Sid The Comedian

Our little kid keeps us howling. Here are this weeks memorable moments.

1. Sidney has requested a scientist lab coat. I asked why and she decided she wants to have a fort in the backyard so she can go in there and do science experiments. We have a seamstress friend designing and making her a lab coat and another friend who works at the water treatment plant is collecting sterile bottles, safety goggles and latex gloves for her. Should be fun to see what Siddy comes up with.

2.Sid had her first swimming lesson yesterday and was doing really well with putting her head under and doing glides. The instructor threw some rings to the bottom of the pool and had the kids dive down to pick them up. Sid was having a hard time holding a ring and her nose while picking up another ring so she informed the instructor that to do this activity she really needed nose goggles. She then took 2 minutes to describe how she would make them so she wouldn't have to hold her nose anymore. He laughed very hard.

3. On Monday Sid took out one of her books that has Christmas carols in it with the CD. She announced that she was going to learn them for next Christmas so she could go caroling to peoples houses. She spent over half an hour practicing songs (half made up) when she approached me and asked me to take the cd out of her Puff the Magic Dragon book so she could hear that song. She decided that Puff the Magic Dragon is a good Christmas carol and should go in the back of her Christmas carol book. Watch the video below to hear her version of the story....

This is a first, who knew that Puff the Magic Dragon is a Jewish Christmassy Song!

So, so funny!

Frogs, Fossils and Friends

Bella the frog looks real doesn't she? She isn't, she is Sidney's newest felted friend. We caught Liana the frog last week so we did a big study on frogs this week including a frog lap book and some Magic School Bus research and finished the projects off with Bella for Sid to play with. Bella even has her own habitat which you can see further on in the post. Groovy does not look amused! One of our favorite bands to listen to in the car is They Might Be Giants. Sid's favorite song is I Am A Paleontologist. She often wakes up singing it and always tells me "Really Mom, really! I am a paleontologist!". So this week we made some coffee ground fossils:

What you'll need:

1 cup of used coffee grounds
1/2 cup of cold coffee
1 cup of flour
1/2 cup of salt
Wax paper
Mixing bowl
Some small objects to make impressions in the dough (we used plastic Dino's)
Empty can or a butter knife
Toothpicks, optional
String to hang your fossil, optional
How to make it:
Stir the together the coffee grounds, cold coffee, flour, and salt until well mixed.
Knead the dough together and then flatten it out onto the waxed paper.
Use the can to cut out circles of the dough or use the dull knife to cut slabs large enough to fit your "fossil" objects.
Press your objects firmly into the dough. When you take the object out, you have your "fossil". If you want to hang the fossil, poke holes into the edge to hold the string.
Let the fossil dry overnight (and up to two days) and then hang it if you wish.
Tips:
To reduce the drying time, bake the fossils for a short period of time to get the "dough" to harden.

We put together a paleontology tool kit for Sid to wear. It includes a pick, a hammer, and a brush. Then I went and hid some fossils in her sand box to dig up. We had lots of fun with this! Following the dino theme, Sid got some dinosaur feet stilts from the teacher store. It is nice to have toys she can use in our unpaved driveway. Here she is roaring and chasing me.

We had Charlotte over on Wednesday. She is moving to Saskatchewan at the end of June so we are trying to have her over every week to play. Sid is going to miss her so much. Here they are practicing soccer in the front yard. They took turns being keeper.

Below they are playing school. Sid was the teacher teaching art class.

My very favorite part of the day (and any day really!) was our walk in the woods. Charlotte is not an outdoor kind of girl but was happy to go for a walk and really seemed to enjoy the woods. Below Sid is showing Charlotte how to catch a frog. "They're too slippery!" Charlotte says as the frog squirts through Sid's hands.

The girls find a stick laying in the path that had been chewed up by a rabbit. I brought it home and will use it with a felting project!

This picture makes me a bit teary. These girls are such good friends, it makes me sad to know how much they will miss each other. At least now they are old enough to call each other and soon email!

Sid asking Charlotte to play ball with her.

Swing batter, batter, batter.....

The girls had a great time in the jeep with the wagon attached. I was surprised at how well it handled pulling the weight.

Ken and his Dad have been working on the airplane now that the weather is a bit warmer. They had a friend pop in and do a quick inspection of the wings and found out the spars needed to be changed. Once the wood arrived, Grandpa, Daddy and Sid got to work pulling out the old spars and putting in the new ones.

While the garage is an airplane hanger during the day, it magically turns into a recording studio at night. Ken has been really busy laying some tracks down to some of his originals. Here are some pics from the other night when he asked me to come out and put a bass line down. It is sooooo fun! Now to the felting section of the blog. This is the only place I keep organized pictures of what I have created so it is more of an archive for me than anything. This is the Easter Chick and Egg that I had forgotten to take a picture of!

Sid was so pleased with Bella and the play set that she brought Bella for a walk in the woods and collected some food and toys for her.

This is the complete set. The dragonfly is not attached so Bella keeps eating her :-)

I know I have posted pictures of the Robin sets but this one is the one I made for Sid. It is the only one that has a mommy and daddy and 4 babies, at Sid's request.

