The snow came last week, to the great delight of the children. All schools were closed (though Lanky Dude caught the bus into college one morning only to be sent home after an hour), so the youngsters of our small town were out in force, making the most of the snowy hills. The girls and I joined up with a group of friends to sledge down the popular tobogganing hill, while the boys headed off with friends in search of steeper slopes.
It was time also for hunkering down with hot chocolate and amassing all our snowy picture books. In an attempt to keep up some learning, Dancing Toes learned some science behind snowflakes, looked at some with a microscope, drew them in her nature notebook, filled in some snow related worksheets and we all marvelled at God’s awesome creativity at making each snowflake different.
The snow melted and gave way to mud, which afforded Dancing Toes nearly as much fun. I enjoy reading the “My naughty little sister” books, by Dorothy Edwards. The other day I was reading Sparkly Eyes the chapter about the Good Polite Child, who chose to sit inside and read a book, rather than make mud pies, run around the garden, sit on the grass or shout at the passing schoolchildren, all pastimes which the little sister enjoyed.
It wasn’t lost on me, that while we had been quietly reading inside, Sparkly Eyes’ big sister had been making mud pies, cycling round the garden, and, she told me, calling out at passers-by!
We had another family outing to the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust Centre yesterday. We were looking out for signs of nesting birds and saw some. The water was still frozen in some places, creating fascinating patterns in the ice.
Mothering through the seasons 