Creative Little Hands

[caption id="attachment_2641" align="alignnone" width="640" caption="Weather vane we made"][/caption]

The boys decorated two paper plates for their weather vane.  We placed a blob of clay in the center between the two plates so as to hold up the pencil.  The plates are glued together around the edges. The arrow tail (3") and point (3") which we cut from a watercolor painting was inserted at each equal end of the straw and then we placed a pin through the center of it into the eraser of the pencil to allow it to move freely with the breeze.

Boys watching their weather vane for wind direction

Mark it with compass markings N, S, E, W and using the compass we point the plate according to the compass markings and wait for the wind to blow and give you your wind direction.  We have an east wind blowing daily.  We are also logging the information into a Beaufort Scale.

[caption id="attachment_2634" align="alignnone" width="640" caption="Their little three wheeler"][/caption]

This is a little three wheeler car that the boys made for their little moose.

[caption id="attachment_2633" align="alignnone" width="640" caption="Petit Chenille/Worm"][/caption]

They love to play with clay and have been moulding these little worms inspired by the plentiful Frangipani worms we have in our Frangipani Tree.

[caption id="attachment_2630" align="alignnone" width="640" caption="Frangipani Worms"][/caption]

They spend hours, months.. playing with these little worms, building homes and mazes for them.  They are carried around like pets.

[caption id="attachment_2632" align="alignnone" width="640" caption="Clay snail"][/caption]

Sasha's snail creation.

[caption id="attachment_2645" align="alignnone" width="640" caption="Sania's clay house construction"][/caption]

Sania moulded this little clay house which almost looks like a home of a troll, it was for his little moose.

[caption id="attachment_2637" align="alignnone" width="640" caption="Cosmos Flowers"][/caption]

These photos were taken a month ago when our cosmos were in full bloom bordering our entire garden.

[caption id="attachment_2639" align="alignnone" width="640" caption="Butterfly"][/caption]

They are teeming with bees and butterflies and my honey boxes are overflowing with honey!

[caption id="attachment_2638" align="alignnone" width="640" caption="More cosmos"][/caption]

So pretty - the nice thing about living in the tropics is that when these die, they seed and the seedlings are already up and growing.

[caption id="attachment_2636" align="alignnone" width="640" caption="Yellow cosmos"][/caption]

We have yellow cosmos as well.

[caption id="attachment_2635" align="aligncenter" width="533" caption="Green Papayas"][/caption]

So many papayas, they are all ripening.  We, along with the staff and chickens are indulging in all those healthy papayas.

[caption id="attachment_2629" align="alignnone" width="640" caption="Cooling off"][/caption]

Sometimes the cows spend hours in our duck pond cooling off.

[caption id="attachment_2631" align="alignnone" width="640" caption="Sasha driving"][/caption]

My children are driving.  Sasha alone and Sania on my lap but they both work the accelerator.  They help papa drive the tractor too.

 

Third Grade House Building Project

Measuring

When my boys were little we moved to our farm in Dominican Republic.  There were many fences being installed or repaired, we renovated our home and built three cottages. There was and always is someone walking around with a hammer. Sania was one year and able to work a hammer very well.  Hammering nails in the ground, into large trees, into anything soft enough for a nail to penetrate.  As the boys got older they began making little projects of their own, building forts in the garden and throughout our home.  Not a week has gone by where my sofas or tables were not turned upside down to make themselves a house.  Sometimes our living room remained their fort for a week.

Papa helping Sania measure

 I love the Christopherus Waldorf Curriculums and this year in third grade there is more practical, hands on work:  farming, gardening, weather, building and measurement - something my children know how to do very well - they live it.

Sawing the wood

Measuring and sawing their wood pieces.

"The base and the walls are up"

The boys are putting the pieces together.

"Sasha hammering the nails into the wood"

The boys were motivated to build a house of their own after observing and assisting the construction of our own new house.  I shall post photos soon.

Building projects can by found in any of these books:  Housebuilding for Children by Lester Walker. and Carpentry for Children.  The boys plan to make a go-cart for their next project.

Sania

Sania could hammer for hours.  It's not uncommon to find nails in his short's pocket.

"The boys peeping through their window"

Their little window.

Installing the walls

Only the roof left...

"Home in the house"

We are still moving our furniture and belongings from our previous home to this one.  Our parlor was still empty so the boys decided to set up their house in the space.  What I really think is that they wanted to be close to the refrigerator!  As we all know active, growing little boys can eat us out of house and home.  I am grateful for those nutritious coconuts and farm fruit the boys indulge in.

Their little kitchen and garden surrounded by rocks

 As you can see they have their own little dining room set up.  With real plates and cutlery.  You can always tell a bachelors home.  Sasha spends most of their play finding and preparing meals for little Sania who is either the pony or the squirrel.  Sania never has an appetite for real mealtimes.  I wanted to take some photos of their home outside but it's still in my parlor and not sure when they will be moving out.

Pony Boys

Sasha with Mitzi

These little ponies are a great part of our life bringing immense joy to our family.  Our young boys are so devoted to these sweet little creatures.

Attached are two very precious videos of my children swimming and riding their ponies,, they are amazing and I'm sure you will enjoy watching them as much as I do.

