Mud Pies and Smoothies

She's eating mint leaves.

Last week we made an outside mud kitchen for the girls. They spent three solid hours cooking mud pies, mud soup, mud cupcakes with violets and buttercups on  top. They took a non mud smoothie break for a few minutes and continued with their kitchen. Later, when they came in they each took a turn in the tub, and again spent forever filling cups and teapots and playing happily. There are never enough sensory experiences with my girls, they could enjoy water play, play-dough, sand, and mud all day long. Good old fashioned fun.

March Against Monsanto

One side of Penelope's sign.

The other side of Penelope's sign in progress.

Violet coloring the word NO on her sign. The other side of her sign had a picture she drew of a "puppy dog of love".

Having a snack while we wait for people to arrive.

She came up with these words herself.

Marching. I made the kids ride in the B.O.B. because we were marching on busy city streets with multiple traffic lanes.

After the march, meeting a furry protester.

LOVE

It was raining pretty hard by the end, but I had an umbrella and the girls were dry under the B.O.B. rain cover.

It was also freezing, but we brought blankets.

Huge joy was experienced by all three of us when we happened upon this truck as we walked back to the car. We have waited a long time to try their vegan ice cream. It was pretty good, and they have gluten free cones too!

I took the girls to our local March Against Monsanto yesterday. Penelope was totally into it. We made our signs the day before. Penelope knew what she wanted on her sign, a gmo with a red circle and line through it on one side and the other side said "not in my body, not in my garden, not in my earth". All her. I drew an outline for her and she colored it in. She held her sign high and shouted along with everyone else. Violet was really just along for the ride. She mostly watched with big eyes, but she was really excited that she was in a parade. I personally had more fun than I've had in a long time, it was a great crowd, nice turnout, and my girls were wonderful. The vegan ice cream truck at the end was just the perfect ending to our day.

This Moment, Friday, May 24, 2013

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. 

International Night 2013

Penelope and our table neighbor who learned about Kenya exchanging stamps in their passports.

Violet trying the chopsticks.

China, complete with The Great Wall, stuffed panda, and playmobile forest with tiny panda.

Animals from Kenya.

I loved that one of my most favorite goddesses was on the Kenya board.

Violet trying a little drum from Bangladesh.

Sweden

Penelope's passport filling up.

Vi getting a stamp in her passport.

The girls lining up for the flag parade, holding their Chinese flags that they made.

Everyone. Or, as many of them as I could fit in my picture.

I really loved this one.

Playing with the little panda.

She was so happy all night long.

We had the best time at International Night. Penelope chose China months ago, and we have been learning about it since. I learned a whole lot that I never knew, and both girls learned so much. It was a lot of fun. We took out loads of books from our library. We watched videos on youtube and documentaries on netflix. We built a couple sections of The Great Wall of China. We made tons of Chinese dishes, we listened to Chinese folk music. We went to the zoo to visit real red pandas. We borrowed the movie Mulan from the library. We ate with chopsticks. A lot.

Penelope's display board included a map of China with the Yangtze river and The Great Wall on it. Customs and manners in China. Bizarre street foods of China, which was delightfully horrifying to Pen. Some info on rice, how it is grown, eaten, etc. The Chinese zodiac. Things invented by the Chinese. Giant Pandas, Red Pandas, Siberian Tigers, Chinese Golden Pheasants, Yangtze River Dolphin, and the Water Buffalo.

Also, Penelope brought two little Chinese bowls and put pom poms in one. She had chopsticks so the kids could try transferring pom poms from one bowl to another.  She displayed her pandas and great wall and a book she made about the zodiac and a lap book on giant pandas that we made quite a while ago.

All the kids were given a boarding pass departing from their country and a passport book to get stamped at each country they visited. Penelope brought a Chinese dragon stamp. I think my two girl's favorite part was getting stamps and stickers from each country in their books.

I was impressed by all the different ways the kid's did their countries. Amazing things built from legos, costumes sewn by hand, beautiful art work. All amazing and different and just wonderful.

The kids had a flag parade, which was very cute. Many of the flags were hand made. And we shared a wonderful feast of foods from all the countries represented. Tons of amazing dishes, and almost all of them vegetarian. It was a special treat for the four of us to be able to eat almost everything there, and not just the dish we brought.

I learned so much doing this with Penelope. Lots of amazing and wonderful things. Some depressing things too, like how endangered all the animals we learned about are. Except for the river dolphin, who is now considered "functionally extinct". That part was a huge bummer. I knew they were all endangered, but didn't realize how low their numbers actually are. And I am now in love with both giant pandas and red pandas.

I love this group of kids, and their moms and dads. Everything our group does is always a blast. I love that we found this homeschool group, and that we are doing this homeschool thing.