mamaroots

Wednesday recipes!

Thoroughly mix:

-A healthy bunch of friends at the Root Children story and craft time

add some wooden spoons, yarn, pipecleaners, markers,

Toss it all up with some cupcakes while reading a very funny monster book- on a blanket under the sun

Stop by the spray park and dip you toes in the water, go home to do some puppet shows, top off with swim lessons and music fest down town with the Wallflowers and I just had the recipe for a lovely, all be it tired boys that went flop on their beds last night!

Feel free to adjust the recipe to your liking!  We had a great time with our friends the the Monthly Root Children event yesterday.  We could not resist reading Mrs Muffly's Monster by Sara Dyer- truly a fun book to read to kiddos, and then making some wood spoon monsters for puppets and munching some cupcakes- you will understand the cake reference if you get to read this funny book hint hint!

Here are some more pictures of Root Children of the past- I am hoping to get all the book and crafts that I have done in the past together in a spot that you can print off and try with your kids.  Hope you had a wonderful Wednesday too!

Oh and if you like doing more puppet work with your kids- I love this book!  It has a strong Waldorf base to it- it is worth the fundage!

found

yay- I finally found some extra time in between projects to make the next Once Upon A Table project for you!  If you have been following the other projects you will probably notice I try to create ideas for things you can use with "found" objects.  This month there the project is Found Rainbow!  I hope you enjoy it and on the horizon will be a "Once Upon A Table" family journal available for sale.  It will have tons of blank space to jot down notes on your project, and lists of items needs to make it, and then space to write the stories that come from your projects intermixed with quotes!  This will be coming soon!

Here is a picture on my helper yesterday who made his own rainbow!  There is a couple of guest appearances from some gnomes from some talented Etsy Natural Kids teammates!  Look for the wood gnome from Zoo Loo Naturals and just arrived sweet felted gnome from Little Elf's Toy Shop!

 

Download Found Rainbow

it all comes back to monsters!

Yesterday after the boys and I walked to go see a little 3-D G-Force movie action at the local theatre and we saw all these nature treasures along the way.  I put together a little tray of treasures from our own back yard to have some more art/sketch time.  I had to re-think the mushroom I picked because I could not tell for sure it was not a poisonous one, so I chucked it back into the woods, washed hands and let them explore.

Silas liked the lichen-like mushroomie growth from a log- he had fun drawing lots of squiggly lines.  Jasper checked out the tray for a while, and somehow it came back to drawing a monster!  I am in love with his monsters!

What kind of treasures do you have in your yard right now?  If you have been loving the Herbal Roots Zine, and learning all about natures herbal treasures, here is your next chance to be entered into winning a copy of the August Herbal Roots from Kristine.  Leave a comment between now and Friday night at midnight and you will be entered.  I will draw the name and e-mail you the zine PDF on Saturday!  Be on the watch also for the next mamaroots giveaway to correspond at Kristine's site Herbal Roots Zine. 

did you know . . .

As a mama I am sure you have hear that at the beginning of some wonderful thought that has come from your children.  In our house Silas and I are the early birds, we get up long before the other fellas in the house.  Yesterday morning I got up even earlier to finish an order for a gal I was meeting that happened to be coming my direction and Silas comes down to find me at the art table.  He sits down with a bag of cherries in hand and starts doing some drawing while I was burning and painting. 

"Mama" he says after a while and I can tell he has been thinking hard- "did you know that cherries are from ladybugs?"  I had to clarify and ask him if he means that cherries are made up of ladybugs- no he says that they have lots of red juice inside and it all comes up through their antennas, makes the cherries like balls and they  pop off!  Isn't that just the most logical child explanation for the creation of cherries?  These are the moments I have to preserve!  

So yesterday we had some family coming into town that we had not seen in a while, my Auntie- her hubby and kiddos, and we decided to have a family gathering- swimming, bbq etc . . .  The boys and I wanted to make something for all the kiddos.  I first went to my secret stash of stuff that I get when I can't resist it from Etsians and found these wonderful scavenger hunt cards made by Blynken & Nod I got a while back and waiting for just the right occasion.  

