Frogs & Tadpole Week

A few weeks ago, Keira came home from a playdate at a friend's house with this little tadpole! We are so excited to have the opportunity to watch it grow. Her friend had a bunch of them but they move pretty quickly so the girls were only able to catch one. He has grown so much already!
It just so happened to be close to Frog and Tadpole week at Little Acorn Learning - wonderful timing again! We were so surprised to notice that the toads in our backyard were also coming out this special week. We were able to see many real ones and made some tadpoles and frogs of our own.

Here we are learning about our tadpole:

Making frogs:

Hopping like frogs after doing our froggy yoga activity :)

It's been such a fun month! We can't wait for JULY!!!!

Our themes for July are The Cat, Independence - Bubbles, Floating - Rocks, Gems & Minerals, Reverence - The Ocean, Inner Balance.

Why don't you join us?

xoxo

((Truthful Tuesday))

Truthful Tuesday: a new weekly challenge. One that reflects the realness and truth of the lives we live. There are so many beautiful and inspirational blogs out there reflecting all of our beautiful moments...

But there are other moments too.

This week I am sharing with you my truth of often feeling very overwhelmed. Many times by the end of the evening I feel like I have no more to give. I am often pulled in so many directions that I'm not sure which way to go... and I want to go each way! It's a constant struggle for me to find the necessary balance I need for myself and my family.

Things are not always peaceful and perfect here. I do not always have it together. And its always when I forget to be present in the moment.

So, I regroup and start again.... OFTEN.

Thank goodness there are so many opportunities to begin again.

xoxo

Are you participating in Truthful Tuesdays? Be sure to leave a comment to share your link.

Sun Prints

To wrap up our week celebrating the Summer Solstice and our beautiful sun - we spent the day at the pool and making sun prints. I ordered light sensitive paper and we gathered various nature items from the backyard to arrange to make beautiful prints.

The girls were amazed at how much of the details of the items showed up on their paper.

We are really enjoying the relaxed days of the beginning of summer. Our pool has been a wonderful way for us to spend time together each day while staying close to home.

We enhanced some of our prints by rinsing the paper in water and allowing it to dry a darker color.

Then the girls got creative... feet, toes... little hands :)

Happy Summer!

((this moment)) : Beeswax Suns

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

Yours is the day and yours is the night:

You fashioned the moon and the sun.

You fixed all the limits of the land: summer and winter you made.

Psalm 74: 16,17

Summertime Sundial

One of the ways we celebrated the Summer Solstice this week is by putting together a Sundial! This was an activity included in my June Childcare Program - here is our first photo when we set it up at 10 a.m.! Do you see the shadow of the dowel showing us the time?

One hour later... 11 a.m.

Noontime:

1 p.m. - the sun was not giving us as strong of a shadow but you can still see it is clearly at 1 p.m.

2 p.m.

Well, you get the idea!

This activity was SO much fun... my daughters were truly amazed at the fact that time can be measured by simple tools and the sun.

Sundials used to be a staple in every mother's garden... so that is exactly where we put ours.

I'd love to hear how you and your children have been spending your time today... ;)~

Midsummer Suns

“Now, what shall I send to the earth today?”
Said the great, round, golden Sun.

“Oh! Let us go down there to work and play,”
Said the Sunbeams, every one.

So down to the Earth in a shining crowd,
Went the merry, busy crew;
They painted with splendor each floating cloud
And the sky while passing through.

“Shine on, little Star, if you like,” they cried;
“We will weave a golden screen
That soon all your twinkling and light shall hide,
Though the Moon may peep between.”

The Sunbeams then in through the windows crept,
To the children in their beds –
They poked at the eyelids of those who slept,
Gilded all the little heads.

“Wake up, little children!” they cried in glee,
“And from Dreamland come away!
We’ve brought you a present: wake up and see!
We have brought you a sunny day!”

((Truthful Tuesday))

Truthful Tuesday: a new weekly challenge. One that reflects the realness and truth of the lives we live. There are so many beautiful and inspirational blogs out there reflecting all of our beautiful moments...

But there are other moments too. The moments we are all less likely to take photos of. The baby that just won't stop screaming... the messy house ... the dishes overflowing... the way too many to-do's on our lists.... the fight with our spouse... and much bigger truths that we all deal with. Just one day a week I ask you to share a Truth... a photo - a confession - ... the not-so-perfect of your life.

This week I am sharing the fact that my gardening skills stink! Each year, I order beautiful seeds in abundance... we plant, we water, we watch... we carefully transplant. And, each year... my veggie garden yields little fruit.... so busy here - likely not enough watering, enough care... maybe not the right sun/soil... who knows! So this week, like each year, I had to go buy a few mature plants to add in to our garden to make up for the losses. :)

((this moment))

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

((Truthful Tuesdays))

Today is the day. The day we all come clean and air our dirty laundry (or at least admit that we have tons of it!).

