Spring Break! (or A Day at the Lake)

So fair, so cold; like a morning of pale spring still clinging to winter's chill. - J.R.R. Tolkien

It is that time of year again. Springtime...oh yes...the smell of the sweet green grass beginning to sprout through the thawing ground...the freshly budding trees...

Just not here in Ontario...

In honour of spring break, my children were excited to host their cousins for a few days.  Their  first determination was to go skating (a very good spring idea, naturally). To the lake they went to clear the foot and half of snow off a small patch of ice on the lake behind our house. The cold did not bother them...the wind did not bother them (however, I came back with frozen, swollen toes, go figure.)
With an afternoon of clearing and clearing....and clearing.  The faithful crew were able to finally  skate...on our frozen lake...in the middle of March.

Here's to our spring afternoon (in Ontario)...

Clearing the snow for our ice rink

no small feat...

my son Ethan

 

Suntanning...

My daughter and her cousins...

My littlest son resting from all the work....

lakeside view...

My nephew...

My daughter...

my niece with her snow umbrella (to block the bright sunshine)...

my niece...

Three hours later...

And finally skating...

Trying to make it back home...over the river, and through the woods...and up the hill...

The end!

To Be Loved (or An Unexpected Journey)

Whenever two people meet, there are really six people present. There is each man as he sees himself, each man as the other person sees him, and each man as he really is. - William James

With four children in the car (two teens, one pre-teen, and one eight year old) and a 45 minute drive down country roads, I took an unexpected journey.  Don't get me wrong, I had planned an outing and I knew where I was going... but the trip getting there was unexpected...(and was also unexpectedly the most memorable part of the day).

I had a musical ride.  First it began with silence...then it was talking and laughter (that is my youngest son's addition)..then it moved into music.  My eldest three children brought their musical devices and took turns playing their favourite songs over the car's sound system for everyone to hear.  First my eldest son hooked up his device.  And with a simple push of the button we were off into the steady constant grooves of the Classics...Classic Rock I mean...Allman Brothers, Beatles, Cold Play... 

Then we entered into my daughter's world of girl as she skipped songs, repeated songs, and found her favourites...Taylor Swift, Pink, Adele...

Then, shyly, but happily, my second son attached his device. There was a pause, as if he was holding his breath...before he finally pressed play. Then, immediately we were off into a more high energy world of music...with bands such as Green Day and The Black Keys.  

As we listened to each of their music....It was as if they were all waiting at the side stage door...

Waiting to go out onto the stage...and to show who they were...

Can you see me? Do you think I am too silly?  Do you like who I am?  Do you think I am good?

Through laughter, smiles and silence I think they heard the answers they were searching for.

Yes, we see you

                  ... and we love what we see.

We are all searching for the same thing. Aren't we?

Entertaining A Mass of Children and Some Playdough

The soul is healed by being with children. - Fyodor Dostoyevsky

My son with his baked playdough creation

So, a large gathering of geese is called a gaggle.  A group of bears is called a sloth(or sleuth). A group of crows is called a murder...or you could have a bale of turtles, a float of alligators, a swift of tigers, a rumba of rattlesnakes...

But I have never found what a large group of children is called. Any ideas? Maybe a headache of children would work...or maybe a wonder of children.  I will let you decided.
This weekend we had a large_______ (you fill in your desired word from above) of children.  And yes, I did enjoy every minute of it...OK...well most of it at least.
Here is a fun idea of how to entertain a ________of children for the day.  At our house, from two years old to thirteen years old, the children were immersed in their creations for hours...

Baking Playdough
Ingredients
2 cups salt
5 cups flour
2 cups warm water

Directions
1.  Put all the ingredients into a bowl and mix well.  Add extra water if needed to make the dough easy to handle.  Kneed with hands until the desire consistency. (I did add a Kool-Aid package to the flour to give a light peach colour and a orange scent...just so it was more pleasant in appearance)

2.  Divide into portions.

3.  Let children shape into any creations they would like...

4.  Bake for one hour in a 300 degree oven.

5.  Let cool.  Then paint.  I gave the children tempura paints...

6.  You can even glue on google eyes at the end if you would like....

The End!

My Daughter's World

If you don't get lost, there is a chance that you may never be found. - Author Unknown

I think life is a matter of perspective.  Really and truly.  Some of my favourite things are children's handwriting and children's artwork.  Perhaps some people would see the imperfections...the handwriting slanting crookedly across a page or the inconsistent sizes and shapes of the figures.  And perhaps, immediately, they might point out how the child needs to improve and correct and conform to the proper standards.

I have never felt the need to hurry my children along...to fix their mistakes.  But instead, I smile.  It is not the crookedness I notice, It is their discovery of the world...their discovery of forming letters, words, drawings.  It is but a fleeting moment in time.

I like the perspective of how children see the world.  Many times I just shake my head and say.  Wow!  I didn't see that.  I enjoy their point of view of the world...and smile...

Here is my daughter's view of her world.  I hope you enjoy!

The End!