our favorite winter reads

We'd been waiting for a really big snow, saving good stuff in a sack.  Finally it was a perfect snowball day.  

- Lois Ehlert (from Snowballs)

Here are a few of our favorite books to snuggle up with on a snowy afternoon.  With the exception of the talking animals in Stranger in the Woods, all of these books are based in reality.  Which is just right for 2.5 year-old Elise - too much fantasy leaves her confused and concerned!

• Owl Moon by Jane Yolen
• Snowballs by Lois Ehlert
• In the Snow: Who's Been Here? by Lindsay Barrett George
• Stranger in the Woods by Carl R. Sams II & Jean Stoick
• The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats
• What Can You Do in the Snow? by Anna Grossnickle Hines

What do you plan on reading this weekend?  

the gift of play dough

Homemade play dough has become our 

go-to gift for friends.

It's inexpensive and easy to make.

The recipient will have a ball 

while strengthening his or her fine motor skills.

(Sorry - once a Montessori teacher, always a Montessori teacher!)

Ultimately, it can be composted or thrown away, the container recycled.

Plus, nothing beats giving a gift that 

you made with your very own hands, right?!!

(Just ask Elise - she was nearly bursting with pride 

watching her friend unwrap the snowman on the left 

- she made the one on the right for herself, of course!)

To make the snowman play dough,

we followed the Imagination Tree's 4 Minute Play Dough Recipe,

and kneaded in some silver glitter and a splash of peppermint extract at the end.

In addition to the sparkly dough, we put together a few snowman supplies:

buttons,

googly eyes,

twig arms,

felt scarves,

and carrot noses (cut golf tees and toothpicks).

Of course, we had to put the snowman play dough in snowman jars

- thank you Eltern vom Mars!

In the photo at the top of the post, the jars are wearing knitted hats,

but if you're not a knitter - or you just don't want to spend your precious time knitting hats for jars -

try cutting off the toe of a single sock and gluing a pom pom to the top.

(The sock hat pictured above came off an extremely cute, child-made sock snowman 

we purchased at a craft fair this weekend.)

Happy gifting!

looking back at summer: the pea fort

 ^^ The Pea Fort - July 2014 ^^

I took a little blogging break over the summer, 

and I know there are A LOT of readers wondering 

What ever happened with The Pea Fort?  

For those of you who just started reading itty bitty love, 

The Pea Fort is a trellis-like structure we built 

and planted pea and bean seeds around 

- in hopes of creating an edible playhouse for Elise.  

You can read more about it here and here.

^^ Elise feasted on peas and beans all summer! ^^

I had plans of picking some to freeze and enjoy over the winter, 

but all were consumed immediately upon being picked, 

either inside or just outside of The Pea Fort.  :)

That makes more sense anyway,

don't you think?

^^ The Pea Fort The Snow Cave - November 2014 ^^

What will we plant next year?

Maybe more beans and a few less peas.

(The pea plants died-back once the weather got hot,

and it was tricky pulling them out from around the bean plants.)

I'd also like to try a climbing flower or two.

Morning glories?  Sweet peas?  Hmmmm...

We have all winter to dream!

favorite veggie reads

Eat food.  Not too much.  Mostly plants.

                                                                   

                                                                 - Michael Pollan (In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto) 

      

A few books that have inspired our growing love of vegetables!

• Growing Vegetable Soup by Lois Ehlert
• Vegetables, Vegetables!  by Fay Robinson
• Vegetables in the Garden by Pascale De Bourgoing
• The Vegetables We Eat by Gail Gibbons
• Vegetables Every Day by Jack Bishop
• Food For Thought by Saxton Freymann

vegetable taste test

Did you know that when you're eating vegetables, sometimes you're eating leaves?  And stems?!  And flowers?!!!

I'm sure you knew that, and I guess I did, too - I just hadn't really thought of it that way before.  Elise, on the other hand, apparently thinks about it a lot.  A few mornings ago, before she even rolled out of bed, she exclaimed, "Mama!  I eat leaves!!!"  Surprised, I responded, "You do?!"  To which she replied, "Yes, salad!"

Anyway, this early-morning conversation about the parts of plants that we eat inspired this vegetable taste test.  It was so much fun, we actually put it together again to go along with our lunch!  ;)

root - carrot

bulb - scallion

stem - celery

leaves - spinach

flowers - broccoli

fruit - cucumber

seeds - peas

(We didn't have one of these prepared, but for bonus points, eat a tuber - potato!)

Please check back on Friday for a list of our favorite vegetable books!