Spring Nature Table: Birds, Eggs, Nests part 3

It is hard to believe we are close to the end of April.  Spring is blooming around here and I've been meaning to post about our spring nature table. No surprise, my kids have really enjoyed our bird watching so after Lent I decided to take down the crosses and decorate our board with a beautiful set of California bird eggs & a few nests.

A few months back I found an Etsy shop (oneeyedog) that had ornamental bird eggs.  I contacted the owner and asked if she could send me the eggs with the corresponding bird names.  She was kind enough to suggest creating a set of popular California bird eggs just for us.  They turned out just wonderful, thanks Scarlett:

Our table also has a few wood pieces for my little ones.  I ordered from another neat Etsy shop filled with the creation of a homeschooling family, The Fig and Thimble, a life cycle cube and a set of bird/nest matching game (the squares come in an adorable recycled fabric pouch; you can see it hanging under our board).  Their art work is just beautiful and if you want to know more about them visit Kimberlee's blog Pondered in My Heart.  They're amazing and wonderful:

And as you know, the table couldn't be complete without our book basket filled with some great titles:

• In the Nest by Anna Milbourne and Laurence Cleyet-Merle
• Tony's Birds by Millicent Selsam
• Bird Watchers and Bird Feeders by Glenn Blough
• Dancers in the Garden by Joanne Ryder
• The Birdwatchers by Simon James
• Backyard Birds of Winter by Carol Lerner
• Backyard Birds of Summer by Carol Lerner
• Crinkleroot's Guide to Knowing the Birds by Jim Arnosky
• An Egg Is Quiet by Dianna Aston
• Secrets of the Nest by Joan Dunning
• The Nest by Maryjo Koch

And our field guides:

• Sierra Birds: A Hiker's Guide
• All The Birds of North America
• First Field Guide: Birds (National Audubon Society)
• Birds' Eggs (Eyewitness Handbooks)

Like I mentioned at the beginning of this post: the kids have been enjoying watching the birds in our backyard and are starting to branch out into learning about their eggs and even becoming fascinated with their nests.  Here are some gorgeous birds we've been able to catch in our backyard with our camera this spring:

We've also been paying close attention to all those White Crowned Sparrows that enjoyed our homemade bird feeders.  My eight year old observed lots of activity near one of our bushes and decided to quietly get closer to the scene.  She discovered a nest within the bush and was just thrilled.  We either couldn't see from our angle or were too late to capture any eggs in it:

Mind you, my spring nature table book list doesn't include our selection of John James Audubon; which we focused on last spring.  This study included a bird watching field trip with a naturalist and a trip to the Western Foundation of Vertebrate Zoology Museum.  This was really a great place to visit; we might have to go again.  I've been working on this post all week and when I read Dawn's birthday wish to Mr. Audubon this morning;  I knew in his honor I just had to post today!  Check out some of her suggested titles and links about Mr. Audubon .

April Rain

What a treat!  I've been listening to rain and thunder all morning. 

My little boys copy work for today was: April showers brings May flowers.

We also chose this poem for reflection:

 April Rain Song

by Langston Hughes

Let the rain kiss you.

Let the rain beat upon your head with silver liguid drops.

Let the rain sing you a lullaby.

The rain makes still pools on the sidewalk.

The rain makes running pools in the gutter.

The rain plays a little sleep-song on our roof at night. -

And I love the rain.

As I'm writing this, my boys are sitting on the floor looking out my sliding glass doors bantering about the puddles; oh, sorry ponds and islands and .... So later we'll cuddle with some hot chocolate and read their favorite rain book: 

The Puddle by David McPhail

Our Lent & Easter 2012 Book Additions

Erin asked if I could mention the books I pictured in yesterdays post ; )

Our new books, some recommended by my favorite bloggers other's happened by chance, include:

• A Tale for Easter by Tasha Tudor (sweet for the little ones)
• The Story of Easter by Aileen Fisher (we had a chance to celebrate Persian New Year with friends;  it was fun to read about this and other spring/Easter traditions towards the end of this book)
• Mousekin's Easter Basket by Edna Miller (this was just sweet and perfect for the start of our bird, nests and eggs study; really a nice spring book)
• The Boy Who Couldn't by Daryl Knauer (not Easter related but sweet for my little boys)
• On That Easter Morning by Mary Joslin (I enjoyed this one, great read leading up to and after Easter morning; it falls short on the Stations of the Cross but if you have her book on that you can use it perfectly)
• Simon and the Easter Miracle by Mary Joslin (the kids enjoyed this one, though, my oldest had several questions as to accuracy; it's a story)
• It's Time for Easter by Elizabeth Hough Sechrist and Janette Woolsey (nice anthology; we especially enjoyed reading the poems)
• The Stone That Rolled Away by Guideposts Books (this was a great find; an anthology to "experience afresh the events of Passion Week and Easter Sunday" )
• Children's Lent and Easter by Vita et Pax  - This turned out to be my girls favorite, very concise but yet understandable for the elementary age kids.  Jennifer at Family in Feast and Feria recommended this one.  It's hard to find and I was thrilled when I did just before Lent began.

Easter 2012

I hope that you all had a wonderful and blessed Easter day.  We have spent the week preparing for this morning.  As a family we were able to attend all Holy Week masses (what a blessing) and this morning the kids were more than happy to be at Easter mass.  After mass we headed over to my in laws and had a good day with family and friends.  The kids ate, played and were just delighted.  I wanted to share just a little about what we've been doing the last couple of days.

We finished adding our crosses to our Lent board. 

Really enjoyed our new Easter books.

Yesterday, the kids enjoyed their annual tradition of egg dyeing.  Grandma came over and helped out with the fun.

My intent was to get some nice natural dyeing done, but, alas, I just didn't get to my shopping list on time.  I have to say though, the kids really did a great job at combining colors and making them look pretty natural:

And then my creative boys with space and camouflage colors:

This morning, the kids woke up to Easter baskets left by the bunny aka great aunt P..



And before heading to church the kids picked a few camellias to finish our Resurrection scene:

We also dug out our little wrapped package from our Lenten Box:

To finally sing and rejoice, He is Risen:

You Bless us oh Lord and we thank you;

Happy Easter to all of you!

A Review: Naturally Fun Parties for Kids

Several weeks ago I volunteered to review a book.  Mind you I've never done such a thing, but just the title alone was enough to want my attention.  I was so excited when I received my copy of Naturally Fun Parties for Kids by Anni Daulter with Heather Fontenot yesterday.   I put the little boys down for a nap, the big boys had quiet time in their room and the girls had some independent reading time (a usual mid day routine for us).  Mom gets to sit down and read a bit too ; )  I cuddled in my favorite chair with this book and a cup of my favorite Chocolate Raspberry Tea.

The photography is just lovely.  I opened to the first chapter and there was a huge smile on my face.  The very first party is none other than an Egg-Dyeing Spring Garden Party.  Now, how perfect is that with our current nature study theme and season.  The ladies at 4Real have been discussing and sharing ideas on this very subject: Egg Dyeing.  Oh, this is a book for me; was my immediate thought.  The book is divided by seasons and gives just a bit of information about them, nothing deep,  just a reminder of seasonal changes and their important solstice/equinox dates...another plus.  Within each season there are several party ideas.  The first page of every party is detailed with a list of Projects & Materials and a Timeline needed for the event planning (perfect, for this list kind of gal).  Several pages follow each party introduction with gorgeous photos and detailed how-to's.  Each project or recipe could easily stand alone depending on what we are working on or where our nature study takes us.

There are so many possibilities for fun projects and kid friendly recipes in this book.  While the title does say parties, let's face it, with my six children every project becomes an event with craft and food at the forefront.  Not to mention getting together with friends for play dates ... yeah, those easily could become parties too.  I loved going through the book and nodding my head at just how much our lives have naturally flowed through the seasons with our habits of nature study and out of doors time.  My wheels are certainly turning.  There is a Pancake P.J. and a Strawberry-Picking & Jam Making theme parties with some great recipes to use after our annual strawberry and blueberry picking days.  Besides the recipes there are several projects and game ideas that I know the kids will enjoy trying.  There is Sea Glass Hunt for our beach days and a Gratitude Treasure Hunt perfect for Thanksgiving.  Simple crafts like cute banners we could make for our nature table window; I'm sure my kids would like a break from my crochet inspired ones ; )

I'm not the most naturally creative person or fine cook in the world but I can easily be inspired to create an atmosphere my children will enjoy a living education from.  I depend on books such as this one.  I think for some of my readers I should mention that there is no reference to educational philosophies just fun natural upcycled ideas and healthy recipes.  I'd add further that this book reminds me very much of Alice Cantrell's books (all of which are favorites for me).  I never thought that my chaotic care-free children would enjoy sipping tea with me but thanks to creative work's like Alice's Tea and Cakes with the Saints as our guide; the kids love our Liturgical Teas and we have learned so much about saints. 

