Matthew's 5th Birthday

Ian & Bella making cupcakes for their fellow Nester's birthday. They both liked cracking the eggs & running the beater:)

The Birthday Boy! Matt was so surprised that we had cupcakes for his special day . Happy Birthday Matt, hope 5 is great !

Everett can't wait for the next birthday! He really needed a bath after his cupcake but had to settle for a quick wipe down.

Nick climbing "elephant foot".

Our little gymnast....Eeva can find a balance beam anywhere even in the forest:)

Ian sits and takes a break from stick gathering...he has a rather large collection forming.

Motherbird's view of the little ones during our nature walk:)

Eeva-Liisa's 1st Fieldtrip

On a beautiful Fall day I joined Eeva's Kindergarten class on their first fieldtrip of the year. We arrived at Confreda Farms in Hope, RI early Wednesday morning. Eeva and I sat together on the bus and I had a chance to chat with her & the other 3 girls in her class. Yes, out of 17 children there are only 4 girls in her class. We talked about our favorite movies, which princess we liked best and of course Barbie:( Although I'm not a huge fan of Barbie or what Disney has done to the classic fairytales I enjoyed listening to what the girls had to say.You can tell a lot about a five year old by which princess is thier favorite. Upon arriving at the Farm a older gentleman dressed as a farmer climbed aboard the bus, welcomed us & gave us our intinery. We got off the bus and climbed into a wagon pulled by a John Deer....Ian would have been in his glory:) The farm is large and beautiful. Our driver stopped a few times, picked a vegatable and quized the kids. We were able to view a cabbage, beet, pepper and corn up close. Some of the kids chose to eat the corn off the cob....Eeva tried it due to peer pressure, she of course didn't care for it. Unfortunately Confreda Farm also does a haunted hayride during the evening hours so along with discovering the veggies the kids got to see bloody body parts nailed to trees, a man strapped to an electric chair, a very scary clown and lots of witches! I felt this was inappropriate for the age group that we were with. I will be doing some research and suggesting a different venue for next year's class:) After a lot of questions and a few "Oh Dear!" glances between parents we reached the pumpkin patch. Each child was able to pick one pumpkin to take home. Eeva spent some time jumping over the rows of pumpkins until she spotted the one! She quickly grabbed it from the vine and ran to the wagon to join her friends. The one is proudly displayed on our kitchen counter and every morning she talks about what kind of face she wants to carve into it. It changes daily so it will be interesting to see what she ends up carving.

A chilly day with rain, sleet & SNOW makes for a very busy(&loud) Nest:) After Bella arrived we started working on our Twig art. First the children colored their cardstock then with some glue & a paintbrush they added their twigs. They did a great job! No Music today...

Ms. Amy's son Eli was ill:( Hopefully he feels better soon! We spent a good part of the morning in the playroom. Bella loves to play store, I have to say that she runs a very high end grocery store....everything I pick up is "a hundred bucks"! Ian is in a carpentry phase, he likes to walk around with his tool belt on "fixing" things. Today he repaired a highchair for Bella's baby and our wooden castle. In the garage we let him pratice with real nails & a hammer ( under close supervision ) He does pretty well....only caught his finger once. Everett who we call Rip Van Winkle slept his morning away....must be growing! And little Mr. Harrison played on the floor doing 360's on his belly:)During Circle today the children sang songs about hammers, saws & screwdrivers. Bella was more content listening to circle from her spot on the sofa. Ian loved the hammer song...of course:) I told the children the story of the Honest Woodsman and we talked about trees and what they provide for us (oxygen, lumber for houses, paper & wooden toys). The weather held off so we were able to go on our morning nature walk. "the woods is different mommy" says Ian as we start down the path. We notice that the lush green ferns are now golden yellow & brown, we have to watch our steps because the oaks have dropped their acorns and in some places on the path it's like trying to walk on marbles! The trees were doing a slow dance and the children's noses and cheeks became rosy very quickly. Eeva-Liisa & Matthew arrived and were greeted with hugs & hello's from their younger siblings. I had the children make their own mini pizzas today. They all enjoyed themselves and each one declared they were the best pizza makers!Harrison loves the walker I snagged from my mom's house, I think he likes being able to run with the big kids. Everett also loves to relive his time in it as well, he is able to climb into it all by himself. During StoryTime today we read a wonderful book called Roxaboxen by Alice Mclarren. Roxaboxen is a small town build from stones, cactus and imagination. For the children who played there Roxaboxen was as real as any other town. The story tells of their days building houses & streets. They had a town hall, bakery and 2 ice cream parlors. They pretended to drive cars by just holding onto something round for the steering wheel and when they wanted to go as fast as the wind they pretended a stick & some rope was a horse. For Alice Mc Larren's mother Roxaboxen was a real place where she spent many days during her childhood in Yuma, Arizona.

