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And here we are - at the very last image for this year. Thinking about what had made this year special- the very first thing that came to mind is seeing the relationship between my little ones emerge and grow and turn into something to behold. Last year at this time Reed was barely year and a half- and Siena was more like a mom to him. Over the last year these two had become so close- spending almost all of their days together. Their newest games involve playing mom or dad to one another- and they alternate playing the parent and the baby- usually this involves an inordinate number of falling asleep and waking up. They also love building forts, pretty much anywhere and at any time. In fact (as I had mentioned) we had given them a gift this holiday season with the hope of moving their fort making somewhere other than on top of us:) They also love building forts in the woods on our walks. They love crazy stuff like running in circles and pretty much any pretend play that involves something 'cary, whether it be a mo-mo (monster) or a guy playing guitar (skeleton that scared them this halloween playing guitar in a haunted house- I know, right?) or just your ordinary 'cary stuff (today it was a bird that was going to carry Reed away, drop him in the lake - we were walking next to a lake- and "Reed be all gone"). Each one of these games gets played at least a few times a day! What helps is the amazing patience that Siena has for her toddler brother and the overwhelming affection he shows her (well he really shows it to anyone who'll take it, but she is often the one closest to him when cuddling mood strikes- which is every 5 to 10 minutes:) So it is only fitting that these two (from last two days) end my year.

A portrait of my children, once a week, every week in 2014.
As always joining in with Jodi over at practisingsimplicity.blogspot.com

Holiday Gifts

Holidays are meant to be a time to slow down and notice the world and people around us, and I truly dislike to what extent it becomes about shopping and busy malls and honking horns. I know all of those might carry a charm to them, but I truly believe that is only because they are so close in time to other, more meaningful experiences (like being with one’s family). This is why we try every year (albeit not terribly successfully) to not buy many things for the kids and instead to give them experiences or build or make something for them and each other. Last year we had built the kids a play stand. 

This year we had made over our guest room into a playroom- the guest room is right off the living room and so it is a perfect location for kids to play. Up until recently this was our homeschool room, but we had for a number of reasons found ourselves doing most of our homeschooling at the kitchen table and so it was high time to change that room around. The kids loved it- we had not done much- added some pillows, moved things around, got some little warm carpets. We had only added a little workshop for Reed (which was his one bought present- Siena got a comic book making kit) and I had sewn a little set of curtains for the playstand so that they could do a puppet theater. This coincided perfectly with the fact that our next door neighbor (who is a play therapist) bought the kids a bunch of amazing puppets! The kids loved it and so do we- I have been reading my new books on their soft bed and kids have been spending so much more time in that room, instead of demolishing the living room, so truly it was a present for us all- wink!

Winter (sort of) Walk

Mother nature decided to give us a few more days to soak up the sun before the long cold winter comes. We took full advantage of it…trying to treasure the time outside, knowing we'll be daydreaming about it all not too long from now. 

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A portait of my children, once a week, every week in 2014.
As always joining in with Jodi over at practisingsimplicity.com

These two love doing pretty much everything together. When we had them almost 4 years apart and a boy and a girl I guess I just assumed they would not be as close as kids who are less far apart in age or same gender. I am glad to say I was absolutely wrong. These two love playing together almost all the time, they rarely ever get into conflicts and when they do Siena is very good at dealing with them. Recently Siena was sad about not having a best friend at school (she has loads of friends, but she only goes for 2h so it is not a great surprise other kids are closer), and as she started crying Reed came over and said "Reed Yena's best friend." I mean seriously!!! Heart melted on the spot!
The benefit of only going to school for 2h pictured:) We have been going to the local apple orchard almost every week, sometimes we only pick a few apples and then after our hike through the orchard kids like to reward themselves with some amazing freshly made apple turnovers.

34/52- Besties

Siena started school this week- well sort of- she is dual enrolled in our local public school and she goes for 2h in the morning, but she is primarily homeschooled. Nonetheless we have already noticed Reed misses her - given they are both still at home they spend so much time together and their relationship is something amazing to behold. They have so much fun together- they have so much love for each other and so much patience (especially Siena) that I am surprised each day by it. By the way- the last few images are them being pirates- there is an ARGH behind those faces at each turn:)

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A portrait of my children, once a week, every week in 2013.
As always joining in with Jodi over at practisingsimplicity.com

Reed- playing in the hobbit house we built this summer- we have planted ivy on the sides and put sod on the roof so one day it will hopefully actually look like a hobbit house (more pictures of the hobbit house in my next post- it was all of like 10 dollars and 4h work!- totally worth it!)
Siena-playing in the backyard on Reed's well-loved tractor- we are not big fans of plastic toys and even less big fans of plastic toys in the backyards but this tractor is a well loved and used toy and so it has grown on us as well

I am not sure when exactly it happened, but talk of fall is in the air. I think one day someone mentioned something about a crisp autumn wind and next thing you know the thought of fall is on everyone's mind. I dread the cold months and not being able to go on our nature walks, or play in our backyard- there are months and month when I forget how the backyard even looks like.

