soapy

Today was my last day of spring break, so we packed the rainy day with fun indoor activities.

This morning we talked about the story of Easter and colored. Then when Makenzie napped, Libby and I did wet-felted Easter eggs. It was our first attempt at wet-felting, and by the last egg we were doing much better than we were when we started. I think later this week we may do some wet-felted balls and let Makenzie help. Libby loved playing with the soapy water and working the felt.

Here they are when we finished. The pink strand of wet felt is a necklace Libby made all by herself while I did the hard felting.


Later in the day was gymnastics, aka the highlight of Libby's week.



For dinner we had a delicious quiche, made with fresh eggs our friends were nice enough to give us from their chickens. I blew the eggs, and we dyed them after dinner.

Makenzie yelled "look, look!" while she dyed.


Once the eggs were dried, I took all today's new eggs and put them in a nice basket on our table with the beeswax eggs we made a couple weeks ago. It looks so pretty!! I love it.

march

Spring in New England is here! We've had a bit of everything in the past couple weeks--temps ranging from the 30s to mid 70s, and skies ranging from bright sun to massive rains and wind. Even in the wind/cold/rain, March is always amazing--that light at the end of the tunnel is peeking through. The sun at the end of a rainy day (today), or the warm sunny day between rain storms when you walk around in tank tops and grill, and run barefoot outside... And with that, an open letter to March.

Dear March,

I love you.

Thanks,
Me.


Moving right along....

We have done a ton of fun projects and trips, and have lots more coming up. We hit the aquarium and Old Mystic for a day of sea creatures and shopping, and went to Higgins Armory and learned about knights and castles. We made pine cone bird feeders, started our garden plantings, made our beeswax Easter candles, melted crayons to make our own (less expensive) version of block crayons, dyed silks, did a lot of painting, and made green beer bread for Saint Patrick's Day. We played outside (a lot), had pajama/sleepover day in the living room, learned to make pig faces, Makenzie started making an adorable "say cheese" face, did foam art (with John Freida hair mousse because I was too lazy to go upstairs and get Brian's shaving cream), had a campfire outside and roasted marshmallows, ate dinner outside, read, snuggled, and mostly HAD FUN!

And now, an over-sized photo update of the above:





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molly

Spring has been amazing! We had beautiful weather over the weekend, and have been doing a lot of great stuff. But, I'm too lazy to upload pictures right now.

So, meet Molly. She has hatched 2 babies so far, with more on the way. Libby and I are obsessed with watching.

Molly

venture

It is officially decided. I cut Libby's preschool schedule back from 5 days a week to 2 days a week. We will continue this schedule until the end of this school year, in an attempt to phase school out gradually with no major shifts. The summer will be the perfect time to make the transition into full-fledged homeschoolers. I am very, very excited about this venture and very proud of myself for putting so much thought, time, and effort into researching the decision. I can not wait to officially get started.

At home we've been having fun letting the girls guide their daily activities. Puff balls, painting and time outside have been favorites lately, as well as playdates and "field trips" to the aquarium and children's museum. Tomorrow we are hoping to get to the park and enjoy some of the gorgeous weather we are having. I love New England!

stumbled

While we are still dealing with cold and the lovely wind/rain/snow combo we've had lately, we have been busy with projects and indoor activities. Saturday we got very lucky while out and about. We went to Michael's for some craft supplies and stumbled upon a project they were offering in the store. So, Libby built a molecule, complete with Libby atoms.

After molecule making and some craft shopping we headed to Target for dog food and juice boxes and stumbled upon Dr. Suess story hour. The girls got cute little gift bags, stickers, and pencils and listened to a few stories.

Libby is still pretty insistent about learning letters and writing, so while I'm intentionally slowing her down a bit, I'm trying not to dissuade her too much. I found a great website where she has been having tons of fun playing simple, silly letter recognition games.

Today we made felt journals found here. I let Libby pick her colors and her cover design, and count out her papers for inside.

Then we made a smaller version for Makenzie.

I LOVE these! They are so adorable and were fun to make, too. I can definitely see making more of them for the girls and as gifts in the future.

I also just ordered some beeswax for making egg-shaped Easter candles this year. (Though we'll probably make them as soon as the wax comes in, so a little early.) Can't wait to share those!