berries berries berries

 

We are picking berry-aholics.  Picking strawberries, salmon berries or huckle berries is always on our agenda.  Kitt has figured out how to pull the branches down in order to reach the berry.  Unfortunately, her tactics will not work as well once it is blackberry season.  Today we stopped by a random tree swing in the forest.  The kids remember it is there and beg to return.

wooden airplane kit

While Kitt was napping Pepper and I went Fathers Day shopping.  Tabor and Dad stayed at home and built a wooden airplane.  Tabor was super excited about it.

strawberry picking

I love berry picking.  Seriously love.  The kids enjoyed it too.  Although Tabor was distracted by the dandelions (he kept picking them for my wart) he gather more of those then he did strawberries.  We used the strawberries to make fruit leather & jam.  I want to go back for more! Yum.

carpenter ant

We have been noticing carpenter ants around (thankfully not by our house).  We always stop to observe them and talk about where they might be going or what they are doing. 

 

As we left the grocery store a man was holding a homeless sign.  Pepper said, we should help that guy, the carpenter ants probably ate his house. I thought it was cute :)

wildflowers

 

The first five wild flowers the kids could identify were of course the ones we consider weeds.  They are everywhere.  Clover. Dandelion. Morning Glory. Buttercup. Daisy.

Blackberries are a given as well.  We went to a trail that I remembered had beautiful flower trees (a month ago).  The trees are no longer flowering.  Oh well, the kids pointed out other flowers to identify.  I quickly realized my knowledge was not far beyond theirs on this subject.  I did not know the following flowers names....

 

I have been searching to web and have found lots of flowers I commonly see in the forest (dwarf dogwood, bleeding hearts, foxgloves etc.). I can't find these specific ones the kids pointed out. I will keep looking.  I think it is important to be able to identify wildlife. WE MUST FIND OUT THIER NAMES!



dehydrating bananas

This is a fantastic food to make with a 3 year old.  He can peel bananas, he can cut bananas and he can put bananas on a tray.  And he loves to eat them once they are dehydrated!  It took the two of us about 20 minutes to do a few bunches of bananas.  He lasted the whole time.  The bonus is... not only does it keep him busy, it is productive.

 

On another note... I went to a class one time 3 hour class on "herbs".  I loved it. They taught us about dandelions, chick weeds and other common weeds and how we can use them.  Really good stuff to know.  Since then I have been teaching the kids to identify weeds and their uses.  Right now we are using the juice from a dandelion stem to try and scare off a wart on my food.  Gross I know, but it is working! Who knew?

Flower World

We went to Flower World a few weeks ago.  We had to go again.  They have farm animals to observe TONS of plants.  Before we left we picked out a couple tomato plants to replace our sick looking ones at home (tomatoes do not like an abundance of rain).  



eaten by slugs

Tabor checks the strawberries EVERYDAY.  Today there were 2 ripe ones.  Tabor ate one, and a slug ate the other.  Tabor is very aware of which bugs are good and bad for the garden.

We continue to water the garden with our watering cans.  All three kids have one.  We could use the hose, but that wouldn't be near as fun.  Pepper found a butterfly and is showing it off in the last picture (along with a sticker on her sunglasses).  It turned out to be super hot today so after lunch we changed into shorts and went on a forest walk where it was nice and shady.  Salmon berries are out! Wahoo!

concentration

Usually the girls wake up first.  This is comforting because when Tabor wakes up first he goes straight out into the backyard.  It is fenced in, but I would rather him wake me up so I am aware of what he is doing.  This morning was one of those mornings he woke up first... he was outside checking to see if any strawberries had turned red.  He loves to check on the garden as well.  The sugar snap peas are growing well.  You can tell the kids planted the lettuce because they are growing in spontaneous places. I absolutely love having a garden with the kids. 

 

Something I have been REALLY working on is concentration levels.  I am not so worried if they can read right now, they can do that later.  I have been trying to get them to focus on an object or task for a longer period of time.  Pepper has always had a phenomenal ability to focus.  She loves to listen to chapter books, do any sort of art, and even enjoys cleaning.  She likes to ride her bike and go on hikes outside but she just passes everything by.

 

With Pepper I am working on focusing outdoors... In the forest this could be stopping to study a flower for 3 or 4 minutes instead of glancing at it.  I encourage her to find how one flower differs from another etc.  She is suddenly noticing all sorts of things.  Bringing along my camera has really helped for her because she loves to find something "neat" to take a picture of.

 

  Tabor LOVES THE OUTDOORS .  He often stays out there from dawn until dusk.  He can stay on task weeding for over and hour, and he seriously enjoys it!  He has been spotting bugs, animals, plants, clouds ever since he could see.  He thrives outside.  With Tabor I am working on focusing indoors.  He is doing so much better!  He sat and put beads and a ribbon for fifty minutes today.  50!  I do this in hopes that his ability to ponder/focus will help him with school work.  For now he is just 3, I let him pick what he is interested in, and then help him focus on it just a bit longer then he normally would.  

 



bike ride

Yesterday we went on a run, the kids went on a bike ride.  Pepper is most certainly outgrowing that trike (we had her practice on her 2 wheeler today) but she is oblivious to that fact and happily pedaled along.  Tabor is super fast on his pedal-less bike. We stopped for a break and were fortunate enough to watch a baby "red-winged black bird" follow its mother around looking for food.

Today we transplanted strawberries from grandma's house to the side of our house. yum.