The Junky Park

I've lived in this neighborhood for 8 or 9 years now.  It's just on the edge of the ghetto.  Our particular block is fairly safe (if you don't count all our stolen/vandalized/hit and run cars and what not) but go a little ways up the street and not so much.  There's a park on the other end (the nice end) of our block and across a pretty busy street.  I've always referred to this as "the junky park" and we didn't go there.  We got in the car and drove across town to nicer parks.  And that's just fine.  I felt good about it.  But now, things may be changing.  We went sledding at the "junky park" a couple weeks ago and I don't know if it's just that everything looks prettier in the snow or what but we decided to give it another shot.  Well, the only shot really.  It. Was. Awesome.

There is a basketball court and a playground plus tons of running around space.  Johnny went with us and we had so much fun!  The kids found an abandoned (and flat) basketball and spent an hour trying to get it in the hoop.

Then they gave that up for running and kicking it. 

Johnny's thinking..."Man that's high."

Still trying.

So...everybody write this on your calendar.  I WAS WRONG.  The junky park is totally not junky.


They are Peekin' over at Happily Home Sewn and I'm linkin'.

Learning: It's awesome.

Here's a learning update for you!  Lots of pictures of what we do around here school wise.  It's been fun.  I think we've almost become unschoolers in that Fisher becomes interested in something and we sort of run with it.  But we occasionally still do worksheets. :) 

I especially love hearing/seeing Fisher teach his sister.  I believe it's also a good learning exercise for him.  A review of sorts.

 Piper working on her handwork.  Beading or "sewing" as she calls it.

We also really enjoy learning about arts and crafts.  I've told you where I stand on creativity.  It's pretty important.

Here we are learning about weaving.

 Fisher's not quite finished product.

Pipey's finished product.

Apple stamping on fabric.  I'm not sure what we'll do with these yet.  A wall hanging maybe?

Paper mache with Daddy.  They are making a pinata.  (still a work in progress)

An ongoing batik project that will become a quilt.  I love this picture.

We also like to use "real life" for our lessons.  A few weeks ago Fisher and I pulled up the carpet in the living room and dining room.  Real life.

Here's the before shot.

And here's the after.  My little tack strip removal expert was learning all about levers.

 Piper is observing cousin Shelby's cows.  Again, real life.

Sometimes James or I will come up with something that we can learn about and have a little impromptu lesson. For instance, we talked in the car last week about the different states of water. Gas, liquid, solid. We were on our way to hit the trail with Carly and Johnny which provided the perfect opportunity to witness two of those states in action. A stream with frozen sections. Then we talked about how applying the opposite of cold (that freezes) to the water makes steam or the gas. It was a fun little science lesson that we applied right there.  Hands on.

That's one of the things I like best about this.  The hands on learning.  It's one thing to read about science in a book, but this is something altogether different.  Finding something cool on the trail and talking about it.

Pine cones are seeds.

Baking is science and science is baking.  This project takes that to a whole new level.  James (with a little help from Fisher.  Though admittedly not much.) made a solar oven yesterday.  They started baking cookies.  Now, full disclosure, the oven building took a little longer than anticipated and the sun went behind the mountain before the cookies were fully cooked.  BUT, we plan to try again next weekend.  And really, how much fun would it be to always have your science experiment work out perfectly?

Man, it is bright!

 That's some powerful sunlight!

I don't have any pictures of this as I'm usually participating but we also play a LOT of games.  There are so many things and ways to learn by game playing!  Math & bug bingo, Appleletters, Candyland, Uno, Animal Yahtzee, Memory and more.  All learning. 

My favorite part of all this?  Watching him (or her) have difficulty with something and then getting to see the light bulb go off and watch all the pieces click into place.  I get to see him shine with pride as he figures it out.  Heck, we get to share our pride filled looks with each other.  There is a lot of high fiving going on around here.

You probably guessed this already as it's Friday and all...I'm linking this to the Peek of the Week over at Happily Home Sewn!






JKFP

Creative Thursdays.

I'm thinking of making this a regular Thursday event.  Maybe not for you all (in blogland), but for us.  Creative Thursdays can be anything really.  A big (or small) craft project or just creative play.  Here's our first one.

