April 1-6, 2014- Septic Fun, Three Little Pigs, Planter Painting

After much evidence of septic system issues, and after having it pumped without solving the issue, the time came to dig up the system. :( Instead of paying the quoted possible thousands of dollars, Daddy, Axel, and Paka (my dad) took on the big job. 

After much excavation, they found extremely clogged lines, and one line that had actually completely collapsed. By the looks of things, it failed ten plus years ago. After a trip to Lowes, Daddy and Paka had the collapsed line replaced and the hole filled back in before the kids even woke up from their nap!

This week, I began the process of creating the forest backgrounds for the fairytale swap of "Jorinda and Joringel". I decided to make the backgrounds from 1/4 inch birch plywood, with the forest painted using watercolors.

Rainbow Girl's drawing audience.

Our story friend Super Sam started celebrating Spring this week, constructing and painting a planter for his strawberries. Rainbow Girl very nicely illustrated our story for the week.

As you may recall, several weeks ago we finished up the little pig army as our offering to the "Three Little Pigs" fairytale swap. Well, this week, we received a very exciting package: our first fairytale set made with love by our swap friends. 

Included in our set is a beautiful wooden "straw" house, a wool and sticks "stick" house, a wooden "brick" house, three felted piggies, and a knitted wolf! The set is a major hit!

Later in the week, it was suggested that we paint some planters for plants, just like Super Sam. After a trip to Michaels, we had some lovely planters and weather-proof paint. The planters turned out stunning and the plan is to plant some strawberries! 

Sugar Bear loving on the wolf from our fairytale swap

March 24-31, 2014- First Soccer Experiences

This week, Rainbow Girl started soccer for the first time at our local YMCA. She has done gymnastics and ballet, but this was her first experience with a team sport. Though she was timid at first warming up to the coach and other kids (most of whom all attended school together), she made friends pretty quickly and caught on to the soccer concepts very easily!

Sugar Bear did significantly better than I thought he would during her practice. He sat and cheered Rainbow Girl on- almost the entire practice. It helped that it was frigid and too cold to do much else!

A few days later was Sugar Bear's first soccer practice. This was his first group......anything, and I will be honest, I had no idea how he would do with it. He had lots of fun running around with his tiny cleats, kicking the ball around...before the mass of tiny children arrived.

Unlike Rainbow Girl's team, which consisted of ten children (aged 5-7) and had two coaches, Sugar Bear's Team was seventeen preschoolers, and two coaches. He was very overwhelmed when the other kids started swarming the field. He sat firmly in my lap on the sidelines and just would not join the team. Every time I encouraged him to join the other children, he became upset again. He kept on saying how much he wanted me to join him on the field and how he would much rather play soccer at home with Rainbow Girl and myself. 

I gave as much genuine, gentle encouragement as I could before making the decision to leave. He was quite happy to leave the field, and we were given credit for the fees I had paid.

I pick my battles. Is it really that important that my three year old stick to a soccer commitment that I made for him? Or is it more important for him to learn that if he shares his fears and feelings with me, I will listen and I will help him to the best of my ability? I choose the latter.