Fall 2011

This has been such a fantastic fall! I'm sad that it's coming to an end... The past few days I have definitely felt winter ushering in. So, before it's completely swept away, I thought I'd give a little synopsis of what our fall was like:

September and October were beautiful! September was nice and relatively warm, one of the best months for the garden. Loads and loads of tomatoes, squashes, green beans, etc. I've been really busy working/writing/planning/speaking on a grant for my p-patch to build a nice Children's Garden (in addition to many other renovations also). Our grant proposal was accepted by the Department of Neighborhoods back in August, so we are now in the planning and design process. It's been so neat working with this terrific committee of people and a great learning experience for me. I'm excited for March/April when we will finally get our hands dirty and get to work with the renovations and construction :)

Nature school has been so much fun this fall. We've had some really nice weather and had interesting lessons. Our topics each week have been the following- apples, farms, spiders, squirrels, pumpkins, leaves, our senses, and families (If you are reading this and would ever like my lesson plan for any of the topics, I'm happy to share! Just let me know). The kids are so much fun! I love them all. Here are some pictures from nature school:















With Jasper in preschool now, Gideon and I are having some really nice "special time" together. My friend Taylor (who has two kids my kids' ages) started a little tot class called Monkey School and invited Gid to join, so we do that once a week. She does SUCH a great job! She has these great activities that the kids love. Another friend, Jennifer, started a music class which we've also been going to. She's a piano teacher and very musically talented and she does a great job also- has the kids get up and move their bodies, try out new instruments, beat out rythms, etc. I feel so lucky to be a part of this neat community of moms who want to provide their kids with learning experiences, but don't want to pay an arm and a leg, so we are doing something about it and inviting our friends to join :)

It's really nice to have time with just Gid. I feel like I'm connecting with him more than when all three of us are together. He's going through a little rough time behaviorally lately- trying to figure out how to communicate his emotions and assert his independence, so my hope is that this one-on-one time will help him through it.



During one afternoon while Gid and I were on a hike, we heard this wonderful little frog and found it on a branch right next to our noses:



Back in September we went hiking with some friends. The hike led to a natural rock slide. The boys had the BEST time! We will definitely be visiting this spot again:











We also found this:


And this: