Worm Farm

The kids spent yesterday digging. While they were digging, they discovered worms. Lots of 'em. Lots of little tiny worms and a few juicy fat ones!So we spent the day learning about worms. How they are natures composters and that they aren't "icky" but instead very helpful. We made a quart jar worm farm made with layers of mud, oatmeal, and sand with about 20 worms added. You can find the complete directions here. Now, we just have to be patient and wait about a week or so to see what those worms do! Find more earthworm facts:
National Geographic
The Adventures of Herman the Worm
Composting with worms

Discovering New Things On a Hike

I'm a big fan of the Take-Along Guides series of books for kids. These books are perfect for younger kids as they are not so jammed full of information that kids can't find what they're looking for, they cover only the animals (or trees, flowers, etc. depending on the topic of the book) that you are most likely to see, and the illustrations are clear and helpful. Eli and Sadie recently got the book Tracks, Scats, and Signs. We brought it with us on our latest "hike" to Prairie Oaks Metro Park. This is a great park because it has prairie, forest, river, wetlands, and relatively short un-paved trails (and the fact that it has a playground and bathrooms doesn't hurt either). The park meets all our needs and it is filled with a wide-range of wild-life, not bad for a 15 minute drive from our house!We set off on our hike and the first thing we found was some very furry scat. This scat was probably the most interesting that I've ever seen as it contained an entire foot with bones and claws still attached. I'm guessing that it used to belong to a rabbit or perhaps a squirrel. We quickly paged through our book to find that the scat probably came from a coyote:It just spent four days raining in a Columbus so tracks were very easy to find and identify. The first we spotted came from a deer:Down by the river we identified a perfect raccoon hand:And we think that this print might belong to a muskrat:We also found signs that a beaver lives near by:I'm including this picture because we have seen a lot of them lately mostly in grasses or wetlands areas. They look papery, but are more spongy and they look like they would be very sticky, but they're not. I'm guessing they belong to some kind of insect, but if anyone knows, I'd love to know:We also found a perfect blue and black striped feather from a blue jay, which is perhaps my favorite find of the day. By the end of the trip, Eli was able to tell us a lot of the animals that lived in the park that we didn't actually see, but saw signs of. It was a great day for a hike and a great day to see tracks, scats and signs!!

The Butterfly Release

The butterflies emerged before I was ready for it. The first one was born inside it's little cup because I was still waiting for the lurker to build it's chrysalis (which it never did and has since passed on) so she has little wrinkled wings. I promptly moved the rest of the chrysalises into the netted cage so they could have a safer place to live. The rest emerged unscathed and were so beautiful to look at. Here you can see the empty chrysalis and underneath their is some red goo on the mesh netting that came from the wings and the chrysalis. I'm not really sure what it is.

The butterflies should have been released a lot sooner, but it has been pouring rain in Columbus and we didn't want to send them off into a wet world. We waited until yesterday when the sun was shining. Here's Eli slowing unzipping the zipper.Three of them quickly fluttered away on the wind, but our little damaged wing lady had a harder time. She could hardly get off the ground but she eventually disappeared from us as well.I'm really tempted to order another set of caterpillars and do some journaling with Eli. It was so much fun the first time to watch the changes!

The Caterpillars Came!!

And they've already entered the Pupa stage! Here they are hiding out in their chrysalis:We picked up a butterfly house at Target several weeks ago and sent in the enclosed coupon for caterpillars. They arrived about a week later from a company called Insect Lore. The caterpillars came with food in a sterile cup, so we didn't have to do anything but wait for them to crawl to the top of the cup to make their chrysalis. Once they've all made it to the top (we still have one lurking...) we can move them into their butterfly house. We should have painted lady butterflies in about a week. I'll keep you posted throughout the metamorphosis.

Getting the Table Ready

My children never ask me to paint. Never. But, I want them to like arts and crafts so I lead them to water, so-to-speak. When they go down for their naps, I put out some sort of creative activity for them to wake up too. It's amazing how quickly they sit down and get to work on an artsy-craftsy project that has been laid out for them. I guess it's hard to resist once it's right in front of them!

