Through Her Eyes

                              
I wrote shortly after Christmas about Claire’s excitement after receiving a digital camera for Christmas from her Aunt Nikki and Uncle Matt. I finally got around to taking a look at what she’s been photographing and I laughed out loud at many of the images and marveled over the beauty of the “everyday” she captured. I’d like to think I was looking through her eyes at things that are important to her: family, friends, animals, her special toys and favorite places in our home…

Oh, that's for the birds!

I have to admit to housing all sorts of experiments in my fridge (both intentional and unintentional, green shrimp, anyone?) but this hodgepodge of lard, peanut butter, sunflower seeds, cheese and bird seed was a success, albeit a messy one. If birds could talk I'm sure they would be raving about this recipe. Yet another thing to add to our many bird feeding stations!There seem to be lots of tutorials for similar bird suet on the web but I liked this one for two reasons, I had the stuff on hand and the recipe came from reputed wildlife organization so I figured we wouldn't poison our feather friends. I was inspired by the recipe here and saw the cute mold idea here.

The cast of characters, do NOT melt the lard. 

Strawberry Jam

Earlier in the summer we made 3 separate trips to our local strawberry farm. The weather was so pleasant and a few mornings spent picking yielded some stellar berries and homemade jam.

Claire carried her own basket and was a great picker! She refused to eat any insisting they were all for her basket, what a change from last year!

We wound up with enough jam to pass along some to our neighbors and friends and I thought it would be nice for Claire to help with the labels. We used Pomona’s Universal Pectin which allowed us to make a low sugar version of freezer jam. It requires one extra step (making calcium water) but I think the results are far better then the super-sweet versions with pectin that require sugar to jell them.

Next year I’m going to get more adventurous and try some savory jellies and maybe even some real canning so we don’t lose valuable freezer space to these jars.

The freezer jam keeps in the freezer for one year and the fridge for 2 weeks.I wonder if it will all last that long, we’ve been enjoying ours on bread and scooped into some yogurt and cottage cheese. Yum!

Textile Art with Toddlers (aka PUFFY PAINT!)

Remember puffy paint from the 80s? If it doesn’t conjure up visions of Debbie Gibson and girls shaking their bedazzled rhinestone tushies you must have been born on another planet.

Claire is into squiggly drawing right now so I thought this would be a hit. Turns out I was wrong and she used the bottles in an entirely different way.

She made tall puffy paint piles. In every (rockin’ 80s teal, purple and gold) color. As this was going to be a gift, I decided that we would try another option because these swirly creations would never dry. I ran around the kitchen looking for something that would work as a spreader (note to self, better prepare the art environment so you’re not scrambling mid-project with a very messy situation unfolding). I finally came up with a few pipe-cleaners and twisted them together to make an impromptu paintbrush.

I also grabbed some birch trimmings from a jar and used them as stamps. The bag came out really cute, and very colorful to say the least. I attempted some iron on letters (sparkly ones to please Claire) but they were a disaster so we went with a rhinestone butterfly instead. I’ll have to bully Bella’s Mom for a photo since i forgot to take one of the finished bag :)

 

Some things I learned from this experience:

• Puffy paint is messy and sticks to skin just as well as fabric (I still have a purple smudge on my arm!)
• Drying time always takes longer then the Puffy Paint folks tell you.
• Remove puffy paint from your child BEFORE putting them in the bathtub or your tub will be as messy as your child.

 

Morning

Put on your "jammers," tousle your hair and play with me this morning!




You'll need a paintbrush and some watercolors, and a favorite furry friend to help.



You'll need blocks for "bidding castel towers weel high," and a silly smile for knocking them down.




You'll need a noble steed to ride upon. Now rock, rock, rock with me!



You'll need to run around and around until your stomach growls.















And then it will be time for breakfast. Yum.

More photos here, click on the slideshow to view them larger:

Peanut, Peanut Butter – And Birdseed!

Today’s messy project with Claire was for the birds – literally. Every year (see here, here, and here!) we put out feeders for our feathered friends and watch as they feast from our own warm perch indoors. There’s usually a nice assortment of species: downy woodpeckers, nuthatches, tufted titmice, chickadees, black capped chickadees, bluejays, mourning doves, cardinals and the occasional (and very cool) piliated woodpecker. Claire is really into the “tweets” this year. She helps fill the feeders and pours water into their little saucer to watch them “take baffs in my wawer.”

‘

Tis the season for lots of cardboard boxed deliveries so I decided to put one to use and make our own silly feeder with peanut butter and birdseed. I got the idea from a website that advised rolling toilet paper rolls in peanut butter then birdseed, but thought this would look cuter hanging from our feeding station.

Want to know how we did it? Well………………

First you take the word and you spell it, you spell it!

Then you take the peanuts and you spread ‘em, you spread ‘em!

Then you take the birdseed and you sprinkle it, you sprinkle it!

The you take your sign and you hang it, you hang it!

(sorry, I just couldn’t resist breaking into song on this one!)

Things I learned from this project? Butter knives don’t spread the gooey stuff as well as spatulas and bare hands work best of all. Getting dirty is part of the fun, kids (and kitchen tables) are quite washable! It’s a good idea to poke holes in your letters BEFORE smearing sticky peanut butter all over the cardboard. Better yet, string them before even starting!

And the final turnout? The birds loved it? If you can’t see the “tweet” in the photo above, look a little closer below. Here’s a link to the full album in all it’s gooey goodness: all the pics.

My Little Tree-Hugger!

Claire and I have been busy with end of season garden maintenance, we’ve repotted oodles of plants, brought in the rosemary to overwinter (fingers crossed) and we’ve started a nice compost pile (by we’ve I mean that I did the work and Claire dumped water and shouted at the birds). Come spring, I’m hoping for some “brown gold” enrich my veggie beds.

It hasn’t been all work and no play though! Last week, we spent the day at a local farm with our chapter of the Holistic Mom’s Network. Claire had a blast feeding all the animals, getting lost in the corn maize (get it? maze – maize?!) and decorating a pumpkin. Claire even took her first ride on a horse! Check out the album below, we had a great time!

View Full Album

Coloring the Garden

Claire and I tackled a little paint project before dinner yesterday. The flowers in the garden might be wilting but we’ll still have some color to enjoy thanks to Claire’s painted rock. Isn’t it gorgeous? Painted hands are happy hands in this house!

Paint!

View Full Album

Well , check another item off that parent to-do list! I broke down and let Claire dive into some paint and I was so surprised at her dainty painting skills. It’s hard to believe that the kid whose food finds its way behind her ears can hold a brush and keep most of the paint on the paper.

If you look closely there are a few blue streaks above Claire’s eyebrows, but other than that c-l-e-a-n. Even I had more paint smeared on me! In my own defense (there’s always an excuse, isn’t there?) I was slathering paint on apples and onions for some stamping.

Claire seemed so proud of her creations and was happy to help hang them on the clothesline to dry. I cropped out the laundry hanging on the rest of the line - you didn’t think I’d let a sunny day pass without something cheerfully drying in the sun, did you?

By the way, onion stamps make the coolest concentric rings – hands down winner in the stamping department in my opinion. Just zoom into that picture above and check out the pattern. I’d love some suggestions for other paint related ideas – share below in the comment section.

More photos to be seen via the slide-show linky here, but if you prefer the non-moving version sans cool color halos (how completely and utterly b-o-r-i-n-g, heehee!) there is a link to the album at the top of the post. Enjoy!