fawell friends...

Hubs and I getting the heck out of dodge and driving to Oregon! Yee haw! One of my dearest friends from my junior high days is getting married. I would be slightly more excited if I hadn't tried to give my hair a little trim last night... oh well, it's livable-ish. :)

Here are a few more photos of some fun P.L. lessons taken on the last few days of school. See ya next week!

The child uses her pincer grip
to hang felt fruit from a mini-clothesline.

I'm not sure where the clothesline came from,
but I think it would be easy to make something similar
-right?!

This child is using tongs
to transfer berries (fake) into an ice cube tray.

Wouldn't this be fun with REAL berries?
you could pour o.j. on top
and stick them in the freezer...
yum...
makes me think of the popsicles Lisa from
5 Orange Potatoes made with her daughters.
Check them out here.

dog crush

I have a new friend,
and this is her dog.
His name is Brody.



Rosie thinks she's died and gone to heaven.
Sigh...

slotted spooning

The child uses a slotted spoon
to separate tiny ants (plastic!)
from a bowl of rice...

How satisfying!
(AND good fine motor control & problem solving practice)

Whoa, Nelly! Has she gone back to work?! Fakeout! Tee hee...
No, I was going through some pictures, and I found these from the end of the school year. This activity is sort of a twist on transferring with a spoon - and it was a huge hit with the children. I think I got this idea from The Wonder Years, but that would have been many moons ago.

I'm totally inspired to set up some variations of this activity for next school year!

hello garden,

I just wanted to let you know,

I really appreciate the hard work you've been doing lately...

It's not easy being a flower - especially in Montana.
It's hot and dry during the day, and it's cold at night.
Sometimes it gets so windy your tall stems break,
and I find you wilted on the ground.

And then there's me, your "keeper" - aka your "gardener."
(I've never claimed to be perfect.)
I don't water you as often as I should...

I don't pull the weeds competing for your dry, rocky chunk of earth.

And yet you continue to grow - at least until it snows again.

Thanks :)

brown bear, brown bear

what do you see?

I see a bear across
the creek from me!

(just far enough away
to appreciate his
handsomeness)

maybe...

Maybe these plants will survive... are there any house plant aficionados out there? I have to admit, I've been terrarium-obsessed these past few weeks... ever since I read this post on Design*Sponge and this post on Urban Organica.

Didn't we make these as kids?

I've been falling asleep at night to fantasies of

miniature gardens tucked here and there in my home.

I put pea gravel in the bottom of the dishes,
but is that enough drainage for a plant?

Oh! Don't tell me! (Unless it's good news...)

glamping: part 2

**Of course there's a Part 2! Did you really think I could haul my you-know-what 23 miles in one day?!?! Actually, I'm pretty surprised I was able to do it in two (my you-know-what is VERY sore)! Oh yeah, the title of this post is not entirely accurate because I think we were too greasy/stinky/funky to qualify as "glampers" on day 2 - we were also out of boxed wine.**

Backpacking through the Crazy Mountains
with Hubs and Rosie C.W.

Day 2: Trespass Creek to Cottonwood Creek Trail Head

We woke up to this

started walking (if I wasn't wearing a backpack, this would have been a good meadow for some Sound-of-Music-style frolicking)

and then realized we had to hike up and over another steep mountain pass,
but this time with thunder rumbling in the sky.

Um, yeah, we RAN (I refuse to die by lightning strike)
pretty much the entire way back to the car.
I did stop for a millisecond to take a picture of the goats.
(I'd been looking for goats the whole trip)






















It started pouring as soon as we got in the car. We breathed a sigh of relief, and gobbled up several slices of slimy pepperoni. (Waste not, want not! It wouldn't have tasted as good anywhere else but at that moment anyway!)

glamping: part 1

**another non-Montessori post, sorry!**

Backpacking through the Crazy Mountains
with Hubs and Rosie C.W.

Day 1: Big Timber Creek to the S. Fork of Sweet Grass Creek Meadows

garlic scapes!

Who knew?
I bought a handful at the farmers' market today -
kind of tentacle-y, don't ya think?
I sauteed them in a big glob of butter...

and splashed them with soy sauce...

YUM!
(even though I did feel like I was eating green octopus legs)
If you've got a good garlic scape recipe, do tell.
I'm sure they're even better if you know what you're doing! :)

My lovely neighbor and friend
was selling her handmade skirts at the farmers' market, too.
This is the one I picked out - true love!
The fabric is a Heather Baily fabric - check it out here, if you're interested!