Author Archives: alaina

Yum! home grown veggies!

061016This was my kind of a day. It was sunny but wrapped in a breeze. We headed to the garden where we nibbled mustard greens and I was pleasantly surprised. The majority of my “peeps” really, really loved the taste! Snack next week will be greens of lettuce, kale, mustard, spinach with dried cranberries and pumpkin seeds served with a raspberry vinaigrette dressing. And topped off with a slice of french bread.
We headed to our favorite hill where we spent time going up and down any old way we chose!
A lot of laughter and happy chirps from my “Little Peeps”.

Learning how to press flowers

060316We collected leaves and some buttercups to learn how to press them. We placed them on paper and they were held together between cardboard. The many layers were then fastened securely together.  In one week we will check to see if the plants have dried. We will then place a bit of glue to the leaf and attach it to a card. We love learning new stuff.  And to top it all off, we had a GREAT snack .

Lucky Ducks!

050616 (1)We went for a great walk to the Stone Bridge, hung over the wall and watched the ducks splashing in the water! Lucky Ducks!
Then we headed back to plant nasturtiums and to write in our journals while enjoying Ditty’s avocado hummus with veggies and crackers. We would NOT let her leave until she read us two books. We ALWAYS get what we want ’cause we are SOOO cute!!!

Splish! Splash!

052716What a beautiful day it was! PERFECT for a dip in the fountain. On our way, we stopped and picked dandelions. A lot of laughing and splashing went on. Everyone had fun!!

Gardening with Ditty

052016We used salt marsh hay and it needed to be spread.  And, Yes, we have years and YEARS of experience. What a great job!
We planted flower seeds and we will transplant them into our garden in a few weeks.

Finding our way home

Woods_041316The deal today was to take a walk but, THIS time, we had no idea where we were. We followed a path down through the marshes. There was a felled tree across our
path which caused us to stop!!  Oh my!  Where are we? How do we find our way back  Anybody???
After a pause, a little voice peeps ” We go back the way we came”.
Lesson learned and a fun time was had by ALL!!

The Open Door Food Pantry

DiggingDirtWe dug worms to add to our vegetable gardens.  We need the best garden ever as we will be donating our produce to The Open Door Food Pantry to help families in need. I know we can do this!
Our time was also spent walking along the bridle path where we were joined by a chorus of red winged blackbirds who serenaded us. Very peaceful!

Finding Spring

FindingSpringIn spite of the weather, our mission was to be outdoors, finding spring! Off we marched through the woods, down the Bridle trail, across the footbridge and back, all the while finding spring. We found It thanks to a cheery dandelion.

Back at the day care, some of us painted our bugs from the previous week. Some of us pressed sea shells in a glue which dries clear , to be hung in a sunny window.

Holly made popcorn, we wrote in our Ditty Day journals, and YES I read them a book!!! NAP TIME FOR ME!

Ditty Bugs!

_DittyBugsI have a bit of this and a bit of that, which is a lot of fun to use in art projects. We worked with number stamps, carved wooden blocks used to embellish fabric, and some plaster of Paris molds I had made years ago. We filled the mold with modeling clay, pressed firmly and viola!   The room was soon filled with itty-bitty-bugs made by “Ditty Bugs”.

Ella May Finds A Home

ELLAWe started our day outdoors…YEAH!! We had many runs up and down our favorite hill.
I finished the manuscript of a children’s book entitled, Ella May Finds A Home.  I want the kids to grasp the basic concept of how a book comes together.  I brought in the manuscript, along with sketches my illustrator friend George Ulrich is working on.  I read the book to them and the kids colored in the black and white sketches.
Somewhere in those little fertile brains, bits and pieces of this and that are taking root.  And I feel so very blessed to be a part of it.