I know this book will get just as much use for our seasonal nature study focused planning fun and, of course, my chaotic care-free children will love that much of this will be done out doors.  Anni and Heather just made sure that our "small mountain in the backyard" get lots of use with their wonderful ideas.  I'm sure some of my future post will reflect things from this book.  This is a review I've enjoyed giving you!

Birds and Eggs part 2

I couldn't end the week without posting some pictures of another great experience we had Monday afternoon.  My kids love visiting some good friends of ours and hanging out in their backyard.  Without fail every time we leave I get the usual "why can't we get some?"  My response is always "I wish we could, but we're still trying to get grass on the bottom part of our yard so I don't think Dad wants to get going on building us a great looking chicken coop for chickens anytime soon." For now, we enjoy our play dates.

With our new found interest in birds, we decided  our play date this past Monday would have just a tad of informal structure.  The girls brought their nature journals, the boys were ready to listen and our friends were more than ready to give us a lesson or two about their chickens:  where they sleep, what they eat, where they lay their eggs, why their eggs will never be chicks, how you clean and preserve the eggs before eating them, and of course what kind of chickens they have (Rhode Island Red, Plymouth Rock, and White Brahma).  I can't remember all their names but I do recall they all have very cute names like Henny Penny and Eggbert.

Our wonderful friends!

My kids couldn't help themselves; they just have to hold them every time too:

Then we went inside and got to look at their eggs even closer.  They haven't figured out what chicken lays which egg but they have noticed a pattern in the eggs appearance, color and size.  Can you see those speckles on there:

They were very kind to share a dozen of their eggs and lots of information with us.  My kids had them for breakfast Friday morning faster than I could grab my camera ; D   Here's one last shot; I just loved my friends chicken wire egg basket!  I think I want one...hmm, that might mean I'll have to get the chickens to go with it :-O

Oh, Chocolate!

I have several posts in mind but after last nights experience I couldn't resist.  A couple of our homeschool groups will offer the opportunity for the occasional Mom's Night Out.  It's a chance to just have a lovely evening with other lovely ladies.  Last night eight of us had the chance to experience chocolate in a whole new way.  We drove to a lovely little shop called TIFA Chocolate.  They offer chocolate tasting parties and boy did we get an education ; )

Our host was amazing.  She started us off with some wonderful information as to growth of beans and manufacturing.  Along the way she gave us some great historical information, story/industry tid-bits and explanations about generic chocolates compared to more true chocolatiers.  Great information and here I thought I was a chocolate lover ; )

O.K., lets get to the chocolate.  We each had a glass of water, some wafers, a serving of raspberry sorbet (to cleanse our palates of course) and an extremely nice young lady refilling our needs.

She started us off with  two samples of white chocolate containing about 30-35% chocolate.  Each sample after that grew in percentage and was plain cacao or small blend.  She was very descriptive and talked us through experiencing each one: touch, smell, taste.  There was something different about each.  That difference depended on the origin of the bean and the maker for sure.  After 11 samples came the big one: 100% Dark Cacao (blend) from Pralus, Indonesia - France.  Wow! Our grocery store buys don't come close to these delights.

Wait!  It didn't end at that.  Then she talked about chocolate confections.  We tried real truffles, lavender chocolate (my favorite), a spicy pepper chocolate, an amazing blue cheese chocolate, Jasmin chocolate, and even a bacon chocolate just for fun ; )

Aaah, to end the evening we all got to take home a small cup of absolutely delicious liquid chocolate flavored with our choice blend.  I picked lavender.  I absolutely savoured my cup this morning; delightful, to say the least!

I had a great time with the ladies last night.  I couldn't imagine a more pleasing way to learn about chocolate than with a group of friends.  My wheels are turning and my search engine is hot for some chocolate history titles.  If you know of any good ones, please share ; )