We Play: Building a City

Have I mentioned before how much I love thrift stores??  Oh, let me sing the praises of thrift stores!  I buy most of my clothes there, much of E's clothes as well.  And toys.  Well, toys can be tricky.  Because, usually, if a toy has been donated to the thrift stores around me, it's all loved up.  Dirty, sticky, broken.  And not to mention PLASTIC.  But sometimes I hit the jackpot.  This week, I found the neatest nesting blocks!  They are a city!!  Each block is a building in the town, from the large train station and garden center to the tiny ice cream parlor and phone booth.

E and I had fun this week putting together our city.  We used some of the cars from our train track and some wooden people and trees and put a whole town together.

I have noticed, at least for E at this age, that the process of building the city is much more fun than the play with it once it is built.  We had a grand time deciding where buildings should go and "planting" trees, but after that, she laid all the people on top of their houses, put them to sleep, and went off to other activities.

Happy Playing!

Getting Ready

E is 31 months old

I have been enjoying all the posts from those of you who are getting ready to start a new school year.  I am getting excited to start up again as well!  So even though you haven't read anything from me related to school work for a while, it's on the agenda.  I'm planning on giving E (and myself) the month off and we will be starting up again in September. 

I have been thinking about what to work on with E and planning out our school time.  Sometimes, I do think I enjoy the planning more than the executing.  OK, who am I kidding, I ALWAYS enjoy the planning.  Everything always works out perfectly in my imaginary dream planning world.  Not always so in real life!
 

 I'm hoping I can get E more interested in our Montessori materials - part of the reason why we're taking a nice break.  I loved having K for the summer and he sure loved coming to do his "work," but E had some difficulty with him being here.  She only wanted to do the materials he was working on - not her own - and he is a year and a half older than her.  So they are definitly in different places!  I'm hoping that we'll have a nice break this month and start in September with a clean slate.

Things I want to do with E this year (as far as preschool is concernced) are:

* continue with our Montessori work as much as she wants, setting aside at least 2 times a week to focus on it (but hopefully MUCH more!)

* utilize a "theme unit" twice a month or so.  We're going to start with apples in September, but I am planning for this to be child-led for the most part.  What we do for theme units around here is: lots of books about the subject, crafts, outings, games, and practical life and science works.

* continue with our letters of the week.  We don't really do one letter per week, it's more like two a month or so.  We'll finish uppercase and move to lowercase.  I want to use the Heavenly Homemaker's new ebook Learn Your Letters, Learn to Serve along with this.

* learn by memory the prayer before meals, guardian angel prayer, and selected Bible verses.  The verses will probably go along with our letters of the week.

* get outside more!  I am pretty much an indoor kind of gal.  Unless there is something specific to do outside, I tend to stay in.  There is so much beautiful scenery and great parks around here, I want to visit at least one new park a week. (I guess that's not really preschool per se, but if I don't put it down somewhere, I won't hold myself to it!)

Happy new school year to everyone!

Friday's Book Basket

I'd like to start a new regular feature around here: Friday's Book Basket.  We read SO many books each week, and E is really starting to request her favorites.  Although, sometimes it takes some deciphering to figure out which book she wants.  This morning she wanted the "deer book" (actually about a couple of dogs - no idea where she got the deer from), and the "cat book with the butterfly" (about a cat who travels in a box to an alien, who didn't want a pet, he wanted a remote-control butterfly).  I'd love to be able to share some of our favorite books with you all!  And I hope to get E's input on them as well.

Boris and the Snoozebox by Leigh Hodgkinson is a cute book about a cat who just wants to take a nap.  He crawls into a packing box to snooze, and finds himself transported all over the place to people who want ANYTHING but a cat.  This is the "cat book with the butterfly" as mentioned above.  This morning alone, I have read it three times.  The illustrations are really neat mixed media!

Mabel Dancing by Amy Hest is a beautifully told story about a girl named Mabel who is supposed to be sleeping during her Mama and Papa's dancing party.  I love the language in this book, very descriptive.  It made me think of the ball in The Sound of Music.  E loved that they talked about fancy ball gowns and dancing.  She's such a girly-girl!

A Pair of Socks by Stuart J. Murphy was a book I liked more than E.  A blue and red sock goes looking about the house for his match.  E did like telling me that the socks didn't match, but other than that it didn't really hold her attention.

Our Trip Back East, Part 2

After spending a day wandering around the Land Between the Lakes, we drove to Gatlinburg, TN.  Wow, I did not know how touristy that town was going to be!!  The Ripley's guy must be from this area, because we saw several Ripley's attractions on the main street.

I'm not much into tourist traps, so we didn't spend any time in town. 

We spent all of our time in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.  Wow is this place GORGEOUS!  Hubby and I were poking fun at the Appalacian Mountains - being from a Rocky Mountain state and all.  But they are so different from the mountains back home.  MUCH greener and I do love all the deciduous trees, and streams you can actually walk/swim in because they're not ice cold!

We took a couple of hikes to pretty waterfalls - Laurel Falls and Abram's Falls.