Meet the Egg People: Growing Grass Inside Eggshells

For this project you will need:

• eggs
• egg carton
• grass seed
• soil
• markers and scissors
  

Directions:

1) Very carefully cut off the top of an egg. (Put the eggs aside to make omelets later.) With warm soapy water, gently clean out the eggs and allow to dry.2) Carefully, fill the eggs about 3/4 full with soil. Add the grass seed. Then cover with more soil.

3) Add water, then place in the sun and wait patiently for about a week, watering as needed. Once the grass has started to grow you should still wait a little longer until you have a good head of "hair".4) With a damp cloth, wash all dirt and debris from the egg. Draw a face.
5. Start to "trim" the "hair".6. After receiving their hair cuts. Put them back in the sun and allow their hair to grow back.

7. Repeat steps 5 &6.

Valentine's Day Stuff

We've been busy doing Valentine's stuff from around blogland. Here are some links of what we've been up too.

• Making heart shaped lollipops from leftover candy canes at Skip to My Lou
• Making Flower Valentines at Skip to My Lou
• Making Butterfly Valentines also at Skip to My Lou (Eli has two parties!)
• Making Snail Valentines at Zakka Life
• Growing heart shaped crystals from Mom In Madison
• Valentine color container painting at Scrumdilly-Do
• Making purple kool-aid playdough with red glitter (This is the playdough recipe I have used since I started teaching, minus the kool-aid with food coloring added to the water. I cook it in the microwave for about 2 1/2 minutes, stirring every 30 seconds or so until it is no longer wet and forms a ball. Add the glitter when it has finished cooking.)

Iceberg Rescue

Oh, No! Some animals got frozen into a gigantic iceberg and need to be rescued before they lose their air supply. Super Eli to the rescue!It's a good thing that Super Eli has the right tools for the job and he uses a towel so he doesn't make a mess: a super hero every mother can love!Can he do it? Yes he can.

Free Rice

Did you know that 25,000 people die each day from hunger or hunger-related problems? Well, here's a small way you can help. Go to www.freerice.com and play a game. For each question you get right 20 grains of rice will be donated to the UN World Food Program. Excellent! My plan is every time I let my children play with food, I'm going to visit the site and answer a whole bunch of questions. Feed my mind and feed the World. What a great idea! You can read more about FreeRice and their mission here.

Yoga With Kids

I'm new to Yoga. It's a whole new world for me and I love it. I practice some at home in the afternoons and sometimes the kids are around to watch. Well, wouldn't you know that the kids just joined right in? Kids are naturals at this stuff. Eli makes up his own yoga moves and gives them silly names, but oftentimes they are actual yoga moves.As soon as the kids started showing interest, I frantically started searching for "Yoga for Kids" books. I found a really great book and dvd combination called Yogakids. It's a Yoga Program for kids developed by Marsha Wenig, a certified yoga instructor.

What I like about the Yogakids book is that it gives parents step-by-step directions to each pose, tells you why it is important, and gives you silly information and other activities to try while doing the pose. It also gives you helpful hints on ways to help your child with the pose, some dos and don'ts and more information on helping your child use yoga during more trying times in their lives. For example, taking deep breaths when you are feeling anxious, thumping their chest when they are feeling sluggish, etc. And Ms. Wenig wants it to be fun and admits that it can get kind of crazy and out of hand and that that is perfectly ok.We checked out the dvds from the library and they follow the book, and have some interesting songs. Eli and Sadie both join along and try the poses that they feel comfortable with and Sadie sings "Namaste, namaste, namaste". Kids learn so fast too. I can tell Eli to get into Cobra, Down Dog, or Lion and he can do it without batting an eye, though his favorite pose is the pose of the child. I have to admit that that's my favorite too.

Fall Activity #13: Homemade Puzzles

1. Google "Halloween Coloring Page" to find a coloring page. Print the coloring page onto card stock.
2. Color the picture.
3. Cut the picture into puzzle size pieces. This could be 3 or it could be 20 depending on ability.
4. Assemble the puzzle.

Fall Activity #5: Apple Picking and Apple Pie

This time of year the apples are perfect for picking and the kids love to get in on the action. We pick at a local orchard called Lynd's that has a variety of apples to pick during September and October as well as pumpkins and pears. We went when we could pick Melrose and Suncrisp. The Suncrisp apples are yellow and tart and are perfect for eating and making pies. The kids did not help me make the pie, but they did help me eat it. Apple Pie with Crumb Crust
For single pie crust crust:
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup shortening
1/8 tsp. salt
4-5 Tbsp. cold water

Roll out and put in a 9" pie plate.