Never underestimate the power of a giant box...

Or two giant boxes connected with sheets.

   

You could string them with Christmas lights.

Or pretend and read books.

On a slightly related note (creatively speaking), you could nap in a unicorn costume.  OR nap in a unicorn costume INSIDE a giant box?

It's Thursday.  Get creative.

Wishing We Were...

We are not feeling well today.  It's especially a bummer as it's gymnastics day and we have to miss it.  Oh and I broke up with Target because every. single. time we go there (three days later) we get sick.  Seriously.  We were there Friday.

Anyhoo, we went for a hike Friday morning with Carly and Johnny. It was so beautiful and crisp. Perfect hiking weather.  Carly and I shared camera duty. 

Pre-hike group hug. (minus me, of course)

The first adventure leader.

I'm pretty sure this one is seconds before Johnny crashed.  Trying to keep up with the big kids can be hard sometimes.

Cutest nephew ever?



We were going for a picture of Carly with the kids.  There they all are running for the 8 foot (ish) drop off.  So... sort of a group shot success? 



Pipey took over as adventure leader.

Johnny was getting a little tired and needed a boost.

Piper was very upset that her leadership was ignored by her brother.

I'm pretty sure she was getting a little tired too.

She was devastated when I pulled the pouch out and informed her Johnny was going in it.

This was the only solution that (kinda) pleased everyone.  She was still mad he was in the pouch.

And that's how it went.

Double fisting two sleepy kids.  Isn't she precious?

This one too.

Taking a breather to check out an airplane.

It was a lovely little hike.  I feel like I got a pretty good workout in there too.  And just so you don't think Carly is a schmuck, she had torn ligaments in her back not too long ago and hasn't totally healed.  So carrying kids = not a good idea. Plus, I was evenly distributed this way.

We wish we were hiking this morning too.  Alas, Johnny is on his way to the Dr. office, Fisher is trying to keep his toast down, and Piper is sneezing all over the place.  Fingers crossed we all feel better soon.  And that nobody shares germs.  Yeah right. 

JKFP

You're Welcome.

This was us cleaning her room yesterday.  Pay no attention to all the piles of crap as they are no longer there.  Oh and no Pipey's were hurt in the making of this video.


Warning:  This WILL make you laugh.  Do not watch while eating or drinking.

Halloween Recap

We like Halloween.  A lot.  The first couple of years with Fisher we bought costumes and that was fine.  But then he started wanting to be things you couldn't find in stores.  So we started making costumes and we've never looked back.  It's so much fun for us this way.  And way cheaper too.  I'm usually out the cost of a few cans of spray paint. 

This year Fisher wanted to be an excavator.

(Special thanks to Jeff and Sasha of Substratum Excavation for the use of their logo! It was perfect.)

This was actually not as hard as I had thought it would be.  Cardboard, duct tape, nuts and bolts for the arm, electrical tape, wire mesh for the windows, and spray paint.  To keep it on him James build a brace out of wood that we were able to rig a harness to.  It just sat right down on his shoulders like suspenders.  And in case you're wondering, that arm does move. 

Miss Piper did a little flip flopping on the costume this year but finally settled on a purple lady bug. 

(Singing and dancing through our photo shoot)

This was the second generation lady bug...

...and the only real changes we made to the original we're in color.  (Pipey doesn't look that great in red) Oh and we added the hat!  (It's colder here.)  I made her that hat for Christmas last year but it was perfect for this! 

(The original!  This is my sister Carly when she was about 3.)

We went to James' old neighborhood for their "Trunk or Treat".  We had never done the trunk or treat before and it was really fun.  I think we'll do it again. 

Action shots.

We didn't know it ahead of time but they were having a costume contest.  Guess what??  Both my kids won!  Best Girl and Best Boy costumes.  They won gift cards to an ice cream place in town.  Which is really perfect considering we frequent ice cream places when the weather turns cold.  Weird?  I know, but it's how we roll.

Another super fun Halloween in the books!  Hope you all equally enjoyed yourself and are eating candy for breakfast.  :)

JKFP