Our Little Corner

Moments from our week

2012-02-10T14:16:00.002-05:00

Are you tired of seeing pictures of Kenna and her babies yet? There aren't too many times when her pals aren't with her. Now she is very much into having me photograph her with her babies. This shot was completely set up by her. Such a funny girl!

On one of the mornings where the three younger ones were involved in a game of "real life", they created this wagon for all the babies. While they seemed pretty satisfied with it, I was also instructed that they needed a baby wagon with wheels. I suppose that would work a bit better than a basket.

Evidence of what happens when Kenna gets a hold of a ball of yarn and some scissors. She is all about the scissors lately. I usually sweep up several scissor scrap piles a day. And now it is extending to tags on her clothes. She wants them all cut off. I am just waiting for the day she sports a new haircut!

There has also been lots of music playing this week. Very upbeat songs are being played by all sorts of instruments-guitar, recorder, pan flute, drums...Hmm we may have a family band in the making.

It appears that after all these months (and when I am most ready for spring) winter has come. We have been needing to bundle up in many layers for our morning walk, even bringing a blanket to provide and extra layer of warmth. I think I am the only one who minds the cold though!

We have a busy weekend ahead of us, but I am hoping we can also squeeze in some relaxing downtime and some Valentine crafting as well. Bring on the glitter!

For the babies

2012-02-06T20:50:00.002-05:00

When the kids were away last week, I took advantage of the quiet to sew up a few things for the babies in the house. The kids had been asking me for quite some time to make their babies more clothes and to be honest, I was putting it off b/c sewing is still something I feel so inadequate about. But I am slowly trying to change that...slowly. Anyways, after doing some searching online, I found a simple enough tutorial here that would work for Molly, who happens to be 12". My first attempt at the peasant top resulted in one that had unfinished hems around the arms (which I could have hand sewn, but I don't really enjoy hand sewing) and was a bit tight/short. So I made a larger one with finished hems and it fits much better. Still not perfect, but good enough.

I also made two diapers, using the same blog as a tutorial, out of some extra flannel. The off white one is Molly's and once Parker saw that she had a diaper, he wanted one for Kennedy. Happy to make another, since these were super duper quick and easy, I used an old receiving blanket of Kenna's to make the striped one. I think I will also make a matching nightie as well. I think ;-)

And Kennedy happened to be the only baby in need of a sweater, so I knit this one up a few weekends ago. I chose brown to match Parker's christmas sweater and he was really happy about that. The sweater is the Poppy Cardigan and it is knit top down so no seaming!

There has been lots of doll play with the boys again. It sure does make this mama happy to see how loved their babies are. And now there are lots of plans for Daddy to make some more beds and it seems every baby needs their own changing table/wardrobe.

my apologies for the bad pictures...it has been cold, wet and dreary for the last several days!

Behind the Lens-photos by Blake

2012-02-03T07:00:00.000-05:00

Our Candlemas Celebration

2012-02-02T20:30:00.000-05:00

Up until this year, Candlemas (Imbolc, Brigit, Groundhog Day) had always been one of those festivals celebrated in Waldorf tradition that just didn't quite resonate with me. Like most holiday/festivals, its roots can be traced back to both Pagan and Christian beliefs, but most of what I came across was based on the church and its religious meaning. However, recently I stumbled across another interpretation that finally made sense to me! In other cultures, Candlemas is honored as the first (unofficial) day of spring. It marks the half way point between the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox. Farmers would traditionally start preparing their fields for crops, turning the soil, etc. It is the time of "stirring of the seeds"- remembering that while it may appear Mother Earth is sleeping on the surface, underneath new life is preparing to spring forth. This seemed a fitting way to honor this day as we are noticing bits of spring already. So, with that in mind, we started a new tradition in honoring Mother Earth and what is happening in our surroundings on this day!

Already, daffodils are in bloom in our yard, so I cut some blooms and placed them on the mantle as well as cleared off some of the "old" winter nature items. This root child also came out and I hope to needlefelt some more soon to add to the mantle.

We have also been noticing more, um, activity with the birds so we thought now would be a great time to set out some nesting material. I have been saving some bits of wool and we also collected some dried coconut husks to add to a suet cake holder. The squirrels have already been stealing the coconut husk liner from my planter baskets so why not put some aside for the birds?!

The kids were also inspired to work some more on their children's garden. The rebuilt the retaining wall to make the garden longer and have even sectioned it off a bit "for flowers, bushes and plants". I love how much enthusiasm they have towards gardening.

I set Blake to work making some simple candle holders. He just hammered a nail into the center of a cedar tree cookie. We have done these in the past, but this was the first time he made them entirely by himself.

Here is a better view of the new and improved garden!

Kenna helped me clear out the planting bed on the side of the house. With the temps reaching 70 degrees today, we couldn't help but feel anxious to work in the dirt! Oh, what dreams we have for this bed!

In addition to daffodils, the tulips are also popping up. This is a photo by Blake. He actually took many today and I am planning on posting it to the blog in a seperate post. They are quite good! He just kept saying how much he loved taking pictures and I always love seeing how they view the world through the lens.

And of course we couldn't celebrate Candlemas without making candles! I purchased this natural beeswax candle kit from A Toy Garden. We have made similar candles in the past, but this was the first time we use natural colored as opposed to colored. You can see Blake's candle holders above. If the candle is rolled tight enough, the nail works perfectly to hold the "taper" in place. The kids really loved eating our meal by candlelight, using the candles they created. In fact, we had candles lighting up the whole house. It created such a magical feeling that set a wonderful tone for the rest of the evening!

There were a few things planned that we did not get to, but of course there is always next year! It was a simple celebration, but as always with children, simple usually has a profound effect.

Moments from the week

2012-01-27T20:14:00.000-05:00

It was a full week, but a wonderful week!