School starts for the little ones in our town next week and since Siena is doing some dual enrollment at a local school (she takes a few classes there with other kids but is otherwise homeschooled), there has also been lots of pre-school supply shopping, ice cream socials, great excitement about getting the same teacher and all that. I feel like we won the lottery with this set up…Siena and we gets all the excitement and fun of going to school without at the same time having to do the 7h days. On the homeschooling front we decided to buy a curriculum (Oak Meadow) this year instead of trying to wing it and make our own and we are both feeling much more confident about this academic year with the curriculum in hand. But more on that in a week or so- it was really a hard process deciding on a curriculum.

Share Fair (part 2)- Desalination Project

adding salt to our desalinators (2 were high salinity and 2 were low salinity) 

desalinators ready to desalinate- little rocks in the middle of the plastic wrap to ensure water drips into the collection cups

the big reveal

it worked!

tasting the water was hilarious

measuring what we got in the collection cups

low salinity water got more clear water out

at the fair!

our super awesome homeschooling assistance program teachers Mr. Dan and Ms. Kathryn

We had so much fun with this project. At first we worried about it being a bit too advanced for Siena, but it really wasn't and it was a perfect end of school year project- it allowed us to incorporate so much learning. From why fresh clean water matters and how difficult it is to come by in so many places of the world, to the water cycle, evaporation, salinization, measuring and math, and she loved it all! We were so proud listening to her answer all the questions so carefully and thoughtfully, so that for example when she didn't know the answer- like why did the water with the high salt content become less red (we dyed the water with beets)- she answered it might be because it was exposed to the sun (and while I think that isn't right- I am guessing that as the water evaporated there was more salt left and so more salt to bind the impurities including beet color), it was probably my favorite answer of hers exactly because she didn't know the answer. Silly what sorts of things moms are proud of:)

By the way we got the idea for this project here at sciencebuddies.org and it is a really great website with hundreds of science fair ideas!

Share Fair (part 1)- Artbot

The end of the school year has brought many special occasions, recitals and fairs, goodbyes and promises of summer playdates. And while that kept us much busier than I would have expected to be in the beginning of what feels like a summer vacation, I am very glad for it all. When we first started thinking about homeschooling one of my biggest worries was that Siena was going to miss out on all those special occasions like the excitement of the first day of school, Halloween parties at school and badly produced Thanksgiving performances, Valentine cards and dances and end of year concerts and science fairs. So we tried really hard to make sure to capture or recreate some of those same elements in our homeschooling experience. The many activities Siena does has helped in that. We had rehearsals and excited evening ballet recitals that made mommy cry one too many times to tell, the mayfair at the Waldorf school hour or so south of here and we had the Share Fair at the homeschooling assistance program, where Siena does her Junior Great Books program, math and chess clubs, science experiments, art and field trips. For the Share Fair Siena brought 2 projects- one a collaboration with her bestie Myra- and it was a store bough artbot that nonetheless was a huge hit especially with the little folk. We also worked hard on a desalination project, but more about that later. So here we are now, finally officially on summer vacation, spending slow mornings thinking about whether to have that second cuppa in the backyard or not and where to go hiking this morning. Summers are the best!

Spring Nature Table

Although I am quite late with posting this, it is only half my fault- and half Mother Nature's. Spring has been so slow to come in these parts, but I think it is finally here to stay. We had put up our spring nature table almost a month ago, during a fleeting warm-up. We also made a spring play mat, with some flowers, a creek, a little bridge and a tiny animal cottage. Our front door wreath had become a nest for some finches, who bravely defended it from the sparrows that tried to take it over. After finding a dead bird on our porch, very close to the nest, we checked the nest in fear every morning, but the finch babies made it, and left their nest a few days ago. Just yesterday we found them hoping around in our backyard, giving us once again anxiety over their safety, since there are some mean cats in our neighborhood. It made us wonder if there is this much of nature's drama in our backyard, how wild is the rest of the world...