Making Orange Juice

Hmmm...what did I learn today? I'd rather talk about what the kiddo learned today. Her enthusiasm for learning teaches me so much. Today, she learned how to make orange juice...

The juicer that she is using is one that I inherited from my grandparents. One time, my grandmother had eaten an orange that she thought was particularly delicious. She saved one of the seeds and planted it. She nurtured that little tree, even bring it with her and my grandfather to Florida each year for their winter stay. Can you picture it? Grandma and Grandpa driving in the front of the car with the little potted orange tree gently tuck into the back seat! When they finally settled in Florida permanently, she planted the tree outside of their home. I can still vividly remember climbing it's branches to pick the highest oranges and then bringing them into her kitchen to make orange juice with this juicer. Teaching my daughter to use this tool was very special to me because of its history. I bet Grandma is smiling down on her great granddaughter with such pleasure right now!

She worked very hard. As you can see, she had a little helper who was quite interested. She juiced 4 oranges and was very pleased with the product of all of her effort. We put it in fancy glasses and allowed her to make a toast. She paused and thought about what she would toast and raised her glass and said, "I toast Daddy and Mommy!" Bless her sweet little heart!

YUMMY!

We shared the peels with her feathered friends. Although the squirrel will probably steal them by morning. Shhh, we won't tell her. If their gone, I'm sure it will be the birds that took them.

Spring is Coming!

Today was much more laid back than yesterday. Our schedule was open and we were just able to enjoy whatever the day brought. I like days like that. Today was supposed to be rainy. the weather man was wrong, so we took the kids fishing again. Today, three fish were caught. Oh, the joy for the 3 year old!

I'm not much of a fisherman and the baby can't fish yet, so I don't have a licence. My function is to be there as the bringer of snacks, cheerleader, baby wrangler and photographer. My camera and I sure did have fun. Today I learned that Spring is finally here! It was a beautiful day and nature provided such a beautiful display for us.

The pussy willows were everywhere! The 3 year old had so much fun finding them and "petting" them. She love the soft, fluffy texture.

She was also fascinated by the fungus that we found. She had many questions about it. I think this may be a topic for us to research in the near future.

There were these fascinating ducks with white tips on their bills. I'm not sure what the were but they looked like American Coots or Mud Hens. I tried real hard but this is the best picture that I could get of them.

Look, a patch of green amongst all the brown! Spring is really coming!

The creek was flowing and we just sat there watching it's beauty and listening to its magnificent sound.

As we left, the deer bid us farewell. We saw a dozen deer. One of them just stood there staring at us. Our daughter kept squealing with glee and asking a million questions about why he was looking at us. Despite her squeels, he just stood there...staring. Quite fascinating!

Goodbye beautiful Sunday! You taught me to look for beauty even amongst the lingering brown. I learned today to slow down, breathe, and appreciate life. I learned that even though the calendar says that Spring is here, nature is telling me that soon it really will be here! Hurray for Green, Hurray for Spring!

Embrasing a Busy Day

Today was a busy day. We had three pretty major activities planned for the day.

First, Trout season opened today and it was our daughter's first chance to use her new fishing pole that Daddy let her pick out. The pond that we took her to is a stocked pond, so going in the morning today meant the best chance of her actually catching any fish.

She was very successful and met the daily limit of five. She was thrilled and got to reel in each fish. In retelling the story, she gets her whole body into it by acting out how "wriggley" the fish were. Our son was very fascinated by it all and wanted nothing less than to touch the fish. (Don't worry, we didn't actually let him!)

Second on the agenda was building a new doghouse. Our current one is in need of replacement for a variety of reasons. So, the afternoon was spent on that task.

Daddy and daughter worked diligently building a home for our hairy friend.

Our daughter even decided that no construction site is complete without hardhats. She also got out her markers and paper and made a sign full of letters to put on the back door letting everyone know to be careful of the construction site.

Third on the agenda was driving over 2 hours to a Daddy/Daughter Dance. Our daughter's godparents invite us every year to make the drive for this special event. Four Dads, five daughters and oh so much cuteness!

Today I learned that I need to embrace the beauty of a busy day. Most busy days find me stressed and struggling trying to juggle everything. Today, I let go and went with the flow. Doing so allowed the following to happen despite our business...

A special trip for donut holes to celebrate our daughter catching her first fish!

Allowing the time to pull cow on the sled while riding a tricycle, just because it's a fun idea. (Notice the Christmas socks...those somehow got forgotten in the sock drawer and were found today. How can I argue with her logic that tells me, "But Mom, I have a green shirt on. Look, it matches!")

Finding time to build a "tree house." That is all the girl's handiwork. She worked diligently on this for a long time, collecting the "trees," twisting the twine, and getting everything just right.

Chasing a snake around the yard...actually 3 snakes appropriately named Mommy, Daddy, and Baby.

