A little snack while we wait for the pie

Apple Pie! Even mini ones with our initials!

Wet-on-Wet Watercolor Painting - YELLOW!

South Florida's version of Acorns

Circle Time Outdoors

FIRST DAY OF KINDERGARTEN

I was laying awake this morning at 5AM, trying to get Boo Boo back to sleep. Yes, 5AM! Most days she's up a bit before 6, but not today. I guess she was too excited to sleep ;-) While I was laying there quietly, I was thinking about the day before us ... Boo Boo's first day of Kindergarten. Wow ... it really hit me ... this is the only "first day of Kindergarten" we'll have. This is the day! So, I was going through my mind, thinking about all I had planned for the day. One thing I knew is that I wanted to capture as much of it as possible on film. Also, I was thinking about traditions. One thing that came to mind was just how fast she's growing! Hmmm, maybe getting Daddy to finally put up her growth chart this morning and measuring Boo Boo would be fun. She has been begging for us to put up that chart since we moved into this house ;-) As you can see in the picture, she is really enjoying the process of discovering just how BIG she is ... 3 1/2 feet tall!

WHAT'S BEEN HAPPENING

Well, "Kindergarten" was supposed to start for us last Tuesday, September 8th, right after Labor Day. I have been planning, preparing, memorizing songs, verses, stories, making puppets, practicing my beeswax coloring, wet on wet watercoloring painting, learning the penny whistle ... I was ready :-) Hmmmm ... but the house WAS NOT! As things go in south Florida, work on houses does not usually start when planned, go as planned, and certainly not finished when planned ;-) So, my house was in the midst of having all the doors and baseboards painted and our glass tile added to the kitchen walls. Not the greatest time to begin. Instead, we decided to postpone our grand start to kindergarten until the 15th. However, we have still been quite busy crafting and getting the house ready for (drum roll please) ... AUTUMN!!!! Yeah!!!! I can feel the cool, crisp breeze in the air already and I can see leaves turning and just smell the apples ready to be picked and the pumpkins ... oh, yes, I guess I was dreaming. Not here in south Florida. It is still hot, steamy, stormy and very much like the tropics. But, a girl can dream. To get into the spirit, Boo Boo and I made Autumn leaves from wool roving, using cookies cutters, some soap and water. What fun!! Also, if you take a close look, you can see my little 1 X 1 glass tiles in the background ... the house is finally starting to look like a home.

SHE WILL BE MY BABY FOREVER

So, I had a dream one night that Boo Boo was still a little baby ... sniff, sniff ... and then I woke up ... sniff, sniffle. It was just a dream, and yes, time has really flown by. She is almost 4 years old! Don't get me wrong, I want her to grow and thrive ... but, does it have to happen so fast??? So, you have to know just how heart wrenching it was to see her trying on her very first pair of baby shoes, saying, "Mommy, see I can still wear them!". Oh, sometimes I wish ;-) but each day brings so much joy and new adventures ...

FUN PENGUIN

Boo Boo's dear friend Sophie will turn 3 this week and she LOVES penguins. So, I thought I would try my hand at making a little penguin. After creating the little guy, I thought he needed a home ... hmmm ... making an igloo wasn't as easy as I had planned. But, I figured it out. Boo Boo is so excited to give Sophie her little penguin. I am surprised she hasn't told Sophie about it yet ;-) Happy Birthday Sophie!

Seasonal Tree

Okay, so I finished my latest project ... our seasonal tree for our nature table. It was quite fun to make and I know it will be something Boo Boo will love to assist with in the future. However, there was so much punching and poking with that very sharp, barbed needle, that I felt it was much safer to work on this project at night while Boo Boo was sleeping. As of tomorrow, it will rest in the center of our dining table because we haven't quite found another good spot for our nature table/display. I will leave off the apples to start with and Boo Boo will be surprised with a grand green tree ready for us to magically embelish. I thought, after starting our new circle time and story (all about apples) next week, Boo Boo and I could create little apples together and place them on the tree. Here is a pic with a few little apples I made to get us started. As the seasons evolve, we will adapt our tree throughout the year ... oooh ... I'm getting excited for little pumpkins already!