" Alice was able to recreate that magical world as if she had played there herself. She presents us with a celeration of the active imagination, of the ability of children to create, even with the most unpromising materials, a world of fantasy so real and multidimensional that it earns a lasting place in memory" 

 My wish for all children is that they have the oppurtunity to create their own Roxaboxen. If you have the chance pick up the book & be inspired to help your children create their own magical worlds using some ordinary things and their imaginations.
During Nap time it began to snow!!! I was tempted to wake the children so that they could experience the first snow of the season but after a moment of contemplating this I chose to leave them sleeping:) It would be crazy to wake 6 young children after I finally had them all sleeping! And of course after they all woke it was still snowing and they were able to see it. I love living in New England and I do enjoy all the seasons but snow before halloween?????? Well at least the children enjoyed  seeing it. I brought out the playdough and everyone rolled, cut & created. The plastic man who grows playdough hair was the toy to have and each child took a turn giving him a haircut:) We spent the rest of the afternoon in the playroom. It was a busy day but I enjoy the challenge of keeping 7 children happy!
Take Care!

Ian starts off his morning with some color theory, he discovered what color red & blue make when mixed together. The rest of the day he pointed out things to me that were purple:) While Ian was painting Harrison became acquainted with one of the Reading Rainforest residents....Mr. Snakey Snake. For some reason all the kids love to be wrapped up with this snake. For a short time Ian would only fall asleep if Snakey Snake was wrapped around him. Personally....it gives me the creeps but I put on the brave "Mommy face" any time we see a snake in the yard:) After snack we bundled up and headed outside...what a beautiful Autumn day! The back yard is covered in a multi-colored blanket of fall leaves and Ian loved the sounds his feet made while running through them. I admit I took a few passes through them as well:) We spent some time gathering twigs for an art project that we will be doing tomorrow. It took me a minute to find the right words to help Ian understand the difference between a stick and a twig. Everett is choosing to walk more now then crawl and he spends his time be-bopping up & down the sidewalk while we wait for Eeva to get off the bus. He was so mad a me this morning when I put this hat on him....he has no idea how darn cute he looks in it:) Eeva & Ian helped fill the bird feeders this afternoon.... the squirrels will be happy as well since we had a few spills during the filling process:) Harrison was very content just to swing while outside today and almost nodded off a few times. He seems to enjoy being the wallflower, soaking up the days events.

Deep in the forest, where a mighty oak

Flings grateful shadow over a wandering stream,

Where tall ferns nod, and velvet mosses creep,

I love to lie and dream

Take some time to notice the season that is unfolding all around us!

The Rolling Stones

I wish my camera had a time stamp, then you would know that I am not lying when I tell you that this image was taken at 6:53AM!! My 3 little rock stars singing, shaking & grooving all before breakfast....how did this night owl end up with such early birds???

Children change everything!

Trucks

A peaceful Wednesday morning with the boys.....until the bucket of cars was discovered:) All three boys played so well together on this mat with cars, trucks, construction equipment, fire trucks & even a taxi. I was amazed at how well the younger two could make the "truck sounds". I wonder if that is just something they are born with. Ian's trucks had a story line, Everett's trucks kept crashing into one another or some how ending up at the other end of the living room (he has quite an arm) and Baby Harrison quickly learned how to push the car back & forth on the mat by imitating the Stone boys. My boys are obsessed with all things containing a motor...wheels optional. I can't tell you how many times a day I get corrected by my 3 year old for calling the backhoe a bulldozer or yelling out "look at that Mack" and he yells back " MOM that's a Peterbeilt". The crazy thing is....on the rare occasion that I'm on the road without the boys I find myself noticing all the Mack's, Car Haulers, Cement Mixers, Cranes & construction equipment and I whisper to myself  "oh the boys would have liked to see that".

Ian's favorite book this week is Seymour Simon's Book of TRUCKS.  It's a must read for all of you with truck loving kids:)

Trucks push and pull. They dig and dump.

They sweep and shovel. They carry and crush.

Everyday. Everywhere

~Seymour Simon

Time Travel

This past weekend my parent's and I took the 3 kids to Cucumber Hill Farm in Foster, RI. A local farm offering a corn maze, wagon rides and fall decor. The kids were excited to do the corn maze but I was more excited to finally get an up close view of the place I have only known as "the Farm"; the place where my parents met and fell in love. They were only 15 years old and it's really a very sweet love story but I won't bore you with the details. My mother was brought there by her sister who had married into the owner of the farms family and my
father lived up the road from the farm and needed a job. It was fun to listen to the stories of their youth and to watch their eyes glance at each other when they would point out certain things. My parents both had a hand in making this farm what it is today, they picked rocks out of fields, helped build milking rooms and barn additions.On our tour we took the kids through their first corn maze. The theme was "Road Trip", you had to answer riddles and find 8 US cities. The kids mostly enjoyed running along the paths:) The horse drawn carriage ride was relaxing and gave my parents a chance to share more of the farm with us and the kids got a chance to rest their legs.We ended our day with pictures next to the decorated tractor.My parents will be married 35 years on the 12th of this month and I hope they enjoyed their trip back in time. I know I am grateful to have seen the place where it all began!

......... Call me sentimental and a little korny but it must have been really amazing to take your daughter and your 3 grandchildren to the place where you found each other:)

  Happy Anniversay Mom & Dad!!