Valentine's

Waking up to something baking in the oven is a great way to start the morning. I made some homemade cherry scones and decorated them with red sprinkles to make them extra festive. And instead of a box of chocolate for my valentine's I made a box of bacon. Let me just say, it'll be hard to top that valentine's next year. :) Lola made her dad a handprint cookie that he gobbled up right after work. We also made little valentine cookies for the neighbor children. 

Valentine Bookmarks

We are grateful for our homeschool coop and this coming week, the children are going to exchange Valentine's! Lola is very excited. She has made bookmarks for all of her classmates and several neighbors. What a treat to have a class to exchange with:)

Cattail on a blustery day

Soft as silk, a perfect thing to fill a fairy pillow.

Capture some and put it in your pocket

With the wind helping it fly high away and low

It's fun how the cattail will share some of it's locket. 

see notes on today's nature study here.

Chinese New Year home made potstickers

Yummm.  After making some delicious potstickers we practiced some calligraphy and read several Chinese New Year books. We listened to a Chinese conversation cd with flash cards too. 

Cleaning for Chinese New Year

Chinese New Year is fun to celebrate. Part of the tradition is to clean your house sweeping out the bad luck and to welcome in the new year with freshness. One item of cleaning was the tops of our cabinets. Several years ago, Martha Stewart suggested placing paper towels on the tops of your kitchen cabinets to collect the dust. So with the motivation of spring cleaning for the New Year, I changed out the old towels for fresh ones. Boy, the ones over the stove area were pretty yellow and dusty. We also, dusted the whole house and polished the wood. It was a fun family activity. Lola even had a haircut too. We mailed red lucky envelopes to our family and made a welcome spring banner on red paper.  

Ground hogs day flashlight shadows

Iguana

who's that shadow on the wall

What sort of creature has come to call

with the help of a light that shines

 night time fun, twisting fingers to lines

Snow fun

An official snow day with snow! Sweet smelling fresh fluffy snow. Oh, the joy of a few snowballs being thrown around. The track searching in our white lawn. Cold nose and toes.