march break

I was trying to remember what  the March Breaks of my childhood were like.
To me, they've always held  a special spot in my memory, because I often got treated to special activities and outings.
Trips to nearby towns, going to the movie theatre, going out for a rare and special dinner at a restaurant. Going swimming, out for the first icecream cone of the season, playing outside on warm early Spring days. There was something so carefree and special about March Breaks.
This year, the thought of having Noah home for a whole week slightly panicked me. Don't get me wrong, I love spending time with my boy, and we know how to have fun together, it's just, there isn't much to do here in our little community and I was worried that we would get bored ... and end up ultimately being couch potatoes.
So my first plan to conquer the boredom blues was to head into Whitehorse for a few days. We spent about 5 days in Whitehorse, visiting with friends, having playdates, going out for treats and just doing fun "town" things. We had originally planned to go to visit friends in another community (Mayo), but Noah fell sick with an ear infection and I had a stomach bug, so we spared our friends from getting sick, and stayed put in Whitehorse.
Whitehorse was fun. Trips to the library, 3 sleepovers for the kids with Sunny and Evey, a night in a hotel, sushi for lunch and Sunny's birthday party. We all had our fix of friends and social time :)
After our fun in Whitehorse, our return to Beaver Creek, wasn't so hard. We felt refreshed and I came equipped with a few ideas up my sleeve to keep us occupied.
On the first morning of our March Break in Beaver Creek (which was a Wednesday), I wrote a note to Noah and Katia, and let them know that we would be filling our days with fun activities. I told them that they could choose 1-2 activities a day from the list that I made. Noah was beyond thrilled with this idea and hugged all of us, exclaiming that this was going to be the most amazing week ever. Oh how easily he is pleased :)
Some of the ideas on our "bucket list" included:

~ make elephant toothpaste (I scored some high potency hydrogen peroxide in Whitehorse)
~ make our own zen gardens
~ make egg head gardens
~ have a friend over
~ bake something yummy
~have a Winter's picnic

Add in lots if outdoor play, plenty of free art time, face painting and more, and I think we succeeded at having a nice March Break.

How to Make Your Own Zen Garden

~ a small box (we reused a stationary card box, it has a lid, perfect for when we put it away)
~ sand (we used salt, because it's what we had on hand)
~ a small rake ( I made ours of wire)
~ a chopstick for drawing with
~ rocks, stones, shells 

Pour the sand into the box. Carefully choose a few small stones, shells or rocks to put into the garden. Quietly spend time raking and arranging the stones in your garden. Let your thoughts go, practice quiet meditation, whisper mantras or simple words to yourself. 

It's amazing to watch Noah and Katia "tend" to their gardens. They quiet down really well, and focus on the simple task of raking and arranging. To show them what a zen garden is, we watched a few youtube videos.

Happy Spring days my friends.
xox

end of summer

 why yes, Noah IS wearing a balaclava on a hot summer's day. Something about being a ninja... 

I think?

Our first customer! we actually ended up with 4 customers, not bad for our sleepy little street. 

With the impending school year about to start, we've been enjoying these last few summer days as best we can. Walks to the park and meeting up with friends, swimming at the local pool, blueberry picking, having a lemonade stand and playing board games on rainy afternoons.
As it seems to do every year, summer seems to have snuck away from us already. It is almost mid August and here we are preparing to start school (at home and at school). This year we will be continuing with our plans to  home school Noah for the mornings, and to send him to school in the afternoons. I have been working away at planning our school year, so that I can stay on track and not need to worry about coming up with ideas mid way through the year.
I am basing our school year around themes (such as seasons, holidays, nature, particular animals. people and our country). Withe these units, I will add crafts, books, songs, math and writing activities and more. We will also continue with the daily activities that we love to do, such as nature walks, nature collecting, storytime, baking, art, board games, sensory and imaginative play ect. I'm excited and hope I can keep the momentum going all year.
I'm also hoping to get back to a more organized meal plan. I know that once I start homeschooling, I will want my meals better organized, so that I don't need to spend hours in the kitchen during the weekdays. I think some big batch cooking on weekends will help with this (spaghetti sauce, chilli, soups, etc). I'm scouring Pinterest for new ideas.
There's just something so exciting about the back-to-school season. The fresh outlook, the new start, the opportunity to make things better. I'm getting excited for our upcoming year, and for our first real stab at homeschooling (I feel like last year was a practice year).
So wish me luck as we begin. I'll be thinking of all the students and teachers as they start off the new year.
xox

ps. We love Ryder 

Noah's 5th spy party

please note Katia's face in this picture!!! bah!!!

This past week, we went into Whitehorse while W. had a course. I decided that we would throw Noah an early birthday, as he wanted to celebrate with his friends in Whitehorse. We went with a spy party theme, which was so fun to put together (and pretty easy I might say). 

A few of the details. 

When the guest arrived, a Sr. Secret Agent came to meet them and told them about a crime that had taken place (jewels had been stolen from the local museum), their mission was to complete a series of skill testing tasks and to find the missing jewels (ring pops!). 

For the activities, the kids got to make secret agent ID cards (which we printed at home), climb through laser beams (red streamers), and guess what was in the box ( a box with a hole in it. Kids reach their hand in and guess what is in the box... a ball, a sock, a spoon ect). Then they were given a clue as to where the jewels had been hidden. One of the best parts was that I (the Sr. Secret Agent) had on a real ear piece (not plugged in) and I kept getting "messages" from Headquarters. The kids loved this part! 

After that it was pizza, veggies + dip, hummus and crackers, fruit and cupcakes! 

A pretty simple and easy party. 

Oh and for the "loot bags", the kids each received a pair of sunglasses, a note pad and a pen that writes in invisible ink (a little light at the end displays the hidden message).

Aside from me being sick, I think this was probably one of the easiest but most fun parties we've done in our family. Score!

xox

... lately

I have so much to catch up on in this little space. Time continues to fly by and I put my blogging on hold so that I can enjoy it all.

The real truth behind why I don't always blog so frequently is actually because of pictures. Yes, my pictures are holding me back.

I've become lazy about uploading and then formatting my pictures to put on the blog and somewhere, a long time I ago, I decided that every blog post that I do should include pictures. I'm not so sure if that really matters to me anymore. I do love pictures, but I am also perfectly happy to read blogs that don't always include pictures... anyways, maybe more posts and less pictures? I'm still figuring it out. Moving on....

Life has been moving along at warp speed. We are already into week 2 of summer vacation, our last day of school as Tues June 3rd! The last few days of school were spent having a community wide end of year BBQ and a day at the local lake, which included hotdogs on the fire, marshmallows, fishing and kite flying. It was a lovely way to wrap up the school year.

Also, our community swimming pool opened up the same week. And while I may not love the idea of a public chlorinated pool, I have to say, we are very lucky to have access to this pool here in our tiny isolated community. Without the pool, we would have a very bored group of kids, with no where to go and get out their energy. We truly are very fortunate to have our pool and are thankful for the lifeguard who has come up for the summer. She will be offering all of the children free swimming lessons, which we plan on doing.

As we kick start our summer, we are making a few plans for some travel, some camping, and trying to come up with ideas for things that we can do here at home. I've gone ahead and have set up a few sensory tables outside. We have a water table and a cloud dough table. I like having a few fun things all ready to go for the kids, for when they start to get a little bored. I have also challenged Noah and Katia to read 100 books this summer (which actually means we read 100 books together). I made a fun chart and we add stickers every time we read a book. Once the chart is full, I have promised them that we will go see a movie at the theater in town.

And also, in more exciting and important news, we added a little addition to our family this past week. His name is Ryder and we are very much enjoying having him here.

Ryder was found on Friday June 6th, at the community garden. He had followed a man who was coming to our community BBQ. Ryder went around to everyone, being very sweet and gentle. Everyone began to talk. Who does he belong to? Do you think he has a home?

We asked the man who Ryder had followed, and he didn't really know who the dog belonged to. He mentioned someone, and with that we decided we'd go talk to them to see if they wanted him.

Some people may think this story sounds strange, but unless you've been in a "community", you might not get it. Without judgement, I will try to explain.

Many dogs (not all) in communities are treated much differently than what the average dog owner might expect is okay. Many dogs live "pack style" and wander around looking for food and shelter. Sometimes these dogs have owners, but still live outside and fend for themselves. It can often be hard to tell is a dog has an owner, or if it is just sorta "taken care of" by many.

We talked to the people who we thought owned Ryder, but they didn't seem to be sure if they recognized him. We put the word out that we had him, and if anyone was looking for him, to come and get him. No one did. And we were perfectly happy with that.

Ryder is a sweet boy, who we think might be part Husky and maybe some German Shepherd. He is small still, we think 6 months maybe, but has a calm and obedient disposition. I wanted to be his "master" but I think he has taken a shining to Winslow. When Winslow leaves for work, Ryder cries and wails. It's actually very sweet.

 We have talked for a long time about adding a dog to our family. I think adding a pet to a family is a very serious decision to make and must be made in the best interest of everyone. As most people know, dogs require a lot of time and energy. And to have a well behaved dog, you need to provide them with exercise and consistent training. If Ryder had come any earlier into our lives, I don't think I would've agreed to take him on. But at this point, Katia and Noah are getting to be older and more self sufficient ... and to be honest with you, Ryder so far has been an amazing dog, so I am happy to say that this is just a great fit for us.

And I shall leave it at that for now.