Woodworking with preschoolers

Grandma & Grandpa L came to visit recently & brought a really cool woodworking set!  It was from Lowe's I believe, a Tonka product with precut pieces & holes....Tweeters & Jam loved it :0)

It's an ambulance - on the other side of the horse trailer - it came w/ the stickers.  I'll be looking for more of these kits!

Cranberry Thanksgiving

We read this & made Cranberry Bread last week - yummy!  We've read it several years in a row now but this is the first time we've made the bread....

See Mr. Whiskers watching Tweeters chop cranberries?

She's strong enough to use this chopper now - so fun to cook with her!

Made him in wool, I did!

FINALLY!  I finished the wool felted Yoda ;0)  His ears are a bit big but I think it makes him cute....

Here is the link I looked at to do it - not a tutorial but nice to have a picture: http://www.instructables.com/id/Make-Me-in-Wool-You-Will/

Rainbow blocks & thrift store find

Even though the sun is low in the sky, we love bringing in as much color and light as we can this time of year.  The rainbow blocks we bought this spring are still used almost everyday!  Here they are bringing in a bit more color to the play area.....

And here is a neat barn shelf we found at a thrift store - it's been fun for animals, dinosaurs, and even cars ;0)  oh, and that cool truck was found on vacation at a Goodwill in Florida for $3.99!  Wheee!

So what are some of your good finds?  Let me know what great things you have found lately!

Week 8 at Countryside Playschool

Our outside table was taken apart & made into great jumping blocks! 

This week we had our lantern walk at prek - in the sunshine!  It was great to finally have a sunny Tuesday, but our lanterns sure didn't glow very brightly ;0)  Hopefully some of the children were able to use theirs at home for a night walk sometime this week...we also made waffles!  We read Pancakes Pancakes by Eric Carle, and then made our own yummy waffles in my great-grandmother's awesome waffle iron....

Tweeters loves cooking!

So does Jam - but he sure is a taster ;0)  Gotta watch him!

Honey Bunches is tying on the lanterns

There's ye olde waffle iron - and lots of reading & writing going on today

A fall woodsy walk

We can really only walk in our woods from late October to late early May because of it's thick growth & poison ivy - but really we're at the beach when we're not in the woods so it's ok ;0)  As soon as most of the undergrowth died we went straight out the back, down to the creek bottom.  Never disappointing!

Digging for water - they didn't find any but sure had fun digging that 2 foot deep hole!

These are the trees the huge turkey vultures roost in when they are here for the summer - I'd say we have at least 50!

The royal throne, or the 7 sisters as HB used to call it

Log hotel!

Jam is trying to poke Flash through the hole

Ah, back up the hill & home for warm apple cider with cinnamon sticks!

More Suzuki violin...this time with Jam! And a brief book review...

He is such an enthusiastic violinist!  I hadn't intended to start him yet but he is so eager & it helps Josie to learn by teaching him :0)

We ordered 1/4 size violin this week, and we're REALLY looking forward to it's arrival next week!!

This was my homework last week - I read it in one week & it was very good.  It is more of a diary of thoughts so the timeline of Mr. Suzuki's life is a bit hard to follow - but how he came to his method and his fascinating life make it a very worthwhile read.  He lived in Japan during WW2, and was also trained in violin later in life (20's) - hanging out with brainiacs in Berlin like Einstein.  Cool!  Knowing his heart & the nature of his philosophy will also help me to be a better Suzuki parent :0) 

Tweeters in her group class, wearing my old angel dress :0)  There are some tiny ones in there!

More baby yoga & a papa bear snuggle

Papa J snugglin' with his yoga girls

WHY is this one SO hard??!