Last week of March

After a long winter, the spring finally came, we had the most crazy weather with hot sun and snow storm in the same week, now it is warm again, we'll see if it lasts...But first leaves appeared almost overnight, such a delight!

What have we been up to this last week of March? Let's see...

Monday: We repeated what we know about Italy, D. read a Magic Tree House book on the subject
We also learned about one point perspective using this helpful lesson from smArt class blog.

Tuesday: D. is currently raising shrimp for his science class at co-op and he's very excited to see how they will turn out. Kids received a microscope as a present from my sister and of course attempted to look at shrimp- alas, too small to see properly still, we did compare leaves and algae meant for shrimp food though, successfully. Kids were fascinated by the difference in texture.

Wednesday: The nature is waking up, we decided to repeat what we knew about plants' life cycle (new info for C. since she's old enough now to understand these things better). We read The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle and planted a couple of seeds in egg cartons. Will they grow?

Thursday:We read up on endangered animals and watched Chipanzee movie from Disneynature. The movie was very sweet and interesting too. We did "finish the picture" art journal page, inspired by art projects for kids.

We also did a little Japanese language lesson (last two years' studies inspired us both to try and master it), which D. absolutely loved, he studies hiragana using workbook found here.

Friday was more or less uneventful, D. practiced his piano, he's preparing for a small recital and his special challenge is to play ensemble with his friend for the first time.

Saturday: We went to Barnes and Noble for the egg hunt, when we get home we decided to keep it artsy and made a decoration for our table. Russian Easter is still pretty far away  so we might do something else as it approaches.
Our first project was to paint blown-out eggs, inspired by a lovely post here. So we blew out three eggs, got our acrylic paints out and set to work. We had lots of fun, D. stuck to "Starry night" theme, C. painted pink and orange background and I messed around with putting spots in warm colors. The outcome seems to be pleasant enough.

C. also did some stamping with white acrylic paint over green construction paper to create a meadow for origami bunnies that we made. Instructions for these bunnies are extremely simple,  D. had lots of  fun folding.

We hung our eggs on some branches we cut off of the tree in front of our house.

Sunday: Today was calm, kids played a lot by themselves, read some, hanged out with grandparents...Taking a deep breath for a new week


Our reading highlights of the month are up at Our Bookshelf Blog, please stop by and check it out :)

change of seasons

As much as we miss California we really appreciate the change of seasons here.

Yesterday was a gorgeous late autumn day- clear skies with a few fluffy clouds, warm breeze...It's hard to believe that it could change overnight (having had a couple of heavy snowfalls this year already we are prepared:)), and yet the snow on the ground will be welcome.
Today -slightly colder, but still bright sun and fairly warm outside. We decided to talk again about seasons changing and what it means for plants and animals.
The book that helped us do it is Four Seasons:Uncovering Nature by Annie Jones - a beautiful present from friends. The book contains loads of information and is beautifully illustrated.

Another book we enjoyed is Autumn Story ( Brambly Hedge) by Jill Barklem. Sweet story and gorgeous illustrations.

After reading we did an art project , inspired by this picture I found on pinterest. This project took us two days to finish.
Day one: We sketched a forest scene on a large sheet of paper- some trees, animals. Second step was separating sheet vertically into four equal parts- one for each season (initially it was done in pencil, when D. was ready to color I erased pencil and traced a line with a white crayon). Day Two: D. traced outlines with crayons using appropriate colors for each season (bright green for fresh grass, gray-blue for snowy ground, dark brownish-green for autumn grass, etc.). The forth step is painting each part with watercolors. Add some outlining with oil pastels and glitter accents and voila!

Happy Weekend to All!

Autumn...

Our autumn was especially beautiful this year. Now all the gold is almost gone from the trees, but I still want to share it here.

We did a window display again. Last year we did the most beautiful watercolor leaves out of coffee filters for our window. This year we decided to use tracing paper and wax crayons for more "cartoonish" effect. The result is a very cheerful window :)

Happy Friday to friends and visitors!

Meyer Ranch Park

There's nothing better than exploring, even better if it happens not far from home. This time we headed to the Conifer area. My parents and I discovered this picturesque park there in the fall, but DH didn't have the pleasure to see it yet and I really wanted to hike all the way up the mountain. The weather was absolutely lovely, how grateful I am for this day now when it's chilly and rains!

