Our Day at the Artisan Fair and Recipe for Licorice Play Dough!

Today we brought some hand made goods and crafts & toys to the artisan fair at Laughing Buck Farm.  We had a wonderful time!

Rowan helped me prepare yesterday by sanding a bowl that I was to sell as part of a kids' kitchen set.  Thanks, buddy!

And Fynn helped make popcorn so we wouldn't starve while getting all our craft fair stuff ready.  I can't believe how helpful these kids have been lately. Sheesh!

When we first arrived this morning, Cinnamon, the chicken hopped in our car and buried herself in Rowan's blanket.  Fynn thought that was hysterical! Which is amazing, because last time we came he was scared to death of the chickens (and dogs).

Once out of the car, Fynn and Rowan were free to run around and discover, and watched out for each other pretty well.

"I really love this pumpkin," Rowan said.

Our table set-up.

Custom made primitive shoes.

Rico's hand carved spoons and dinosaurs.

Wooden hamburger.

Kids' kitchen wooden knives.

Kids' kitchen spoons... happily sold to our good friends, Jesse and Meadow!

Pumpkin hat & mittens.

We had the pleasure of being stationed next to Miss Misty Moon, hula hoop extraordinare! Rico and the kids had tons of fun playing with hula hoops all day. (I don't hula hoop, you see.)

Here is an interesting way to play with hula hoops...

Here is our Invitation to Play area ~ we had acorns in a basket, painted red, yellow and green for sorting, some books, some apple sensory dough, and the famous wooden letter blocks.  Between our play area and the hula hoops, our corner of the fair had a grand old time!

I gave a demonstration on how to make Spooky Licorice Play Dough, and it was so much fun! I'm pretty sure the kids had as much fun as I did :) We made spiders out of our play dough using googly eyes and sticks.

As you can see, they came up with some pretty cool creations! One kid even made a unicorn!

Here's my Spooky Licorice Play Dough Recipe:

1 C. flour
1/4 C. salt
1 tsp. cream of tartar
1 TBsp veg. oil
1/2 C. boiling water or water in which star anise has been steeped (star anise tea)
1/4 C. black tempera paint
a few drops anise oil (found in baking section of craft store)
more flour for dusting

Combine dry ingredients, then stir in veg. oil, boiling water or tea, and paint.  Next, stir in anise oil till it smells anise-y (licorice-y). Add more flour 1/8 C. at a time till it doesn't stick to fingers anymore, then knead into a smooth consistency.  Store in airtight container.  Crafts take a few days to dry, turn to dry evenly.  Even after they're dry, they will still smell wonderful! My house has smelled like anise for days!

***
Laughing Buck Farm is a wonderful place. We didn't even get pictures of the awesome Hay Barn where the kids can swing on swings and climb huge stacks of hay bales, or the orchard where our friend Jesse got to help press gallons and gallons of apple juice.  My kids (especially Fynn) have been doing so well this past week, and I think it's because of all the farm-visiting we've been doing.  And he's come such a long way since the Artisan Fair last year.  Last year he was paralized by fear of dogs and we had a really long, rough day.  Today, he did so many independent things and was really stepping up to being an almost-seven-year-old!  Thank God!

And thank you Miss Rosemary and Miss Angela and all at Laughing Buck Farm for running such a fun event!

~Beth

Families In Action Retreat

This weekend we had the opportunity to participate in something really awesome. It was the Families in Action Retreat put on by The Arc for families of kids with developmental/ intellectual disabilities. We weren't really sure what to expect, but we are so glad we went!

There were so many wonderful things about this event. Here is the view out the window of the (first) room where we stayed. This is at the YMCA in Estes Park, Colorado. The mountains set the backdrop for the entire weekend. What a beautiful place!

We got to meet so many amazing families from different backgrounds! There was a woman who has raised her two autistic sons who now live on their own and are in their sixties... There was a mom who spoke alongside a daughter who had had severe disabilities when she was younger but had gotten through them and was even volunteering in the child care... One family had adopted a son who they later found out had severe disabilities and they shared their story of hope with us... There was one family who mother, father, and child all had autism and they told how this retreat gave them hope and a new beginning... just to list a few.

