Thinking Thursdays: Let it snow! (and books about winter)

Our weather chart is a free printable from here.

It is already spring, and it hasn't warmed up much. This week we're having temperatures ranging from subzero to below five degrees, and its been snowing on and off!

However, January was even colder and we had pretty heavy snowfall for some days. Since its probably the only time that the boys get to experience winter, we did try to bring them out to romp in the snow as often as we could. Getting them dressed took ages (especially for the baby who kept taking off articles of clothing and running away), but they did have fun, trying to make snowballs...

... making snow angels (ok, this one baby J didn't really like!):

On days that I was too strapped for time to bring them out, we let them loose in the balcony with a tub of snow, and some shovels:

Aside from all that snowy goodness, we also read quite a few books on winter. We read about trees in winter (Winter Trees) and animals in winter (Over and Under the Snow, Animals in Winter). Junior J also enjoyed some simple stories set in winter, like "The Hat" and "The Mitten" by Jan Brett. Baby J loved "Snow" by Uri Shulevitz, which his older brother enjoyed too! Of course, we also read "The Snowy Day" by Ezra Jack Keats, and spent some time doing some related activities. (We also looked at snowflakes by reading "Snowflake Bentley", which I blogged about here.)

Guess we're looking forward to warmer weather in Singapore and not having to pile so many layers! Do you have any favourite reads about winter?

Thinking Thursdays: Books about autumn

Hello! We've been reading about autumn, since we can't really go out to play (Junior J is still coughing!). Here are some of our favourite reads on this beautiful season, which are mainly on two very famous characteristics of fall: apples and leaves! 

:: Apple Farmer Annie, by Monica Wellington: We bought the board book version for baby J. Its a simple story about an apple farmer, and all the yummy things that she makes from her apple harvest. While its simple, even Junior J enjoyed the story!

:: Leaf Jumpers, by Carole Gerber: The book uses poetry and linoleum-cut illustrations to describe eight common types of leaves to be found during fall. Junior J loves this book as it is about his favourite outdoor activity: jumping about in piles of leaves! Its a really useful resource for identifying leaves, and also explains the colour changes observed during autumn.

:: Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf, by Lois Ehlert: I simply love Lois Ehlert's illustrations! This book chronicles the life of a sugar maple tree through the seasons, and the textural collages were made from a variety of materials, ranging from water colours and crayons to seeds and roots. Simply beautiful! 

:: Apple Picking Time, by Michele Slawson: "When it's apple picking time, everyone has to help. The whole town knows we have only three weeks to get the fruit off the trees before it spoils." This story is told through the eyes of Anna, who helps at the apple harvest with her family and is determined to fill an entire bin of apples by herself. It's a heartwarming book about determination, family and community.

:: Red are the Apples, by Marc Harshman and Cheryl Ryan: Follow a boy as he explores a garden in fall, and describes what he finds in rhyme. The text is simple, and this book is great for introducing the colours and produce of autumn.

We obtained some of our recommendations from this post, hop over for more autumnal titles!  What are your favourite books about fall? 

Monday Made: Leaf heart

We had loads of these leaves lying about the house, thanks to Junior J's squirrelly habit of always picking up something on our walks and bringing them back home. Some went into the leaf book. However, with autumn and its sea of fluttery golden pavements, they were starting to pile up, and we were in danger of creating some leaf litter communities.

So while we were stuck home over the weekend, I cut out a heart out of cardboard packaging, and Junior J and I pasted them down using oodles of PVA glue. And dried it wedged under the laptop. I love the warm colours and all those textures:

And speaking of textures, I've been wanting to photograph these pumpkins for awhile. The variety of pumpkins here is amazing, and these are sold as an assorted bunch in a basket for 3 bucks!

I especially like this one, for all its strangeness, and have yet to identify it. Anyone knows?

Now I have to think of what to do with all those extra leaves that we still have... any suggestions?

Foodie Fridays: Summer slurping

Summer can be summed up at the market.  First come the strawberries, then the currants, followed by the blueberries, raspberries and cherries.  Then there is the onslaught of blackberries and plums.  We've been eating fruits by the punnet, and even freezing them to make ice cream:

In addition to all the books on summer that we've been reading, Junior J and I have been busy in the kitchen.  We were blessed with home-grown zucchinis, tomatoes and eggplants from a friend's garden, and made zucchini muffins (and had loads of ratatouille for dinner):

We didn't have a muffin tray, so the batter spread out and the muffins were rather flat, however, the boy loved them!

Then the boy also helped to make dessert some nights.  He was delighted when he was given a bowl of strawberries to wash and dry:

We melted some chocolate in a pan of hot water...

And he got to coat the strawberries with chocolate (and lick the spoon at the end of course)!

I also tried making rainbow popsicles (inspired by this mum's version!), but our freezer chose to conk out just after I added the last layer.  In the end, I tore up the paper cups (we didn't have popsicle molds, so I used paper cups and ice cream sticks) and squished the half-melted popsicles into glasses and called them "rainbow ice".  The boy still enjoyed his for dessert!

It was supposed to follow the colours of the rainbow:
Red (strawberries & raspberries), orange (orange juice), yellow (honey with freshly squeezed lemon),
green (kiwi), blue (blueberries), purple (blackberries).

Summer is nearly over, but we are looking forward to fall, and its harvest of apples and pumpkins!

Linking up with:

Thinking Thursdays: Savoring summer

We more or less put aside our "lessons" last week as the FIL was visiting.  The boys just romped about more at the playground and we went for walks and cycled about the town.  Junior J did manage to dress up his summer vase of twigs though.  I gave him a whole bunch of crepe paper strips in bright colours (reminiscent of the bright hues of the summer blooms we've been seeing at the farmer's market!), and he opted to drape them all over the branches and call it his willow tree.  It does look bright and happy, and reminds me of the season of sunshine, picnics and sunflowers.  (You can see our spring vase here.)

We also squeezed in a little reading related to summer, and enjoyed the following books:

:: The Salamander Room, by Anne Mazer.

:: Summertime in the Big Woods, an adaptation from the books by Laura Ingalls Wilder.

:: James and the Rain, by Karla Kuskin, since it has been raining so much!

:: Time of Wonder, by Robert McCloskey.

Wish I could elaborate more on the books, but we're busy packing, so I'll leave you with more summer book recommendations from one of my favourite book blogs instead!