 Laurel Falls

Dipping our toes

Abram's Falls

Another toe dunk

I think this is E's last year to ride in the baby backpack.  She's getting HEAVY!

We drove to the top of Clingman's Dome - the highest point in TN - to see the view.  We were going to walk up to the observation tower, but 5 minutes after we got there it started POURING rain.  I forgot rain gear, we only had an umbrella.

We took a hayride around Cade's Cove and took a look at some of the historic buildings.  We also spent a little time at another 1850s farmstead, but the one at Land Between the Lakes was MUCH cooler.

Another highlight of the trip (for me, anyways) was getting to hike on the Appalacian Trail.  I read A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson several years ago, and I have been wanting to backpack at least some of this trail since then.  Backpacking with a 2 year old is a bit difficult, so we settled for a quick hike.  I'll be back someday!

Next stop: Charlotte, NC!

We Play: Trains

Hey, girls can play trains, too! 

I try to rotate E's toys regularly so that she doesn't have too much out at once.  I had her train set put away for quite a while.  I even had picked up some more track and extra pieces and had never put them out.  Today, we pulled out everything train we had and set up a huge city!

E had fun figuring out how the magnets worked to hook up the trains, then running them over and under the bridges.

not sure why this picture is showing up sideways . . . hmmm . . . .anyways . . . .

Usually, in our house at least, the simpler toys are the best!  No batteries, noise, or flashing lights.  Just some imaginations and good old "chugga chugga choo choo!" noises.  Happy playing!

Our Trip Back East

Well, I think I am done with all the post-vacation chores.  I'm caught up on laundry, the litter boxes have been completely emptied, and my fridge is stocked with food again.  And I have all my pictures back from our trip, so I'm ready to share them with you!  I hope I don't overwhelm anyone - we took 4 rolls of film, plus 350+ digital pictures!!  Yes, we are "that" family who is always taking pictures on a trip.  Not too touristy, though, I hope!

After visiting family in Kansas, our first stop on our trip was the Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area on the border of Kentucky and Tennessee.  What a pretty area! 

We visited a nature center where they had local animals - hawks, owls, turkeys, even a bobcat!  And hummingbirds everywhere.  E really liked the kids area - she did ALL the puzzles, saw the butterfly crysalis and tree frogs, and made Daddy read her The Lorax a couple of times.

One of the highlights of the trip was here: a living history 1850s farmstead.  This was so neat!  We got to walk around in all of the houses and buildings, and there were people (in the AWFUL heat and humidity) dressed in period clothing doing chores around the place.  There was a girl quilting, a man chopping wood, and another man playing the banjo.  There were also a few animals running around: hogs, horses, and chickens. 

Back in the museum, E got to dress up like a little pioneer girl!  Isn't she cute!

Next up, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park!  And, just because I can, I'll leave you with a crazy horse picture.

Family Questions

Well, we're back from our trek across the country!  I will tell you about all the fun we had on our trip later this week, we ended up visiting 8 different states!!

Today I wanted to share with you a fun idea for getting your family talking around the dinner table.  I don't know about you, but I married a "strong, silent type" guy.  My hubby is a true introvert, and truth be told I'm pretty introverted as well.  I am always looking out for little tricks to make dinner more than just a time to eat.  At my MOPS group's spring tea last year, the Mentor Moms gave jars full of questions to each of us.  They have been a lot of fun to use at dinnertime!  The jar was decorated very simply with a ribbon an a sticker that says "Family Questions." 

How it works: someone chooses a question and reads it aloud.  Then, everyone at the table answers.  Even E at 2 1/2 gets in on the action.  When we sit down at the dinner table, she often says "Want to ask a question!" right away.  Here are some examples of questions you might use to make your own Family Question Jar.

* What is the happiest day of your life so far?
* Things you dream about.
* What is your favorite sport to watch?  Why?
* What's the most exciting adventure you've had in your life?
* What is your most favorite meal of all time?
* Name 3 things the person to your left does that make you happy.
* What is your least favorite vegetable?  Why?
* Tell about something special that you own.
* What have you learned about being a friend?
* If you could live on any planet which would you pick?
* What does the person to your right do that tells you they love you?
* If you could be a character in a book, who would you be?
* What is love?  What does it look like?
* Have you ever been lonely?  What did you do about it?
* If you could live anywhere in the world where would it be?
* Have you ever been blamed for something you didn't do?
* What is your favorite holiday?  Why?
* Things that take courage.
* If you could make a new animal what would it look like?
* What is the bravest thing you've ever done?
* Things you hope you can still do when you're 85
* Things people like about you.
* What is your favorite song?  Sing it!
* What is (was) your favorite bedtime story?  Tell about it.
* What is your favorite way to spend your free time?
* List 5 things you would like to do this year.
* Things you would do with a million dollars.
* What is the most important thing that you do?
* If you could be any animal, what would it be?
* Name 3 friends and tell something about them.
* What kind of job would you like to have?  Why?

As you can see, some of these are more for kids, some are more for older kids/adults.  I simplify some of them for E, and Hubby and I have to answer them, too. I hope you get some use out of these for your family as well!  Feel free to add your favorite conversation starter question in the comments.