There was lots of playing with babies

Watching in amazement as a Red Tailed Hawk perched in our neighbors tree for hours and then saying hi to our friend the very next morning on our walk

Kneading, squishing, rolling, cutting homemade playdough

A trip to the library to add to our already large stack of books in rotation

Taking in the beauty of these late winter sunsets. A moment to pause and breath before the bustle of nightime routines

Enjoying homemade pretzels (recipe found in the Waldorf Kindergarten Snack book)

Hauling and stacking stone bricks, filling of dirt, placing plants and watering the new children's garden (all work done by Jacob and Parker)

Ending the dreary, mostly rainy week with a glorious warm spring-like day...windows open, fresh air ushering out the stale air of winter

The kids left this afternoon to enjoy a long visit with grandma and papa. It is always a strange feeling-the house feeling so empty, quiet. Something I enjoy for a bit, but usually quickly long for the bustle of children about me. I am hoping to get more progress done with Blake's sweater as well as some small sewing projects done (and maybe start some bigger ones) and of course, there is lesson planning and house chores that need to be done. Tomorrow, Peter and I will go see a movie in the theatre...something we haven't done in years and years! It looks like it is going to be a great weekend indeed!

Around Here

2012-01-24T19:25:00.001-05:00

It has been gray, rainy and cold for what seems like weeks now (really it has only been almost a week, but for this mama who is sooo affected by sun or lack thereof, it feels like forever!). But we have been managing to keep ourselves busy none-the-less. Some form of baking occurs several times a week, usually muffins or occasionally cookies in addition to our weekly bread making. And I never have a shortage of help in the kitchen. Parker and MaKenna especially enjoy baking with me and I try to let them do everything themselves. Kenna has now started to ask before we start, no matter what we are making, "do we need to knead it mama?" Kneading is her favorite part...and mine too :-) As of late, we enjoyed chocolate chip banana muffins and chocolate chip butternut squash muffins.

And most often than not, sink play follows up baking...naturally. The other day, MaKenna discovered the wonder that is the sink sprayer. I made the mistake of leaving the kitchen only to return to a mini flood. Lesson learned ;-)

This morning the boys and I were busy with main lessons and I looked over to see Kenna occupying herself with the basket of embroidery floss. Usually, she tangles up a bunch of floss or grabs some only to cut it up into tiny pieces. But she sat there for at least a half hour and I couldn't for the life of me figure out why she was so happily busy until I noticed...she had gotten a hold of a tapestry needle and threaded it! She told me she "licked it and stuck it through". Blake and I were super impressed and asked her if she wanted to make a button necklace. She said yes and we both picked out buttons while she threaded them through. The only help she needed was tying a knot at the end! And she was so proud of her necklace, as was I! Grandparents, be prepared for gifts in the future, this girls has plans!

Jacob and Parker have been engaging in lots of imaginary play as of late. I love seeing what sorts of plans they work out and how they go about the house busily collecting everything they need. Today, an elaborate log cabin was constructed complete with enough fire wood to last through the winter and a garden large enough to have enough food for them to eat. They worked hard at stacking firewood pile after firewood pile and even reconstructed the whole thing after baby sister accidentally fell into their home.

And I suppose all that talk of gardening inspired some real garden play in the yard. Today the clouds parted, the sun came out and treated us to some warm weather which was perfect for getting out the shovels and hoes and playing in the mud. What started as a simple digging up of the yard soon led into grand plans of a children's garden. I was told they would plant all sorts of vegetable plants, including ones I like to eat like tomatoes, a banana and an apple tree. Tomorrow, there is more gardening work to be done and I am starting to feel the need to dig in the earth too. Soon enough, we will be sowing seeds in earnest.

Can you read what the sign says? "please don't come in". Jacob wrote that...it was mostly meant for me. The little kids had set up a cargo room in the school room and it was all blocked off with chairs and jump ropes. I am not sure exactly what a cargo room is, but the school table was covered with rocks, shells, feathers, nuts, and gems. I was informed on several occasions not to come in. Then a little while later Jacob was walking around with two cats following him, Treats and Pretty. They seemed like nice cats. They certainly didn't cause as much trouble as Chloe.

This week, we are finishing up our math block before moving on to Norse Myths with Blake and a late winter nature block with Jacob. The kids are also being wisked away to my parents for 5 days! I have lots of plans for while they are gone...decluttering, sewing, lesson planning, dates with Peter, knitting, knitting, knitting on Blake's birthday sweater and possibly a bit of painting. But I know I will miss them terribly as well. It always is too quiet when they are gone.

Handmade Holiday: Christmas III

2012-01-18T20:13:00.001-05:00

I am finally posting the last of the homemades albeit almost a month later, but oh well! The first gift that was off the needles was a sweater for MaKenna. It is the Tiny Tea Leaves pattern knitted up in Cascade 220. She chose the yarn herself on a trip to a local LYS with Daddy <3 This was the first sweater I had ever knitted, besides a few smallish ones for the dolls. I am really proud of how it turned out despite a few mistakes. I did a few alterations to the pattern- the neck is knitted using size 5 needles to tighten up the neckline a bit and I also knitted the sleeves and body full length. I am hoping this will get her through the next year as a full size sweater and then after that, she will be able to wear it as the pattern calls for (3/4 sleeves and shorter bodied). I am waiting on the buttons. I ordered some white ones with etched flowers on them and will compare them to a plum button I have to see which I like better. I don't know why, but I always have a hard time deciding on the finishing touches! Thankfully, she loves the sweater even without buttons, but I know she will be even happier when they are on.

For Blake and Jacob, I knitted them simple beanie style caps and a pair of matching mittens. Again, these both were first time knitted projects for me! I used to have a strong despise towards double pointed kneedles...I always felt awkward using them, but after knitting these up, I found I actually like knitting with them! The boys wear their hats just about everyday and Blake even wears his around the house <3 Unfortunately, it hasn't been cold enough for a lot of mitten wear, but they do wear them on our morning walks.

