Echo Turns Six!

Today my first born turns six! It's happening so fast I can barely believe it. This has been such a big year for you Echo with so many changes. Little by little you are venturing further out in to the world but you are still my imaginative, creative, magical girl just as you ever were.

You have a fierce love for your little sister although squabbles have become more frequent as Clover has become more independent and outspoken. Still, the times when you play nicely together and I can hear your laughter coming down the hall are my favorite times of all. One thing's for sure, no one can make you laugh like Clover can!

This marks you second year of gymnastics and your first year of ballet. I love watching your strength and coordination grow along with your confidence. This year you also began your first drop of program at our homeschool coop. Being dropped off was a big deal for you at first but you have truly found a home among the other wild and free children at Wildings. When I see you with the kids there I'm happy because I know you've found your people.

 I'm truly inspired by your creative flair and passion. You can create vivid fantasy worlds and spin incredible stories. You live in a world that's all your own and the rest of us can only visit you there.

You can devour books like no one I've ever seen and I love sharing that with you. Once you can read to yourself there'll be no stopping you but I hope you'll always let me read out loud to you anyway.

You are incredibly intelligent, sweet, and courageous and I am so proud to be your mommy. I love you with all my heart sweet Birthday girl!

Echo is Five!

 My baby girl is turning five today. Five! For some reason there is something about that number that just screams big kid to me. Five feels like we are entering a whole new era.

Echo, I am beyond proud of the girl you are growing up to be. You are strong, beautiful and imaginative. You are also one of the sweetest most caring people that I have ever known.

You haven't always been easy on me. In fact you challenge me like no one else, but because of this I feel so incredibly close to you now. All of our struggles throughout the years have helped forge the wonderfully strong relationship that we have.

 On your Birthday each year, it's fun to think back on your early days. Your soft, fuzzy head of hair. Your tiny hands and wrinkled skin. The countless sleepless nights and the wonder and joy that we had created something so perfect. None of this compares to knowing you as you are now however, I wouldn't trade my days with you for anything.

I can't wait to see what this year has in store for you. You are a truly beautiful spirit and I love you more each day.

Happy Birthday my darling girl! I'm so lucky to be your mommy!

Artistic Developments

Echo has been making some pretty cool 3 dimensional "installation" art lately and I wanted to share a few quick pictures of her work. The top one she made at her preschool coop, she picked up all these separate pieces and put them together to make a whole flower complete with a stick stem and leaves.

A few days later she put this fun face together with found objects on our couch. The rolls of tape are the eyes, the pencil and ribbon the mouth, the boots are the ears and the scarf and ball are the hair. Her creativity amazes me and is so lovely to see. 

On an another art related note, we recently got these awesome art frames from Walmart. They open up on a hinge so that you can easily display swap out your child's artwork, Having the art in a frame with a matte really elevates it and the kids get so excited about having their work displayed in such a professional looking manner. I love how easy it is to change the artwork out too since my kids are constantly creating new work. I highly recommend these for anyone with kids who love making art.

Art Spaces

Just a quick update on the kids artwork and working spaces. Clover is really starting to come in to her own artistically. Above you can see some of her current work. She has been experimenting a lot with stickers, watercolors, pastels and markers.

Meanwhile Echo is starting to get more representational. Above is a picture she did of Clover. This was the first time she clearly drew a face and as anyone who has studied childhood development knows this is a huge milestone! I was very proud of this work. She has since done a lot more face drawings and also loves drawing and painting apple trees.

Echo has had her current art setup for a while now and her desk is working really well for her, it's great that she has a place to go when she wants to make something that is all her own.

Clover has her own desk now too which is a recent development! It's been wonderful to see her gaining independence through having her own work space. She often gets her own paper out of the paper drawer, takes it to her desk and starts working on a drawing.

I also try to leave a blank sheet of paper out on Clover's desk at all times so that she can feel inspired to go create :-) It's so fun to see what the girls work on when they are left to their own devices.

Echo Cooks

For Echo's Birthday we got her a cookbook of her very own and she is turning in to quite the little chef! She has been interested in cooking for a long time and has been helping me in the kitchen ever since she could hold a spoon but it is fun for her to have her own cookbook that she can pick recipes out of and take the lead on.

We started simple with some popovers. They were a big hit with her and Clover so we have made them several times. We also tried some simple dessert type recipes out of the book and then I asked her if she would like to make dinner one night. She jumped at the chance and I helped her select recipes and go shopping for ingredients.

She ended up making popovers (of course) and veggie noodle soup. It was pretty cool to have our 3 year old make dinner for us with pretty minimal help on my part. She was so proud and excited about it too!

If you are looking for a cookbook for your young child I really recommend the one we have been using, Pretend Soup by Molly Katzen. I have several of Katzen's grown up cookbooks and they are some of my favorites! This one aimed at preschool to elementary aged kids is great with step by step picture instructions and simple, kid friendly recipes.

Happy Birthday Echo!

Happy Birthday dear sweet Echo! I can't believe you are three already. You have grown and changed so much just this past year! I am so impressed with the girl you are growing up to be.

 You are my free spirit, my deep thinker, my joyful little girl. You continue to impress me with your intelligence, humor and creativity.

You are such a loving sister and an amazing example for Clover to follow.

You are such a great help to me, so enthusiastic, ready to learn.

I am so lucky to get to spend my days with you. You are truly one of my very favorite people and I treasure our conversations and time spend curled up on the couch reading together.

Happy Birthday my darling first born. The world is a brighter place with you in it.

Our Unschooled Year So Far

Now that Echo is getting to be preschool aged things are really starting to take off in her education and it's such a joy to watch. We have had a very busy start to Fall and have been lucky to connect with a fantastic group of homeschoolers and unschoolers who are so inspiring and supportive. We've been doing a lot more out of the house with these other families and Echo's preschool alternative program that I take her to on Wednesdays but we have still had time to do lot's of fun stuff at home too.

As you can see in the top photo we have been doing some simple science experiments like the classic baking soda and vinegar volcano. We also found a really neat caterpillar which we observed and identified (FYI it's a Spicebush Swallowtail Caterpillar)

The girls have also been really in to painting lately and Clover is showing a lot of artistic talent just like her big sister! I have been moving the painting outside quite a bit because it tends to get messy. I love every minute of it though.

They really work well together and like to do a lot of collaborative work.

Echo also enjoys painting on Three dimensional objects like rocks. I love watching her get creative with her painting substrates.

We feel so fortunate to have stumbled upon a homeschool group that encourages and inspires us while we do project work both in and out of the home. It is such an exciting time in the lives of the girls and I love watching them each blossom in their own unique ways.