Celebrating each other..

A few photos from our playschool week..

mini bread loves to take home...

The beginning of a town...

snacks outside..

Treasure for the fairies...

Have I mentioned that I now have an "assistant" during playschool? She is a lovely 12 year old, H, who is very good with the children, has a beautiful voice, and a lot of patience. She is eager to learn all textile crafts, cooking, baking, and homemaking. I taught her to knit 2 weeks ago, and she's already doing it "with her eyes clsoed", as you can see. I'm so proud of her, and I celebrate her each day she is with us. Once H is back to school in September, I'll be searching for someone to fill her shoes (a tough job!). I've got a few perspectives already, so we shall see where this takes us!

We've been celebrating nature each and every day together, and our nature table lends itself to this. In our area, cicada shells are everywhere we look, especially under trees....the children have noticed this, and cicada shells have made quite an appearance on our nature table. We started out with two, as pictured above. Truth be told, I am not the biggest lover of bugs. Gah! I worked as a conservation educator at our local zoo a few years back, and I had to put on my bravest face while handling Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches in front of auditoriums full of children and adults. I've witnessed how children react when adults show their fears for these creatures...

...I am being very brave each time I walk by our nature table as of late! (which happens to be located in our dining room, by the way..haha!) Our brood of 2 cicadas has now grown to....well, more than a handful. Never the less, I am happy to celebrate nature and all her gifts with the children:)

(we are painting our stairs, among other home improvements!)

I am also celebrating one of our playschool children especially this week, as she learns to finger knit. She picked it up rather quickly after I used a story to go through the steps with her. She sat for the rest of the afternoon, quiet with concentration. I am so proud of her.

Her younger brother also learned to use our heavy duty scissors, with supervision. I am so proud of him, too!!! For the time being, L is our only playschool boy (besides my son, W) and I challenge myself every day to inspire him to participate in our bi-weekly crafts and daily singing. If he choses to watch our circle from afar, then that is his way of being a part of it. I never force the children to participate in anything, although I extend an warm invitation to everything if someone is feeling shy.

In closing, we're preparing to celebrate W's 2nd birthday this coming Sunday, and we're crafting all of the decorations and favors together. Pictured above is our simple garland which will be all over our house this weekend. Simply cut 6 inch strips of any kind of fabric and knot it on to a finger knitted chain.

They really do look festive!

xooxox