The last mama knit was a sweater for Parker. This is a Henley Raglan Pullover by knitting pure and simple. I used Berroco Ultra Alpaca in chocolate brown (love this yarn!). I am also waiting on buttons for this, but have decided on a wooden button which I think will look very sweet. I really wanted to take a picture of Parker wearing this, but he said he didn't want me to take his picture and so I didn't. But maybe someday he will change his mind...he really does look very nice in it!

I had wanted to knit up a sweater for both Jacob and Blake as well, but seeing how I would have had to knit day and night to do that, I decided I would save my sanity and hold off for another occasion. I have plans to make Blake the same sweater in a blue and will probably wait to make Jacob's in fall. We will see!

Parker's Birthday Party

2012-01-18T15:36:00.001-05:00

Yes, I am most certainly behind on blogging, again. But for good reason this time (other than lack of just not wanting to take the time to do it). Peter ended up with a horrible tooth infection that led to oral surgery last week and was pretty much out of commission for an entire week. Thankfully, he has made a full recovery and we are all back to good health.

On to the party...it was a beautiful January day! Thankfully so as we had a lot of kids. Parker wanted to invite all of the families that belong to our homeschooling group and they were all able to come! As I said before, this was his first "real" birthday party, so he was pretty excited.

Even when we host birthday parties, we tend to keep it pretty simple and "old school". Some of the kids had never played musical chairs before and it turned out to be one of the highlights of the party. I was expecting them to only want to play once or twice, but after three rounds, we convinced them to move on to something else.

Since it was his special day, Parker got to decide the order of events and he chose gift opening. Our group always comes up with such thoughtful gifts...he received modeling dough, yarn for finger knitting, jars of feathers and bottlecaps, books, a pan flute (from my parents!), a card game and a little matchbox car. He couldn't have been happier!

For his birthday cake, he requested a homemade ice cream cake made by Daddy. He was very specific on the design...a falcons symbol (which is slightly ironic as he really doesn't even like football, but sometimes big brothers' influence is too great). It was a vanilla and chocolate layered "cake" with hot fudge in the middle. And not one bit was left :-)

My parents made the drive up for the day and as always, they brought their little mini schnauzer with them. I thought this moment was too sweet to miss- all the little girls surrounding Bandit and giving him some love! At one point my mom had to gently remind them to leave him alone as he was starting to feel a bit anxious. I remember being the same way as a little girl and of course I now have one of my own <3

All in all, it was a great day, but I do believe this will be his last big party. My boy is still a bit reserved and I think having all those kiddos over left him feeling a bit out of sorts. Even though he is six (!) he really does play well with the younger crew and I love him so much for that!

Handmade Holiday: Christmas Part II

2012-01-08T21:30:00.000-05:00

I wanted to share with you some of the gifts Peter and I made for the kids this Christmas. For MaKenna (well all the kids really), he made a fridge to go with the play kitchen. It couldn't have been more perfect timing...just a few days before Christmas Blake announced that we "need a fridge" to go with the play kitchen. I just smiled and said "mmm-hmm, we sure do". But it turns out the fridge is also a great place to stash babies. Sometimes as I am tidying up, I find a baby or two taking a little nap in there ;-)

The boys and I also dyed playsilks for MaKenna. Several of our playsilks had gone missing (I am afraid they accidentally made their way into a Goodwill box) and I knew this would be a fun and simple gift to make. I had never dyed silks before, but I found a great tutorial here. I purchased the 8mm silk scarves from Dharma Trading company. This was such a great experience, we plan on dyeing more silks in the spring!

One of the handmades I made for Kenna was a pair of flannel lined corduroy pants. I am not going to lie and say this was a great experience...there was a few seam ripping, some naughty laungage, a fight or two with my machine, but two days of blood, sweat and tears and they were done! My first pair of pants (or any garment) sewn by me! I couldn't have done them without Kate's help. She was able to show me how to actually get the flannel lining sewn into the pants correctly. The pattern is her own based off of the reversible pants pattern in Handmade beginnings. I think if I can get over the trauma of it all, I may make her another pair in the future. They are pretty cute.

don't look too closely at that hem! The cuff fabric reminded me of the sweet fabrics from my childhood.

After seeing these snack boards here and here, I knew our kids would love to have one. Daddy came up with each of the design and he did a fabulous job at matching them up with the kids' personality. Blake loved his so much he said he didn't want to use it! The fish is Blake's, the strawberry is Kenna's, the apple is Parker's and the watermelon is Jakey's. He woodburned all the details and they are sealed with a food safe sealent.

I have one more post rounding out the last of the gifts and they are of all the mama knits!

From our week

2012-01-06T19:56:00.001-05:00

This week we experienced some of the coldest temps this winter which kept us indoors. It only lasted a few days, but it was enough to spark some new play in the kids. We also started back up with homelearning which meant easing back into our rhythm. There were a few bumps as to be expected, but for the most part, it was a most welcomed change after the busy holiday season.

lots of games involving costumes were played this week

there was also some music making

and a birthday party for a very special girl!

we started working with fractions for our math block with Blake (which he loved!)

and he spent the rest of his days buried in a Harry Potter book

Kenna has been playing with the babies a lot as of late. She is such a sweet little mama!

and there was a little bit of crafting too-homemade pomanders filling our living room with the sweet and spicy aroma

when the mild weather returned, we headed outdoors and noticed the daffodils are coming up already! I am not sure when they will bloom. This winter has been so warm, it's strange.

This weekend will be a busy one. We are having a belated birthday party for Parker. His first real birthday party and he is really excited!

