Catching Up

It's been over a month since our last update, so I thought I'd do a quick post to catch everyone up on the happenings around here "learning-wise." We're enjoying being outside more and more, when this crazy Indiana weather cooperates :) Having moved lots of the girls' toys out of our house while we're trying to sell it, I have discovered they have just as much fun using their imaginations with simple household items and even some of my decor :) It is a blast to watch them play together as loving sisters (loving, most of the time anyway!). We have also managed to go on a couple trips in the last month, which were a lot of fun. I'll let the pictures do most of the talking!

Playing with the bean tub outside on a beautiful day!

The girls with Grandma (right) and Aunt Minkee (left) on our annual trip to Paducah, KY for the quilt show. All of us girls stay in a friend's lake house the whole week. This year we went on a little adventure one day to Land Between the Lakes and found this fun little General Store called the Hitchin' Post to stop and have our picnic lunch and stretch our legs for a bit.

The girls hard at work plowing at the Hitchin' Post

We drove to the Elk and Bison Prairie and stopped inside the nature center first for a bathroom break....this was actually the only Elk we got to see "up close," but we did manage to see many Bison right along the road (we could have reached out the window and touched them!).

A random Water Play day outside...it wasn't all that hot out, but I got this old wash tub out and filled it with water, thinking they'd just play with the scoops and toys while standing outside the tub. I should have known they would both end up IN the tub :)

The strawberries were good and ripe at a local farm so we headed out one day with our friends to do some pickin. The girls had a blast picking AND taste testing and we ended up with almost 9 pounds worth of strawberries. We are still enjoying the freezer jam we made, mmmmmm!

Little tester :)

Found the perfect berry!

Just this past weekend, we took a little trip to St. Louis as a family. We went to the Sophia M. Sachs Butterfly House, which was amazing! Before entering the conservatory to see the butterflies, we saw these *ugly* and disgusting cockroaches! Even Daddy looks scared ;)

I just happened to catch this picture of my sweet girls in awe of all the beautiful butterflies flying around them!

The next day, we went to the St. Louis Zoo and had a great time, despite the chilly temperatures. Petting/grooming the goats was one of the highlights for both of the girls.

They also LOVED petting the guinea pigs and would have stayed there ALL day if we would have let them :)

Little Bear was so brave and pet this snake. I forget the exact name, but I remember her telling us that it's the smallest of the boa constrictors....EW!

Another random day playing outside with rice....they seem to think playing in it is like swimming :) Be patient, this video is kind of long.

After taking this long "break" from more structured learning activities, I find myself enjoying every day life with my girls so much. And God seems to know when I need encouragement when it comes to this stuff, because I recently came across several articles addressing "Preschool Pressure" from a yahoo group I belong to. I FULLY agree with what these four articles are stressing so if you get a moment to take a peek at them, they are great! I guess I like to think of myself as the "old school" type of person who thinks learning comes from life experiences just as much, if not more, than structured teaching. I am so thankful I don't have the stresses of getting my children on waiting lists for certain top-notch preschools or even standing in line over night to sign up (I'm not kidding, I read this on a blog recently that a mom actually stayed the night waiting in line just to get her child into a preschool!!!). I could go on and on about my thoughts on preschool (believe me, having taught Kindergarten, I believe some kids NEED preschool!). I will spare everyone with reading my personal philosophy for now and just let you read the wonderful articles I read. Enjoy!

Preschool Ideas
Preschool Pressure or Preschool Peace
Preschool 101
Toddler Learning Activities