Crafts: Bean bags

We made bean bags yesterday. Actually, I sewed them up leaving one part open the night before, and then in the morning the boys filled some with dried beans and I sewed them closed.

We'll use them for games for motor skills and counting. They weren't overly excited by the whole thing... as you can see by Aidan's first picture. :) He got better as he figured out how to hold the pouch open and get more beans in it.



frowning bean



happy bean



smiling bean

"What are you doing Mommy?"

My friend Dawn (college roommate! Co-Ed Room 905!) requested i put this on the blog. :)

Now he;s into having his picture taken, looking at the digital and saying, "Wanna see, wanna see! Ohhh Ciaran!"

Nature walk at Avalon

Avalon is a gorgeous preserve in Old Stony Brook, near the Grist Mill (originally built in 1699, but the one there now dates to 1751). There's a beautiful labyrinth, trails, boardwalks, etc. While the nature is so pretty year round, mama does have to admit that i take the boys there to run out some of the energy they have.

Ciaran slept like a champ last night!

There are ducks and geese in the pond. I try, I reallllly try not to be a helicopter mom when we are there but I have to say I get scared of them near the water. There's no guard rail and I get scared that they'll trip and fall into the pond, which looks really deep. So, please don't mind my obsessive commentary. :)






Walking the boardwalk... don't mind my big mouth at the end. :)





The Labyrinth was closed....

The Ancestors

Yesterday, before we went on a nature walk at Avalon, we took a trip up the road to a few old burial grounds. The first one is right in Centereach. Its this little church right on what's now a super busy road (middle Country Rd) right smack in the middle of a bunch of stores. I took some photos with my manual camera (as I really want to start working on my cemetery book again)... it felt good to get on the ground, find the right angles... basically use that photography degree I have! :) This was all shot on regular 35mm film. I can't remember when i last did that.

Most of the graves were from the 1700-1800's. There was even a soldier buried there who served in the Spanish American War of 1898. I've seen many soldiers graves but not one from that conflict.

Aidan and I talked about who they might have been, how long they'd been buried there. Since October is here and the time of Samhain (remembering our ancestors) is approaching I thought it was a good way to connect to that, plus I think the distance of time puts a not so upsetting twist on it for him. I don't want him to be afraid of course, but I don't want to shield him either.

  Thesepeople might not be our blood ancestors, but they did live here on Long Island so long before us. There was a real sad grave there... it was for two infants of George and Mary Campbell, named Mary and George. I assume they were twins. The grave didn't seem to have a date though, unless is sank too deeply into the ground (part of me wanted to dig but I didn't want to get the five-oh on my butt either... me digging in a cemetery and two in the afternoon. Good idea!). I assume is was the early 1800's considering those around them. I pictured the parents, Mary and George. I could see them in my mind, mourning, in the kind of fashions of the day. The pain however, of burying two infants I can't even begin to imagine.

After the nature walk we stopped off at a burial ground just down the block from the house. I've visited this one often. Aidan spotted a Revolutionary War soldier's grave and he started leaving acorn presents on the tops of the tombstones. :) We read some inscriptions, but most are illegible now, and the boys played.

I shot these with the digital to have quick access to them.


Light and Shadow


Colorful


Peeking

Julia


The Light



Phineas

Our co-op will be going to another old cemetery to do gravestone rubbings. I'm looking forward to it. 

Beautiful Gnomes

If you don't fall in love with these little gnomes, you might have something wrong with you. ;)
We made them on Monday (10/12) at co-op. The older kids sewed these beautiful patterns on the cloaks, did blanket stitching on the edges and they were so pretty.
Aidan's is the one with the blond hair ~ which of course is long so therefore he claimed that he was a rock star gnome and named him Shim after the lead singer of Sick Puppies.  :)
I made Ciaran's with Eve's help on the beautiful tri-colored hair.


The boys don't know it yet,.... but they are getting ton's of these dudes, all sorts, for Yule!!

First day of Home School Co-Op

We've been getting together with a bunch of other families twice a week... and the boys really love it. This is their first day. :)  Sept 15. '09
My kids don't much appreciate circle time... they'd rather run around and play. Hopefully they'll soon get interested in it... Today we are going to try and sing a song they like so I hope this sparks the flame of circle time here on out. If not, no worries. :)