Handmade Holidays: Christmas Part I

2012-01-03T22:04:00.000-05:00

The kids and I had so much fun making gifts this year for our family! I have to say that this was the first year where they came up with their own ideas and followed through to completion ON THEIR OWN. They were excited about not only coming up with the perfect gift, but buying materials and then making them as well. Handmade gifts really are the best you know.

I gifted my mom with three knitted washcloths and some local made lavendar soap (that smelled so yummy I almost kept it for myself, ha). Blake actually knitted a few rows on the red/white washcloth too, but I think he lost interest. My mom loved them so much she requested kitchen towels as well (I will get on that soon, mom!)

Both Jacob and Parker wanted to make picture frames for poppa. They cut the wood themselves (with Daddy's supervision) glued and assembled the pieces and then decorated them. Daddy took some pictures of the kids to go in the frames. Pictures are always a well received gift in my family.

Blake made a woven bookmark for poppa. He picked out this really pretty purpley-pink wool yarn and then used a cardboard "loom" to create the bookmark. This was a such a simple project even a younger one could have done by themselves as well.

For grandma, Blake sewed a cute little tea towel. Again, he did everything from picking out the fabrics, to layout and sewing of the towel. This was the first time he had used my sewing machine and was a pro pretty quickly! I love how easy it is for children to just envision something and then make it happen.

Not pictured (besides completed gifts b/c this mama forgot to take pictures of that, oops) are some sculpey creations that Parker and Jacob made for grandma. If I remember correctly, they made her a butterfly and some snails. This was the first time we have used sculpey and it was a lot of fun!

Handmade Holidays: Parker's Birthday

2011-12-31T11:41:00.002-05:00

This year, Peter and I worked hard to give Parker a completely handmade birthday. I had started thinking about what I was going to make him back in summer (as I tend to do!) and began to gather materials since the beginning of December. I was lucky enough to come across some out of print Heather Ross gnome material very cheaply and pounced on the chance. After seeing it, I knew it was destined to become something of Parker's and that is how the first mama-made pants were "born"! It was easier than I thought it would be thanks to a little help- my friend Kate and Soulemama's Creative Family book. The main fabric is an organic cotton twill, also purchased on sale at fabric.com.

He loves these pants!!! He wore them all day and slept in them and then wore them all the next day before I finally convinced him to take them off so I could wash them (and hopefully get out some outdoor stains...what was I thinking getting a light color!). I still have quite a bit of the gnome fabric left so I think some more (darker!) pants are in the works as well maybe making its way onto a shirt.

close up of the fabric- so cute!

I also needed to make Parker a birthday crown. I was instructed to use Christmas colors and he wanted a gnome and a squirrel needlefelted on it. I think I did a good job of making it to his specifications without it being completely reminiscent of Christmas. He also wore his crown all day for several days, which makes this mama so happy!

Daddy was given specific instructions to make him a bottlecap holder. I wasn't sure how Peter was going to do that, but he came up with a very clever shelf. The mason jar is perfect for keeping his bottlecaps alltogether (or feathers!) and the two little hooks hold special items. Right now, he is using it to hang his soccer medal from.

My boy love, love, loves the Tiptoes Lightly series so I knew I had to make him a little playset so he could live out the stories in real life. Tiptoes is needlefelted wool wrapped around cotton pipecleaners so her arms are moveable. I found the tutorial for the Jeremy mouse pattern here

Making Pinecone and Pepperpot was my most challenging gift of the season. I am not so great at handsewing miniatures and I would be lying if I said I loved making them, but I am pretty pleased with how they turned out. For the future though, I believe I will stick with making big dolls! These guys have a cotton interlock head and hands. Their wool felt clothes cover wool wrapped cotton pipecleaners (so they are bendy) and they have wooden base feet. The other night as I was tucking Parker into bed, I pulled back the covers and there was the playset laying there. My heart swelled as in our family, only most prized posessions make it to the "hiding in the bed" status!

Parker's final handmade gift was a backpack. While I had every intention of sewing one myself, I also realized my own limitations (and time constraints) and found a great seller on etsy. This is the exact style I had been wanting to make him so it worked out perfectly! For those wondering, the seller is Bratpacks and she is great!

It may seem odd that a homeschooler would need a backpack, but for those of you who know Parker he is a hoarder of sorts, always putting stuff in bags and baskets. I knew this cute backpack would be perfect as he could tote all his goods wherever he wanted to.

Despite being sick, I do believe this was one of Parker's best birthdays. He kept saying how much he loved everything and I know he knew a lot of love went into his presents!

When things don't go as planned

2011-12-30T13:58:00.003-05:00

In the week leading up to Christmas, the kids and I had plans, lots of plans. Plans to make gifts for neighbors and craft ornaments for the tree. Plans to bake cookies for Santa and plans to make treats for the birds. Plans to celebrate Solstice with our homeschooling community and participate in the annual spiral walk. But all those plans got set aside.

egg carton ornaments-tutorial found on the Crafty Crow

Unfortunately for us this year, illness plagued our family for the past two weeks. First it started with a head cold that left some of us pretty out of sorts for a few days and causing us to miss our very much anitcipated celebration with our homeschool group. Daddy and I did our best to make sure everyone was being taken care of while also feverishly finishing up Christmas and Birthday gifts.

our tree on Christmas Eve all ready to go

MaKenna wearing Parker's birthday crown and admiring new snack boards

The day of the winter Solstice turned out to be a grey, rainy day. We had no bonfire, we didn't make any treats for the birds as we have done in the past. We spent the day cozied up inside, playing and doing our best to not be disappointed.

Kenna got a new apron from Santa- it matches mama's!

playing with the new castle my dad made

Then on Friday, the little kids came down with a stomach bug. Poor Parker was miserable on his birthday. He couldn't even enjoy eating some birthday cake! I think he managed to have a good day despite feeling really bad.

one of Parker's birthday gifts was Glob paint- plant based paint and it is wonderful!

enjoying new games in front of the fire

So Christmas was very low key. The day was spent in our pajamas, getting little ones tummies to feel better and enjoying each other's company. Not exactly how I imagined we would spend our day, but very wonderful none-the-less. We could have sulked and complained and spent the time dwelling on what didn't happen, but instead, we took what was given to us and made the best of it. And it turned just fine!

