Ms. Amy's Blog @Child Central Station

  Yep, we're at it again-- another winter, another luge! This winter has been a challenge. It has been long, and super cold! (Even for "Yooper" Standards). In some areas of the world they call this time of year "spring." Around here, well... It is still snowing! (And I'm not pulling an April Fool's!) We do what we can to make the best of it, and Mr. Allan never ceases to amaze us with his backyard luge building skills! (You can read about and see video footage from previous winters here: 2013 , 2012 ).   This year's track has especially high walls- and due to the extreme temperature differences it is also quite fast! The children don't seem to mind the cooler temperatures when they are flying down the hill!   It has been quite a winter! We have paths or a "snow maze" to make getting around a little bit easier.... .....And we have MOUNTAINS of snow piled up in the yard! (If you look closely, you will see the shelving unit from our Mud P...

We're up to it again! We finally had enough snow to put in the luge run for this year :).  Our design this time around is different from last time , but I think it is just as fun. Our son, Dane has been busy learning a bit about making movies and using technology to document his learning, so today, he compiled a few of the videos and photos from our first day on the luge- ENJOY!

It's the weekend. There are a ton of things we could be doing.... like dishes,  laundry, cleaning, etc... BUT, it is winter, and we only have sunlight for so long.... and honestly, time flies way to fast.... So instead, we went to the park! We took about a "zillion" new family portraits in the snow. (A zillion according to Dane that is) We rocked the hill! The snow was well compact due to heavy use yesterday in the warm sunshine. With today's cooler temperatures, the hill was slick, and our afternoon was filled with giggles! Here is another video of the same run from another perspective: I even "got some BIG air!" We sure had a lot of fun! The hill takes less than 30 seconds on a good sled on the way down,  no guarantees on how long it will take to climb back up! We'll be at the park again tomorrow (Sunday) around 3!!! It's a public place, you're welcome to come and play too!...

I'm still trying to regroup after our vacation and to de-clutter our home and classroom!   I'm sure I'll have new stuff to share soon, but until then... Here is one of my favorites from the archives!  I originally posted this last January. I'm sure we will soon have enough snow for our new and improved sled run!!! There have been some questions and discussion among some of my blogging/internet friends in regard to male involvement in early childhood settings. We have found, for the most part, the men in this field are far and few between. We have an amazing assistant caregiver here (and I'm not just saying that because he's my husband..... ) Mr. Allan. This past week has been nuts. Both Dane and I have been out sick for portions of it, and Mr. Allan has made sure to keep things on track for all of our little friends. In fact, this past weekend, while Dane and I were all snuggled up in bed reading books and watching movies he was outside shoveling the pi...

Although the ground hog indicated an early spring, those of us around here aren't holding our breath. We still have those lovely white flakes falling from the sky and temperatures that aren't climbing.... Our long winter months necessitate constant creativity and ingenuity when it comes to keeping busy and trying to get outside, even if it is only for a few minutes at a time! If you have been following along, you will see that we have been very busy playing in our snow ! I have a ton of fun activities to share for later winter, but that requires it to warm up enough for our snow to be "sticky." Right now, it is pretty hard to form our snow into much of anything! So, this week, after inspiration from the Boyscout's cardboard classic , we decided to take the challenge and make our own sleds out of cardboard and tape. Our little ones weren't into redesigning the cardboard boxes, but instead opted to decorate them with markers. They decide that we needed to tape u...

Who said outdoor swimming pools were just for use in the summer time? I know that up until this year, we only used our pool outside in the summer. After a great workshop from Dan Hodgins , I learned that you can use swimming pools outside in the winter too: They make great winter sleds! Their size gives children a great opportunity to work together. We are still in the "testing" phase with this wonderful idea! So far, we have learned that the pools work best when the trail is made from really compact snow. The pool does not slide as fast as some of our other sleds. Our " butt" slide is much steeper than the hill we sled on at the park, and the pool works much better on the "butt" slide. Have you ever used a pool as a sled? If so, we'd love to hear your recommendations as we continue to test and perfect our pool sledding technique :).

We have made a lot of changes to our outdoor play area, but when winter comes.... it is hard to tell in the snow! This is what "lake effect" snow looks like: Our music area. (I had considered moving it in for the winter, but thought we would try it out in the snow.... The drum and stumps are now covered.) There won't be any mud pies for a couple of months, although some snow pies may be in the works...... All of this snow came within the last 24 hours. We've been out shoveling. We love living on a hill..... When the snow from the parking pad is shoveled, We have a great "butt" slide. We call it a "butt" slide because we have to go down on our bottoms. We save the sleds for the park where we don't have to worry about the fence :). Although, sometimes it is just as fun to go down on our bellies! It was a great day to test out the new snow, I'm sure all of our daycare friends will be itching to get out there tomorrow too! I'm sure we...

"Tell me, what is it that you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?" - Mary Oliver We spent Thanksgiving Day at home and had our big family dinner this weekend at my parent's house. My dad is notorious for smiley faces. Here is a giant one he put out in the field. We don't have enough snow at home for sledding yet, so Dane and his cousins had a lot of fun sledding for the first time this season. Scooby was really enjoying the snow too! Winter has arrived. Now, the question is, do we put up a Christmas Tree this year??? (We leave for Denmark in 18 days.... )