We were greeted by spring flowers!

Aspens

 

 

Beautifully mossy tree stump

The sap was oozing from the trees, we just had to touch it and we had to have sticky and (pleasantly) smelly fingers

Magic forest, reminds me of Lord of the Rings, 1st movie for some reason

Finally at the top!

Some trees are only just starting to wake up

Wonderful day it was, looking forward to new adventures !

Garden of the Gods

The other day we had a spontaneous trip to one of the most famous Colorado beauties- Garden of the Gods. It was a great walk indeed. Sandstone formations tower over paved walks and numerous trees provide nice shade. Admission is always free. This park is said to be especially beautiful in the morning and right before sunset, we were there shortly after midday and it was still breathtaking.
 There are many birds there, one curious scrub-jay was even following us around the park to children's delight.

curious birdie

Pikes Peak

On the way back we decided to stray off the interstate because my parents told us that back roads ( highway 67 and 105 that is) are empty and picturesque. It took us longer to get home (time wise, in terms of miles we even saved 2,5) but it was definitely worth it. We passed farms and ranches, beautiful mansions and even one mysterious community(?), the entrance to which looked like a castle. Shame we didn't stop to find out what it was. The hills were green and sun was golden. Small towns along the way are worth checking out too. Unfortunately there are no pictures from our trip back as we didn't want to stop, but next time I won't miss the opportunity :)

Checking in

This week is rather rough. My parents have left and now safely arrived to Motherland. I realized how used I got to having help at home and that getting back to being on my own with kids all days and most nights is not quite smooth, but manageable.
Our main activity this week is adjustment, however we managed to talk about weather a little bit, D. watched Eyewitness Weather DVD  , I'm planning a visit to National Center for Atmospheric Research sometimes soon.
We did go to our favorite zoo and got a little ambush surprise on the way there- crazy Coloradan weather being crazy. D. was fascinated, it was a nice guessing game will we freeze to death what would it be like when we finally reach our destination (we were dressed in summer clothes too), but it turned out to be a gorgeous day with some sneaky drizzles:)

I need to get our new old routine established (no more sleep ins for me, woe) , get meals planned, figure out our new budget...and it's almost time to plan for next year's homeschooling (books are loaned by our co-op and I have to make my selection soon enough)...

Looking for spring

We went to our favorite park the other day, looking for spring.
So far we found :

teeny tiny leaves 

brave little ferns fighting thick carpet of last' year's leaves 

mud!

birdies (although the woodpecker was the only one I could catch on camera :)

a stream with pieces of ice floating in it

                              
We also found a few ants, couple of moths, a fly.... Great walk it was, and we even had a surprise find:

a corner of the forest with all fall's leaves intact. Guess now we know where wind never comes :)

                                                       

Roxborough State Park

One of our most beloved places to walk is Roxborough State Park- it's fairly small and trails are suitable for little feet. In addition it's very close to our house- just a short drive away. It's always a special treat to go there and try to find different birds, observe amazing landscape around us. We took another trip there on Saturday, kids and adults couldn't have been more delighted.

 

Very first encounter :)

a creeping cloud

 

sleepy :)

                                                                       

                                          

Remembering summer's greenness

                                                            

and Fall's gold

       

Nature's beauty all around us!

                                   

Sunday

What a long day it seems to be. Quite peaceful though.

C. woke me up really early today and I caught an amazing sunrise, it looked like cotton candy, so gorgeous.

D. did a Kinder Line Art project from Art Project for kids. He drew too many lines and we had to separate sheet in 4 sections so he doesn't get too overwhelmed with all the spaces to color.What was really interesting about this project -D. was making up stories about every picture that he was coloring. One of the sections became a sea with a ship and an island, another magic mountain...I love watching him sink into his own world, and what a blessing it is when he shares it with me. He finished only half of the project so more fantastic stories await us tomorrow :)

Also I made a tiny needle-felted doll, using this tutorial from Moment to Moment, obviously I still have a lot to learn because it turned out weird :D , but D. cuddled it and pronounced her "the fairy of crayons" because of her colorful outfit.