Greening Sam and Avery

our everyday outdoor play = watering the gardens

So far so good people! It has been 5 1/2 months since I set the goal to play outside everyday, even if it was only for a few minutes. 

Lately our outdoor play seems to be totally wrapped up in our garden. The girls are just obsessed with watering and helping me out with all of the different gardens and projects we have going on. 

The flower pots (15 pots in all!) they helped me plant weeks ago are exploding in color and life. 

And then there is the tree that we trans-planted on Mother's Day. It lots all of its leaves but with lots of watering and some additional compost added to the soil it seems to be coming back! Do you see all those new green leaves?! 

Then there is the pumpkin patch. 

With lots of new pumpkin plants popping up all the time from the pumpkins from last year that we buried and a few additional seeds that we planted this spring. 

And our strawberry patch! We aren't really harvesting many berries this year. I was told from many people to try and pick off as many flowers this year as we could to really make sure the plants take root and spread successfully so that we can have a big crop next year! 

We also did not realize just how important putting a net over the berries would be! Any berries that we thought we might get to eat the birds have beaten us to them. Bummer. 

Then there are, what I am calling, the compost tomatoes! These tomato plants sprang up all on their own out of our compost pile. Why plant annual flowers there when nature clearly wants me to grow more tomatoes? 

And finally we have the actual vegetable garden! 

With lettuce, basil, cilantro, broccoli, ground cherries, tomatoes, two kinds of beans, garlic, onions and carrots this is my favorite spot. And the girls love to help me water. With the fence to keep out the neighbor's dogs they can't really help me weed here but we will take down the fence or lift them up to get in when it is time to harvest. For now the watering is enough to keep them pretty busy! 

So, all those spaces and small kid-friendly watering cans means hours of watering fun. They have learned to work the rain barrel spigots themselves and just have a blast running around making sure everything gets a good drink!

How much do your kids help out in the garden?  

our first backyard fire

Happy Friday! Happy June!

Smoke in the eyes is not so fun!

Smores with great friends!

Just a little moment from our outdoor play today!  

bring on the boots

Between taking Sam to school, doing laundry, packing the car and mulitple other tasks Avery and I stole a few minutes to go find some puddles in our boots! 

Our yard did not have the big puddles that it normally does after a storm (woohoo for rain barrels and new landscaping! shhh don't tell the girls that I am preventing their puddles!) BUT that did not stop Avery from hunting for them. 

And possibly the best part of having rain barrels is being able to indulge your daughter when she says "mommy can you make me a river?".  

With not much watering happening in the garden yet I knew we wouldn't run out of water in the rain barrels before the next rain storm. So why not make a river?!  

I mean really, what could be more fun then having your own little river to walk in? 

Our rain barrel makes play in the mud kitchen, water table, creating rivers, puddles and allowing the girls to water whatever they want whenever they want totally possible and for this going green momma comletely guilt free! I love that. 

Have you stomped in a puddle with your little one lately? Why not make your own puddle just for stomping? Get a rain barrel and you can make one whenever you want. 

Just wanted to check in to see if others were keeping up with the 2012 goal of playing outside everyday. We haven't missed a day yet and I am working really hard to make sure our backyard is ready for LOTS of continuous outdoor play this summer. I can't wait to get all my projects done and be able to share with you lots of ideas for backyard outdoor play to fill your summer days! Let me know how your everyday outdoor play is going. 

setting up the mud kitchen

With warm temperatures on the way the girls are getting anxious to play in the water and mud again. So I need to "dust" off the mud kitchen set up and get ir ready to be played with again. 

Here is a before shot. 

Super dark but you are looking at their tool crate all a mess, the two little tables with their main pot on top and their mud "pit" mostly filled in with rocks. I need to clean out the tool crate, rake out the rocks and set up a few new things that I have set aside for them. 

Here are some after shots. 

The tool crate. Still full and kind of messy looking but there are metal pans, plastic cutting board, plastic watering cans, big water jugs (old juice jugs) and a cup filled with stirring utensils. 

Be sure to cut or drill holes in any containers that you intend to use for storage so that water can drain out. 

The two little tables hold her big stirring pot, a few tree cookies that act as plates and a container underneath with a tight fitting lid that she keeps "treasures" in that can be used later in mud creations. The black plastic tray is just another mixing/serving container. 

But the big change is the hooks and new pans that we added. 

This is a great way to make sure they dry well and don't rust as quickly. It is also really easy for Sam to hang them up, making clean up a breeze. I am hoping to get one more little table to put underneath these pots as another working space. 

The girls played in their new space for quite a while today and loved it! I don't think the 50+ degree weather that we had today will stick around, I am sure we will get at least one more cold spell, but the mud kitchen is ready for whenever spring officially arrives! 

_________________________________________________________________________________________

The Nitty Gritty!

So we made that goal at the beginning of the year to get outside everyday for some play time and so far we are succeeding. What is great is that now we are heading into the easy seasons! I am super excited for long hours in the backyard and whole days where we barely go inside at all. What a clean house I will have!!!  Are you getting in some outdoor play everyday? 

spring clean up

It was pretty nice this afternoon so we headed to the park. 

I brought some trash bags in our wagon thinking that since the melt has finished there might be some trash left behind that would need to be picked up. 

We filled two big bags, like this one, full of trash!

After the pond and park were all cleaned up we had some time left to play!

Love this park because big trucks and sand toys get left behind for the whole neighborhood to play with!

The puddles at the playground were awesome and still filled with some ice and slush. The girls thought this was very fun.

And then we found one little spot that hadn't melted yet but had a little stream of melt water running through it. 

We had a lot of fun playing in the snow, the puddles and just all around the park! 

It was great outdoor play! Have you checked out the outdoor play party this week? It is filled with really fabulous ideas. 

everyday outdoor play - even with a cold

My girls are sick. Today is much worse than yesterday. Avery's sniffles and cough that would occasionally lead to coughing up some gunk has turned into Sam not keeping anything down. YUCK!

But even with a cough yesterday we needed some outside time.

It is completely ridiculous that we can be cleaning up the back section of our yard in January (it should be buried in feet of snow!) but the girls loved playing in the leaves.

Today we may just go for a walk or throw a ball for the dog. I don't think Sam wants to move off the couch but we will see.

What outdoor play have you done lately?

_________________________________________________________________________________________

The Nitty Gritty!

I recently found this blog post from ActiveKidsClub and it is great to see that I am not the only mom taking her kids outside when they are ill! And she was given doctor's orders to do so!!

everyday outdoor play

It is that time of year.

Make a resolution; lose weight, eat healthy, save money, watch less TV, drink less coffee, eat less sweets...the list of common resolutions is VERY long. Do you ever actually keep them? I am pretty much always a failure when I try to change something about myself on January 1st.

But this year I want to ADD something to our lives. And it is something that the girls and I do almost perfectly already so I think for the first time I might just be setting myself up for success!

EVERYDAY OUTDOOR PLAY!

Now everyday might not be a great game, hike or long adventure but in some way we will be silly, have fun or explore the outdoor world around us for at least a moment. It is about making a conscious decision to get my kids outside EVERYDAY in 2012.

I won't blog about it everyday and I may not blog about the resolution on days when we do go outside. I am not trying to add alot of extra online work for myself. But I am putting my resolution out there as a way to help hold myself a bit more accountable this year. And I would love to have you join us!

I don't have a button up yet (but it will be momentarily!) so grab it if you would like and let me know that you will be getting outside everyday with us! We can check in with each other and help each other out with ideas and inspiration throughout the year. I would love some company!