mamaroots

love your mama

 

You know that wonderful big mama that we all live on, she supports us, takes care of us, grows food for us, and takes an awful lot of abuse from us.  How about giving her some extra love today and then carrying it forward on the other 364 days of the year!

 Yesterday at Root Children we read my second kids book Elias and the Tree Stairs, talked about Earth Day different things to do on Earth Day today, then we recycled some glass jars by turning them into fun glass jars to put flowers on if we go on nature walks today, and since we were reading all about Mr. Marble maker himself Elias the jars could even be marble collector jars!  We used a pile of stickers that a friend had given me that she had been saving up for quite a few years.

Wouldn't you know it the trees around The Womb Room were quite enchanted and we even found some marballs- or as us humans call them marbles!

What will you be doing this Earth Day?  Here is a quick way you can make fun jars at home too.  Do you have a bunch of tissue paper left over from gifts or packages?  Tear it up into little pieces and use some modge podge to attach to a recycled glass jar.  Spear some glue onto the jar, layer on the pieces overlapping at spots, then once the whole thing is covered, spear one more layer of glue and let dry.  Know you have a lovely jar to put flowers in, make some homemade bath salts with essential oils and epsome salt, or make a wire handle and keep these to deliver May Day flowers to your friends!

This is a super fast project that takes less than half an hour- I like to use frappuccino jars myself, the labels come off super easy, they resemble the old milk jars, and well the vanilla is just darn tasty all be it not that good for you!

Enjoy the day- here is another fun project that I did for Babble also to help celebrate the day!  Of course you can always snuggle up under a tree and read some good books too!  I don't think the trees will mind at all listening!  Happy Earth Day everyone!

nose down

So sorry for the delay in passing of days with out posting . . . I have been nose to the grind working on the second book to try and get it ready in December and in the midst I discovered this really charming little book from the early 1900's that begged to be re-printed- I will share more details definitely as they come-that one at least is in the proof stage!  I am remembering now the program the I used to make Naming Renick bogs my fossil computer down- but by the power of black tea and patience I will make it!

I wanted to first give out a fun shout to MamaRuck who shared a fabulously funny blog post about receiving Wike from last month's monster contest- it was too cute and brought a tickle to this funny bone!  I love the many pictures and stories of love that the monsters brought to everyone- it makes Jasper's day!

The weather has definitely given us a cold rainy snap so I thought I would share what I did at Root Children last Friday in case you are looking for some inside story/hand crafts to do today.  I really thought I could hold out on sharing this book till the spring but it begged to be done this month!  It is called "Bog Baby" and hold a special spot in my heart because it reminds me of going to our pond on the back field with my sis when I was little.  We were trying to catch tadpoles, but I know we would have loved catching a "Bog Baby"!  

 

If you want a simple craft idea, we made simple wood bog babies from small wood eggs you can get at most Hobby Lobby/Michaels stores, added designs with marker, cut out some wool felt wings and add to a small little paper cup or bag with wool for the habitat.  Easy Sneezie you have a little bog baby and habitat to make after reading the book together.  A tip for any of you that may do larger groups of kiddos story and craft sessions like I do, I discovered glue dots!  Like a miracle they take away the danger of the hot glue gun in combination of not having to wait for the Elmers to dry.  Look at all these cute Bog Babies the Root Children made!

Stay warm- and also be sure to stop on over at Kristine's blog Herbal Roots Zine and get a chance at winning a mamaroots critter- armadillo- BTW if you have not yet read Three Armadillos Tuff- you should it is a funny version of 3 Billy Goats Gruff!

roots

In getting ready for the monthly Root Children story time yesterday I forgot to post the sign-ups for the Sept. edition of Herbal Roots!  Leave me a comment between now and Monday morning and I will draw a name on Monday afternoon and e-mail the next wonderful edition of Kristine's Zine.  Make sure to leave me a way to e-mail you if you are the winner and while you are at it let me know your favorite fall book!

Here are some pictures to enjoy of the past Root Children- at the end are some new pictures of yesterday's story time!  We made some horses and had fun eating some horse-like snacks!

 

hay . . .

or I should say . . . Hey everyone,  the monthly Root Children story and hand craft time is coming up this Friday!  You will start to detect a theme with this and an upcoming Once Upon a Table project!  Look forward to seeing all my local friends this Friday!

 I adore the Little Rabbit books by the Klise sisters.  I had the pleasure of meeting Kate a few years ago when the very first Little Rabbit book came out, I am secertly hoping for another Little Rabbit adventure.  This book is such a clever look at how little ones hear words, literally!  Also a great back to school read!  Just a bit of trivia from the website http://www.takeourword.com

Interestingly, the mare in nightmare has nothing to do with a female horse. Instead, it comes from Old English maere 'goblin, incubus.' The word was nigt-mare in 1300, and it referred to an evil female spirit afflicting sleepers with a feeling of suffocation. By 1350, it was nytmare and in 1440 it was nyghte mare. Mare 'goblin' is a cognate with Middle Dutch mare, maer 'incubus,' Old High German mara, Middle High German mar, mare (dialectical modern German Mahr 'nightmlare'), and Old Icelandic mara 'incubus.' Mare comes from the Proto-Germanic word *maron.

Nightmare was used to describe 'a bad dream caused by an incubus' in the 16th century, and by 1829 it was used to describe 'a bad dream' in general

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!

80/40

Am I giving my age away too much when I say that I remember reading this book with my sweet mama like it was yesterday.  I am not 40 yet . . .I have a few more years, but did you know that The Very Hungry Caterpillar turns 40 this year and that the very talented Eric Carle turns 80! 

Gosh I loved and still love that sequence of the holes in the pages where the caterpillar is eating through the pickel , the ice cream cone . . . . .check out this link for a sweet video where he talks about creating this much loved story.  A little late but still doable, I found this bit of info from The Eric Carle Museum.

"The Carle invites friends, families, and schools throughout the country and abroad to create their own butterflies to flutter in the Museum. Celebrate the caterpillar, who for 40 years has crept into the hearts of millions of readers through his journey of hope from “a tiny and very hungry caterpillar” to a “beautiful butterfly.”

How it works:

Create your butterfly out of 8 ½ x 11 card stock

Design your butterfly using color, shape, and/or messages of hope

Cut out your butterfly

Mail to The Carle: Batches of Butterflies, The Eric Carle Museum, 125 West Bay Road, Amherst, MA 01002

To celebrate there is a new pop-up version of the book that I just got in at the bookstore where I work and it is fun!  All this excitment over caterpillars and butterflies helped secure both the Root Children and the March "Once Upon A Table" projects for me this week.

So the next Root Children book and hand craft will feature The Very Hungry Caterpillar and I am working out the patterns for the "Once Upon a Table" March project (think transformation!)- unfortunately it will still be my fuzzy pdf converter format, but as promised I did sign up for an Adobe Acrobat class in April and am getting the program so they are less fuzzy- better quality for you!

Now- doesn't all this talk of birthday's make you want to go and eat some cake!!

Monday in pictures

such a big thanks to my friend Amy for showing me the mosaic maker!  Today in pictures:

1-Our nature collectors made by a local mama hanging in our window- can't wait to put in some daffodils and dandelions!
2- Jasper's mission to make us hand squeezed mandarin orange juice for dinner tonight- he got a cup and half- tasty!
3- Root Children journal making for the storytime reading Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed today with friends
4- The incredible compliment from sweet Devan that made her own storybook after the Root Children we did with Reading Renick earlier this month- I see book writing in her future!  She brought it to share with us today.