I cut out 6 wee little ladybugs and had some help with sanding them.  We had it all ready minutes before we left.  Along with a stack of twig pencils we are ready for our scavenger hunt later in the day.  I have to highly recommend these cards- they are so sweet, hand drawn and just so much fun- it was great to see the kiddos take off- of course they teamed up in girls against boys, but they had a ton of fun and their ages were starting at 4 all the way to 12.  In the end they had their prize of wood ladybugs and twig pencils, and I had the joys of this beautiful nature mosaic in front of me- they even found a "living organism" a wee little frog who was happy to participate!

 

 

Seriously cute fun cards- perfect to keep with you when you need a little something different for them to do at the park.  She even includes a couple that are "a piece of plastic out of place" and if they find it- in a way they are helping "clean up" the park.

There are a few more pictures here, today we are going to make a mini-book or little zine about those cherry making ladybugs!

sticky on the edges!

Sometimes you get a little stuck in the day to day routines and you just have to break out the color pencils and bag of marshmallows!  After swim lessons last night we came home and ate, broke out the art supplies for some monster creation, and ended the night with another experiment!  I thought I had a couple pixie sticks left, but those were discovered for other experiments and so I dug out the old Easter candy and found a lonely pack of Pez- lemon to be exact.  Not tooo bad was the concensus!  This weekend my auntie is coming into town and we will be heading back to the Blackberry Farm and we just might have to introduce the family to the marshmallow experiments!

washing

It has been such and unique July.  Usually a hot and humid month, the rain has fallen and kept the temperature pretty tame.  I have a hunch we might just pay for it in August.  After talking with a friend as we were sitting and watching the rain was that it was like the sky was crying, or washing.  Sometimes those rainy days can be a bit of a dreary day, but sometimes is it just such a clean wash of all of the dirt and grime so that you can sparkle and grown when that sunshine comes out to dry you off!  Good analogy for life I think!

Here are a couple children's book to have fun with on those rainy days:

Who Likes Rain by Wong Herbert Lee- loved the other book called Tracks by this author

Mushroom in the Rain by Mirra Ginsburg (same illustrator as Gregory the Terrible Eater)

and a personal favorite that is so fun to read aloud

Come On, Rain by Karen Hesse

playing ball, hugging trees, and eating some berries

balls, trees, and berries just about sum up the weekend for us!  Jasper had his last baseball game on Saturday.  We play on a sweet little league at a downtown park and one of the things they do is a picnic at the end of the season- just such a sweet community!  He loved his new baseball shoes that one of his teammates gave him that he outgrew- one proud boy!

Yesterday was just so lovely- you would never guess it was July in the midwest, a breeze, low humidity, and sunshine!  We started off going to Big Tree in the morning and my friend Amy did a photo shoot for us.  If you have my first children's book Naming Renick- this is a special tree for us in Missouri.  It is the olderst and largest tree in the state and also a National Championship tree.  Spoiler alert- in the story Renick actually plants the acorn that grows into Big Tree!  So Renick was happy to go for a visit and have his picture taken!  Here are a few of the wonderful shots that Amy got- there are some great pictures that show you just how big this lovely tree is!

My second children's book is coming along well, my illustrator that did the first book will be doing this one also, it should be ready by Christmas- I can't wait to share it with you and a little fun thing that I am going to be doing with this one also!  I have to do a couple teasers!  Elias the Elf is the main character and there is a clue in the pictures that Amy took also that is in the new book!

After a fun morning we picked up our friends Mikayla and Illia and went down to the local U-pick place we got strawberries and enjoyed the first weekend of blackberries!  It was so fun to watch the boys devour the berries.  They were just like giant jucy jewels!  Here are some more pictures and between the two of us we had almost 5 lbs of berries.  I am told we will be having homemade cobbler tonight!  Here are some more pictures of berry goodness!  If you are local, check out Pick and Pick farms- they will have raspberries in about a month!

Our weekend ended with our bike ride down to the picnic, then to campus to see some really fun outdoor animal art- have you ever seen a Giraffecorn?  Then home to watch hotair balloons passing over our house.  I need to download these pics off another camera and then I will post them to share.