Celebrating Parker

2011-12-29T20:03:00.001-05:00

Six years ago on Christmas Eve, I gave birth to my third son. It was an experience that changed my life in more ways than I could imagine! And here we are, six years later, honoring and celebrating this special soul that came into our lives and brought us such joy!

It has been such an honor mothering this boy who brings so many smiles to his family. I have watched him blossom from this shy, somewhat reserved child to a confident, fearless young child- knowing all the time that he would show the world his heart when he was ready. We are forever grateful to have you in our lives and love you more than words can say. Happy Birthday my sweet Parker!

The Tree

2011-12-20T19:48:00.000-05:00

About a week and a half ago, we headed up to the foothills to cut our own Christmas tree. This was the second time we had cut our own since we moved here and both times have been such a great experience! There is nothing like searching the rows of trees trying to find the perfect one, the one that speaks to you and says "pick me!". This was the first time visiting this particular farm and we went during the week, so we pretty much had the place to ourselves (yay!). The farm is owned by a very sweet old couple and just has that old-time charm feel to it. As soon as we got out, we were greeted by about 5 dogs and one even followed us into the field (and later joined us on our picnic!). We spent about 15 minutes weaving in and out between the trees and then we finally all agreed on one of the smaller trees. The boys all helped to cut it and then Daddy carried it to be wrapped and loaded on top of the van. I wish I had gotten a picture of Peter carrying the tree, but my arms were full with a toddler. It really looked like a tree with legs and MaKenna couldn't stop laughing! After the tree was loaded up, we took some time to explore the farm...they had several goats, a potbelly pig, some chickens, and about a dozen turkeys roaming free. They also had a short trail that took you into a small wooded area and led down to a creek. The kids had fun running around and taking in the scenery. We ate a picnic lunch and then headed home. Later that evening, we set to work decorating the tree. It is always fun pulling out the ornaments and the memories that go along with them. They all have their favorites and those are usually the first ones to go on the tree (and most were given by my parents...another yearly tradition!). For a few days after the tree was up, MaKenna would grab some oranaments and tuck them away in special places- cabinets, under couch pillows, inside bags or baskets. You would never know when an ornament would turn up!

Traditions, Old and New

2011-12-19T20:17:00.004-05:00

Early in December, we wrapped up the gifts, loaded up the car and headed down to my parents home for our annual gift exchange/celebration. We tend to do Christmas early as it has become increasingly difficult to gather during the actual Christmas day with our family. Over the years, little traditions have emerged and have become something we all look forward to! One such tradition is going to a massive christmas light display in a nearby town. It is a pretty big deal and is always crowded, but fun none-the-less. So we all climb aboard a wagon and ooh and aah our way through the display, remembering our favorites from previous years. MaKenna is really at the age now where she is starting to "get it" and it has been so much fun watching her experience these things for the first time!

Another yearly tradition is the making of Christmas cookies with my mom. We always do sugar cookies so the kids can have a blast and decorate them as they wish. Some of them tend to take it pretty serious and have designs laid out while others just dump or pour many, many sprinkles on top.

These traditions have carried us through the season, serving as hallmarks for our time together. As the years go on, I have come to appreciate these moments and what they really mean for our family. This year has been an especially introspective year for me and there is always something about Winter that makes you draw even more within. What I love so much about the holidays is these moments together, but it always seemed to come and go in a blink of an eye! One way to prolong the season, as well as to slow it down, was the introduction of the advent wreath in our home. This year is the first year of our family celebrating Advent. A candle is lit each week in the four weeks leading up to Christmas (or Solstice).

In our home, our advent wreath honors each of the four kindoms-mineral, plant, animal and man. The kids and I chose items representing the appropriate kingdom and would add that to the center plate. At dinner time, we would like the candle (or candles) and say our advent verse.

The kids have embraced the advent wreath joyfully and looked forward to the lighting of each new candle as well as choosing items for the plate. Jacob even suggested that we eat our Christmas dinner by candlelight! I think I can positively say this is another tradition we will have to look forward to in years to come!

From our week

2011-12-16T17:43:00.000-05:00

the littles are enjoying a painting session with new art supplies

decorating with window crayons

MaKenna has recently started to show a greater interest in drawing. While it only lasts five minutes or so, she has oh so much fun creating beautiful pictures!

gift making for nieces and nephews

kneading candy cane playdough...another gift for nieces and nephews

finding space in kitchen cabinets to play

two(!) readers buried in books

enjoying the unseasonably warm temps while they last

finding friends in nature (a brown snake)

This week was a good week indeed! Most of it was spent at home, my favorite kind of days, creating, reading, playing, and just enjoying each other's company. The weather has been rather warm for December and so a good bit of our days were spent outside. It seems rather odd to me that we had windows open and spring bulbs emerging yet Christmas is in little over a week! The boys have desperately been wishing for snow, but it appears we may have t-shirt weather instead. This weekend will be full of gift making, both for Christmas and a very-soon-to-be six year old's birthday. We will also make time for some general holiday craftyness and savor the last weekend before all the celebrating begins (Hannukah, Solstice, Birthday and Christmas, oh my!).

Gratitude

2011-12-13T19:08:00.003-05:00

Thanksgiving came and went in a blink of an eye this year! We were fortunate to be able to spend the day with Aunt Kristen and Uncle Spencer this year. The kids were pretty excited and usually whenever company comes, the games come out. It was a great day full of much shared love, laughter and gratitude. And lots of delicious food!

