Climbing Trees

 



I think I would say that at least 75% of the times that I've been to the girl's Waldorf school I have seen one or more students climbing trees.  It is encouraged.  It is thought it teaches agility, thought, body control, mind & body coordination, enhances sense of touch, and probably many, many other things that I don't know about.  Paige witnessed a kindergartner doing this in the early childhood play yard when we were there last week.  She tried and tried to do it too, but just wasn't tall enough.  There is a great tree at a local park and she was so excited that she could climb it.  We then came home and she practiced and practiced trying to climb our own tree and finally succeeded with a bit of help from Auntie.  Today, that was all she did, climb that tree.  She has several bumps, bruises and scrapes, but what is childhood without those...and some good, plain fun from climbing a tree? 

 

tree at home



Celebration of Life at Montessori

 

Our sweet Chickadee got to celebrate her birthday at school on Thursday.  She was so excited to be the birthday girl.  They do a Celebration of Life at Montessori and ask that we send a poster with pictures.  We can also donate a book to the class, Hailey choose Love is a Handful of Honey by Giles Andreae.  I love the story and the illustrations are adorable.  There are three mice that follow the bear everywhere and Hailey enjoys finding each of them on each page.  She came home with a big smile on her face and even got a special hat to wear for the day.  Very fun for her.  

 

Poster

In front of school.

What the paper on the front read. 

Letters, Sounds, Words

 

I told the girls that after the Egg Hunt today we needed to come home and work on our sounds.  They were agreeable.  When Hailey fell asleep for nap, I nabbed Paige and we did her sounds.  She really dislikes doing them.  I think because she really does know them and can't be borthered with practicing to show me that she does know them.  So when we were done I let her play.  While she went to find something to play, I got out the word boards and began doing them myself.  She got very interested and ended up doing the entire box.  She then went to get some lined paper so she could write them all.  After that, I got a work book and she did the entire thing with me!  She likes to do new things, which will be a challenge for her teachers, as it appears repitition is laborous for her.  I had a wonderful afternoon with my Bumblebee. 

 

Excited to show dada she finished them all

working, working

writing the words

Step by step she drew the cat.  And finished the enitre book.

Egg Hunt

This morning our play group had an Egg Hunt at a local park.  The girls had fun hunting.  They really get the concept this year that the Easter Bunny will come and hide eggs and bring chocolate and candy.  They are really into it.  Makes for much fun.  After the hunt they got to play at the playground with all their friends.  It was a great morning. 

Hunting

Enjoying the fruit (ie, candy) of thier labor.

Spring Brunch

 

The Girl's Waldorf school had a Spring Brunch for a fundraiser for the high school.  My aunt is in town this month and was able to go with us.  It was a lovely morning with a bit of a wait in line, but we were standing by folks we knew and could talk while the girls ran around the campus feeding the goats and playing with their friends.  Once we got our food it was awesome!  Some yummy egg plate called Mediterranean eggs (i need to look up the recipe), pineapple tamales, salad with greens from the garden, candied nuts, and more.  Sooooo yummy.  Plus, fresh squeezed orange juice and lemonade.  We were able to donate lemons from our tree for that cause.  We had a great time in beautiful weather.  

 

Auntie with the girls

In the garden

Butterfly face painting

The geese joined us while we ate.  Handsome couple.

New side yard

We have a semi large area on the west side of or house that housed a deck and spa.  It also includes the pool pump equipment and A/C unit.  We never used the spa and the deck was looking pretty rough.  So we decided to have the spa and deck removed and landscape the area.  We originally wanted to make it another play area for the girls and put in a playhouse/swing set, but the area wasn't quite large enough for that nor for our budget.  So we opted to just landscape it was pretty bushes, an orange tree, and some pavers.  We will put a pretty birdbath on the center pavers which is what we will able to see from our playroom window when we look out.  It looks really nice and cleaned up/updated the area.  Fun little project to plan together. 

torn up & in process...satellite rigged up by the EE in house.

awaiting birth bath pavers (and Woolly's tail in the pic)

Final area.  Looking forward to watching it grow.

Learning Explosion

 

Hailey has been in Montessori school now for almost 2 months.  Her interest in learning has exploded.  The other day she came and brought me this sticker sheet she did.  I gave her the sheet of stickers which were all randomly placed with a peice of blank construciton paper.  She matched them all up and was able to tell me how she did it.  I think you can see, 2 Goofys, 2 Donalds, 2 Mickeys, 2 fish, etc. 

