My Love-Hate Relationship with Children's Museums

So the last couple of days at our house have been focused on play!  Yeah!  I adore seeing friends, and I also adore the quiet rest of time spent at home in the presence of familiar.  There is something so freeing about the gift of time without any restraints, any requirements, or anything put in front of us to "do something with."  This idea sits on a high pedestal in my mind as something of importance to always strive for...to be faithful to as much as possible, especially for my little ones.  Friends of ours have a family motto...a single word that they have chosen to be more important than all others.  Theirs is "freedom," which fits me but I couldn't copy them:) so I searched for a different word.  I found that interesting, and for me that word is "faithful."  I strive to be faithful to what I believe is important, what I believe to be my purpose, what I believe to be the reason I am here.

So today when I was at the new Children's Museum to meet friends of ours, I began to wonder if I was living my motto.  Now, not to take anything away from the Children's Museum...it is beautiful and wonderful and creative, and I was amazed by the creative effort that went into the remodeling of it.  But, it was packed full of people, noisy, and there were stations everywhere already set up for the children, which I must say I really enjoyed myself.  But, again a "but," my children were showing signs of being fearful of all the people much of the time, Todd and I were worn out from searching for them at all times, and we were inside for hours on a beautiful day.  And, my kids never got to explore to find something on their own or make up their own play/game the way they do at home or they way they do with friends when they play.   So, was this a day well-spent for my family?  Something to ponder for the future...maybe I'm just looking for something to argue about again.  Afterall, I did go on a slightly ridiculous rampage about $10 parking for the Badger game today.

All of that said, now I give the pictures from the events of our last couple of days...

Simon climbing a tree for the 1st time...he was so proud!

Face Painting for our roles in the play...I really was happy!

willow boughs in bunches for broom making at Clara's Laura Day next week!

The end of our face painting extravaganza

Clara cutting the potatoes into halves and thirds for potato salad

The Potato People that Clara made in her own special way

The scarecrow Clara designed with friends

Ruthie's love affair with water

Car Ride Conversations

Car trips seem to be a part of our life, and not just short trips to the library or social events but LONG trips of 2 or more hours one way.  Of course, at times they are stressful, but often they are quite interesting and the members of our family entertain themselves quite easily.  There are always backpacks full of sketch books, our favorite Lyra colored pencils, and the odd toy that hasn't been played with in a while.  There is always a huge back of books placed in the middle of all the kids, for easy reaching.  Usually the books are new library books, scattered with a few old favorites.  There used to be fun music CDs, until the CD player in the car was accidentally broken.  Now we sing our own songs, making up many as well.  We now play 20 Questions frequently as well, and that doesn't include the questions that Simon fires at us from the moment we buckle our seat belts.

The most interesting parts of our trips, however, are usually the conversations.  Some examples of recent include discussions of cloud patterns, testosterone, how rainbow colors form (using sketch books and colored pencils), death, role playing how the kids might feel and respond in tough situations with other kids, and what each of us might be doing in 8 years (Ruthie will be diving out of airplanes while enjoying kale salad, and Simon will be running on teams and eating ice cream for 3 meals a day.  Clara will be living in Spain...oh wait, Davenport as a swimming instructor).

The Lippert car trips...always interesting.  

Welcome Autumn!

So the "Grandpa and Grandma" fieldtrip adventure is now complete.  Clara's time consisted of harvesting chestnuts (learning how to get to the nut through the spiny shell but using her feet to open the shell...the demonstration was fabulous), working on and completing a 500-piece puzzle with Grandpa Roger, making a tree identification book, learning about poison ivy and squirrels' favorite nuts, and "mini dipping" (which I just can't describe right now), and much more.  Brother and sister were sure happy to pick her up and get to play with Grandpa and Grandma a little bit as well.

Our day of friends and activities was today, our Social Wednesday.  Simon is excited to have a new friend to run with at Day Camp and doesn't seem to be bothered by eating a different snack than everyone else.  Apparently, he actually yelled out "hummus...yum!"  Clara is thoroughly enjoying being in the play at ShakeRag and insisted on reading through her script twice at the park and each page 10 times at home tonight.

We finished off this 1st day of Autumn with a bonfire in the backyard where we poked the fire, worried about Simon and Ruthie falling in, discussed what would happen if they would, were able to relax for a little bit while listening to the chicks cuddle up and end their peeping for the night.

Welcome Autumn.  We're ready to explore all that you have to offer.

The joy of all things new and beautiful

Today, I was stuck by the "awesomeness" of all things new and beautiful around my children and the family as a whole and the impact of this on us now and in the future.  My awareness of this began on my way home from an afternoon of "personal renewal" while the kids got Daddy to themselves.  I watched a calf nursing and felt warmth throughout my soul.  Life right there in front of me, continuing, while a twing of sadness penetrated my heart as I remembered my own nursing experience that ended only a few weeks ago.  Nevertheless, a smile drifted across my face.  Beauty before my eyes.  So much beauty.  May my eyes always be open to witness it, participate in it, and create it.

Woodchuck

experiencing the sound of the wind

the newness of the new car slide

The week in pictures

a bed crafted by Clara and the dolls used with it.  A pillow is Clara's next sewing project...

reading "Stone Soup" at homeschool group

the Stone Soup in which Simon ate 3 bowls and that my children begged for us to make at home later in the week, counting 7 vegetables and 2 kinds of beans...Simon found both of the stones in our soup at home

playing at group..I can't believe I didn't get any pics of the zip line or the treasure hunt...

the sleepover that began with counting Clara's money to see if she has enough to buy the "safe" that she has been saving up for.

sleepover activities

the bobblehead house constructed at the sleepover

the creators

and the aftermath

the Niabi Zoo trip with cousins...we could see the spots on the black leopard!