For Filling:
6-8 tart apples (6 cups), peeled, cored and thinly sliced
1 cup sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
2 Tbsp. cornstarch

Combine and spoon on top of the pie dough.

For Crumb Crust:
1/3 cup sugar
3/4 cup flour
6 Tbsp. chilled butter

Combine until resembles coarse crumbs. Sprinkle over the apple filling. Bake in a 350 degree oven on a rimmed cookie sheet for 50 minutes to an hour or until the top is golden brown. Serve with vanilla ice cream.

Fall Activity #2: Nature Walk and Collection Necklace

Fall days in Columbus are so beautiful. I love this time of year. The weather is perfect: sunny, cool in the morning, warm in the afternoon. It's the perfect weather to take a little nature walk and explore the changing leaves, nuts, seeds and berries. We went to a local arboretum that is just a stones throw from our house and collected leaves (for a project I'll post tomorrow), seeds, acorns and whatever else they found to be interesting, but mostly berries. The kids love berries. I love this little collection necklace that we made by sewing two bowls together. Every time Sadie bent over she spilled everything out of her bowl, so we spent a lot of time picking up the spilled contents of her collection necklace. The necklace is very fragile. Do not wrestle while wearing the necklace. This picture was taken after said wrestling match; it looks a little smooshed and I had to staple it back together. In case you're concerned, Sadie does not have some sort of rash or infectious disease on her arm, she just stamped all over them!

Our Favorite "Go-To" Activity

When the kids get bored, the first activity that comes to my mind is usually cleaning objects with a toothbrush. Ok, that's a total lie. It's usually going outside to play followed by putting on a video if I'm feeling particularly lazy. Luckily, they don't get "bored" too often yet. I don't know why the kids love washing things with a toothbrush so much, but they do. It involves water, soapsuds, a small tool and accomplishing a relatively easy task.
Here's the Sadester washing seashells that we collected from the river. This particular river is totally nasty, so the seashells really needed to be cleaned and probably should have been bleached too:Washing rocks in the pool:Eli's carwash, er' tonguewash:

A Mini Obstacle Course

We discovered a new way to waste time in our backyard: build an obstacle course. It's been a blast watching the kids create their own, theirs' usually being a lot more creative and difficult than mine. Please excuse the blurry shots. It's really hard to get good pictures of moving kids.
Here's the whole set up. You start at the tunnel and end at the basketball hoop (not pictured): Crawl through the tunnel:Over the table:Crawl under the pool:Go down the slide:Race across the lawn on the "bike":Finally, shoot (and make) a basket:
How have you been keeping busy in your yard this summer?

Friends, Fondue, and Fun

What do you get when you take 3 pots of cheese, 4 loaves of bread, 4 pots of chocolate, a ton of fruits and vegetables and other yummy goodness AND 10 starving moms desperate to have a night out?

ONE ROCKIN' MOM'S NIGHT OUT!

I've already mentioned that I have the coolest mommy friends ever and it was once again reiterated last night. Every month we have MNO (Mom's Night Out) hosted by one member of the group. We usually go out to dinner, but last night we had a pot-luck fondue party in a room we rented at a community center followed by bowling and bubble tea. Each lady brought something fondue-ish to share, which meant that there was way too much food, but everything was absolutely delicious. The conversation took all sorts of twists and turns from showering with husbands (sex has to mentioned at least once every MNO's. It's an unwritten rule.) to problems getting pregnant (so heartbreaking) to blogging (of course!) and we got to do it all without any interruptions from our children. Yea! We all walked away filled in every possible way. Some of us even had our pants unbuttoned but still managed to eat 3 more brownie bites covered in chocolate and drink a milk thai tea with bubbles. Here are some highlights.
Chowing down:
Me getting into some serious bowling action. Don't worry. I only scored an 85 or something rediculously low like that. I tend to be a gutter-strike-gutter-strike kind of person:A kiss for good-luck:

Enjoying (or not) the bubble tea:

I think karaoke is next!!!

P.S. Thanks Alyssa for letting me steal your photos!

