patrick and liam sing tomorrow

our first ever you tube videos! i just had to get them singing this song. after a month of annie, they seem to be heading back to a star wars phase, though. yesterday, they were dressed up as obi wan and darth vader fighting with lightsabers while singing annie songs.

rainy days

we played indoors most of the week enjoying new toys and games we had gotten for christmas and the boys' birthdays.

liam gave us a lesson on how to use the bow and arrow which was a gift from aimee. he has been quietly practicing with it and teaching himself to use it since christmas and has declared himself an expert. patrick and i are getting better with his guidance and boy does he love guiding us.

we also made gluten free play dough this week with a recipe i found on the internet. so exciting to make such a great dough that is gluten free. here is the recipe i used:

1/2 cup rice flour
1/2 cup organic corn starch (no GMO's here!)
1/2 cup sea salt
2 tsp cream of tarter
1 tsp olive oil
1 cup water
vegetable dyes

for the holidays, my friend who has this business, www.aromaessencesbykarin.com, gave us doughs made with vegetable dyes and essential oils. we all loved them and tried to replicate what she had made for us. they are so wonderful! the colors, scents, and texture. wish i took better photos, but maybe next time.

annie

we have been singing songs from Annie, the Musical for about 2 weeks now. liam and patrick watched the movie one or two times, watched a bunch of you tube videos of all sorts of productions of Annie, and have been listening to the soundtrack from the original broadway show. we also have the sound track to the lion king, but they are all about annie. i have really worked hard not to crack up while they are performing for me. they are too cute! and gosh my throat is sore and i can't get those songs out of my head! here are a few photos of patrick singing (he wanted me to take them). video coming shortly.

 

 

park day

on fridays, we hang out with a group of homeschoolers for several hours at a local park. one nice thing about living in california is that we can do this year round. park days seem to be a common homeschooling activity across the country. we attended them in minnesota and colorado as well. i remember when we first started going, i couldn't believe how long families would stay at the park for our gatherings. i could barely stay longer than an hour. when i was a new mom, i still had the urge to be "productive." ha, ha! as if parenting and forming and building close relationships outside in nature is not productive. now i can stay at a park for hours, chatting with moms and dads and watching my kids play happily with other kids of all ages. it's free play at it's best here in our sebastopol park. the playground equipment is not the draw. it's the sandpit, meadows, and beautiful oaks that call to them.

all in a day's play

I have been marveling lately at all my boys do in a day. it is so amazing to me. their creativity is just boundless and the joy they experience over the simplest activity is such a gift to me. I also love how our days flow so easily and how flexible they are. Without busy and rigid schedules we are so open to what is happening in the moment, and I love that.

making music with Eli

 

 

 

 

I decided on a music themed holiday and birthday season this year and it's been so much fun. Someone very generously gave us an old piano for free. We are loving banging around on it and can't wait for it to be tuned! Liam and Patrick also got bongos, loads of great CDs, and an mp3 player. So music has filled the house now for the past few days, and it's very nice. Sometimes I forget about music, but I would love for it to be a bigger part of our lives. The boys and I may take some piano lessons! I guess I am a Boylan after all!