hockey bug.

 

I said it before he was born.  I meant it, I really did.  I did not want to be a "rink mom".  No siree.  I really did mean it. 

But this little guy is so cute on the ice.  He is so cute in his small skates, small helmet, small elbow and shin pads, small chest armour, small hockey pants, and oh so small hockey gloves.

He is just as wide as he is tall.

I love how he circles the perimeter of the ice, pushing and gliding with stick in hand during the warm-up.

I love how he tries to follow the bigger kids during the drills and doesn't give up even when he's not quite on the same activity anymore.

I love his focus and concentration as he seriously tries to learn the techniques.

I love how he approaches the net (with the puck) in slow, steady strides.  I love how he stops completely about two feet from the goalie before sending the puck towards the net at a decidedly small pace.

I love how he backs up with purpose and energy to try scoring again.

I love his sweet smile when comes off the ice after hockey.

art cupboard.

Creativity is an important part of our home life.  Not only does art help us express our inner thoughts and feelings, it also creates neurological paths between our eyes, brain and hands.  Drawing is also the gateway to handwriting (which I believe comes naturally from experimenting and finessing those fine motor skills).  So, we have the art cupboard.  The new and improved art cupboard (our supplies used to be squirreled away in the pantry and supervised around the tiniest bug).  The new cupboard is organized (oh yes) and accessible for little people.  It contains:  Stockmar beeswax crayons, Lyra pencils, markers, scissors, glue, variety of paper, stamps and ink pads, paint and brushes, stencils, oil pastels, chalk pastels, chalk and board, modelling beeswax, stapler, tape, paper clips, hole punches, strings and lots of doodads (yes this is a word!).  Not a day goes by without this cupboard being opened and its contents created with.

treasure for spring.

Somedays Iko wakes up with a specific plan for the day.  He claims he has been concocting wonderful ideas all night long while he was sleeping.  The wonderful idea of the day is.....(drumroll please)...hiding a treasure. 

"Oh, isn't that what you do all the time?", asks the mama as she collects "treasures" out of her boots, the laundry basket, the bedsheets, the bathtub, the jar of oats, from under the carpet....

"But Mama, this is a special plan."  Aha!

The plan went as follows.  Find two smallish plastic containers.  Locate suitable (non-perishable, waterproof, exciting to discover, small) treasures in the house.  Put said treasures into boxes (one for Iko, one for Ash).  Take treasure boxes into the backyard forest and hide them.  Draw a treasure map (just in case ones memory does not serve).  Wait 'till spring snowmelt to discover the hidden treasure.

Just so you know the whole plan, the treasures included:  bits of beautiful wool, money, toy car, wooden blocks, a paper clip creation, pencils, moss, cotton ball and a (wordless) note to himself.

So, this map is top secret, classified information.  You can see by the arrows where to find the treasures.  X marks the spots.  Good luck to all you treasure seekers out there.

And the idea was concocted not a day too early as the snow is trying to make itself at home on the mountainside.

small piano concerto.

Maestro Iko.   Seems to learn a new song everyday.  How he remembers them all - I have NO clue. 

Here he is playing some of his tunes from Leila Fletchers Music Lessons Have Begun.  Vidoes are from my old, point and shoot camera so quality is not great but, the music is sure to wow you.

Don't know if I will ever tire of listening to these songs played by little hands.

black beauty.

Certainly a classic and so definitely wonderful to read.  The copy Iko and I used was from my childhood bookshelf (the price on the spine is $2.97 if that gives you any idea of my advancing age).  I absolutely loved re-reading this heartwarming story about a horse born to a well bred, upper class estate and his experiences that eventually lead him to a life of lonliness and servitude.  If one has not taken a moment to reflect on the treatment of animals presently, and in days gone by, this book will certainly provide gentle insight and reminders.  Horses have undergone so much in the name of serving humans.  It really is deplorable.

Black Beauty's character is genuine and easy to love for both children and adults alike.  The horse friends he makes along the way do love him, as do most of his masters.  It is easy to become attached to this horse and feel sadness as he is sent from home to home, often leaving people and horses that he loves dearly. 

The literary style is quite old and takes a bit of getting used to when reading aloud.  Much of the language is no longer used today but that doesn't seem to matter when one is reading for the gist of the story.  In fact, one objective of reading these classics aloud to children is the assimilation of literary vocabulary and grammar.  One of the best ways to learn a rich vocabulary and proper use of language is reading, reading and more reading.  But not just any old book will do.  Good literature is oh so helpful, if not essential.

corn husk dollies.

Something from times gone by.  I have never made little people from corn husks before and it was amazingly simple and fun.  Not really an activity for five year olds to do solo, but together, it made for a nice, tea drinking, craft making kind of morning.  The husks were from our late summer meals.  We dried them and saved them in a cloth bag for a rainy day.  The only thing is, when I put things away for "another day" or "safe-keeping" I tend to forget about their existence AND (even more frustrating) their oh so safe location. 

