinner!

Worm Discovery

Look Out Below!

Knitting News

I haven't posted much about my knitting but have no fear, the needles are still getting plenty of use.

I made this little wool set for Maia and have completed the same hat for Keira (no mittens yet). I also started a hat for Brian... I can't believe he is even considering wearing a handmade hat but he said if its manly enough, he'll give it a try.

Paper Torches for Parade Day

Today we had such a great time together. My monthly program had us making paper torches followed by a marching parade on our nature walk.

We did not have red tissue paper on hand so we painted ours red!

Then everyone got dressed up and prepared for our Nature Parade!

The children LOVED the marching song and we must have sung it at least 6 times as we walked.

Did you know that little fairies and gnomes live in that hollow tree stump?

I talk to Maia about the fairies that live in the woods every day on our walks and each time we pass the tree stump she takes a peek inside to see if she can find one.

What a nice place to take a break and do our children's meditation.

"Follow me over the wooden bridge" says Maia... "Watch out there are snakes in the water!"...

Happy Parade Day from our home to yours!

xoxo