Searching for Warmth

On one of the coldest days last week, we sought out the warmest of places:: the University's Green Houses. We even had a scheduled tour, which was pretty great. Asher didn't last for the whole tour, but we got to see some cool thing in the back rooms.

We made sure to stay hydrated during the heat wave.

Jerky Take 2

With some Asher help, we were able to turn 6lbs of Triple S farms delightful organic beef into 3lbs of jerky that we are all enjoying for a good afternoon protein treat.

Crushing whole spices and garlic.

seasoning the 1/4 inch sliced rump roast.

crushing the garlic.

And a few tablespoons of brown sugar.

A lovely sight for hungry, active bellies.

It looks like last time, just a little less spicy to the eating pleasures of the kiddos.

Crafting in Honor of Snacktime

I am totally in love with our snack bags. I love using the tiny scraps of fabric and using up other stuff I have had for too long.

This holiday season had me letting go of a lot. My first intention was to make these snack bags filled with home made fruit leather for all the great kiddos that we know. Well, we know a lot of kids and I didn't get much sewing time. But now after the holidays I have had some time, I'm not sleeping, but there has been more sewing time and that feels good (on most days). And while they aren't in the mail, they are in a pile to mail.

These bags are great for kids, Asher can open them and clost them on his own, plus they are reusable, unlike the standard ziplock.

Into the Woods:: 1/21 & 25

Despite the grey we are still getting outside. The weather has turned a little colder today, but the woods are still a retreat for us.

Our last hike on Monday, A wasn't so into the walking with his friends. Instead he was an owl in a tree.

Squishy, Squashy

To get out of our Sunday funk, we headed outside. The sun was no longer shining and there was the perfect amount of chill in the air to remind you of all your body parts. Mud boots came out of storage and we stomped along.

This pond is one of our regular places we like to visit. Just south of Homer Lake, we kayak, fish and look for frogs.

And it was our first trip out with the sling shot in ages. Yes I have a problem with play guns, but I love, love the sling shot. I found these at an Environmental Ed conference I attended 4 years ago- and I would often go into the woods looking for slingables and practice my aim. While Asher is lacking some of the motor control, it was fun to play around with it and he did successfully get a pine cone to fling a few feet.and he of course thought playing with mama's toy was pretty cool.Before he discovered the ice and wanted to be a penguin.

It Shines

Luckily for us we got to see our shadows for a whole 7 minutes this morning for the first time in 10 days.

We are experiencing a lot of grey around here these days, plus a lot of sleepless teething nights, needless to say it has been a little tough to get motivated to do anything but the bare minimum.

Exploration Boxes

As I try my hardest to bring about a greater sense of rythmn to our days, I have been looking back to my roots of teaching. There are so many things that I love/loved about my chosen profession, and the biggest thing was the kids and how they responded so well to the planned and unplanned learning opportunities that we had together. Now as Ben and I enter harder parenting terrain with an incredibly smart little boy, we are in need of more ideas to occupy our days. Being winter and not able to get outside as much (we still try every day!), I was happy to know that the Urbana Free Library once again saves me.

I recently discovered the exploration boxes at the library. I checked out the gardening/growing one to help us anticipate a little bit of what will happen in the spring.

The box is filled with toys and books. I made a huge deal about bringing it home, set it within eyes view, but out of hands reach and ceremoniously took it out with River was napping, so that Asher could have some good exploration time with it on his own. He loved it. He loves that it is like going to school- learning with new materials. He loves that it is something special. River eventually joined in on the fun and got to eat the garden tools. We have read all the books and now the box is part of Asher's day. He wants to do the same thing, make a farm.
With a wooden block fence to keep out the rabbits and raccoons. He calls himself the farmer and whoever (boy or girl) playing with him, wife. Today he was growing flowers for our wedding. The farm is carefully planted each day.
and then harvested into buckets.Cauliflower Harvest
and then of course the harvests are put into the delivery truck.
Which Asher drives to the kitchen and delivers to papa who is normally cooking at this hour of play.

Of course this play has me thinking of how I can needle felt something similar and make a garden play mat for his birthday. I love these kinds of plans.

Into the Woods:: 1/18

We did hit the woods last Thursday on our regularly scheduled day, and wow it was amazingly beautiful. I went to take a first picture on that day and was very sad to discover that my memory card wasn't in the darn thing:(

So what else is there to do in town with kids on MLK day? The woods are always open. Luckily we were joined by some friends that answered my last minute playgroup plea.
Asher cracked ice with sticks.
River hung out in the usual place.
We found the evidence of what we expect was an unexpected fall into the ice for someone. Not something I would want to happen to me, be careful of thin ice.
Leaves refusing to decompose.
Our favorite seahorse surviving the cold.
Deer Scat: I was so happy to see this. We have a lot of talks about poop here on a daily basis, asher reads our big field guide to animal tracks while he poops on the potty and when he finishes he declares what kind of animal he is. He had bear and fox scat yesterday. Plus with all the deer in Busey Woods I never see the poop.
Osage Orange parts showing off their color.

Tarzan style swinging from a vine.

And Icicles. There was a lot of snow/icicle consumption on the trip. I think asher really got a big immune system boost with all the dirt particles he consumed.

But who could deny someone such simple pleasure? (rhetorical question, I actually know the answer.)