Tag: activity

The Fairly Good Garden ~ Update!

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I’m having a blast watching my garden grow … Like Miss Mary Quite Contrary.

Garden 11 days after planting
Garden 11 days after planting

I’ve even already harvested my arugula & made my spring arugula & bacon pasta dish.  Only this time I made it with lemon pepper paparedelle pasta from Trader’s & MAN, was it the most PERFECT pasta to go with the flavors of this dish!!  Summer Pasta with Arugula & Bacon | The Fairly Good Mother

Artichoke! | The Fairly Good Mother And, I see a little bud on one of my artichoke plants!  That makes my mouth water.

We’ve already picked and eaten some of the strawberries & they were decadent!  The Boy is loving our garden.  Tristan & Loran Variety Strawberries | The Fairly Good Mother

Simple Fun

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Who knew a plastic strainer from the dollar bin at Target & a handful of pipe cleaners could be so much fun for a 3 year old boy … AND help him work on his fine motor skills without him even knowing it!?!

He spent 20 minutes making a rainbow, preparing cereal & herding “snakes” with this fun little activity.  I always love activities that are cheap & inspire imagination.

 

Nature Walk

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Today is a gorgeous, classic autumn day, (which is rare for Los Angeles!)  It’s a chilly 61 degrees and we had showers off and on all day yesterday, so the sky is clear & bright blue, with big puffy clouds floating around.  I am so thankful that it finally cooled down – on Monday it was 97 degrees!

The Boy doesn’t have preschool on Fridays, so I try and plan fun things for us to do.  Yesterday, we talked about jumping in puddles, but they were all dried up by this morning, so I put together a little nature walk / scavenger hunt activity for the morning.  We bundled up and headed out to explore the neighborhood.  On our list of things to look for were snakes, (The Boy’s request,) lizards, (also his request,) rocks, leaves, berries, birds, squirrels & spiders, (much to my chagrin, but The Boy is a boy & boys love their creepy crawly things!)

Along the way, we talked about how the leaves had turned from green to gold, brown & red, and we picked up several leaves to take home.  We collected different berries that we found & talked about how you should never eat berries without first showing mommy because some berries can make you sick.  We talked about the kind of birds we saw, (a blackbird, a crow,) and admired the clouds in the sky.

It was a simple activity that didn’t cost a penny, but it was so memorable for both of us because, like me, The Boy loves nature, is curious about the world we live in, and loves learning new things.  He’s been admiring his “booty” that we collected all morning.

And memorable for me because I relish in being able to introduce him to the magic that surrounds us … things like finding the tiniest snail shell, where I can set his imagination free to wonder about the creature that used to live inside of there; Cloud bursting, (the term we’ve come up for when we watch the clouds shape shift;) the symbolic meaning of a daisy; or what lavender smells like when you touch it with your hands.

These are the moments that I dreamt about when I longed to become a mother, and these are the moments I cherish because I know they will be gone all too soon.  Someday The Boy will find a new “best friend” to explore the world with, but for now, it’s me & I am so thankful for that.