A great thing about this retreat is that everyone was so accepting. And there were so many awesome kids there! All kinds of kids! Everything from severely disabled to kids with no disabilities at all. And they all played together, and you couldn't really tell who was who most of the time. Everyone was included, and no one was left out. There were no "oddball" kids, no teasing, no bullying.

There were a lot of wonderful talks, and it was great meeting all those families, and the food was good too, but the real highlight for me was the child care. The volunteers were awesome accepting people who were willing to do whatever it took to help those kids. Kids had assigned buddies who were dedicated to make it a great time for them. The volunteers were young and old, typical AND disabled, which I thought was really cool! There were so many fun things to do~ bubbles and sidewalk chalk, giant bouncy balls, a sensory room (down time), blocks, books, stuffed animals, blanket tents, parachute games, museum and library, swimming pool and playground, painting and coloring... so kids could really choose what made them feel good.

I was really proud of Rowan for actually going to his "class" in the mornings. That was a first for him. I was so happy for Fynn because I could tell he was having an AWESOME time with his buddies. They really treated him so special. Actually, all of the volunteers treated all of the kids so special.  After living in a world where you're always the naughty kid in the class, this is what these kids really need. That is why this is the highlight of my weekend. This is something I want to take home with me. This is what EVERY kid deserves EVERY day~ to be understood, to be treated like they really matter, to have their needs met...

Here's a pic of Fynn painting a ceramic Tyrannosaurus. He hasn't wanted to paint anything in a long time, but when we picked him up that day, there it was. He also painted a whale piggy bank.

(This is Fynn holding a huge elk antler at the museum. His buddies took a lot of pics. Rowan didn't go with his buddies so much, so less pics.  We didn't take any pics cause there was no time!)

Like I said, everyone was accepted and included. Each kid was known for something. Everyone was special. Fynn became known as the dinosaur kid because he took his stuffed Brachiosaurus with him everywhere.  An older kid was known for wearing a dinosaur hat all the time. One little guy became known as "Elevator Man" because all he wanted to do was ride the elevator up and down. (And that was perfectly fine!) Even Rico became known for his unique shoes :) (Sorry this was the only pic I could find of you!)

It was so wonderful for us parents to let our guard down because we were in a safe environment where we knew no one would judge our parenting skills, no one would judge our kids because of their behavior; we were all in the same boat. One time, during a talk a bunch of kids started yelling right outside the door (I think one of them was actually Fynn) and then a huge round table rolled into the room. And it was no problem! People just laughed. No big deal, anything goes here.

 After the first night at the retreat, when we woke up we found water everywhere. It turned out that a water line in the wall had broke and we had to relocate. Fynn and Rowan called this "The Tidal Wave".  On the last day, before everyone left, Fynn and a friend were sliding down what they called "The Rock Slide". It was just a dirt path on a steep hill that was formed when they slid down it.  When I asked Fynn what his favorite things were that happened this weekend he told me:

1. The Rock Slide
2. The Tidal Wave

So, there you go.

There are so many more wonderful things that were talked about or that happened at the retreat, but I'll stop here. If we acquire any more pics from the retreat we'll post those as well.

Later! ~Beth

Fynn's Photographs

Each person has their own unique outlook on life, which is just as valid as our own.

We can never really know what th' world looks like through someone elses eyes, which is why it is so important to take th' time to listen to and try to understand others. They see things that you may not, or in a way you may not have considered. And when we see things from different points of view we get a more complete understanding of life. 

It has always been difficult for us to get a sense of how th' world looks and feels to Fynn. So we gave him th' camera a few times and let him take photos of what ever he wanted. 

He took some really neat pictures, which have helped us to make a bit of sense of his perspective. 

We found a few themes in his photos- namely, contrast, and close up focus. He's always been fascinated with shadows, and light and dark. And he loves to get right up close to anything he likes, including your face. So, without psychoanalyzing too much, here's some of his photos, as well as a video we put together.

and here's a link to the video !

Enjoy