stacking

I am kind of a homebody.  My husband drove our only car to work for the first 3 years we had children.  By the time we got a car I felt like I was dying to go anywhere.  After a week or so of having a car I realized I don't use it near as much as I thought I would.  We don't even get in the car 3 or 4 days a week.  We spend time in the "forest" everyday.  In the summer, outdoors was an all day event.  Since "jack frost" has arrived it is more like 1 to 3 hours.  The more time we spend outdoors in the morning, the more pleasant the kids are in the afternoon (especially Tabor!) I just invested in wool socks and bogs boots.  If I can keep them warm, I can keep them out there longer, which keeps my afternoons more pleasant.  In the afternoons we read books, cook, read and do lots and lots and lots of art projects.  Pepper draws several detailed pictures EVERYDAY.  When we do go somewhere it is usually to one of the many grandparents we have in the area.  We are so blessed!  Okay that was just a brief up-date on our daily/weekly rhythms.  

This (thanksgiving) weekend we have been staying at Grandma's.  One of my favorite toys at her house is her stacking blocks. Stacking blocks of different sizes is a great way for preschool age children to do math.  Pepper has super organization skills and is a bit of a perfectionist.  Therefore she turns all the blocks so the same color is facing the same direction (notice the blue side facing the picture).  Kitt stacked for a while and they kept falling over.  So she found a couple Lincoln Logs and made them into drums. We observed that the big blocks and little blocks made different noises when you drummed on them. It has been a nice relaxing morning.  Now Pepper and I are off to make Christmas candies.