Photo club and Nature Class

Last Wed the boys met the homeschool group for a hike and photo club. I'll let them pot about it on their blogs. We did have a nice time and then headed to the beach for a nature class/walk to learn about shore birds. It was a great program

looking for birds







Then we took the ferry home and that was a big hit with the younger crowd!

I love his goofy grin : )

Beach and Kites

Sat was a great day to head to the beach for a walk and some unexpected kite making/flying!

Sage went with his Grandpa for the day and the rest of us packed up and headed north to Amelia Island. Tony had won tickets to the car show so he took Ryan there while Adeline and I drove to the beach.

It was beautiful!

We found this conch shell with someone still living in it. I have to say that I have never found one alive before. We took him back to the ocean where hopefully he will grow to be a big and strong conch shell.!

When the boys were done with their car show we picked them up and headed back to the beach for some lunch and kite making.

But first we must blow dandelions!

The park we went to had free kite making all day ! What a treat...

Adeline had so much fun just running with hers and loved it when it would get up in the air.
Once Ryan got the hang of it with Daddy's help, he also loved kite flying and I enjoyed watching them.

Handwork, watercolor painting and block crayon drawings - oh my

As part of my reawakening - I have felt that handwork has been very neglected - very,very neglected. I can't remember the last time we worked on our block crayon drawings and the watercolor paintings have been far and few between.

I do have to be honest with myself and remember that I have a toddler now that needs my attention. She still nurses around the clock and lately she has been my little leech - a cute cuddly one of course : ) That does but a glitch in my get to work plan, It just means that things will get down at a slower pace. I am just reminding myself that this phase will pass and before I know it she will grow up and not need me as much. and of course then I will wonder where the time went!

Anyway....

HANDWORK :

Last week we made these wool birds at our homeschool co-op. We "dyed" the wool first using our block crayons and then very similar to making fairies we knotted the wool to look like birds. Just in time for spring here in the south!

Spring is coming, Spring is coming, Birdies build your nest....

On Monday we did nit make it out to our co-op (lots of allergy symptoms kept us home). So keeping with handwork Mondays we invited our friend and neighbor over and made these hemp/bead bracelets.

Ryan made one for his doll George. Although he wined and complained the ENTIRE time we were making these, he did a great job!! I am glad I made him stick with it, hopefully he will learn to persevere , because he was proud of it when it was finished.

I made mine after the kids were done with theirs and it came out nicely. I do now know that it would be better to use thicker string next time!

WATERCOLOR PAINTING :

As a re-intro to watercolor painting , we worked on color wheels. It is always so therapeutic to work on these and a good reminder for Ryan. Adeline's is the orange one at the bottom. She loves to paint and while she worked on this one she kept saying it was the baby goat (from next door that she saw being born).

BLOCK CRAYON DRAWINGS:

This week we have decided to work on some drawings from this book:
We came up with the idea to use our pictures to tell a story. We started with a castle and then moved inside the castle to show the king sitting eating. Today we will continue our journey - we have not yet decided what the king will do. Next week we will actually write out the story.

Ryan was very surprised that his castle came out so well!
The king is eating pasta... looking out at the apple trees...

A reawakening of sorts

I know that I have not blogged too much lately. There have been so many things going on. In 2 years we have moved 4 times - we bought our own home and are now busy fixing up they way we would like to have it. A way to make it feel cozy and wonderful. All the while homeschooling 2 boys and keeping up with a baby girl who is now a month away from turing 2 years old!

I have felt dormant during this time just occasionally crafting and using more traditional methods of homeschooling for RYan vs our usual creative way. I am feeling a sense of starting to become more organized and itching to get my hands on some wool and a felting needle! As summer approaches I am thinking about summer dresses to make , and big garden plans!!!

I am planning on being more consistent with my blogging, its not for lack of picture taking, we have plenty of those it is more of a time issue. It seems that whenever I am sitting that is a good time for my sweet baby to come over for nursies - I think she even can sense when I am sitting : )

But I do feel an awakening a feeling of wanting to get out there and do things - anything. I feel my baby moon is over and I am ready!

And my baby is getting bigger...

The Everglades and Dear Friends!

An aerial view of Everglade city! A small Island off of the bottom western part of Florida.

This past week the kids and headed down to the most south-westernly part of Florida, to Everglade City to visit our dear friends the Niles. I have never been in the Everglades and was excited to see this part of the state.

Our first stop was in Melborne, Fl where we stayed the night. In the morning we headed a few miles to the beach before we continued on the the west.

We found this guy hanging out as well :

After passing FT Lauderdale we hopped on "Alligator Alley" aka 75 and stopped at the first rest area in the Everglades. It was more of a picnic /fishing area than a rest area. We did see a few alligators and some very cool birds:
This guy was awesome to watch. A Rosette Spoonbill bird. !!

We finally made it to our friends house and spent the rest of the day playing and relaxing. THe next morning we went out to the Big Cypress Boardwalk that goes through part of the Everglades.

We did see this guy and that day alone we saw 56 alligators!!
Here are a couple of manatees swimming around. I know it is hard to see them but they are there!
At the boardwalk we had a nice stroll.

Little Adeline enjoyed it as well
group shot : )

two buddies hanging out!

The following day we went out to an awesome animal sanctuary and rehabilitation center. We had a 3 hour tour and the kids learned alot!

Checking out the horses. They had many different breeds of horses here

ADeline loved feeding the miniature ones.
Ryan now wants a donkey of his own. Humm - after hearing the donkey , we might have to pass on that!






Can you guess what this puma is watching?
Yep - the little kids!!!


On our way back from the sanctuary we stopped at a state farmers market and loaded up on veggies at great prices!!
Back at their house , we relaxed, rode bikes and enjoyed each others company!


And fished! well practiced casting.