Wax Resist Painting and Raspberries

Another Thursday means Ria again . . . everyone wanted a turn holding her, of course! Katie was first.

Ryan got to hold her as well.

Our art activity for the day was wax resist painting. The children drew pictures first with white crayons on white paper. Katie, however, experimented with using colored crayons. They then painted over the drawings with watercolor paints, so that we could see the white of the crayons stand out.


And here are the final paintings . . .

Josephine's:

Orianna's:



Eden's:

Ryan's:

Katie's:

Later in the afternoon, the kids discovered some perfectly ripe raspberries on the bushes and decided to make something out of them.

Here is Eden enjoying the process. What can I say that her beautiful raspberry stained face doesn't say for itself?

Before Eden left for the day, she dictated a list of instructions to me so that Josephine could make her own raspberry drink. Here they are:

1. Get the raspberries.
2. Mush the raspberries
3. Put them in the blender. Count to 64.
4. Add water.
5. Strain it.
6. Reuse it.
7. Put sugar in a big bowl.
8. Then put the juice in it.
9. Then stir it.
10. And then start all over again.

Quick Snapshots

Just two photos today, one from the morning, and one from the afternoon.

Morning -- Josephine and Diego work in the studio:

Afternoon -- Ryan, Katie, Josephine, Eden, and Orianna in the tent:

Hullabaloo, Booster for Iain, and Refugee Ants

For Iain's birthday he received the very entertaining game Hullabaloo. He brought it over to share with us this morning, which was loads of fun. Josephine, Iain, and Georgia played while Diego cautiously observed from the livingroom . . .

Georgia sits on a green spot, as instructed in the game.

Everyone find a red spot!

Now everyone is on blue!

Georgia's victory dance:


After the game, the boys went off to play legos . . .

. . . and the girls headed out to the swingset.

As Iain is now officially four years old, he sat for the very first time ever in a booster seat today on the way to school, a moment he was very proud of. The reason for the very odd expression on his face is that nowadays that's what you get when you ask Iain to smile.

In the afternoon I was watering the flower beds in the chilren's garden when Orianna discovered a whole bunch of ants "carrying white things." We went to observe, and found that our watering had disrupted an ant colony, which was now carrying its eggs to safe dry ground.

It's very difficult to get a picture of tiny ants carrying tiny eggs, so here is one where the background is black and white, and there is color around just the ants, to make them more visible.

And here's one of the ant refugees carrying an egg. The resolution isn't very good, as this is a tiny detail from a larger photo, but you can still see the ant and its egg load fairly well.

Kitty Cats and Witches

We had a new friend, Marie, join us today. Marie didn't exactly want to be a fairy or a princess, like Josephine and Eden, but when I showed her all the other costumes, she happily chose to be a cat. The most wonderful thing about this is that she inspired Iain, of all people, to be a cat as well. Iain told me in his very softest voice possible, "I want to be a cat, too." I could hardly believe my ears. I've taken care of Iain for 3 of his 4 years, and he does not usually dress up or join in dramatic play. He does do dramatic play, but always it is his own play which he creates. He does not generally follow along with another's play. So I knew I had to take advantage of this moment and get a cat costume on that child immediately, before he changed his mind. He gladly accepted the fur vest and the tail, but did not want any mask or headband on his head. He then spent the rest of the afternoon crawling around and saying, "Meow." Yippee!!!!!

Marie and Iain, two kitty cats:

Eden joins Iain the cat for a photo:

At some point the children imagined that a witch was after them, and that she was unable to see the color black, so they would all be safe as long as they were dressed in black. Once they were all properly clad, they headed outside to the swingset.

Playhouse Construction Continues

We would really like to get a real roof on the playhouse (instead of that blue tarp) before the rains begin in October, so Sven is working extra hard to get it done. Here is Josephine helping out, handing him tools.

Playdough and Popcorn

This Thursday began like the others, with lots of wondeful attention being poured onto the much appreciative Ria.

And once Ria was napping, we got to work making a new batch of playdough, one that we could choose our own colors for.

Here is Jo taking a turn stirring up the flour, water, salt, and oil:

Orianna gives it a stir as well, as Eden steadies the bowl.

And then after a short time on the stove, we had plain playdough!


We went outside with bottles of red, yellow, green, and blue food color, and each child picked his/her own combinations to mix into a clump of dough. It was fun watching Ryan make orange out of red and yellow, seeing how much red was needed for Orianna's and Jo's pink doughs, and figuring out which combination of red and blue would make just the right purple for Katie.

Later on we enjoyed a picnic snack outside of popcorn and grapes.

And here is Eden, with a perfect popcorn toss which landed right in her mouth just after this photo was taken.

Miscellany

Today we took out all the playdough we have as well as all the playdough utensils that we have.

Here Jo, Eden, and Katie work (or play) away . . .

. . . and Ryan is intent on his work as well.

Katie works with the rolling pin.

Josephine created a polar bear with a pond for him to swim in.


Later in the afternoon, the kids headed to Jo's bedroom for one of their regular activities . . . closing up the curtains, turning off the lights, lighting the night lights and lanterns, pulling out the trundle bed and extra blankets, and lounging around telling stories.

Ryan and Eden

Orianna and Josephine on the lower bed


Here is a creations by Katie from last week:


And one by Ryan:


I received a present from Katie (very exciting . . . warm fuzzies . . . )


And inside was a really funky and fun necklace made out of shrinky dinks and paper clips. I can't wait to wear it and show it off!

And at the end of the day, Orianna, sidewalk chalk artist extraordinaire, was back to work outside, adding a mermaid to the many beautiful sketches on the patio.

Yoga and Crafts

Our day began in a very beautiful way, with a wonderful YogaKids DVD that Diego let us borrow. The children loved following along and trying to copy the poses and movements.

This may not be the best photo ever, but I had to include it, as it shows Iain participating in his own way. Most of the time he stayed completely still and just watched, but in this moment, he couldn't help but try one of the movements.

The last position was a relaxing one in which each person was to rest his head on another's belly. Josephine looks like she's really trying hard to relax here, something that is generally a bit of a challenge for her.

And then . . . excitement!!! It's trash AND recycling day, and the trucks came back to back. We all went outside to watch, of course.

Later in the afternoon it was craft time. Here are three artists, Eden, Josephine, and Katie, hard at work, each on her own creation.

And Ryan joined in as well.

Here's one of Katie's creations from last week, finally dry and complete and ready to go home.

Labor Day

It's Labor Day, so there's no school and no work, but not for Sven . . . he still has a playhouse to finish. He spent the day getting the roof rafters up. It's really coming together!