Lincoln picked the snowballs just for me! He did play with them for a while first, but sort of smashed flowers picked by little hands are the best kind of flowers. The thrift and the euphorbia were picked by Lucy the day before. Such a lucky mama I am to have lots of little flowers on the windowsill lately! Makes doing the dishes so much nicer.
Today I’m joining Taryn at Wooly Moss Roots for Gratitude Sunday.
{Sunday’s heartfelt tradition. A time to slow down, to reflect, to be grateful. A list of gratitudes.}
This week I’m feeling grateful for:
- Little reading buddies with noses in books
- Cool rainy days when I don’t have to leave the house
- That my houseplants are perking up (funny what watering regularly does for them, ahem)
- When hard things happen and you find out exactly what people comprise your support system. Unexpected, sometimes. In a good way.
- The generosity and friendship of “internet friends”. I’ve gotta say, I do think technology can help people to connect – even complete strangers.
- Our new kitty! Kitty purrs, kitty paws, kitty midnight crazy runs around the house. We adopted him on Mother’s Day and are all so in love. The kids named him Mouse and he is the sweetest, most gentle, lovable thing. We had a really mean cat a few years ago and he sort of turned me off cats. I’m so glad I listened to Lucy in wanting a cat and was able to open my heart to getting this guy. He’s only been here a week and we can’t imagine life without him now.
I’ll try & get a better photo this week; we’ve been too busy trying to get him used to our house and to us to mess with the camera during the past week.
What are you feeling grateful for today?
Joining along today with Amanda at Soule Mama for {this moment}
{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.
My hard working husband. See those wood shop hands? I got him this cool heirloom tomato at the local veggie market for making burgers with. We both thought it was funny that I’d get him a tomato as a gift. 
I just wanted to post a couple photos of the sensory table we fixed up today. The kids love their new “frog pond”!
We got rocks and glass gems from the fish section at the pet store. The rocks are built up on one side so the frogs have “land”. The grasses are from the fish section too! For the lilypads, I cut up a foam sheet into lilypad shapes. You can get those in the children’s craft section at craft stores. We put a bunch of frogs in there and also this frog life cycle set, which they love. It’s come in handy several times over the past homeschool year.
They’ve been using fish nets to scoop up frogs, rocks and gems!
One of my favorite things about this sensory table is that after the initial investment in the frogs, rocks, etc., you can dry them off and reuse them all year! Lucy and Lincoln love it, they’ve been playing with it all afternoon/evening.
I’ve been planning what I want to do with Lincoln next year, education wise, while I’m homeschooling Lucy. I decided that I won’t be doing preschool with him formally yet (he’ll be 3), but will instead set up a Montessori inspired shelf with activities to keep him busy. One of the other things I really wanted is a sensory table. Have you ever looked at prices for those online? They start around $80 and go all the way up to $400. Definitely not an option for us. We decided to try our hand at making our own!
I know we make wooden toys and all, so making things out of wood should come naturally to us, but we’re so focused on the small hand held things that large projects throw us off a bit.
I started out by taking Lucy and Lincoln to the hardware store and picking out a large tupperware box with a large lip around the top, and a bunch of 1 x 3″ poplar boards.
Dustin designed a plan for making it, which was essentially a frame for the tupperware box, and got started! Lucy helped.
The finished product!
I put some of those water beads in there to start out, but have plans for lots of other things…water, sand, dirt, rice, beans…
They really have been enjoying playing with the water beads, and honestly – Dustin and I can’t keep our hands off them either.
I’m so happy with how the table has turned out and with how much use it has gotten! It was pretty simple to make but if anyone would like instructions or a tutorial let us know, I’m sure Dustin could come up with something. It cost us around $35-40 to make but we used hardwood (poplar), you could definitely make one with more inexpensive wood or recycled wood, and even a secondhand tupperware box.
Today I am reflecting on who I was before I became a mama, and who I am now. I’m sure many other mothers are doing the same. What a beautiful, eye opening, sometimes scary, gratitude filled, emotional ride it’s been. I am so grateful to have these two in my life and I truly think they’ve helped me to be a better person.
I will be spending Mother’s Day with Lucy, Lincoln, and Dustin today – having a mellow, casual day. Nothing fancy. I wouldn’t want it any other way!
Wishing you a wonderful Mother’s Day!
Joining along today with Amanda at Soule Mama for {this moment}
{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.
Lincoln had his first dentist checkup that morning and wouldn’t stop brushing his teeth all day! He took it very seriously.
