A Running Collection

 And the not so itsy bitsy spider. . . . . .

George Wilder and Amelia choreographed an entire show including Raffi's Water Cycle Song and Let's Go Fly A Kite. It involves a lot of running, kite running, bouncing on the trampoline, and flipping over a bar. Fortunately, a grandparent visit landed in perfect timing. They had an captive audience in residence! George created some music as well. Fiddles abound here. The children played sweetly with blocks and books and games and had an evening of drawing with granddaddy. We went to the beach. We ate a lot of good food and enjoyed introducing sweet friends to grandparents. William joined in on the action. He is quite the bouncing machine these days and can even run fast enough to get the kite flying!

The oppressive heat washed away with cool rain. Breezes are blowing and blue crisp skies greet us each day. With a year under our belts, we frequent our favorite places and can't believe we are still finding treasures right under our noses. They stay hidden in the humidity and turn into glory in the cool breeze.  George and Kim sing outdoors in the early evening. We sit with friends until we've got to wiggle and take a trip around the lake right there at the Coffee Shop. Even in the middle of town, wildlife abounds. William climbed up in a tall chair for a game of chess with a stranger. The gentleman was thrilled to have company. T

What Is In A Day? When it is too quick to photograph . . . .  Wake Up To William. Not Happy. It is too early. Strap in the stroller. Watch the sun rise and the moon sink, but not before it shines gloriously full. “BALL!” William says and then moon and lots of moon and “more moon?” We walk a lot and drink milk from a sippy cup and visit the neighbor’s goats. It was not an elliptical at the gym workout with yoga at the end like I always do. It wasn’t what was planned, but he was calm and rested. The day has started. Amelia ready to rock as always. Reporting to Daddy about her events from yesterday. She collected a shrimp from the water we visited with new friends. Of course she had to report on new friends and shrimp that was still alive in the Venti Starbucks ice water cup salvaged from the car. . . . And we saw the African Children's Choir from Uganda last night. So inspiring.  Then we had to read the next chapter in “Where The Red Fern Grows...

We are thinking about color and space and props and direction. We are figuring out fractions and time and equations and problems and monetary value. William pours and puzzles and uses a lot of loud noises to let us know about his activity. Words are coming and we can hardly wait!   We crochet with sweet friend Emily. She visits for the weekend. We make music and talk and crochet and tickle and read and play games and nature walk and swim. Such sweetness.  William wants to cook. He pulled out all the things he needed and told me what to do. I followed. A pan. Butter. A piece of bread. It was actually four pieces but I put three back. Cinnamon, sugar and a spatula. I turned the stove on and we said hot back and forth. I stayed close while he sprinkled the cinnamon so carefully and the sugar not so carefully. He was making french toast I am sure that is what he had in mind. He wouldn't eat it though. . . . .

We are working on an artist a week. We started with Wassily Kadinsky. Then we did Henri Matisse. I love loved studying his work. And this week we are studying Andy Goldsworthy.  He used to be a Math Professor and now focuses mainly on his art. He uses only things found in nature and does a lot of work with ice, dirt, rocks, soil, leaves, sticks, etc. He has a bit of a circular theme. Look him up, his work is brilliant. We set out into the yard to build our own art work. It was such a perfect morning. The light was beaming down on us and it was a bit cooler than it has been. Even William worked diligently on his art piece. We also tried a fun project while sweet friend Emily visited for the weekend. It was rainy so we set it up inside. It is a fantastic idea, but don't try it in your kitchen -- especially with a two year old.   William works on his Goldsworthy style art project.  Amelia working on her Goldsworthy art work.  George Wilde...

Wiggly children were sent outside to find spiders and report back. We would take pictures and do some identifying and spider anatomy diagraming. The hunt turned into a wildlife special -- something you'd find on BBC. And of course our own little critters were so curious. They kept a close eye on our adventure. First we found piles of cicada shells. Big massive ones stuck to the side of the house. Read the captions to catch the story that unfolded . . .     A writing spider's egg sack.  A vineyard spider. I think.  A massive writing spider  The egg that Amelia caught a large oak snake attempting to swallow. Lucy scared the snake. The snake regurgitated it and then had a bit of a tiff with Lucy before we salvaged the egg in perfectly fine condition. We ate it in our cornbread! We ate an egg that a snake ate!  This is Clint. It was her egg that we saved from the snake and later ate!  Gorgeous fungus growing here and there an...