Hula-hooping. Who can resist that plastic hoop?!?!? All three of us gave it a whirl while the baby slept.

And finally, taking note of the rhubarb awaking from it's winter slumber and sitting with the girl discussing all the yummy things we plan to make from it's delicious stalks.

Had I have focused on the business of today, I would have missed all these precious moments. I am so thankful that I did not. I need to remind myself of this when business overtakes our little family. This is another lesson that I need to keep relearning until it becomes habit!

Green Eggs and Ham

Today, I did yet another Green Eggs and Ham presentation. This is one of my favorite presentation that I do throughout the year. Today was for a group of three year olds and a separate group of two year olds. This is my first presentation for the two year old set. I was pretty nervous and was looking up some info online to see if I could modify anything for this younger group of kids. I ran across this list of chicken facts. If you've ever wondered how many toes a chicken has or how long it takes for a chicken to lay an egg, this is the link for you. If you've never wondered such things, just skip the link. I'll give you the fact I found most interesting...

"One trait, called Melanosis, causes chickens' bones, ligaments, skin and tendons to be colored BLACK."

Bring this fact up the next time your sitting down to a delicious chicken dinner with the family. I'm sure you'll get quite a reaction!

My quest to learn something new each day didn't mean that I would learn things that are worthwhile or relevant. So, I can chalk this one up to being just useless information. But, hey, I learned something today!

(By the way, the presentation went fine but I wouldn't want to do it every day. It's a brave teacher that will face the terrible twos times 14 each and every day!)

I am an Irritable Mother!

OK, you know that irritable, grouchy feeling that you get when you feel like you are being pulled in every direction and if something doesn't give you are going to explode into a million screaming pieces? I feel that way sometimes. I feel that way more than I would like. There. I said it. But guess what? I'm not alone! You probably feel that way too. It's one of those secrets of motherhood that we don't like to talk about. We like to pretend that everything is just peachy and that everything is under control. The reality is that motherhood isn't always pretty. I question my decisions. I questions my abilities. I question...I question...I question...

Like I said, I'm not alone. At MOPS today, Karen Hossink was our guest speaker. She is the author of the book, Confessions of an Irritable Mother. She shared her struggles with us and discussed her journey through the obstacles of motherhood. During our small group discussion time after her presentation, her message resonated with each woman. It was refreshing to see women open up and share the fact that they face struggles as a mother. It's amazing how much we laughed as we realized that our struggles are universal. Karen Hossink has a website and blog. Both are well worth checking out.

I learned something else too. My small group provided the food for today's MOPS meeting. I made a potato casserole. I assembled it last night and baked it this morning...so simple. Looks like we'll be eatin' a lot of potato casserole around here. I think I'm addicted. I didn't take a picture of the potatoes but I did take a picture of the other dish I brought...Apples and Carmel Dip...Mmmm!

I learned today that if you have to make something for others, make something that you love and make extra. I did just that and yes, we'll be eating carmel apple dip all weekend lo-o-ong! My sweet tooth is going to go bonkers! YUM!

Obstacle Busters

Today I read some really inspiring articles. Both stories deal with people overcoming huge obstacles to experience success. The first story is of 6 blind teens who were led on a mountain climbing expedition by Erik Weihenmayer, the first blind man to climbed Mount Everest. There is a film being released documenting their Himalayan climb. The second story is of a high school wrestler who lost all four limbs as a 5 year old. Despite this, he has successfully become one of the top wrestlers in his state. Both stories are absolutely amazing!

There are days when I feel like I have stuff to complain about. I read articles like these and it puts life in perspective. I can either let obstacles stand in my way or I can take whatever life gives me and run with it. Complaining won't change a thing but determination can. On that note, here's another quote I found...

"Patience and perseverance have a magical effect before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish."
— John Quincy Adams
(1767-1848) U.S. politician - 6th president of the United States

A bunch o' links

A friend of mine gave me a link to a really great Waldorf site. She pointed me to a unit study on color. I think that I may start this with my daughter. I love that the study integrates so many hands-on activities into the study. It has a great deal of literature and art integrated into the unit. This is a feature that really draws me to it.

While there I also found a link to a calendar generator that will print out a calendar for whatever town you live in. The calendar that I printed out for us has sunrise and sunset times, moonrise and moonset times, and moon phases. My kiddos are too young to really use it but I think it's really cool and I think that as they grow this could be really great learning tool.

The same friend sent me to the Montessori by Hand blog. She directed me to this post about composer cards and a pouch to put them in. I love this idea! Definitely something that I want to add to my to-do list. My daughter currently has a favorite book called Bach by Ann Rachlin. Since she enjoys this book about the life of Johann Sebastian Bach, perhaps I need to use this interest to start introducing her to other composers. This idea by Montessori by Hand would definitely get us started!

Today I am thankful for a great friend who takes the time to share the great things she finds with me so that I can learn as well.