Pink Door House

It always starts innocently enough. Eli was slowly pouring milk into his bowl (the red plastic one, per his request) to cool his tomato soup. His grilled cheese was on the stove, my spaghetti squash reheating in the oven. There was a rare knock on the door. Landscaping company...winterize the sprinklers...check and check. I wasn't expecting them, per se, but I recalled Jason contacting them earlier in the week. Lingering chemo-brain has severely inhibited my ability to multit

"These are Third Grade monkey bars." Quinn had climbed the three-step ladder and stretched her arms to demonstrate the bars were just beyond her reach. The sun was bright, the afternoon was mild, and when I fetched the girls from kindergarten, we peeled sweaters and walked to the playground instead of the car. They were showing off their new favorite skills and pass times. Quinn...climbing. London...evading spider webs. (As a side note, one of these apples fell closer to the

These days, the Pink Door House is brimming with All The Questions... Mommy, what do porcupines eat? How many stomachs do cows have? Then why do people only have one stomach? Why do people sleep in pajamas instead of their clothes? Do leopards jump? Do tigers swim? What do milk and juice taste like if you mix them together? Mommy, why do you wear makeup? Oh boy. No amount of PBS Kids' programming is going to answer that last one. Tonight, on the eve of Kindergarten, I showere

Four days to Forget Cancer. A year ago, I wrote those words in this post about a long weekend spent at Priest Lake. It's still true. It's still my place. This July, Mom and Dad rented a house on the beach for a full week... Perfection. Our own little spot to master sand castle engineering. Clear, shallow waters for hours of splashing. My mom's collection of no less than 37 floaties. (My personal favorite: an oversized tube with a mesh bottom so I could sit in the cool lake wa

We did it! Three weeks of bug centered activities. If you recall, we started here...a bug nightmare resulting in a (pretty ambitious) round up of my favorite bug activities for learning and play. And boy, am I burnt out on bugs! Now I understand how my Aunt Charlene feels about 'Frosty the Snowman' after decades of teaching elementary school music classes. But, I can say this: There have been no more bug nightmares. London and Quinn can now identify crickets, grasshoppers, be

Some ideas are so good, you have to copy them just the way they are. This is one of those ideas. Squishy, smooshy baby bumblebees made from balloons filled with flour...and motions to accompany a memorable childhood song? Yes, please. Here's the original post from The Inspired Tree House. To make the bumblebees, you'll need: Yellow balloons (I used 9") Funnel All purpose flour Black Sharpie marker *I also found a pencil handy for packing a little extra flour into the balloons

This simple sorting activity was a low-maintenance addition to "Bug Camp"...our week(ish) of bug-focused learning and play. I combined some creepy, over-sized plastic party favor bugs with random handfuls of the kids' similar sized toys. I gave them an empty box that I recently brought home full of blueberries. The perks of living in farm country! London and Quinn have been begging to get their hands on these bugs since we picked them up at Party City. The instructions I prov

The day before we drove to Spokane, I sat down with the girls to make our "Bug Finder Binoculars". Jason cut to size a leftover gift wrap roll that I had, which was nice and sturdy. But toilet paper rolls would work just fine for this project. We kept it simple and offered the girls washi tape, scissors, and colored string. Here we are at work: London and Quinn didn't get overly excited about this project. I was surprised, because they usually go bananas when I get out my was

This activity kicked off our unofficial Pink Door House Summer Bug Camp. Hopefully after a few weeks of projects, songs, and games about All Things Bug, the girls won't be as intimidated by our tiny neighbors. If you want to see what else we have planned, check out this post. Colors blended and a little dry, the sun was setting on our last batch of Play Dough. It was the perfect time to create (and keep) bug sculptures with lots of add-ins. I provided the kids with twigs and

Ah, summer....Flats of raspberries and boxes of fuzzy, juicy peaches from the Farmers' Market. Backyard water parks constructed of wading pools, pails, and the sprinkler. Grilled hot dogs dripping ketchup. And bugs. One of these is not a favorite at the Pink Door House. If you witnessed the absolute, complete hysteria resulting from an encounter with 'lady bugs' (anything creepy crawly) and 'buzzy bees' (anything that flies), you would think, PTSD. Clearly PTSD. But I promise