I have made 10 earth day necklaces and so far Ken has sold 6 of them for me at 10.00 a piece. This will buy my next BIG batch of wool. How cool is that? I guess now I can call myself a Fiber Artist LOL. Also I received my first batch of Airedale hair from a friend in B.C. She has asked me to felt her two Courtney's. I am anxious to do these well because the word of mouth will be priceless if these are good. I will post pics (of course) when I get one done.

Spring has Sprung

Spring has arrived with an enthusiasm I have never before seen in March! We have been so busy outside enjoying the sun and warmth we have not posted much, however, lots has been happening around here. You can see in the picture above, that we caught our first frog of the season today. We have heard the frogs singing for a week and have now met one of the little peepers. We have taken out the hats, sandals, sunscreen and spring coats. This weekend when it was 28 and 29 degrees Sid was out frolicking in sleeveless summer dresses and loving every minute of it. It was 15 today with a strong wind so jackets were required but we were not complaining!
The jeep came out of storage charged and ready to go. Sid is a pro this year and drives it around the yard at full speed. She is almost too big for it now.

I got so many pictures of Sid with the frog (named Liana) because she spent over an hour playing with her. She would put her back in her pond and then take her out again to the point that poor Liana stopped trying to get away. Liana is probably the first frog in the neighbourhood to go for a ride in a battery operated jeep. Liana meets the puppies and does not get eaten (phew).

Easter weekend was so nice. It was sunny and hot and Ken had three days off and Sid didn't have ballet on Saturday so there was no rush to the weekend at all! We had Grandpa Bill over Friday and Saturday all day working on the plane and staying for dinner and Sunday he came for the day until he went to go pick Grand-mama up at the bus station. It was really nice having him around. Nan Nan came over Sunday afternoon and stayed for dinner too. It was a really nice relaxing day on the deck and out at the play structure while Sid played and we enjoyed the good company and nice weather!

The Easter Bunny hid some small toys and treats and Sid leaped out of bed ready to go quite early on Sunday morning. Here she is in her jammies blowing bubbles on the deck.

Of course the bunny ignored the "no sugar rule" so Sid had free rein for just the one Sunday to indulge in her candy however she wanted. Today it has all disappeared as we suffer through the consequences of pounds of sugar all at once :0)

Friday when it reached a beautiful 25 degrees we went to our Young Homeschoolers Playgroup. It was awesome to be back at the parks with kids and picnics everywhere. These are pictures of Sid and her friend Isabella.

Notice Sid above in the sand............. Yup, a perfect Sand Angel.

Tuesday we went to another homeschooling friends birthday party. It was really special and fun to be around our playgroup friends outside of playgroup.
The birthday girl gets a hug from Sid

Everyone going on a hike around the neighbourhood to study the trees with a quick stop at a great spot for rock climbing and gathering.

Sid's loot bag contained a geode which we broke open and found crystals in. It was really exciting for Sid since she is such a rock girl.

The weekend before the party Uncle Rick, Sid and I stopped in at Granny and Grandpa's place for a whirlwind visit. It was so wonderful as always! It was a little cooler than this past weekend but still above average and the ground was so dry for this time of year. Sid was able to ride her running bike for quite a bit of the hike. She is getting really good on that thing. Next year will have to be a pedal bike and I will be sad to see it go. You can't take a pedal bike through the terrain we go through with that running bike!
Here Uncle Rick and Sid look for a Kitty Hawk (another one of Sid's invented birds that says mew-mew) Here Grandpa sneaks into the picture hehehe. Maybe that is the kitty hawk? Grandpa and Uncle Rick enjoy the running bike show on dad's newly felled lawn furniture.

Uncle Rick forgetting he was wearing bunny ears. You're an awesome Uncle!

Now this blog wouldn't be complete without and update on my felting adventures. Below is the desert set now including 5 felted lollipops on authentic paper lollipop sticks.

Easter brought about many new opportunities for felting too. I produced some wet felted eggs that Sid helped to make and needle felted a bunny to sit in the middle.

And I made a felted Easter egg that hatches and a chick comes out of it. Very cute, I will add pictures at the end of the week. I forgot to take a picture before it went to its new home!

At Sidney's request I had to make another egg for the nest, a rooster and 3 chicks. She also wants a horse, a farmer and a woman farmer. Hmmmm we'll see what I can do! If you look at the first pictures from today (frog day) you will notice Sid is wearing a necklace with a blue and green ball on it. It is the earth and this is an Earth day necklace to be worn on Thursday April 22 - Earth Day. That is my current project since I need to make about 10 of them so Sid can give some to her friends and Ken wants one and I want one.

Lastly, here is my newest felted play set. It is a mama robin bringing her babies a worm. It is a mobile that can be hung and played with. All the pieces are removable and it comes with 3 robins eggs, and two worms (an extra worm is a good idea!) I made the set below for the birthday party we went to this week and it was a huge success. Sid played with it so much before we gave it away that we made one for her but it had to have a mommy, a daddy, and four babies because Sid is four! I will have to get a picture of it because it is the MEGA robin play set! I am still really having fun with this. Can you tell???

We hope everyone else had a wonderful Easter weekend and look forward to hearing from you or seeing you soon!