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| Lookin' for adventure... |
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| And whatever comes her way... |
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Monday, April 11, 2011
Birthday weekend and Spring days
Finally...Spring is giving us some warmth after months of coats and icy windshields!! This weekend included Jay's birthday, and the sunshine allowed us all to spend time together outside, walking out to Morse Pond in Wellesley and then returning home to grill out in the backyard.
Today the temps were in the mid 70's!! The girls and I took advantage of the opportunity to wear shorts and soak up some sunshine. Love these little teases of summer!
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| Decorating Daddy's birthday gifts |
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| Creating a birthday banner for Daddy's birthday |
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| Playing at the lake |
Today the temps were in the mid 70's!! The girls and I took advantage of the opportunity to wear shorts and soak up some sunshine. Love these little teases of summer!
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| Already looking summery (she put the stickers on her leg a week ago and the WON'T come off!) |
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| A face flushed with warmth and sun rather than cold! |
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| Checking out the insect situation |
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Wednesday
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| An unraveled ribbon inspired several rousing rounds of limbo, though their form may have been a little unusual |
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| Happy to play in the sunshine |
Monday, April 4, 2011
Never let a two year-old in on a practical joke,...
Happy Monday! I plan to start doing something more formal here in the coming weeks, but for now, here are a few pictures and stories from the past few days....
Friday was April Fools Day and this was the first year that the girls (well, Willow) really understood the concept and was excited about the possibilities. A few weeks prior, we planned a joke on Jay (Daddy), that we called "Operation Fake Cake". Jay is known for his love of all things sweet-- especially cake-- so we planned to frost and decorate an old plastic container so that it looked like a delicious cake and then present it to him after dinner, waiting for the disappointment as he tries to cut into it (hmmm...that sounds kinda mean now that I write it out :). The girls were beside themselves with excitement!
Here is the plastic container awaiting frosting:
The plan was good and the caked looked real, so we were sure our plan would go off without a hitch. However, we didn't consider the fact that two year-olds are terrible at keeping secrets. So, Daddy walks in the door after work and immediately April Fools Day chaos erupts. Willow goes into her first joke-- telling Jay that she had lost her first tooth and as she is yelling the April Fools Day punchline, Indigo jumps in with her "cow goes to the moooovies" joke (she thought a practical joke meant telling jokes and this kid is a regular Don Rickles ). Then Willow loudly asks me where Daddy can have the real cake now (Her attempt to make Daddy think the cake is real and no, the accent on the word real doesn't call attention to the fact that the cake is fake at all), then, Indigo screams "De cake is plastic!! Don't eat de plastic cake!!", which made Willow pout, until Jay told her that he didn't hear the super loud reveal. Willow accepted this and we just went and brought the cake to Jay, at which point he dug in and feigned surprise at the fake cake. All of this happened within a couple of minutes of Jay coming in the door. The girls were delighted with their joke and Jay and I have never laughed so hard. These ages are the best!
Other things we did the past few days....
Caroline wasn't able to come to art class on Thursday, so the girls and I did a classic art project ore suited to their ages-- marbled paintings made with shaving cream. The idea is simple-- each child is given a tray filled with shaving cream and a few dots of paint. They use their finger or a brush to rake through the cream, swirling the color around. The swirls are pretty and the kids can mix the colors in places to make new colors. Once they are done, I laid a piece of heavy art paper on top, to capture the the marbled art. You are supposed to scrape the shaving cream off the paper, but I liked the chunky look of the shaving cream contrasted with the smooth swirls of paint. This is a fun, but super messy project.
The next day we did another project with our current favorite art material-- bleeding art tissue paper. I gave each girl some strips of different colored papers and a moistened piece of watercolor paper (they have to say "bleeding art tissue" -- regular tissue paper doesn't work). They then tore the strips into different pieces and placed them all over the wet paper. We gave them one last spritz with the spray bottle (too little and the color won't come through, too much and the colors will run all over) and let dry.
They make beautiful abstract art! The next day we took them down and removed the tissues, leaving the color behind on the paper. Then we used pens to doodle on the little splotches of color, using our imaginations to find all sorts of different objects in the shapes and drawing outlines around them. This was definitely a favorite project and one that we'll be doing again and again!
Friday was April Fools Day and this was the first year that the girls (well, Willow) really understood the concept and was excited about the possibilities. A few weeks prior, we planned a joke on Jay (Daddy), that we called "Operation Fake Cake". Jay is known for his love of all things sweet-- especially cake-- so we planned to frost and decorate an old plastic container so that it looked like a delicious cake and then present it to him after dinner, waiting for the disappointment as he tries to cut into it (hmmm...that sounds kinda mean now that I write it out :). The girls were beside themselves with excitement!
