Doanes Park Playground and More Nature Art

The weather was nice today, except for a bit of a stiff breeze at times, but we took advantage of it and played outside all afternoon.

Derrick and I decided to take a late lunch, and took the kids to Doanes Park to do some batting practice.  Everyone had a great time.  Elliot and Everett ran more than they hit, but they think that is the best part of baseball, so it was just fine.

After batting practice Derrick went to do a few things with some houses and the kids and I grabbed a picnic lunch at the new playground.  The kids enjoyed playing and exploring the new equipment and seeing how things worked.  They LOVED it, and when they were tired they decided to go to the other playground to play.

The new playground is built for older kids, but everyone had a great time exploring.

The "slide" made me nervous, but they had a great time on it!

Elliot and I hung out on the large disc swing and watched.

Ethan and Everett played a game where one was a spider and the other had to try not to get caught.

Elliot loved swinging.

It was actually a pretty comfortable swing.

We headed over to the other playground, let them play for a bit, and Elliot practiced crossing the tethered pole things about 50 times once he got up the courage to try it without holding my hand.  He was very proud of himself and showed both his brothers how well he could cross without any help!

Elliot, unsure about crossing.

Notice the concentration.

The goggles are something I picked up a while back from the thrift store.
He likes to wear them every now and then.  He's a funny kid!

They played for a good amount of time then got interested in the sticks that were all over in the treed area next to the playground.  We decided to try to make another nature art sculpture (inspired by artist, Andy Goldsworthy) and quickly figured out the best way to do so.

At first we had no plan, and started to put sticks everywhere they would fit.

Then we started to see what we liked best, and organized them.

Finished, Everett and Ethan were very proud of their creation!  They thought they looked like windows.

Elliot helped somewhat, but mostly gathered sticks and played in the dirt.

  

They kept asking me to take photos.

Everett thought they looked like nails being driven into the ground.

  

It took about an hour, and once we were close to done they wanted to do more on a different set of trees, but I was getting tired and Elliot had to go potty, so we decided to head home.

It was a great day and they can't wait to go back and do more nature art with the sticks, leaves and acorns we saw.  Creativity is pretty contagious!

Andrew Goldsworthy Inspired Nature Art and Hike

I’ve been talking to the boys about my desire to get outside and do some larger scale nature art for a while now, and today was the day we got to get out and experiment.  I’ve always enjoyed nature art by Andrew Goldsworthy.  His art is so simple yet so complex, creating a beautiful result when he’s finished. 

Our friends from LIFE Academy joined us at our favorite park (Yellow Banks) and the kids (and I) enjoyed the entire process.  Even with my prego belly and sap covered clothing, it was worth it to see the final visual effect. 

We started with a plan, organized our materials, and then started to create swirls and patterns.  Everyone had a job, worked together, and although some tired of the art after a while and decided to play on the nearby playground, those that stuck with it reaped the best reward.

The weather was beautiful, so after we let the kids play for a bit on the equipment, we decided to take a short nature hike to the pond, explore a bit through the woods and see what we could see.  The kids enjoyed climbing on the huge pile of dirt/mulch the most, but we did see a tree with interesting markings, and thought it must be man made.  Interesting for sure, any thoughts on what it is? 

What do you think?  Kid with a hatchet?

It was a beautiful day and I am so thankful for the sunshine and the warmer temps, it feels great to be outside all afternoon!  Welcome Spring!

Playtime for Mr. Dragon

Elliot loves his dragon Halloween costume!  It was a great find at DAV for less than $3; really a great investment for the amount of time he spends in it!  Today he asked me to help him put it on while he played cars with Everett.  He’s such a funny kid sometimes, he couldn’t resist being silly when I got out the camera.  Rrrrrooooaaarrrr!

Vomiting, Contractions and a Visit to the Hospital

I don't know if I caught that stomach bug that the kids have been passing around, or if I was unlucky with dinner last night, but around 4 a.m., everything started coming up, and it was impossible to keep anything down all night long.

Around 7:30 a.m., I was so dehydrated and exhausted from frequent vomiting that my contractions kicked in and I knew I needed IV fluids.  As I sat in the shower, dry heaving and contracting so strongly that I was needing to breathe through them, I told Derrick to call the neighbor girls and ask them to come over so we could go to the hospital.

When we arrived at the hospital they hooked me up to IV fluids and put me on the monitor to watch the baby.  My blood pressure was somewhere around 90/60 and baby seemed to be doing fine, spite my regular contractions, so they watched me and focused on re-hydrating me.

Soon they were hanging a new bag of fluid and before we knew it, my contractions were starting to fade away.

Derrick went to grab some lunch, run some errands and paint something on a house, and I settled in for a small nap.  Soon after, I woke with a few strong contractions and the nurse came in to check what position I was in.  I guess the baby's heartbeat dropped a bit too much with those contractions (as he did a few times before) and they weren't happy my contractions were starting back up.

It would be a stretch to say I wasn't disappointed that things were starting up again, and I started to get upset that I could be possibly delivering this baby boy much too early.  I knew that things would be okay if we had to deliver, but it wasn't ideal and I really didn't want "my mom started vomiting and was dehydrated and then I was born later that day" to be his story.

When Derrick came back, I was getting checked to see if I was dilating, having discussions about staying overnight for monitoring, and thoughts on stopping the contractions with a dose of medication.  All these things were not exciting and I was praying for clarity on the whole issue and what the best option was.  Plus, my OB was in Arizona, so this definitely was not great timing.

Because baby wasn't excited about the strong contractions and because I was slightly dilated (around 2 cm and 50% effaced) we decided to go forward with the medication.  It slowed my contractions and baby was doing fine, so I was able to head home around 11 p.m., avoiding an overnight stay (and hopefully a heavy medical bill).

Tomorrow I plan on taking it easy, resting and hopefully baby will stay put for a while.  Thank you all for your prayers and kind thoughts.

A Beautiful Mess

I don’t know how many times a week the boys build an invention or some sort of contraption made from the contents of our kitchen recycling bin.  Boxes, egg cartons, jugs and more, are often re-purposed with a bit of string, pipe cleaners, rubber bands, tape or pencils to make something new and creative. 

Today it was a water filtration system.  Ethan decided, that with the help of his assistant (Everett), that they would build a contraption to filter dirty water.  He often gets his ideas from things we read about in our science reading, things he sees in books, or even just random thoughts he gets about the processes of everyday life… but almost always they come out as interesting combinations of materials, assembled on my kitchen table. 

Using the kitchen stool, some cardboard boxes, a coffee filter, a Styrofoam cup, an old milk jug and a bit of tape, they had a machine that takes in dirty water, cleans it, and produces a cup of clean water (not advisable for drinking I reminded them). 

They had fun experimenting with different levels of dirty water and in the end were excited to show it to Derrick when he arrived home from work. 

As Derrick watched the whole procedure unfold, he made eye contact with me and I knew he was thinking what I had also thought from the start… “Seriously, you are letting them play with mud and water on the kitchen floor?  Good idea.”

Ha.  I agree… but sometimes creativity trumps clean in this house, and when the temps are chilly outside, the kitchen is the next best place.  The cup of muddy water did spill a few times, and they wiped it up quickly so not to cause problems, but it was still a win in the eyes of these inventive boys (and their mother, who can see the beauty in the mess).

After experimenting, they decided to go outside and color the snow with a few of the squirt bottles I’ve been saving under the sink.  I mixed up a few colors for them with food coloring and they enjoyed 10-15 minutes outside, spraying the snow and getting a little fresh air in the process before they hurried inside to warm up.