City of Fog

We have been locked in by fog for 4 days here. Thick, cold, misty, swirling fog the curls itself around branches and bodies. The kind of weather that makes you want to crawl back into bed and hide under the covers with your cat, but when you have an active toddler AND a puppy that is not an option. We have been braving the cold and exploring the woods and I am so thankful for it! The woods are so quiet and mysterious right now, its very peaceful walking through them. Claire and I look at moss and touch all the tree trunks feeling their textures while Juno chases fairies only she can see in the fog. If I'd stayed in bed with kitty I would have missed all the fun! I thought I would share some photos from our woodland adventures. Enjoy!

Tutorial: Make a Nature Themed Sensory Box

I am a big fan of sensory tables for kids but they can be very costly to buy/build. Claire's Nana does have plans for one her, but to tide us over until it is ready I made us a makeshift one in a matter of minutes...and you can to!

A sensory table is an activity centre that encourages child led play and exploration, stimulating a child's keen senses. Being that it is fall I thought I would make a nature inspired one with different shapes and textures. The first thing I did was find a long rectangular box and reinforce it with some packing tape.

Then I went through my tupperwear cupboard to find some interesting shaped containers that were missing lids, instant containers for different nature finds! I traced the bottom of these on the top of the box. Because tupperwear has a lip to it for the lid to snap on to they were perfect for whats coming next....

Next I cut out the shapes I had traced making perfectly sized holes that I could slide the containers into so that Claire could reach inside the sensory box to discover items. Before I inserted them, I painted the box black, it could be any color you want though! Once the paint had dried I slid the containers in and filled them with little bits of nature that Claire and I found on a recent trip to the beach.

Pine cones, drift wood and big (non-choke size) rocks in all sorts of shapes and colors. A West Coast themed sensory box that took me 20 minutes and no money to make!

BoHo in the City

This is the first post in what I hope to make a regular series on this blog: BoHo in the City. I dream of living on a farm in a small town, preferably the Sunshine Coast, but alas that cannot be for us (at least not right now) so I make the most out of where I live. Where do I live? In Surrey, BC, Canada, a HUGE city. I am from North Vancouver which is a fair sized city but it is quiet and full of nature. The home we lived in prior to this move was beneath the mountains, surrounded by parks and trees, and we had regular visits from deer, raccoons, skunks, bears, and lots of birds. It was a lot easier to escape into nature there. Here in Surrey, its a bit more of a challenge but thankfully there are lots of parks, lots of farms, and lots of time for Claire and I to wander and explore together.

You can't escape nature, she is everywhere. Even here in the big city! Surrey may be a mega-city but it is also surrounded by farmland, kind of ironic but I am thankful for it! Claire and I go for regular adventures and yesterday we went blackberry picking! My new neighborhood is full of blackberry bushes. Claire sat in her stroler in the sun, babbling away to me and the sunshine, while I picked us those deliciously dark little berries. When I got home my hands smelled liked berries, dirt, and sunshine.

That smell reminds me so much of being a child and picking berries to make jam with my grandmother. Isn't it amazing how powerful smell is to trigger memories? Soon after my house was full of the smell of baking blackberries, I made a cobbler! YUM! Tastes even better when you have picked the fruit yourself.