: )

Hey, why not introduce yourself ?!?!?! I'd love to know who you are!

Never too old for finger painting...

K came for a playdate today. She usually only comes after preschool but was coming for the whole day so we had lots of extra playtime. I decided we would do some good old finger painting - sometimes as kids get older and more able to control a paintbrush or sponge or stamp, things like finger painting and being able to feel the paint squish between their fingers become a thing of the past. I realized we hadn't done any in a while so we set to work. I like to squirt the paint directly on the surface and then gently press a piece of paper over the masterpiece to get prints so that is what we did......

Yesterday.....

It was just T2 and I at home yesterday and I was stuck for ideas. I though of painted feet penguin pictures but then realized I had no black paint so that will have to wait for another day. T2 wanted to play with her chicks which she rediscovered in the cupboard. I realized that she has been enjoying these chicks for 3 years now. She used to shake them and drool on them, then she would put the shell tops on and has since learned how to put each egg in it's correct place (the bottoms are shaped differently) and to match the shells correctly (each chick has a different pair of eyes and they are also on it's shell top.) I think they have been one of our most played with toys.

We did a little pencil control practice - she can do a good job tracing over the letters of her name which takes a while because there are 8 letters.





Then we had a snowball fight. An indoor snowball fight. I made these snowballs (still a few more to make but I ran out of yarn) using a small circular loom. I loomed using a craft store styrofoam ball as a filler. I basically loomed a tube and threaded yarn through the open ends and pulled them tight enclosing the ball. The fuzzy yarn has a nice feel to it and they are light and pretty fun to toss around. We mostly just aimed them into a basket.



Today is a school day so I should be working my way through a list of chores - or I could enjoy the tranquility of an empty house and work on a project.......

Today T2 figured out how to (kind of) draw around something to use it as a stencil. She was so pleased with herself! The little hand mirror was her chosen object.

Sugar sugar

After dinner this evening we tried to build Igloos from sugar cubes. It was fun balancing the cubes. T2 built a tower, G manages an Igloo with a roof and no door, I managed an entrance but no roof and T1 decided to replicate the Colosseum. It was fun and a nice quiet activity to spend a few extra minutes at the kitchen table before beginning the evening routine of baths and showers.

Sugar, glorious sugar!




Here's T2 working on hers





G's doorless Igloo



My roofless Igloo




T1s Colosseum



Down it came



Debris



We're recycling the sugar cubes by passing them onto a friend to build Igloos with her kids : )

Wanting....wishing......waiting.....

We have seen a house we like with this view. I want it so badly that I can't think about anything else. I can't settle. I am totally consumed with thoughts of us living there.....

Afternoon 'doings'

Nap time is drawing to a close in our house. T1 stopped napping the same week he turned 3, T2 is 3.5 and still needs to nap - not everyday but about every third day. Today was not one of those days but she did have 'quiet' time in her room for a while with her books, doll house and stuffed animals.

After nap time, she chose to colour a couple of fish pictures, prompted by her ice fishing this morning! Her colouring is becoming more controlled and expressive.

Then we spent some time working with our Fun Thinkers which T2 loves. T1 does too - he has the grade 3 book. I just noticed we put the 16 round the wrong way ::blush::

Afterwards we played Zingo . T2 had never played this before and loved it, so we'll play this often from now on!

From one extreme to another....

Today we went ice fishing! It's even colder today so perfect for some ice fishing. It's easy - all you need are: a container to hold the water, packing tape/clear wrap/contact paper, toy fishing rod and fish.

Fill container about 2/3 full with water, add a couple drops blue food colouring or paint (optional)
Add fish.
Tape across the top of container.
Cut hole in tape - reinforce opening with more tape if necessary.
Go fish!

I added snow to the top but only because we have plenty to spare!!

If you can't play at the beach....

Another freezing day here today, too cold to play outside due to frostbite warning. I don't mind the winter but I do love the warmer weather when playing outside is an option most days. Despite the beauty of snowy landscapes - I can't help but drool over the thought of warm sunshine, beach, ocean, sandcastles, paddling toes in the water....

I figured if we can't go to the beach - the beach can come to us. I grabbed a tray, couldn't access any sand as the sandbox is frozen shut and buried beneath a lot of snow so I raided the kitchen and found cornmeal and oats - perfect sand and pebbles/shells, some scrunched up blue tissue from the craft supplies, a few rocks to hold it in place - a few small characters and T2 and her friend K had all they needed for some beach time imaginative play....

Perfect match

I was walking to preschool to collect T2 and her friend K yesterday, when a neighbour stopped me and asked if I would like another snow suit for T2. I jumped at the chance because firstly, I love hand-me-downs and secondly, because T2's current snow pants keep falling down and are not particularly great all in all. My neighbour said she would catch me on my way home and give it to me. In the hustle and bustle of hearing about the girls' morning and helping them into their outdoor clothes to come home, then enjoying the walk with the girls in the toboggan, I forgot all about it until my nice neighbour jumped in front of me and handed me a bag. T2 was excited to see what she was getting and was thrilled with the funky coat and bright red snow pants. I was equally as happy because it was a great snow suit and just happened to perfectly match the hat I was looming for her, which I completed shortly after receiving the suit!

To blow off the cobwebs of a morning in the house, we decided to bundle up and wander to the mailbox at the end of the street. T2 was very excited to wear her 'new' snow suit and bobble hat! (busted!!!! - yes I am British!!!). I want to take the bobble/pompom off but T2 really wanted one.

Brrrr

It's super cold today - cold enough that I half expect to see a Penguin or Polar Bear in the backyard! With a possible house move in our near future (fireplace, backs onto lake, rural location, small village school, slower pace of life aaaaaaah), I have lots to do around the house. However much I want to do other things - I have to get this house ready for sale so today was a bit of a play-with-anything-as-long-as-you-tidy-up-when-you're-done day. T2 has spent much of the morning engrossed in a game involving both farm and safari. She loves miniature animals and has been collecting them for the past year. She needed somewhere to play with them so I made her a safari/farm play board by painting a board for her and she loves it.

days like these.....

It's cold and snowy again today and it makes me want to light a fire and curl up under a blanket with a good book. We don't have a fireplace in this house so this will have to do!! (we're looking at another house and it does have one - yayyy).

No theme collage

I cut a frame from paper and stuck it to a piece of clear contact paper.



T2 added the collage pieces she wanted to and then some sparkles.

I added a second piece of contact paper and T2 glued around the edge.

T2 chose to display it on the playroom window (glue stick cleans off glass easily).

We celebrated T1's 9th Birthday with G's family. Celebration number 3 follows on Saturday with a remote control car racing party with his buddies.