Tips For Camping With Pre-Schoolers Or Toddlers

Long gone are the days when Dennis and I could throw our camping gear in the back of the pick-up, drive until dark, pull over onto some random gravel road, and sleep in the bed of the truck. Long gone are the days of 15 mile hikes that took all day, but led you to the most awesome viewpoints. Long gone are packpacking trips into the wilderness where you don't see anther soul for several days. We've entered a new phase of our outdoor lives. It's the "camping with young children" phase and it's been exciting and exhausting all at the same time.

We haven't attempted anything too rugged yet only car camping in state parks, which has given the kids a good feel for tent camping. I think we might be ready to do some backwoods primitive camping, but we're no where near doing any backpack camping with the kids and probably won't be until Eli is old enough to carry his own stuff!

On the car ride home from our last camping excursion, Dennis and I compiled this list of tips for camping with your pre-schooler and/or toddler:

1. Have a practice campout in your backyard (or someone else's backyard) before you go-- camping comes with all sorts of noises: rustling of sleeping bags, tents unzipping, owls, crickets, footsteps, nuts dropping as well as sleeping with family members on the hard ground that your kid may or may not be used to. It's good to see how your child will handle this situation. It's better to try when you are at home and can escape by going inside instead of when you are at a campground and it's 3am and you're worried about your toddler screaming her head off and waking other campers.

2. Pick a park that has activities that the whole family will enjoy-- Entertaining your wee ones won't be so challenging if they have things to do that they enjoy. We try to pick locations that have good hiking for us and swimming for the kids. Playgrounds at the campgrounds are also a plus and so are fishing, canoe rentals, and ranger talks/activities.

3. Pick your campsite wisely-- Is it close to the bathrooms? Near water? Away from other campers so it's more quiet? Also, make sure that it is safe for your children: no steep drop offs, large pools of water, too close to a busy road.

4. Expect all schedules to be off-- As with all vacations, your child's schedule will be different than usual. Plan for an afternoon drive and plan to stay up late as it's really hard to go to sleep at 8pm in a tent when the sun is still beating down on you and other campers are having a good time. Even if you go to bed late, your toddler may still do laps inside the tent before she finally falls asleep.

5. Have kids help with camp chores -- It's never too early to teach your children how to set up camp. There are plenty of jobs around the camp site that your kids can help with: gathering kindling for the fire, unloading the car and washing dishes are good ways for the little ones to help. Our rule when we camp is to leave the camp site cleaner than we found it so everyone must pick up at least 5 pieces of trash before we leave.

6. Bring a complete first-aid kit-- Make sure that it includes extra band-aids, allergy medicine, ibuprofen, and anti-itch ointment as well as sunscreen and bugspray. It's amazing how many tumbles little ones take when there are random rocks and tree roots thrown into their path.

7. Dress your kids in layers-- It can get kind of cold some mornings when you're sleeping in your tent even in the middle of July. Bring long pants, long-sleeve shirts, sweatshirts and even hats and mittens (if it's early or late in the season) for unpredicatable weather. Also, bring several extra items of clothing to prepare for accidents (potty-training toddler, leaky diapers, falling in mud, etc.).

8. Encourage your kids to look for little details-- One of the things that Dennis and I love about hiking with our kids is their ability to see things that we would have hurriedly walked right past. We love that it takes an hour to walk 1/3 of a mile and delight in their excitement over gigantic mushrooms, blackberries, big black bugs, croaking bullfrogs, and "crazy" water.

9. When it comes to packing toys, less is more-- I strongly encourage you to leave the children's toys at home. There is so much to do out in the wilderness if you give them the opportunity to discover all that there is to do. We usually bring a soccer ball and that's it (though we always kick ourselves for forgetting sand toys). Teach your kids new games or songs or make up new ones. On our last camping trip, the sun was at the perfect angle the we could see perfect shadows of ourselves. We had an impromtu dance off complete with head stomping and everything. And my husband always jumps at the chance for a rousing game of "shoe kick".

10. Teach your kids to pee and poop in the woods-- This just makes camping a whole lot easier.

**If you want tips on camping with a baby, I am not the one to ask. We took Eli camping once when he was a baby, but I was 7 months pregnant with Sadie and peeing every 2 hours and it was almost impossible to sneak out of the tent without waking Eli. And we didn't go camping at all when Sadie was a baby because she was a really hard baby and the thought of camping with her just made me sick with anxiety. The thought of going anywhere when Sadie was a baby made me sick with anxiety!