Sania and Coco

[/caption]

Swimming in our flooded pasture

Trotting

Sasha and Sania riding their ponies in the Dominican Republic

Sasha and Sania swimming with the ponies in the Dominican Republic

Creative fun - Bamboo Raft

Sasha has been wanting to do wood crafting lately.  It all seems to fall so well with Steiner's ideas for third grade.  He has been thinking up designs for a tree house, a go-cart, boats and many other things.

Sailing Raft for Moose

Fabien and the boys set out to cut some of our dried bamboo that had fallen recently. The smaller pieces were cut from one of our bamboo palms.  They joined all the pieces securely by using my thin cotton yarn.

Raft

Look how beautiful it turned out.  We did have a silk sail but Sania preferred  it like this. A sail boat for his little moose.

Long Boarding at the Beach

It is so wonderful to be back near the beach.  We missed the ocean and the refreshing salt water.

Sailing leaves down the Stream

The children love sailing little leaf boats and twigs down our stream.

Sasha's watercolor painting

Sasha painted this pretty little peacock using the three primary stockmar watercolors.

Building Bridges

Almost every evening the boys build train tracks or homes and bridges with their Kapla.

Mango Lassi

I can believe it has taken me so long to make this nutritional drink especially that we always have so much buttermilk left after our butter making.  I first tasted this refreshing drink about 17 years ago during my backpacking trips to India.  Two and half cups of mango, 1/4 cup of sugar (I used our raw honey) blend it, then blend more with 1 quart of buttermilk.  Strain through a fine sieve and serve cold.  It's so delicious and very rich.  The boys made some ice cream with the left overs.

Colorado Rafting and Friends

Rafting

]

The rapids were not as big in Durango as they were in Buena Vista so we felt rather brave to ride with the wave.  It was great fun and after that the boys said they wanted bigger waves.

A big wave

Today we went tubing in the smaller rapids of Pagosa, that was so much fun.  Since we were all in the water we didn't have a camera to catch those comical moments.  We nearly toppled a few times and boy did we laugh.

Shining Silver Fish

Our Shining silver fish traveling home nestled amidst the large pines.  It is so nice to wake in the morning to the fresh smell of pine.

Creek in Vallecito

and refresh in the cool, crisp waters of this cascading creek.

Renee and her family

To enjoy the company of Renee and her sweet family who we met last year and visit with once again.  We celebrated sweet little Chloe's 11th birthday.

Playing on the rocks

The children played so beautifully together.

Sweet Children

Sweet unworldliness.

Campfire songs and roasting marshmallows

A little campfire singing and roasting of marshmallows to compliment our beautiful day.

Mama with baby boy

Cuddles with my little boys after a fresh swim in the creek.

Sasha

More adventures - Jackson Hole and Yellowstone

Laura Ingalls Wilder Books

Myself and the boys have enjoyed reading the Laura Ingalls Wilder book series of nine I purchased before leaving.  As we travel over all the vast open prairies, through mountains and snow we imagine how Laura and her family's arduous journeys were by wagon.

I was initially surprised by the hunting in the first book Farmer Boy, the story of Almanzo. As one journeys through all the series of these wondrous little books, it is miraculous to learn how they survived in the wild, with relentless weather conditions, living in total isolation, completely depending on nature for survival. So much is taken for granted in our modern day life.

Old log homes from the early settlers

We were thrilled to see a reproduction of the log homes built by the early settlers. Laura's pa built most of their homes himself.  They survived cruel fires and unyielding blizzards.

Log Homes

The wooden creaky old wagons that were pulled by horse over vast prairies and though great rushing rivers and creeks.  Our next book will be Little Town on the Prairie.

The boys in a wagon

The children playing on a wagon.  We found a miniature wagon for them to play with.

Grizzly Bear

How fortunate we were to see a few bears in the yellowstone park.  Watching them amble about the sage brush, looking for grubs and slugs.  They looked so cuddly and warm.

Bison grazing alongside the steam near the warm spring geysers

The bison, so powerful in the herds.  I remember how the great herds used to roam in Africa, it's hardly seen with their restricted land.  The animals struggled with the late winter and deep snow in Yellowstone, many calves were lost.

Moose

We were delighted to finally see a moose.  Moose is a popular animal in our home as Sania's favorite plush toy is a moose whom he's been loving for 3 years and shares life with us.

Bison on the freeway

This impressive fellow was moseying along the freeway all by himself.  He must have climbed down one of the mountains.

Scenery from a park in Yellowstone

Overlooking Yellowstone Lake.

Knitted scarves

It was so cold that I quickly knitted up two scarves for my little boys from some amazing hand spun pure wool, kettle dyed from Uruguay that I purchased at a cosy little knitting store.  What a pleasure it was to knit with such fine wool.

First time in Snow

The boys found a small mountain of snow in the alongside the road to play in.

Sliding down a snow bank

We then took them up the tram in Jackson WY for some REAL snow.

Trying to climb through the thick snow

I slid down a small snow bank

I managed to climb to the top of a small hill after continuously sinking so deep in the snow, obviously not dressed for it, to slide down and enjoy the fun with the boys.

Brrrrrr

A wonderful snow experience but next time we will be dressed for it because the boys wanted to play more but their feet were almost frozen.