Nature through the eyes of a child

I have wanted to do nature studies and journals in a Charlotte Mason style for a long time now. I'm still not doing them in a Charlotte Mason style, but this year has been the first time, I'm moving in the right direction. We visited a local wetlands area with some friends this week. It seemed a little barren when we arrived, but the kids were so excited about what they were seeing, it opened my eyes to the things around me. They were drawing in sketch books and nature journals whatever struck them as interesting. It was cool to see it through their eyes...every leaf, blade of grass, barren tree was worthy of a rubbing or drawing. I think as adults, we need to stop and look at God's creation like our kids did. Look at everything as a wonder. God has such awesome imagination and creativity, let's not forget to praise Him for it.

Recipe: Homemade Caramel Corn

I discovered this awesome caramel corn recipe:My Amish Friend's Caramel CornThis is one of those that you just can't stop eating--pair that with roasted pumpkin seeds and candy corn with peanuts--and you are definitely in trouble.

Pumpkin Carving

Marking the Design

Approval
Now comes the dirty work...




Finished Product

My Little Chef

This 2nd year is so fun. Their little eyes are open to all the fun stuff around them. Michael dressed up as a little chef for Halloween. We went to a trunk or treat with friends. He was in his stroller with his little bowl for candy and his spatula. His eyes just lit up as these weird people in costumes gave him cool packages to stir in his bowl. He got so many compliments on his simple costume pulled from Tera and Daniel's dress up bin. I can't wait until Christmas!

Fall Fun

50's Sock Hopper, Magician and Little Chef




Trunk or Treat with Friends


One of the highlights of the evening was when some older kid asked, "Does he know any tricks? ha ha!" Daniel was prepared with a silk handkerchief in his sleeve and pulled it out in a flash with lots of flair. The kid's attention span was about 2.5 seconds so he didn't notice it until it waved in the air in front of his face. His response, "What the c@%p!? Where did he get that? First there was nothin' and then all of a sudden, there it was!!!" That made our little Houdini's night.

Tera's costume was a last minute thing since her other homemade costume idea didn't work out. She had no frame of reference for the 50's era but I told her, people would know exactly what her costume was supposed to be. It made her night when an older woman told her she looked just like she did growing up.

No Bones About It

We dissected owl pellets with friends last week. The kids absolutely loved this. I've never been really big on dissections, so it's nice to be apart of a group where we can take up each other's slack.






For more pics of our day, check out: It's a Boy's Life
and The Forest Room