Puzzles Galore!

Emma loves puzzles. I don't talk much about unschooling, but this fits into that category. Emma always finds the puzzles in the piles of toys where ever we go. And since I know that she loves to put them together, I'm always on the lookout for ones I think she would enjoy.



The bunny pic is one of three wooden puzzles we got her for her 2nd birthday.
The spiderman puzzle (are you surprised at the subject?) is one she snagged at a garage sale.
The fairy is actually 6 cubes for a 6-in-one puzzle she found at a local toy shop. I thought it would be too hard for her but, silly Momma, she puts them together with and without my help!
The space puzzle is a 3-d picture and she found it at a craft store.
She helped me choose the fish floor puzzle.

I took that pic right before we acquired another puzzle -



Yep - Emma loves puzzles! lol

New Couch

We got a new couch! We were waaaaaay overdue for a new one as I had already re-covered it once. The movers got it set up (did you guys know that you're supposed to tip furniture delivery persons? - oops!) and this is the first thing Em and D did to test it out. I was worried that D and I may react to the micro-fiber (100% synthetic fabric) but our (or at least my) days of itchy reactions are over - yay for gluten-free! And I lurve that it is so very easy to clean!

Wordless Wednesday

I keep seeing these posts in the blogsphere. Since there doesn't seem to be any particular reason for this pic other than I love it I figured I try this WW stuff out.


Although - it's not wordless anymore, is it? ;o)

LMAO!! I just realized it's not Wednesday either! It's too funny - I have to leave it!

A friend comes to visit

One of my very best friends (and fellow musician) from college rearranged his whole schedule to drop by and see us! Emma started off shy but very soon was his best friend.




Thanks for visiting KC! Hope your summer went great!

Organic pork - 150 lbs of it!

My sis found a great organic pig farm. She and her dh generously offered to load and transport our pig to the slaughter house. It was a deal we couldn't refuse! So we scoured garage sales for chest freezers and ordered a pig. When we got the boxes we enlisted the kids for help catalouging the cuts and getting the frozen meat into the freezer. Did I mention that it was frozen? Yep - very cold on little hands. So I quickly scrounged through our box of misc. cold weather stuff. Poor D had two colors of mittens because that's all I could find.


"Daddy, this meat is heavy!!"


"Is that my bacon Mommy?"

Then we got D and Em to "flex" their muscles. Enjoy!

I love how the last flex turns into him scratching his nose. lol

Cool kids

Trampoline + glow sticks + warm late summer evenings =



TONS of fun!

Turkey legs and trains

Every July our town holds a "Western Days" parade with local bands and vendors in the city park. We happen to live a 5 min walk from city park (yes - we're spoiled!) so we stayed for lunch. I have always wanted to get a turkey leg and it was pretty much the only option that our food allergies allowed. Emma dug right in - D wasn't so sure about this object we were eating! LOL


I love this pic of D on Tuans lap watching the parade together.

Emma and Daniel loved - LOVED! riding the train. This guy charged $2 per ride. He is at nearly all big functions at the park - he makes a killing w/ his train!

Daddy Rocks!

Literally!


Emma and Daniel painted this rock and I added the words. It was such a fun way to show Tuan how much he means to them.

Every day when he walks in the door they run and hug his legs with cries of Daddy!

We all love you, Tuan!

hmmmmm

Well - I tried to be all fancy-schmancy and have my blog post scheduled posts. But it didn't work. Bummer. Anyway - I'll just post them manually!

Not happening!

I made some baked tortilla chips. Emma really liked them. She didn't want to share them.

But you may not have gotten that from her expression. Or maybe you did! LOL

Crochet

Several of us crafty moms got together a swap of playfood items. Every thing was handmade out of natural materials (no acrylic). It has been a big hit! So much so that I have joined another swap which will be over soon. You should see the looks that I get when I tell people who ask that I am crocheting a hotdog! LOL


I got carried away looking for cute clothes to crochet for Em and found tons of patterns. This one went together pretty fast but the flowers (which I added, they were not originally on the pattern) took some tweaking. At first the yarn was too heavy and the brown center looked silly.


This skirt pattern didn't call for any color changes, but i was running out of rust colored yarn. I think the result turned out rather nice! And Em loves how the skirt twirls!

I originally made this purse to carry clothespins in while hanging laundry. While I was making it, Em asked me to make her a bag.


So she chose the colors she wanted and I made one for her.


An interesting side note - Em's favorite color is black! When she has the option, she will always choose the black one. I love it!

Videos!

I have been MIA for a while. To redeem myself I offer you some fun videos of the kids from the past two months. Enjoy!

I LOVE this site. http://www.poissonrouge.com/
There is so much to do. Emma found this section and spent a good 20 minutes playing it over and over and over again. Giggling just as loud each time!

Ahhhh - remembering the cooler days of spring.

I barly had the hammock set up when she hopped on and started swinging. It had been in storage for about 2 years so it took a little practice bet not much!


Later I snuck to the door to catch her singing a book to herself.

They really do play together every now and then!

Wheat and "Booten"

Hilarious!

Bush sucks!

This woman made this dress. I want this dress! That is all. :o)

Definately a winner

Daniel and I got glutened. That is a story for another post. The result was a fiery outbrake of the rash we have been trying so diligently to clear up. I am now fairly convinced that my not being completely thourough in eliminating all sources of gluten from his diet has been the cause of the slow but steady worsening of his excema. Now that I think I know the cause of the rash I have decided to slowly trial the foods I have been avoiding. Since dairy takes a minimum of 2 weeks (!) to clear from my milk I decided to trial cocoa. Yes, before cheese if you can believe it. :o)

I thought this recipie looked delicious and I was not dissapointed!

Here are my attempts at being all artsy-fartsy with the photography.




The sorbet I made out of rhubarb from my generous sister's garden patch, the mint came from mine.

These. are. so. good. It might be the 1 1/2 cups of sugar in them (well - it did make 3 doz cookies) but I really, really loved them. It has been over a month since I had any chocolate at all. They are truly decadant. And they are the first recipie with buckwheat flour that I have liked. I'm not a fan of the buckwheat flavor.

Daniel likes to take one bite out of each cookie and then go for the next one. I tried to take a pic and a little hand snuck into the picture. :o}