Coastalgirl

a few things making our day special

It is this time of year that the creative juices flow, there is excitement in the air, and we enjoy the cool crisp autumn days as they pass into winter. a few special things that are making our day extra special:

1.  I just had a look at the photos from Leah's first costume party. She dressed as a wood fairy and we ventured outside to snap a few photos in the fall leaves.

Here is another while we were getting ideas for fairy houses:

2, We are in love with this book that arrived yesterday via Amazon.ca. We soon will be making thumbprints (aka Ed Emberley), collages, pattern painting, watercolouring...it's a bounty of ideas.

Here's a look at a few pages inside:

3, One of Leah's favourite stories right now is purple green and yellow by Robert Munsch about Brigid, who claims to need 100s of markers to make her creations on paper and elsewhere.

4. One of the most amazing things of the last few months has been the explosion of creativity and imagination I see in Leah. After months and months of scribbles, we finally evolved into figures and animals....I think it's a moment that many Moms of preschoolers secretly wait for with perhaps (I hate to admit it) a touch of impatience. We encourage and praise daily those incessant scribbles, but when a drawing comes along with recognizable features....it's a proud moment!

5. I came across the book the OK book and a video by Amy Krouse Rosenthal that I think is interesting and now it's on our wish list at the local library. "The book's hero is a little stick figure whose head is the O of OK, and whose arms and legs are the K. (Imagine the word OK tipped up on its side.) The scenery is similarly minimal: a black horizon line, a squiggly tree, some grass. I like to try a lot of different things, the OK figure says. I'm not great at all of them, but I enjoy them all the same. On each succeeding page, the stick figure turns in a series of OK performances, roasting a marshmallow, cutting a sandwich not really in half (I'm an OK sharer), and looking at the result of his fishing—a tangle of seaweed and a boot. One day, I'll grow up to be really excellent at something, OK says, while lying in bed. I don't know what it is yet... but I sure am having fun figuring it out." (Reed)

at the beach

at the beach, originally uploaded by coastalgirlimage.

After a rough start (I was sick with stomach flu for 2 days), we finally made it to the beach on the Florida panhandle. My parents were staying there for a few weeks to relax, shop, and walk miles on the beaches. Leah had a blast collecting buckets of shells, making sand castles and promptly knocking them all down. She learned the differences between the gulls, sandpipers, and pelicans and Grammy hopes to make a birder out of her yet!
I still feel weak and not 100%, but hope to be feeling better soon. I wonder now if there is another colour theme in photography going on this week? Must go cruise blogworld and see..........

off to the beach

We are off to the beach on Monday morning and will be back on Thursday. A trip to a different sort of beach than we are used to, but at least Leah will get to dig in the sand and who can resist that wonderful feeling of sand between the bare toes? More photos when I return............

winter walking in the south

We drove a half hour out of our town to the countryside where there are historical monuments, forts, indian mounds, lots of spanish moss, tangled vines, loads of fire ant hills, and winter berries. We had warm temperatures, fresh air, and the wind in our hair....all together, a wonderful afternoon in the winter sun.

My parents posed in front of the many trees here loaded down with spanish moss.

Another lovely tree with big old branches...Leah is resting on the bench after a long walk.

 

The possumhaw berries here are so red against the blue sky. They stand out on the roadsides as a brilliant mass of red. Apparently, mockingbirds swarm these trees and are very protective of them. We weren't attacked on this day, so I guess they haven't found this tree yet.

fun in the late afternoon sun

our shadows, originally uploaded by coastalgirlimage.

The light is quite magical in the late afternoon. Today we ventured out to the park after much chalk drawing in the driveway. After feeding the birds and squirrels we paused momentarily to catch this scene with the camera. I love these fun moments with my little one....too soon these moments will be gone.