Quiet Time

I am becoming aware of the fact that I am in the final months of life as I know it.  Life before Elementary School.    

I've got two girls who are pre-school age and I have two full days at home with them, to do, play, love and have fun.   

My littlest girl still has a daily nap in the afternoon.  Usually she'll sleep for a good two hours and provide Kamille and I some time that I call Quiet Time. 

Shhhh....she's sleeping!  

Quite time started with Kamille spending the equivalent time in her bedroom, alone, playing, sometimes napping herself, but as she's gotten older that "kidless" break for me has lessened from 2 hours to one hour to not even going up to her bedroom.

At first it would wreck me.  Back in the day, I needed those two hours to feel productive and to work on my coursework, but more recently, I've taken a step back from school and found ways to savour the time with my girl, at least being close to me.

Kamille has always been great at independent play.  She totally gets that its my "break" and that often times I am spending it sitting next to my computer to do school, looking at fb or catching up on emails and other random things like cleaning toilets, doing a load of laundry or making lunches for the next day.

Sometimes she'll play in her room with her dolls and babies, but most of the time she sets herself up with something to do closer to me.

Me, looking at her work space, from my work space.

 

With the weather having been so incredible lately, this opens up more possibilities for my girl to enjoy.  Nothing beats taking indoor activities outside!  

She's got her lap top out, and her white bag full of "very important papers."
I'm only noticing now that she has stolen my blanket - the one I usually sit on while I am doing school work at my laptop.   Clever girl!  ; )

On this particular day she chose two different activities.
"Working" on the back deck, turned to "painting" on the front porch.

During a recent visit to Cowichan Bay with Dad and Grandma, they collected nearly 100 shells to bring home.  Kamille decided to paint her shells.   She set it up all on her own.

 And then got down to business.

 I love how crafty this girl of mine is.

Over the past few months, the activity most often requested by Kamille during Quiet Time was a game of uKloo.  uKloo is a game that my sister gave to Kamille for her birthday in January.  Its a fantastic educational game created by Doreen Dotto, a Canadian mom.  uKloo is just the perfect kick start to reading that has Kamille super duper excited!  She loves this game.  And better yet, I love it too.

uKloo works just like a treasure hunt  (or click here to find out more from them!)  

While she's in her bedroom, I choose random cards from the Easy, Moderate, and Challenging piles (She used to only be able to do the easy cards!).   I create a hunt that takes her from one card to the next.  Her task is to read the cards to find out where she will find the next card.

I usually leave the first card right outside her bedroom door and she comes running to me to user her Picture Helper Board to begin her reading.

Cross referencing the words on the card with what is on the board.  

pink is a challenging card.  she's really working here! 

yellow is easy, blue is moderate.

The card prior to this would have said something like, "Find it in the sink." (yes, I know its ON the sink, but I didn't want it to get wet!)

This game used to really challenge her.  She just really wanted to do well and often times she would lose her ability to stay focused or interested if she was challenged.  Slowly I have seen her gain confidence as she now finds the first level cards to be a breeze and actually enjoys the challenge of the pink cards that have more printing on them.  To keep her confidence going, I am using a mix of easy and challenging cards and she stays more focused as she has learned to recognize may of the words!

her pile of accomplishment in reading! 

"Look in your shoe"

The best part about uKloo is that there is always a SURPRISE card at the end of the game!   For the longest time I was using up my stash of mini candy canes as a Surprise for her.  Sometimes its nothing special at all, maybe a bowl of Fishy Crackers or a book we can read together, but when I happen to come upon an unknown treat in my kitchen cupboards I get excited for her to get to the last card just so I can see her excitement!

SURPRISE!  You read it all on your own!

So much fun!

I do love my quiet time break in the afternoons.  

Come September, if Karis is still napping, my time will be spent alone.  If not, I'm pretty sure we'll  be enjoying that time doing our own thing, close by one another, just as my Kamille and I have.  

On A Sunday Afternoon

It was 4:30 on a sunny Sunday afternoon.  (It was May 6th). 

Kevin had been at the campground for most of the day doing some "work," as it might be referred to.  (I tend to see it as him playing).

Grandma was visiting.    

With a bit of time before our planned dinner out to a restaurant, we opted to meet up with Kevin and hang out on the beach.  

Because it is just so inviting.

Nature always has a way of entertaining my family....

There were no campers this late into the weekend...just us and the vast span of nature to explore.

Kevin shared a little activity with Kamille that he did to occupy his time as a young boys on the beaches of Long Point in Ontario.  

With careful planning and deep trenches, rolling the rock was a success at providing fun and laughter.

I enjoy sitting back and watching my girls explore.
Sometimes I don't always anticipate what they feel compelled to do....

Hey!  Does anyone else see what is going on here?

Mom to the rescue! 

Wet pants meant that my little underwear bandits strike again.  Of course big sister had to join in the fun.  

Who doesn't like to have their legs buried in sand?

They played a game of "jump into the sand pile" with Daddy.
Grandma certainly enjoyed watching these girls play!

Its really is the simple things.
Sun, warmth, family, togetherness.

She strikes, again! 

We made a quick pit-stop back home to pick up a change of clothes for the girls before heading out for a lovely sit down dinner all together at a restaurant.  

What a great way to end the weekend.  

Oh...and a couple more of me getting me in the shot.  Not exactly a self-portrait, but no one knew what I was doing.  Its fun to run away from your camera, jump behind everyone and no one even pays attention. 

Its just Mom with her camera, ignore her.

i can assure you that the smiles on their faces have nothing to do with me jumping behind them.
karis might be wondering?   i did this a total of 3 times and not one person acknowledged me or asked what I was doing.