Simon and Kye see the airplane!

the pic taken by one of the girls of my sister and I and Kye

And this was our week in pics. 

a little rest

A truly wonderful, blissful day for all of us yesterday.  I day full of firsts and new experiences and friends.  It was wonderful to see the smiles on the faces of my young children as they venture out to explore new areas.  They had both talked about this day for a long time, especially Simon with his new adventure at day camp by himself without his big sister or parents.  Clara picked out her outfit for the play right away, even before I had taken a seat on the floor.  My heart warms to watch them so confident, so happy, their day filled with what they love.  The flip side, as there often seems to be one with me, is that I worry..."are we too busy right now?"  And, when we are just "being" I worry that we aren't busy enough.  Perhaps I should just take the example of my children and just be happy with the present, breathe in all of the joy and let it become me, trusting that we already have what we need...and if we don't we will find it. 

So, I allowed myself to be reintroduced to the "nap" yesterday AND today while my children were "baby cheetahs" laying with me and playing around me while "mama cheetah" protected them.  Harmony and balance are wonderful things. 

Forgot...

The "Why am I Homeschooling" part will be continued later this week...  Must go read about Queen Isabella right now.  hee.hee.

Totally Fun Day...and why am I homeschooling?

Totally fun day!  Spent the day at a friend's house for a "homeschool group"  practically all day.  Hope that was OK, Janelle...Day looked like this:

"Treasure Hunt" (Clara was totally into this and proud of her guesses and finds for the nature table)

Zip Line (Clara's favorite, and even I did it this time!  Exhilirating and a tad scary.  Simon climbed up this time!))

Building a "bridge" in the stream with rocks (Clara's knee still hurts from the fall, but she says it was still fun)

Rope swinging

Making Stone Soup complete with stone (delicious!)

Taking our chicks for a ride in the wagon out to the chicken tractor for an hour of "hardening"

Playing the new favorite homemade "golf ball rolling" game complete with the "crossover move"

Making a list of all of the animals we have seen on our farm (after seeing a 4-inch-long preying mantis on our window, of which Todd looked up and told us all about...by the way, the kids really liked the part where the female eats the male after mating with him) and putting them into a classification chart (Yes, this was my idea, and I got an "oh, mom, this is so you" for this idea.  But then they got totally into it as usual and even included their friend, Rita, as a mammal.  hee.hee)

Clara telling me that it would take 8 crickets (at 1/2 inch each) to equal the length of the preying mantis on our window

Loads of singing and impersonations today!

More reading by Clara from Dr. Seuss

Prep for tomorrow's big day

I'm probably forgetting some great stuff...

Playing it up with great friends...priceless

Littles that are really Bigs

A friend of mine recently reminded me of "The Littles," a favorite cartoon of mine from my younger years.  For me my days are filled with lots of "littles" that I often realize only after reflection at the end of the day are really "bigs."  This week, I received a lot of apples from my grandparents that were perfect for applesauce.  Clara asked if she could mash the apples into sauced by herself.  So she did...for about 2 hours.  What an accomplishment for a 6 year old!

My 2nd "little" that comes to mind after this week was our reading of the "To Be a Princess" book.  It is a collection of stories about princesses and queens from medieval times thru today.  We have just finished reading about Queen Elizabeth I, her sister "Bloody Mary," and Marie Antoinette.  We will be reading about Queen Victoria next.  The kids have become obsessed due to my own obsession with the middle ages recently and have been so curious about the lives of these important women from our history.  They are learning lots of new words, and it was so interesting to hear Simon say "Zoey is MY ally" after hearing so much about the word "ally."  Yes, they have been learning lots of other words and phrases like "beheading" and "the block," and I wonder if I should be reading this to them.  But I have always told myself that if they are interested in something, then we will go with it.  At least we're reading it together???  I'll just focus on the court dresses that we want to make someday...

The last "little" on my mind is how much the kids have learned about the life of a chick in the last 1 1/2 weeks.  They know about what they need to survive, how their digestion works, the food that they like, etc.  This has all led to bug hunts, watching spiders make beautiful webs, following a woodchuck and looking for its home after research on the internet about what to look for (and finding it!).  Animals have very quickly become the center of our life...

 Littles that are really Bigs.  I'm glad I haven't missed these.  I'm sure there is more to come about this...

Down Home Adventures

We didn't leave the farm today, which means that we were free to explore and create all day...which we did. 

There was reading, writing letters, playing "number-line squeeze," catching bugs for the chicks, racing up and down the lane, catching bugs for the chicks, hearing Clara use the word "exquisite" in proper context, performing musical medleys in the back yard, inspecting a very-cool spider web tunnel complete with spider at the end (using a flashlight and magnifying glass), catching bugs for the chicks, and finding mole tunnels in the yard.  This led to making mole tunnels in the house...

 ...which was by far the most fun part of the day.

The Picture...

The Chicken Tractor

And now there is a chicken tractor for our little chicks...and a customized paint job (see picture tomorrow) thanks to Simon's persistance.

Great visit from grandparents, aunt and cousins

 A new love for hot glue

Creation of a dollhouse bed out of wood scraps, felt, screws, beads and hot glue

Walks around the farm

Reading from Fox in Sox...and reluctantly agreeing to go to bed and rest so more fun can be had tomorrow.