For awhile now, I've been thinking about putting together a new weekly challenge. One that reflects the realness and truth of the lives we live. There are so many beautiful and inspirational blogs out there.. and as a fellow blogger, I love taking sweet photos of my family, my childcare program and the various crafts and activities we do. We have so many beautiful moments together and those are the moments I want to remember forever.

But there are other moments too. The moments we are all less likely to take photos of. The baby that just won't stop screaming... the messy house ... the dishes overflowing... the way too many to-do's on our lists.... the fight with our spouse... and much bigger truths that we all deal with. We are all human.

So, when I visited my friend Suzy's Blog the other day and read her post about getting real - I thought this would be a perfect time to put this challenge out there. Suzy and her husband were kind enough to make the above button for us... if you'd like to join in, just right click and save the button and link it back to this blog post or the one on Suzy's site. Be sure to share with us your truth in the comments section of that week's Truthful Tuesday post.

I challenge you to take one day a week to get real and let the perfectionism go. A photo - a confession - a truth... the not-so-perfect of your life.

In the meantime, I have a chronic laundry problem that is not going away any time soon This is just the tip of the iceberg ;)

((this moment)) : henna time with my teen

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

Baby Joy

Today I had the pleasure of spending my first day with this sweet little baby. He never met me before this morning but was just as happy as can be to spend his day with me and the children - playing, eating, laughing, sleeping and singing.
I have to admit after spending time with such a sweet and easy baby, I *almost* got the itch again. I stress almost because I really am happy with our family just the way it is... my heart and my hands are full - but he was so so sweet - if they were all that way, we'd probably all have HUGE families :) I guess its a good thing they aren't! He was able to spend all day with his sister. This is one of the things that I find most wonderful about home childcare environments and mixed-age care. I think it is ideal for siblings to be able spend their time together if possible in childcare, especially when they are young. Kyla made her brother laugh and laugh all day :)

Now to find a way get that sweet baby smell out of my mind...

xoxo

Crocheting for a Cause

This past week, I taught Keira how to crochet. We've learned before but this time she really got it! I love to crochet. I've done some knitting and still do but, for me, crocheting just comes so much more easily.

When I was around Keira's age my Nanny taught me how to do the chain stitch and single crochet. She wasn't an avid crocheter but she knew the basics and when I became an adult I remembered her teaching me and picked it back up rather easily with just a simple how-to book.

This week we worked on washcloths - the pattern is really for dishcloths but they can be used just the same in the tub and the girls LOVE them! They work up so quickly and are so pretty.

The oil spill disaster has been heavy on my heart each moment. I can't stop thinking about all of those innocent animals and our beautiful earth. I feel so helpless knowing it is out of my hands - feeling as if there is nothing I can do but sit and wait and watch... and pray... and hope.

Then a woman posted a link on Facebook to this wonderful project to help clean the animals affected by this horrible disaster. The project is to make or buy and send in washcloths in groups of 10-20 along with gentle dish soap which will be used to help clean oil-ridden mammals, dolphins and sea birds. I explained the spill to my two oldest daughters and also this wonderful project. They were instantly on a mission to crochet and knit as many washcloths as they can.

It's not much, we know. Our 40 washcloths may help only that many living things - just a drop in the pail. But its something... we're doing something to help... and not just standing by watching it all fall apart.

I encourage you to join along. You do not have to be crafty. You can cut up old towels, sew, knit, crochet or even buy them to send along. They shouldn't be fancy. They will eventually be destroyed by oil and thrown away. We will be crocheting very simple and quick ones for this charity. The deadline says July 3rd - so get your hooks out today.

If you do participate, please leave a link in comments so we can share our positive energy to inspire each other.

xoxox

Making Rose Perfume

It has never failed so far. Each year, as we begin the first week of June at Little Acorn Learning... the first rose in our garden blooms. In my June Guide, we celebrate Summer Roses the first week - it just amazes me how this always seems to work out.

The children and I worked together to make Rose Perfume/Cologne. First, I carefully cut the roses and the children enjoyed smelling them.

Mmmmmmm

What? Boys don't like roses?????

Then we picked the petals off the flowers and put them in a jar. This was so much fun!

What a great way to practice our fine motor skills ;)

Look how many petals we collected! We let the petals sit in a mixture of water and alcohol - and added a small amount of vanilla and lavender. They sat and soaked for three days!

When it was ready, my daughters and I poured the perfume into pretty jars. The result was a very light but pretty fragrance. We've used it on our skin, in our laundry and in our bath. As with all things when working with young children, I truly feel that the magic lies in the PROCESS not the end product. I think this should transfer over to our adult life too....

How are you being mindful to enjoy the process of your every day tasks in life.. rather than rushing ahead with some future benefit in mind?

Take time to smell the roses today :)

xoxo