Our kitchen window has been well adorned with seasonal art and craft this autumn.  I should say, however, that it is certainly intermittent.  Several of the dollies seem to go missing randomly throughout the day.  Our window display is neither static nor un-touchable.

On a side note, dolls have become a favourite plaything in our home.  Actually, they are called babies and come in many shapes and forms.  A small pillow wrapped in a blanket is a fine baby and stuffed bears are easily dressed in baby clothes so they more closely resemble small humans.  It is lovely to listen to my two boys discussing how to be a daddy and care for their babies.  Just might have to dream up a little more creative doll-making for them.  Something a little more cuddly than corn husks perhaps?

a view of the week.

A few of the things we are loving right now...

::  Climbing the cedar trees in our backyard.

::  Collecting the "perfect" pine cones from the forest around our house.

::  Applesauce muffins.

::  Two friends sharing a good book.

::  Puzzles, puzzles, and more puzzles.  Sweet Ash has mastered the 12 AND 24 piece jigsaws in our collection.  He certainly does concentrate on these.

::  Geoboard art.

::  Little people smiles.

::  Iko's newspapers.  Drawn in black ink, rolled up and stapled shut for delivery.

::  A caped dinosaur on skates.

::  Beautiful piano music made by five year old hands throughout the day...

(and EVERY evening with Daddy).

tom sawyer.

An abridged version of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and so the literary style is not authentic and the story was shortened.  Guess Dave is a bit of a Mark Twain fan from Grade 12 english class and he is giving this a thumbs down.  Do not try this one at home folks.

In a few months we'll dust off the original version (from the mama's childhood book collection believe it or not) and give it a go as Iko was quite interested in the story.

leaf frolicking.

A serious romp in the leaves before Mother Nature tucks them in, and spreads a blanket, "pure and white, soft as down and sparkling bright" over them.  So fun to kick and throw and crush and dive into.  Huge armfuls to hug and some rolling around is okay too.  I'm talking about the kids here.

nut balls.

For awhile (a seemingly long while) Ash's two favourite words were nut and ball.  So you can imagine his delight when we decided to make some nut-balls.   In fact the delight is so outstanding this is becoming a weekly habit (very dangerous for the parents if you dip a few in good, dark chocolate).  This is one healthy, fun food idea for kiddies.

1 cup nut butter (almond, peanut, cashew etc.)

3/4 cup chopped dates

1 1/2 cups unsweetened, shredded coconut

1/2 cup ground nuts or seeds (pumpkin, sunflower, etc..)

Reserve 1/2 cup coconut.  Combine nut butter, dates, coconut and ground seeds.  Form into balls and roll in reserved coconut.

bats, ghosts and gobblin'.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!!

silly pumpkin heads.

LOADS of fun this week making silly pumpkin heads.  I printed some funny eyes, noses and mouths from here but we needed to get a little sillier so mama's artistic talents were called upon.  The children cut out the funny pumpkin face pieces, glued them on and then coloured them in.  I think Iko could do this project for hours on end.

The last pumpkin head was made "on own" by sweet Ash (scissor work contracted out to the mama, ahem).  Iko was really impressed with his brother's work and couldn't stop congratulating him.

We are busy making and baking for a halloween party tomorrow.  Thought we'd take a chance with something new - popcorn balls.  A VERY sweet and sticky project which received positive reviews from the little people so far.  I googled for a recipe and then took off on my own from there.  Iko counted 31 balls made at the end (lucky as we need 30 minimum).

1/2 cup butter

6 cups marshmallows (melt together in pot)

16 cups freshly popped popcorn

1 cup freshly toasted sunflower and pumpkin seeds

1 very strong boy to help with the stirring and to encourage everyone to keep going

1 very cute and brave boy to stick his hand in the pot and test "doneness" and "stickyness" (must be willing to lick continuously to keep self clean)

snow hike.

Kids and snow.  What do children in warm climates do with themselves?  Snowballs, snow prints, snow sliding, snow running, snow hiding, snow building, snow removing, snow scraping, snow eating (but it just tastes so good - that's what I hear--)....  it's a never-ending imagination fostering medium. 

Snow combined with a bit of sunshine is a serious spirit lifter.  The world becomes so bright it almost hurts.  The snow romping children were certainly happy in the forest today.

first snow.

The magic of waking to the first snow.  All is changed from brilliant, glorious colour to bright and white.  Perfect for snowballs and snowpeople and rolling all around.

tree art.

October art.  Autumnal art.  Leaves, trees, reds, golds and rusty browns.  I started with this depiction of a tree.  Pretty simple.  Just used permanent marker for the trunk and branches then filled in the "negative spaces" with colour (oil pastels shown here but crayon would work too).

And then Iko created his tree using the same method.

I really like the way it turned out and I think he is proud of his effort (took a lot of muscles to colour in every little bit of space).  But he was obviously not truly satisfied because he proceeded  to make a real autumn tree (complete with branches and proper colourful leaves).

And then leaf stitching.  Leaf stitching?  Who ever heard of that?  But it looks kind of neat on our windowsill (or floor depending on the play of the day).