Blizzards

This winter we had next to no snow, much to my disappointment. It was cold, but the snow seemed to not want to make a home in Manitoba this year.
I'm not sure how many other people share my view, but winter is usually my favourite season. I love all the wintertime activities we have access to, such as skating and sledding, and still want to try things like snowboarding and skiing (cross country and downhill, though in the prairies it's hard to find a good hill)

Little did I know, Mother Nature had something in store for us right at the beginning of March. In like a lion, out like a lamb, right?
So far this storm we've had rain, hail/frozen drizzle, reports of thunder and lightning in some areas, and about 20 cm of snow and it's still falling.
The nice thing is the temperature is mild and the snow is sticky so we can make a snowman and snowballs for a battle.
 The bad thing is that it's a heavy, sticky snow so we have more potential for downed power and cable and phone lines.

Sorry! No photos right now but a video will be posted on my Youtube page.

Schools still on for most kids today, but we are getting a lesson in snow at our house and loving it!

I could write so much more about how much I love the snow, but it's still falling and calling for me to go enjoy it out there.

Until next time!

Get out and play, and if you can't, enjoy the beautiful scene.

Waiting for Spring

Spring is almost here!

Jumping in puddles, insects, fresh spring buds on trees and flowers. The anticipation after a long winter is almost unbearable, but here are a few spring activities to get us into the mood for a change of season.

1. Puddle jumping

Every spring when the snow begins to melt, one of the first things we do is find puddles. We really enjoy cracking the layer of ice that formed on the top of puddles when it's still just cold enough to freeze the top layer.
It's so neat to see the water moving under the ice.

2. Looking for new Buds

When the weather turns warmer, we always check out the branches of trees and bushes we pass by. Once the new Buds start appearing, we know the world will soon be changing from white and grey to green, Brown and every other beautiful colour of the rainbow.

3. Hunting for Insects

I'm not  too into this one. I still find insects creepy (yes even the pretty ones). However, we always seem to start gathering different types as they emerge from a winter sleep (or hatch, change etc).

This year we are planning an ant farm, to see how they act together.

4. Starting a Vegetable Garden

Every year around this time, we begin our indoor planting. We start the tomato and cucumbers inside early. This year we are adding pumpkins and zucchini, so there will be other indoor starters this year.

5. Spring Scavenger Hunt

Scavenger hunts are always fun, but as spring arrives, there are many new and interesting things to find, letting us know spring is finally here.

We love celebrating the beginning of every new season with some seasonal activities to get us in the mood for the upcoming season.

What kinda of activities do you do to bring in spring?

Let us know and we will try them out.

Peace, joy and love until next time.

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Science Play~Dancing Popcorn

I'm always looking for simple, fast and fun science experiments we can work on.

Here's one we have done recently and had tons of fun with.

For dancing popcorn, you need:
un popped popcorn kernels,
baking soda,
water,
White vinegar
A clear container such as a drinking glass or an old bar from the recycling bin.

What we did:

We added water to the clear container, added some baking soda and stirred it until the baking soda was disolved.

We then placed about 20 popcorn kernels into 2 glasses. Then we added some vinegar.
 At first nothing happened, so we talked about waiting to see, or adding more vinegar. We decided to add more vinegar to one and more baking soda to the other and waited.

Within a couple of minutes the kernels were moving from the top of the glass to the bottom, going up and down.

The popcorn "danced" for several hours, and although we left the project after awhile, we went back to see how much they were still moving every few minutes.

Have you ever tried this, or an experiment similar to this? I've read about doing this same idea using bits of uncooked spaghetti noodles.

Peace, joy and love until next time!

Snow Fort

Winter's here!

Although our snow didn't fall until December this year, when it started it didn't stop. And what else to do with all that snow? Build things with it of course.

My idea started before snow hit, and I attempted to build a small hill to slide down in the backyard. With some wood as the start of my sides, I started piling up the snow. I dug out paths and built up the walls, with some help of course from my little helpers. Most of the time they were more interested in trying to climb while I threw the snow up, but we all had fun.

As I made the hill higher, a second idea hit me. Why Not build a fort the slide could go into?

I started more walls, and with that a second hill, this time to dig out a shelter similar to a quinzee (winter snow shelter).

By the end, we had a snow shelter, a tunnel, a hill to slide down and another snow "room" with just walls.

Unfortunately, it's beauty didn't last because we had a warm spell (+3 Celsius in mid January?!) but the fort still stands.

What keeps you busy during cold, snowy months?

Peace and love until next time.

Our Winter Fun

Winter this year has been great so far.

Lots of snow, even some sticky snow days (an unusual treat for us here), and warm weather (not as many days below 25 degrees).

From snow people to forts check out what we've been up to so far this season.

Here's a few sneak peeks before I get my posts all published. Its been too busy the last little while, hope to spend more time here soon.

Enjoy!

bottom of the hill

Santa Claus parade

after a blizzard

sticky snow

Stay tuned for what we've done and more!

Peace and love.

Wednesday Fun~Playing with Dough

I rarely buy play dough. I've made it for as long as I can remember, and I often use the same recipe my mother used, a slowly cooked recipe that turns out extremly well. Most of the time.

However, For this play, I used a recipe I found in an old pamphlet style cookbook my grandmother gave me a couple of years ago, with no cooking involved.

Before I even had the chance to gather the materials, my daughter came in, demanding she do it on her own. Since the dough is simple to make, I said yes.
I read the recipe out to her one ingredient at a time, and she measured them into a large bowl, all by herself.
After making it once with my small amount of reading help, she made another batch on her own from memory. It turned out better than the first batch.

Of course the children spent hours playing with it over the next few days, and even created some creations to put into the oven to dry and paint afterwards.

Peace and joy until next time.


(Apologies for no pictures, I've been having technical difficulties lately)

Adventures with flavoured gelatin- Jiggly Jelly Cutouts

I have wanted to do this for awhile with the kids- make jello jigglers, like we did when I was a kid. As part of a series I'm doing with the flavored gelatin powders, or jello, I decided to make this simple childhood favorite as a dessert the other day.

First I took the packets of jello and made sure they were COMPLETLY dissolved in the boiling water.  I used 2 cups (500ml) of boiling water to 3 packets of flavored gelatin mix. (We used orange)

After it was finished dissolving (which took longer than I thought it would) I poured it into the pan I had ready for it. I used a Pyrex rectangular pan with high edges. (I would recommend not using one with such high sides, because the cutouts were difficult to remove without damaging them. Next time I will be using a cookie sheet with higher edges instead. I think that will work better.)

It took about 3 hours to completely set. Once it was set, I carefully placed the pan into a sink with hot water for about 15 seconds. After removing the pan from the water,  I then took a cookie cutter and made some delicious jiggling flavored gelatin mittens!

You can use any cutters you prefer, seasonal or your favorite ones. I decided on mittens and moons because it's STILL winter here.

Next time I'm going to try just cutting them into cubes to pop into our mouths one at a time!
They hold together well, and  are very easy to eat with just your fingers-no spoons or bowls required!

A fun, simple treat using ingrediants most of us already have at home. And fun to eat as well!

Do you ever play with your food? How do you do it?

Peace and love until next time.


(Again I apologize for no pictures. I WILL make sure to get some up as soon as I can. Technical difficulties.)