*I am attempting to catch up with my blogging. This past month has been a very full month with lots of traveling, holiday parties, and gift making! As a result, this blog has been a bit neglected. So I will do my best to bring it up to date as well as share some of the things we have been making around here!

Martinmas

2011-11-12T20:41:00.001-05:00

The sunlight fast is dwindling,

My little lamp needs kindling.

Its beam shines far in darkest night.

Dear Lantern, guard me with your light.

wynstones, Autumn

Our Martinmas celebration was simple and lovely and felt just right. One of the traditions most loved in celebrating is the making of lanterns. This year, we modge-podged tissue paper to glass jars and covered them in glitter. I had also brought out some of our lanterns from years past and they were lit during our dinner, creating such a soft glow in the room! After dinner, we bundled up and headed outside to walk through our neighborhood. The skies were clear and the moon was bright and we all marveled at the stars dotting the sky. It was a perfect ending to a wonderful evening.

Moments from our week

2011-11-12T20:25:00.001-05:00

It was a full week, but a good week! It always seems to take us a while to adjust during the time change, especially the kids. They were waking up about an hour earlier than they used to even though their bedtime was adjusted. This led to some crankier than usual moments, but by mid week, everything seemed to be getting back on track. Along with the shift in daylight, there has been a shift in our activities. The kids once again are gravitating towards more inward activities...lots and lots of creating. This is one of the many reasons I love this time of year!

painting plaster animals

modeling her new crown made by Blake

sewing a felt bag to hold treasures

making a felt bag to hold his belt loops

one of the many puppet shows the boys performed throughout the week

a restaurant where the chef's wear their pajamas

enjoying books by the fire

We are enjoying the slower pace these late autumn days bring before the busyness of the holiday season, which will be here all to soon!

The Gift of Togetherness

2011-11-10T20:26:00.001-05:00

One of the best gifts ever given to Peter and I happened last week. As I mentioned before, my mother-in-law had come down to visit us and the main reason for her visit was to watch the kids for us so Peter and I could getaway for a night in celebration of ten years of marriage. I am not going to lie and say we left them behind without hesitation. The fact is, this was the first time I was away from MaKenna overnight (or for more than a few hours really) since her birth. As most mothers are, I was worried she wouldn't handle the seperation very well. But she was in very good hands and had her brothers to help ease any anxiety (and as it turned out, she didn't miss us at all). So we packed our bags and headed to the mountains for a romantic getaway. And it was wonderful! We took in the views, did some early stocking stuffer shopping, ate wonderful meals at quant little local restaurants, held each others hand, relaxed in front of the fire and enjoyed uninterrupted conversation. Needless to say, the only pictures I took were of our visit to Grandfather Mountain. The day started out very gray, gloomy and wet and we debated back and forth whether or not to continue on as planned. In the end, we decided to go anyways and I am so glad we did. We spent several hours there enjoying the scenery, which was beautiful even in its foggy state. As we were leaving, the clouds parted and the sun began to peek out. We took a scenic route home and marveled at the beauty of the surroundings.

The pictures really don't do justice to how incredibly beautiful it was. As high as we were, the trees were already completely bare, but just below to the lower elevations, the foliage was in its peak colors. The hills were colored in reds, oranges and golds and I just kept saying "look at how beautiful it is". You couldn't help but be happy up there!

I am so grateful to Granny and Gramps for not only coming down and making the visit so fun for the kids but for also recognizing how important this time alone was for Peter and I. We love you!

Halloween and Granny's Visit

2011-11-08T19:28:00.000-05:00

We were lucky enough to have a visit from Granny and Gramps this past week. They arrived Halloween weekend and the whirlwind of fun began! They came all the way from NY to spend some time with the family as well as watch the kids so Peter and I could go away on an overnight trip to celebrate our 10th anniversary (more on that later).

One of the first activities we did was head over to a local corn maze/pumpkin patch. While the sun was shining, it was a very cold and windy day and everyone, adults included, were slightly miserable. We tried to make the most of it and it was free afterall. The corn maze was the highlight of the day for the boys and I think Kenna enjoyed the farm animals most (especially the chickens!)

After spending an hour or so wandering the farm, we took some hot chocolate to go and headed home. The rest of the day was spent reading and opening gifts (Hannukah came early this year!) and of course, crafting with Granny!

We also started carving our pumpkins. We tend to wait until the last minute so they don't shrivel and mold in our mild, southern weather. The boys are pretty much to the age where they can help with most of the carving process. They all pick their own designs, scoop out the guts and help transfer the image on the pumpkin by poking holes in the design.

That weekend also marked our annual Halloween potluck with our homeschooling group. I think for the first time in a long time, we got a group shot of the kids (a few families were missing). We all enjoy delicious home cooked dishes and then head out on to a trick or treat trail where the daddies hand out the (healthy) treats!

On Halloween night, I took the kids out for a short bit to trick or treat around the neighborhood. Kenna had so much fun and was not shy at all...she happily said trick or treat and thank yous. If you compare the photo below to the group shot above, you will notice both Jacob and Parker are wearing different costumes. They did the same thing last year. I think they have such a hard time deciding what to be, that they end up choosing to wear different costumes each night. And Kenna of course was a clown fish just as Parker and Jacob were when they were two.

The rest of the week was spent with lots of activities with Granny and Gramps. The kids spent time swimming in the hotel hot tub, painting pottery, bouncing at Monkey Joes, bowling, and visiting a local children's museum. They were exhausted, but a happy exhausted. I am so grateful they were able to have such a good time and create such wonderful memories with their grandparents that they don't see often enough!

