Fine Motor With beads & Water

I did a post with these beads recently but today we decided to play with them a different way!

I have K various different utensils to pick up the beads with. Some were easy & others a little more tricky.

The unsupervised clean up time didn't go as planned........

ps - hope the pics are in the right order. I used the blogger app to post this.

An Unexpected Visitor

This morning I heard a telltale bump on the window of my front door.  I glanced around outside & indeed a bird had hit the window.  What did surprise me was that this unexpected visitor was an owl.  We do have various breeds of owls in this area but I've only had smaller birds hit the windows before.  He was obviously alive but a little stunned & would have been fair game for one of our farm cats so I picked him up & took him into the house.  K & I were the only ones home so I told her where to find my iPhone & she snapped a couple of good pictures for me.  The owl seemed to be recovering quickly so I soon released him onto my deck.  He fumbled as he tried to fly away but after a couple of attempts he soared off across the yard & landed in the tree by the barn.

According to a Facebook friend it is a Boreal owl.  

 Thanks to K for the photo!

What's Wrong With This Picture?

Notice how the Free Flu shot sign is printed on "feature" paper like this is some amazing deal so you better run in right away & get your free flu shot? Vaccines are free in Canada anyways.

Spring? Where Are You?

When snow came in mid October this year, I bravely announced " snow that comes before Halloween never stays". Six months later I'm still eating those words.

Protein in Down Syndrome Linked to Alzheimer's

This is an interesting new finding relating to cognition in Down syndrome.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/09/science/protein-in-alzheimers-linked-to-down-syndrome.html?_r=1&

Fun Beads

We found these beads at Once Upon a Child Yesterday (2nd hand kids stuff). Although K has fairly good fine motor skills she's never really enjoyed beading but these are so bright & colourful that she seems to like them. At first K was just really enjoying feeling the different colours, shapes & textures so I made them into a sensory tub type activity using tongs to pick up the beads. Later we'll try making some neat bracelets & necklaces with them.

Thanks to Mariska for helping me track down the beads! Here's a link to them on amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B002YIRKKY/ref=mw_dp_img_3?in=3&is=300