Here is the plastic container awaiting frosting:
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| And the finished cake with two devious helpers |
The plan was good and the caked looked real, so we were sure our plan would go off without a hitch. However, we didn't consider the fact that two year-olds are terrible at keeping secrets. So, Daddy walks in the door after work and immediately April Fools Day chaos erupts. Willow goes into her first joke-- telling Jay that she had lost her first tooth and as she is yelling the April Fools Day punchline, Indigo jumps in with her "cow goes to the moooovies" joke (she thought a practical joke meant telling jokes and this kid is a regular Don Rickles ). Then Willow loudly asks me where Daddy can have the real cake now (Her attempt to make Daddy think the cake is real and no, the accent on the word real doesn't call attention to the fact that the cake is fake at all), then, Indigo screams "De cake is plastic!! Don't eat de plastic cake!!", which made Willow pout, until Jay told her that he didn't hear the super loud reveal. Willow accepted this and we just went and brought the cake to Jay, at which point he dug in and feigned surprise at the fake cake. All of this happened within a couple of minutes of Jay coming in the door. The girls were delighted with their joke and Jay and I have never laughed so hard. These ages are the best!
Other things we did the past few days....
Caroline wasn't able to come to art class on Thursday, so the girls and I did a classic art project ore suited to their ages-- marbled paintings made with shaving cream. The idea is simple-- each child is given a tray filled with shaving cream and a few dots of paint. They use their finger or a brush to rake through the cream, swirling the color around. The swirls are pretty and the kids can mix the colors in places to make new colors. Once they are done, I laid a piece of heavy art paper on top, to capture the the marbled art. You are supposed to scrape the shaving cream off the paper, but I liked the chunky look of the shaving cream contrasted with the smooth swirls of paint. This is a fun, but super messy project.
The next day we did another project with our current favorite art material-- bleeding art tissue paper. I gave each girl some strips of different colored papers and a moistened piece of watercolor paper (they have to say "bleeding art tissue" -- regular tissue paper doesn't work). They then tore the strips into different pieces and placed them all over the wet paper. We gave them one last spritz with the spray bottle (too little and the color won't come through, too much and the colors will run all over) and let dry.
They make beautiful abstract art! The next day we took them down and removed the tissues, leaving the color behind on the paper. Then we used pens to doodle on the little splotches of color, using our imaginations to find all sorts of different objects in the shapes and drawing outlines around them. This was definitely a favorite project and one that we'll be doing again and again!
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| Yesterday we went to a sweet little farm near us to visit the many amusing animals. |
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| And then off to the garden center to daydream about our garden. No plants yet-- but there was this giant rocking chair that Willow commandeered |
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Calm before the storm...
A beautiful, but cold, day today!It would be nice if nature would give us a warm day here and there but I can't complain--- especially since we are due for a nor'easter this Friday! We decided to enjoy our sunny day by bundling up and heading to the lake in town to throw rocks in the water. I can't think of a better way to spend the day!
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| Sailboats on the lake, courtesy of the sailing club at the high school |
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| I didn't realize she had climbed up on the railing, Grandmas! |
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| Willow has been asking me to make a sandwich like this for weeks. |
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| Today we made rice crispy treats from Isa's Vegan Cookies Invade the Cookie Jar. Awesome that they are made with brown rice syrup and maple syrup instead of marshmallow! |
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| Willow worked hard on this list for me to take to the grocery store. It is a list of things that Indigo is and is not allergic to. Notice that only (wheat-free) noodles are on the "can eat" column-- it's her favorite food! |
Monday, March 28, 2011
Another cold weekend! The wind was brutal and made the days feel like midwinter instead of Spring. We are looking ahead, though, and have lots of exciting plans made for Summer! We now have camping reservations in June, tickets for a trip to Oregon in late June (while our kitchen is being remodeled WOOT!!), tickets to the Gathering of the Vibes (a big outdoor music festival in Connecticut, headlined by Further-- the remaining Grateful Dead members) in July, and lots of other ideas in the works. Now to get through the last of this chilly weather....
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| Thursday was art day. We looked at art by Gustav Klimt and created some mixed media inspired by his Golden Period. |
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| Willow had her piano lesson on Friday and Indigo insisted on practicing at home while Willow was gone. She really is pretty good for a two year-old! |
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| At the park |
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| Getting the planting beds ready for our garden! |
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| On Sunday we visited Wellesley College. The campus is beautiful and includes several lakes. |
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| There is also an amazing Gothic tower in the center of campus! Can't wait to come back when the trees leaf out! |
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Scenes from the day
Today...
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| Willow's list of potential gifts for my birthday (1. Art, 2. Plants) |
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| Playing at the park on a chilly day |
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| Playing farmer |
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