To the Orchard

2011-11-06T12:09:00.001-05:00

In mid October, our homeschooling group headed up to the mountains to pick apples! This was our families first time at this particular orchard and it was well worth the two hour drive. Not only was it beautiful, but very family friendly with lots to see and do besides pick apples. We were the first family to arrive so we decided to try out the fresh made pumpkin and apple donhuts while waiting for everyone else. I can't attest to how they tasted (I cannot eat gluten or dairy), but seeing as they were devoured in about two minutes, I would venture to say they were good ;-)

The view was amazing and the weather couldn't have been more perfect. The leaves weren't quite at peek color, but gorgeous just the same. While it was a bit windy and chilly at the top of the orchard, down where we picked, it was perfect. We had to hike a bit to the back of the orchard to find the varieties that were ripe and ready for picking, but we had that section all to ourselves (yay!).

The kids filled the baskets fairly quickly and I am positive they would have picked about 5 or 6 bushels if we let them. After the picking was done, they played among the trees and we had a nice picnic in the orchard.

They also had a small farm animal area which was a highlight for Kenna. While she enjoyed looking at the sheep and the goats, the ducks were her favorite (this girl loves her birds!). The big kids were off playing in the bamboo forest and we wandered back and forth between the ducks and the goats for a bit before it was time to head on home. We enjoyed our time so much, I think this will be a new fall tradition for our family. All in all, we brought home a bushel and a half of apples and not one of them made it into a pie, cobbler or sauce! I am pretty sure MaKenna and Parker have eaten about 3-4 apples a day since we picked them and I think we have enough left to make one measly jar of sauce, that is if they don't get to them first.

Soccer!

2011-11-06T11:30:00.001-05:00

This fall, the boys had an opportunity to join a local homeschooling soccer league. Those of you who know me know I really prefer to spend my days at home and not running from one activity to the next. And the boys had been asking to join sports leagues this fall but just the thought of how much time it would take us away from the house (and the expense!) made me really hesitant to commit to anything. Thankfully, a good friend recommend this league and it worked out perfect. Not only was it free (!!), but the practice and games are held on the same day, same time for all three boys. We ended up missing the first two weeks of the season, but that didn't matter much to the boys and they jumped right in.

Jacob plays on a team of 6-7 year olds. He is in a red shirt on the right, in the middle of the pack of yellow players.

Jacob is on the left (with the black shorts)

Blake, in the blue, plays on a team of 8-9 year olds

Parker, the tall 5 year old in green in the middle

Parker

Blake

Jakey, in the middle with his shirt tucked in

Soccer day is one of the highlights of the week for the boys. I was unsure as to how my shy, reserved Parker would do, but he ran off to join his team like he had been playing for years with them. His coach is really nice and made him feel very welcomed which I think helped tremendously. All of them have done really well and their skills have improved greatly. They have made some new friends and have also had the opportunity to reconnect with some old friends. It has been wonderful being a part of a group that values good sportsmanship, skill building, and fun over competiveness! This week, we will have our last game of the season and I know the boys will miss it tremendously until they can dust off the soccer gear next fall!

Pink!

2011-10-04T23:52:00.000-04:00

A few weekends ago, Peter had some errands to run and I asked him to stop at the yarn store to pick up some yarn for a sweater I am making MaKenna. He asked her if she wanted to come with and, as always, she said yes. I have to say, I wasn't too suprised when they came home and she had picked out pink yarn. In MaKenna's world, everything pink is "pretty!". One of her favorite shirts is pink and she will pick it out every time if it is clean. She even has a pink book! It was gift from one of Peter's co-workers given to us back when she was born. It is called Pinkalicious and is about a little girl who loves pink cupcakes so much, she turns pink from eating too many. It is now her requested bedtime book and she will even read it to herself. Ah, yes. I think this is just the beginning of all things pink.

This is the start of that pink sweater. At least I know she will wear it! It is going to be a Christmas present, so I gave myself plenty of time to finish it. I am already almost done with the yoke. I can't wait to see it on her. She really does look good in this shade of pink. And mom, isn't it a bit deja vu? It is the same mauvey pink my room was plastered in growing up!

Crowder's Mountain

2011-10-04T20:14:00.002-04:00

Last week, we drove over to Crowder's Mountain for a hike. This was a "field trip" I had scheduled as we were wrapping up Blake's local geography block. Crowder's Mountain is one of only a few of the "mountains" found in the piedmont that once belonged to an ancient mountain chain that formed this area. It is only a short drive from our house and it give a great arial view of the area we live in. The boys had never been before, so I knew they would be pretty excited about it once we got to the top. We chose a short trail as the hike is pretty strenuous. The last time Peter and I hiked up it, we hiked about 6 miles. We knew there was no way the boys would be able to do that. It was a gorgeous day and the kids had fun spotting interesting things along the way. We also gathered lots and lots and lots of giant acorns! It was so hard not to take them all. Each one had its own unique appeal and we just kept saying "oooh, look at this one!". Once we got to the top, we spent a while enjoying the view and having a snack picnic. The boys were pretty impressed with the view and how much they could see. Blake was quick to point out one of the buildings he recognized from the Charlotte skyline. It was a great way to spend the afternoon and I think we will do it again soon when the foliage is at its peak (okay and to get some more acorns!)

this picture was taken with my zoom maxed out. Of course it is hazy as Charlotte has really poor air quality.

the view! You can't see the skyline in this picture, but it is from the same viewpoint that I shot the above picture!

the boys were also really impressed with all the rock formations

Welcome, Autumn!

2011-09-28T20:29:00.001-04:00

Autumn has officially arrived and I couldn't be happier! It is my most favorite season and I eagerly await its arrival every year. Last week, I switched out our seasonal mantle, putting away our summer things and replacing them with fall items. Now, pumpkins and squirrels, acorns and gourds, star lanterns and a harvest maiden adorn the mantle.