Hope your weekend was juicy just like ours!

stripes

I was one excited muggle to finally get to the theatre today for HP6 with my hubby in between baseball games and an 80's theme Run/Race that my hubby is doing tonight.  I searched through my drawers for my strippy leggins to wear under my skirt and go ready for some magic.  I am going to be totally honest here, and I have been a fan of the HP movies, though always the books are better and I have this agreement that is signed my every family member that my boys are NOT allowed to watch the movies- I have this in writing from all of them- okay well maybe not in writing but am very clear that ix-nay on the arry- hay otter-pay ovies-may!  Not to be mean but as a bonified bookie I really want them to read Harry and create the characters in their imaginations first.

That being said, I think the movies are charming and there is something about that darn music that gets me everytime!  So with stripes abound we grab a rootbeer, popcorn and settle in.  I had heard great reviews, but I have to say I was a bit disappointed by the movie.  One of the things I adored about HP6 the book were all of the glimpses you got of Tom Riddle's past as a child, juvenile, and adolescent leading up to Hogwarts and then beyond.  Seeing these glimpses of his human side to me gives even more depth to his character and makes him dynamic in his development of the "Dark Lord" and his morphed return into human form.  We also felt the movie in general was choppy.  Here is my other vent, in HP 6 we really sense a change in the wizarding worlds perception of Harry as the chosen one and the start of a really dark period for him.  I always admired this in her writing, the ability to have Harry develop and balance his identity of the boy who survived, but also just a boy growing up who lost his parents and now lost his father figure- Sirius- of course he is angry and again a very dynamic character.

The movie does have its charm of the lovely effects of the Hogwarts world and Luna is a joy as always, but I still stand that the book primo and the movie for this Potterhead a bit lacking.  I did get a bit teary eyed as I saw scenes with Molly Weasley knowing the ultimate end for one particular witch in HP7 and remembered what JK Rowling said when I saw her in 07- that Molly is such a powerful witch stemming from her power as a mother! 

Thanks for listening to my HP musings this Saturday night.  I wanted to say thanks to all my crafty mamas for another wonderful night last night!  The magic of these friendships is wonderfull- it was our biggest gathering yet and I had the pleasure of learning to embroider last night from the sweet and talented Mikayla!  I am almost done with my first one and hope to share pictures tomorrow. 

This witch is off to make some fun magic with some wood and paints for the rest of the night- my trusty kitty campanion Escher has some lovely stripes of her own, I think deep down she is a Potter fan also!

wildish

Unless you have been on a boat sailing in and out of days for over a year . . .you probably know that there will be a live action version of Where The Wild Things Are this October.  On so many levels this is exciting!  As a child that grew up with books, who went on to be an English major in college, then onto a book buyer at a bookstore and at the same time mother and toymaker this makes me want to run around in wildish delight!

I found this blog that has wonderful artist work inspired by Where The Wild Things Are . . . the header image is fantastic!  Make sure to check it out and get giddy like me!  Random trivia- do you know that some of the Wild Things actually have names?  Who do you think is Moishe, Sipa, and Bernard? 

Did you also know that it was banned when it was first published?  Parents and librarians thought it was "too frightening" while the psychologists deemed it as "too dark"  Hmm- I really can't imagine my world without the Wild Things and Max in his wolf suit!

through the looking rock

You know according to Spiderwick Chronicles if you find those rocks with holes in them to peer through, the magical world is visible to you.  Silas was giving it a test run this morning as he helped me draw the name of the sweet Jenn as the winner for the Missouri Holey Rock- BTW she is an amazing button maker!  Her tree branch buttons are gorgeous, not to mention a new series she has- just beautiful!

So this special rock will be on its way to Jenn.  How is your Herbal Roots yarrow work coming this month?  Kristine created a new spot for Herbal Roots in case you need to update your browser, and if you check in she is doing a giveaway for a mamaroots butterfly.  It is a black swallowtail to accompany this month's zine.  Be sure to watch at the end of the month for the next chance here to win the August issue of Herbal Roots- such a wonderful way to learn with your kiddos!

For my local mamas- the July calendar is posted on The Womb Room page!  Happy Tuesday everyone-