Feeding Ducks, Turtles, and Koi at Daddy's Work

Today daddy took Lizzy to secret pond inside NASA. Lizzy and I had to get a special badge to get on the NASA property that's why I call it a secret pond. The pond had lots of Koi fish, turtles and ducks. Lizzy had fun helping daddy feed them and just looking around.




Afterward, we toured the office building where daddy works and then had lunch where Lizzy rode this little mechanical horse.

One of Lizzy's Favorites ...

Lizzy loves to pretend she's talking on the phone, she will pick up an old phone and walk around talking on it like crazy. This morning she was actually talking to grandma "abi" when I snapped these pictures. She can say "hi" and "quien habla?" (who's speaking in spanish) and then she will go on and on talking in some language I don't understand but it sure seems like she knows what she's saying.

Corn Husk Doll

With the corn husks we had left over from shucking corn last week I made a corn husk doll for our changing nature table. With Autumn approaching I'm starting to add and change things on our nature table as the season begins to change from summer to Autumn (pictures to come). Bellow are some photos of how I made my corn husk doll. I had an idea but no real plan, I just made the body parts and tied everything together with twine. One day Lizzy will be old enough to help in activities such as this.

At the Park

Here are some pics from the other day. Grandma "Abi" took Lizzy to the park and had lots of fun!

Little Chef

Lizzy loves to pretend to cook. Here's the little chef:

Dinner and a Makeover

Dinner is always messy but this time Lizzy decided to give herself a little makeover by styling her hair with Alfredo sauce!

Education Around the World

I watched a couple documentaries of teachers in Japan and India that were quite inspiring and I thought I would share if anyone is interested.

Children Full of Life

Wings of evolution - Click title to watch.

Tidbits of Summer 2010 Photo Book

I love shutterfly photo books! I use to do a lot of scrapbooking but with a toddler it is nearly impossible to do unless she's sleeping and it's quite time consuming not to mention all the expensive supplies needed so instead I make photo books which in my opinion is easier and just as enjoyable. They have many backgrounds and layouts to choose from and they turn out nicely. There is also online scrap booking sites such as scrapblog where you can use virtual stickers and tags to make more detailed scrapbook pages online to print. Here is a shutterfly photo book of tidbits of summer 2010 I made the other day in less time than it took to upload the photos:

Click here to view this photo book larger

Fun in the Sand

More Summertime Fun

Fall is just around the corner, but we just got settled into summer! In Houston we have about 2 more months of warm weather so there's still time for some warm weather fun. Today I took Lizzy to the water fountains at Kemah and we were the only ones there! A week ago there would have been at least 20 kids playing there but school's in, so more fun for us!

Lizzy had lunch with her godmother Stephanie

I feel lucky to be able to spend my days with Lizzy doing various things.

Summer Corn

Lizzy helped me shuck corn today, I would offer her one shuck at a time and she would yank it off and put it in the waste pile. Lizzy was so delighted when she saw what was inside.

Here is Lizzy enjoying corn on the cob for the first time!

Being goofy with the corn. Lizzy has a real sense of humor she likes to make us laugh.

Open Ended Play: Waldorf Playstand

As I mentioned in previous posts Lizzy has outgrown many of her "baby" toys now that is she walking and playing on her own. So... I have gone on a baby toy purge and sold or given away all the baby toys she has outgrown, plastic toys, and toys that make unnatural noises. I did keep a few toys that were either plastic or made unnatural noises for now because those in particular were gifts from close family for Lizzy and I want her to appreciate that and play with them if she chooses to.

From the proceeds of the toy purge we invested in a waldorf playstand. A playstand is a simple wooden structure which supports children’s open ended play. It can be whatever they want it to be! A puppet theatre, a shop, a house, a boat, a castle, a cave, a house or whatever they want it to be. This toys grows with the child and their imagination. Lizzy is loving it so far, here she is:

It's only Natural...

Lizzy has a real strong urge to be outside she absolutely loves it but when we don't go outside in nature she can get a bit crabby. There has been a heat advisory in our area for several weeks now but Lizzy could care less. As her mother I know the dangers of heat but I also know the benefits to letting her play outside even for 20 min. So...I choose to lather her up in sunscreen and take lots of cold water with us while we play for 20 min but I can't wait until it starts to cool down some so we can have more fun outdoors.

Here she is:


Here is a video of Richard Louv author of Last Child in the Woods describing the benefits of nature in a child's upbringing and the risks of being nature deficit which include behavioral problems and obesity. I have seen firsthand that Lizzy is much more crabby when she hasn't been outdoors in a while but when we go outside even in the heat it's actually refreshing to both of us. Please watch this video to learn more (Click Here)

Making Wings Tutorial

Materials

• Two Wire Hangers
• Pair of tights
• Duct tape
• Ribbon, flowers, etc to decorate between wings

First bend the wire hangers into the shape you want the wings to be. Then, Lay them flat and use the duct tape to tape the two together.
Cut the tights from the knee down and use this material to cover each wing. Tie the two pieces of tight material together in the back to secure them.
Where the tights are tied together in the back you can add the arm holes which are made of two segment loops from the left over tights material. Tie these segments to the tight material in the back. I also glued it to secure it better, then added some black ribbon to cover the knots.
You can use flowers, ribbon or whatever kind of embellishment to put in between the wings. I also used a puffy fabric paint pen in gold color to put designs on the wings.
This is the finished product. Lizzy tried them on and ran all over the place laughing. I'm planning ahead for Halloween this year. Lizzy will be a bee and I will be making her costume so I started with the wings so far. I asked Lizzy what she wanted to be for Halloween and she said "bee"!

Practical Life Activity: Stitching Block

The stitching block encourages hand eye coordination and concentration. This block was recommended to me for Lizzy but I think it's a little advanced for her. In any case she sure was concentrated on it.

Happy girl

Living Simply with Children

Lizzy has been busy doing things with family but I haven't documented it because I dropped my little camera that I take everywhere in the pool and since then it hasn't recovered so I haven't taken pictures of our adventures. I have a larger more bulky camera that takes better pictures I just don't like to carry such a bulky camera in addition to my bulky diaper bag. Lizzy is getting to an age where she doesn't need much when we go out so I maybe just keep a couple essentials in my purse and say goodbye to the diaper bag so that I can carry my camera comfortably. In talking about simplifying I will give a review of a book I read recently called Living Simply with Children.

This book talks about living a simpler life by getting rid of consumerism, excess and waste to live a simpler life that allows more time with your family. It contains lots of resources, and it's very informative for those wanting to start living a simpler family life.

In my experience so far Lizzy has more toys than a 1 year old needs. Since even before she was born I have purchased all the latest baby toys that are out there and she's also received many gifts in her short life. Being native I thought the more flashing, talking (educational) toys the better but now I know too many toy choices are overwhelming to a child and do not allow the child to play with one toy very long or use their imaginations. Lizzy has actually outgrown most of her baby toys so I have slowly been giving these toys away. Now we mostly have simpler, more natural toys that can be used in different ways so that they are able to grow with Lizzy. In any case we still have way too much stuff compared to most of the world. For a better world we must live simply and be a conscious shopper. Find out if the item was made fairly meaning the worker and environment was treated fairly. So much excess is at the expense of abused workers and a polluted earth. I'll get off my little soapbox and close with this quote I love:

"Live more simply so that others may simply live" Gandhi.

Tiny Helper

Lizzy Helping sweep up all the little crumbs she leaves on the carpet after snack time

Such a little helper

Mommy and Baby

Lizzy and I on the couch watching Yo Gabba Gabba!