Getting Ready for the Year

Well, I've been a bit busy every evening over the summer months. I've been planning Boo Boo's "Kindergarten" year. Nothing too serious, but a whole lot of fun, free play, nature walks, gardening, cooking/baking, holiday and festival planning, coloring with block crayons, wet on wet watercolor painting, singing, dancing, puppets and stories, handwork ... WOW! Now that my planning is well underway, I've also been organizing our supplies and creating lists of what still needs to be obtained. Mommy has also been learning a great deal. For the past few nights, I've been working on my block crayon coloring skills. The DVD from Sigi is amazing. Within days I feel like I have a good grasp on how to illustrate stories and bring images to life. I also realized the need for keeping these sweet little block crayons clean! From an earlier post, Rainy Day, you may remember that Boo Boo and I found quite a few things to do one stormy day. One of those projects was the beginning of a crayon pouch. We haven't had many stormy days since, so it has taken me a bit to finish the project. But, now it is finished. This pouch holds our set of 24 block crayons. However, the skills I'm working on right now only involve 3 colors: red, yellow and blue ... creating the magic of how these colors play together to create all the rest. So, my next project will be a mini version of the crayon pouch: 6 pockets to hold both mine and Boo Boo's set of 3 primary colors. Okay, so now I'm off to learn the penny whistle! Thanks Jodi for your wonderful curriculum. I can't wait to dive in. Hmmm ... I wonder if that sound machine in the other room is going to be enough to drown out my learning and not wake up Boo Boo??? I'll keep you posted :-)

WHAT A LOVING MOMMY

LITTLE KITTIES

Next on my knitting list was a mama kitty and her little baby, per Boo Boo's request.

THE DANCE OF THE TREE

Boo Boo was on a search for a leotard ... it must be black because she wanted to be a Ladybug for Halloween (mommy is in charge of making the ladybug wings) and wanted to have a Ladybug Tea Party for her birthday. After racing into the house with her goodies, she just couldn't wait to transform herself ... "the night fairy ballerina" she announces. She begins the dance of the night time forest ... as the fairy leaves her tree and enjoys the moonlight ...

Hmmm ... I think we forgot all about Ladybugs ... for the moment

EUNICE THE UNICORN

Mommy has been learning to knit again. Thanks to our dear friend, Olga, I'm making progress. This is my first creation ... a cute little unicorn that I fashioned after ideas from Kristie at earthschooling.com. Boo Boo found Eunice early the next morning while visiting the butterfly garden. She loves her greatly and has carried her on every adventure of the week ...

RAINY DAY FUN

So, we usually don't mind the rain and it is a lot of fun to keep on swimming, or swinging or digging in the garden during the rain ... and refreshing. In fact, Boo Boo's favorite saying is "We're ducks. We don't mind the rain". But, when a stormy day sets in upon us (rather than the quick bursts of rumble and downpours we usually endure) ... well, what's a duck to do? Hmmm ...

Tea with homemade pita bread and homemade hummus ... yummy enough for a princess

Mend our broken and torn toys

Make a pouch for our block crayons ...

Make spinacoladas ... (a fancy way of saying spinach, pineapple, brazil nut milk and banana smoothie) Seriously, if you have never tried one ... they are YUM!

LORIKEETS

Today we spent the day at Butterfly World. Yes, the theme is butterflies for the summer ;-) What started out as a fun project has taken over the house. Boo Boo would go to Butterfly World every day if she could. Today, she was actually smitten by the Lorikeets. These adorable birds love people and climb all over you. Boo Boo had a chance to feed a couple their favorite snack: mango,papaya, pear juice. It looked like one of our yummy smoothies ;-)

LOTS OF BUTTERFLIES TODAY

Today was a wonderful day for butterflies. We had 8 butterflies in all emerge this morning. We had 1 Monarch, 1 Orange Barred Sulphur, 4 Gulf Fritillaries and 2 Black Swallowtails. Hope you enjoy some pics of the process in rearing each of these types.

WANNA BE FRIENDS?

ORANGE BARRED SULPHUR

Here are some pics of the process in rearing the Orange Barred Sulphur

GULF FRITILLARIES

With our first Gulf Fritillaries emerging today, I thought we would post a few pics of the. These are fast flying butterflies, so I was delighted to get a few pics with wings fully extended.

SPECIAL

One of our little Gulf Fritillaries emerged with under developed wings. We were assured by experts that she is fine, except she cannot fly. We are keeping her indoors and Boo Boo has named her "Special" because she is our special butterfly to pamper with yummy, fresh flowers every day, fruit and sugar water. She is the sweetest little butterfly and loves to crawl all over us. We took her outside in the sun and breeze today to play and now she is resting in her butterfly nursery with a yummy vase of jatropha.

FRIENDS AND SWIMMING

Boy, doesn't this look like a group of teenagers in the making. How many 2, 3 and 5 year olds just choose to go lay down on their towel and relax by the pool. We had to get a shot of Boo Boo and her friends when we saw this. Now, if they would only fall asleep and take a nap ;-)

OUR MONARCHS ARE HERE

We've been busy rearing our butterflies since we've returned from our trip to Georgia. The past few weeks have been very busy. We got a little out of hand with our little creatures. But, it was way too exciting to come home to so many caterpillars on our plants. We brought in quite a few Monarchs, Black Swallowtails, Zebra Longwings, Gulf Fritillaries, and Cloudless Sulphur. So, this past week has been a flurry of emerging Monarchs. We've released 10 over the past four days. One day we had sextuplets! Here is a cute pic with all 6 of her babies attached to Boo Boo.