 

Last night before bed (of all times!) she wanted to work on her sounds and letters.  She is working on /t/ and /h/ at school this week and was able to print both of those letters.  Then she asked for more and wanted to learn how to write her name.  She got /h/ and /a/ written before Brian was finally able to coerce her upstairs to bath.  I'm so glad she is interested in learning and asking to do it! 

Easter Bunny Visit

 

I snuck in one more activity last week...a visit to the Easter Bunny.  Hailey did much better this year, she actually did go up to him, but them turned right back around to get me.  So like the Santa pic this year, I again, had to be in the pic...this time I was a pic more prepared, hair combed and a bit of make up on.  They loved wearing their Easter Bonnets too.  They asked for candy and eggs.  The Easter Bunny nodded "yes"  because he can't talk.  They especially liked that he had a "crook in his ear" like one of the books we have about the bunny suggests.  

 

Mischievious Leprechauns

The Leprechauns made an appearance again this year.  In years past they have created mischief and taken Paige's diapers, tried to take the pacifiers and this year, took the milk bottles.  (I know!  I know! They were probably too old for bottles, but they only got them at nap and bed time.)  But they left a bunch of fun stuff too...stickers, play dough, candy, new sippies and more.  That evening we went to my mom's and my aunt made corned beef dinner.  Very delicious.  The girls did fine with not having bottles and drink their milk from sippies without any whines or cries.  Yay Leprechauns!   

 

Zoo Visit

 

As I said last week was Spring Break so we headed for the Zoo.  We have been taking a different route each visit and this one took us by the tigers, lions, monkeys and zebreas.  They have a new baby one which is over by one of the trees in these pics.  Very cute to see a miniature size.  

 

Walk for Woolly

Last week was Spring Break so we had some extra time.  We went for a walk up to the elementary school in our neighborhood and actually took Woolly Bugger.  He did pretty good...for an old man.  He got tired and had to rest in the grass while the girls played and I walked.  But even as he was resting he barked at some the workers to protect his girls.  Good Boy Woolly!  (I love this pic...all 3 of my babes.)

Ostrich Festival

 

The City of Chandler has a an odd thing called The Ostrich Festival.  It's basically a fair for our city.  But they do have Ostrich there to observe and they do ostrich races where people ride an ostrich around a track.  But like I said, it's just a different name for a fair.  This year we finally decided to take the girls since they are big enough that we don't need a stroller.  We walked around a bit, got some greasy food, watched some ostrich race and they pet some animals at the petting area.  It was a nice day.  But we probably won't return for a few years or until the girls ask us to go.  A bit expensive for only a bit of entertainment that Brian and I could take or leave.

 

 

I had to get a picture of this girls with this long haired cow because I knew that I had one of me with a similar cow when I was little. Here they are!  They are dated May 1976 on the back so I was almost 2 years old in these pics. 

 

Easter Grass

We planted wheat  berries in Easter Baskets that I got in the dollar bin so that we could have grass for our eggs this year.  It's suppose to germinate super fast.  I hope it does, because it will be super cute.  Plus the girls will get to see the rewards of sowing their seeds!  

Leprechauns

Just a couple cute pics of them dressed for St Patrick's Day to go to school.  Spring Break is next week so they will miss the actual day, so I dressed them early.  

Hailey Rides a Trike

Hailey learned how to ride her trike last weekend.  I was talking on the phone outside and turned around and she was peddling across the patio!  Very exciting.  She learned a full year earlier than Paige, but probably because she had Paige to watch.  The love to ride to the mailbox and have been asking to go for a long walk with their trikes.  It's just been so wet and chilly that I have to keep trying to divert their attention to other things when they ask.  

Sisters!

Paige with Snug traveling on the back

Riding to the mailbox

Even eating lunch while sitting on it.

Ice Cream Truck

 

An ice cream truck came to our culdesac last Friday.  Luckily I had some cash, so despite, me never wanting to hurry our girls, I rushed them out to the truck to get an ice cream.  I gave them each some money to pay the ice cream man who in return handed them their ice. They each got some flavored ice.  Hailey wanted pink and Paige wanted purple.  We cold pour our own flavor on the side of the truck.  Now whenever, Paige here's music in the neighborhood she thinks it's the truck.  The ice cream man did say he was going to try to hit our neighborhood each Friday...something fun to look forward to for the summer.