Merry Christmas!

Tree hunting 2013

Fall leaves!

Fun in the leaves

So, have you jump in the leaves yet this fall? I hope so!  If not, perhaps you might live vicariously for a moment?

My Garden Fairies

My garden fairies flew by the other day. They played under the weeping cherry, made flower crowns for their heads from my clippings, and flitted about pretending to be princesses having a tea party...

Snow fort!

A snow fort tucked in under the slide on our climbing tree.

Three happy rabbits in their snowy burrow.

We finally have our snow. We were fairly well snowed in for most of our Christmas vacation! But home was a cozy place to be stuck in a snow storm. :)

The last remnants of autumn...

My kids tramping through the hay and corn maze this autumn.

The last bulbs and Hellebores are in the ground, the kitchen is full of squash from the farm market, and there is a turkey taking up most of the space in my refrigerator. Our annual "Christmas tree cutting" is quickly approaching on our calender.  The end of November is truly here.

And yet... I remember a sunny day walking through the corn maze following two confident little girl leaders, who needed some help getting back to the car. :)

Kids' trip to Phipps Conservatory

Kids at Phipps Conservatory

We had a really fun trip to Phipps Conservatory with the kids last week. I called my friend and her three little ones to see if they would like to come play for the day with us, and they agreed. This was the first time we had been at Phipps together since the Spring Show years ago. Another friend was kind enough to come along to help us out.

Phipps has added on to their outdoor children's garden this year, making it easier for the kids to run and get their hands into real play. They were all excited to get to pot their own herb (yeah for more basil!), play with the log pieces and get wet, wet, wet! They were quite drippy by the end of the day. Bringing a change of clothing is advisable. And bringing it in with you makes it even easier because there are changing bathrooms outside by the kids garden.

Kid play in our garden

My three playing under the tree slide in our backyard. A pruned branch from another garden task adds to the magic.

My kids love to be outside. Give them a few sticks or an unwanted branch (that I finally pruned) and they are happy for hours. When our old tree had to come down (tears) I horded away logs and chips from it for the kids to play with later. Every little thing outdoors is an invitation to explore the world and imagine what they might like to create. Make a place for them to hide and/or climb, add some loose objects - like wood ships, stones, shells or sand - and see what happens!

Grace sniffy those smelly allium! They are from the onion family after all.

Tree Trunk Crow's Nest and Slide

Our tree trunk is now a climbing wall, crow's nest and slide

I am so glad that I took a video last year of our giant mature maple tree (see it here) because tragedy struck us this past winter. Our tree had developed a large cavity at its very top, was holding water and started to drop very large branches (10 inch diameter) in January. When the largest one hit, I was sitting in our kitchen drinking tea during nap time and it nearly got the kitchen roof. That sound inspired a healthy respect and awe for trees that I had not yet known!

So it was determined that it must come down due to the large hole in the trunk, and I spent three days with a sick stomach while listening to the cutting, cracking and thuds just outside our door. But, I love that there is redemption at the end of this story...

Leafy fun