Peter gladly made three of these squirrels for our mantle display

my first needlefelted standing doll-a harvest maiden complete with her basket of apples

one of the paper star lanterns I made using the boys watercolor painting

On Saturday, we hosted a potluck with our homeschooling group, celebrating the autumn equinox. Mother Nature had her own plans as we had been going on day 7 of heavy rain and just minutes before everyone's arrival, my yard had been turned into a rushing creek! The kids didn't seem to mind though and headed outdoors later after the rain had stopped.

This was the first year that we included a few games into our gathering. I wasn't sure how the kids would feel about bobbing for apples, but they all participated eagerly and it was one of the highlights of the evening!

Peter and the boys drew this scarecrow for pin-the-hat on the scarecrow. It has to be one of the cutest scarecrows I have ever seen! We decided we should keep it up to enjoy for the rest of the season.

I could say that for the majority of my life, I went through the season's without paying much mind to what was happening around me. Even in my early years of motherhood, I never really took the time to notice the shifting of the season's, the small changes occuring not only in nature, but inwardly. Once I came across waldorf education 4 years ago, that all changed. I am amazed at how in tune I have become. I notice the change in the light that dances across my table in the evenings, how the tree in the front yard now has several leaves the color of crimson where last week, there was only one, how I feel the need to cozy up inside and knit and knit and knit, how my body is now craving soups and roasts as opposed to salads and fruits. It is an awareness that I no longer take advantage of. And I hope I am passing along this mindful way of life to my children as well!

Moments from the past week

2011-09-18T19:12:00.004-04:00

Here are a few pictures from this past week. Lessons are still going wonderfully and I think we have found our groove..yay! I am pleased to say that Blake is LOVING his local geography block. He always likes to know what is coming next so when I told him we were going to talk about how the land in our area was formed, he asked me if that meant we were done with local geography (i.e. map making). When I said no, he said "oh good!". Maps are one of his favorite things to draw so this block is suiting him well. Last week, he took the time to draw up a detailed map of our house and property. He spent a lot of time working on it and it came out great. Then later that evening I turned it into a treasure map! The next morning, he had to use his maps to find the clues that led to where the treasure was hidden. Jacob helped to hide the clues and he did a good job. Blake was very excited to find the treasure and even more excited when I told him it was his to keep (it was a half dollar and a penny from 1944...before they changed the back to what it is now).

We have also been following "kindergarten days" this year. Each day, there is a specific activity planned in the afternoon geared for Parker. Tuesday is our modelling day and we made these cute beeswax acorns to go on our seasonal shelf/mantle. MaKenna's is the yellow one <3

Our kindergarten story for last week was Brother Acorn from A Donsy of Gnomes. My boys love any story involving gnomes so this was a big hit all week. I had plans to retell the story using table puppets, but they had a different idea in mind. On the second day, they wanted to act the story out and so that is what we did! All three boys got to play the role of Brother Acorn while the rest of us were squirrels. Brother Acorn would come to us and ask for nuts so he can plant them as that is his job. It was fun to do and I loved seeing how much the boys got into their roles!

After we tell/act out our kindergarten story, then we all "seperate" a bit and go into main lesson time. Thankfully, Parker and MaKenna still play really well together and he has been great about creating games that keep her occupied long enough for me to devote some undivided attention to Jacob and Blake. I love that we have these moments together. This year especially, I think about how much bonding my boys would miss out on being in school all day long! I am so grateful to be able to homeschool them!

Thursdays are our painting days. We have our annual Fall Equinox potluck coming up and as we are hosting this year, I thought it would be nice to add a few decorations to the house in addition to what we usually put out. The boys used red and yellow watercolor paint and painted as I told a color story. I love how all three are so unique! Peter and I will turn these paintings into star lanterns to help light up the evening. I will be sure to post a picture of those when they are done.

Parker's painting

Jacob's painting

Blake's painting

We are really looking forward to the start of the autumn season. It happens to be my favorite time of year! Today I spent the morning in the kitchen baking fresh bread and simmering chicken stock for soup and it felt so nice. We pulled out some woolies to wear as the temps barely reached 60 the past two days and the mornings were chilly. Hot tea has once again entered into our daily rhythm. And we have much more to look forward to!

This girl of mine

2011-09-17T11:51:00.003-04:00

Ah, this little girl of mine. We are in a very tiresome transition period and it has been taking its toll on the entire family *sigh*. It appears that she is in the midst of dropping naps (what?) as well as teething (her 2 year molars). While I was expecting some bumps in the road from teething, I was NOT expecting her to give up naps all together. The boys were still taking daily naps until they were about 3.5 years old and I just assumed she would do the same. I should have known better as she has always had her own way, keeping me guessing the whole time. So why would this be any different?

The sleep troubles all started a month or so ago when she learned how to climb out of her crib. Seamingly over night, she went from taking naps and going to bed at night willingly and happily (and fairly easily!). Suddenly, she was protesting naps and getting her to sleep at night was taking hours and she was also waking at night. She no longer wanted to be in her room so we tried sticking her in with the brothers. That didn't work as she just kept them up and then I was dealing with three cranky children the next day. Finally, we just moved her mattress into our room and for a while, she once again happily went to sleep and slept the whole night through.

But we are now back to struggling to get her to sleep and night waking. And she is tired. The days haven't always been so fun as she has more accidents when she is tired and is grumpy and throws tantrums over just about everything.

I know it is just a phase and that we will get through this and it will soon be on to the next phase. It is just hard for me to be in this place where I really don't know how to help her. How can I get her to be okay with drifting to sleep? How can I make her feel safe and secure so that she doesn't struggle with bedtime?

Short of sleep issues right now, she is growing in to such a cute little girl. She is definitely my shadow, always helping me out with whatever it is I am doing. Cooking is one of her favorite activites and I try to allow her to do as much as she can, including cracking the eggs. She also loves to read books, sing, and play in the dirt!

I know this picture is blurry, but it is so cute I had to include it. This is her new smile she gives when I am taking pictures. She can be such a ham sometimes. Much like her brother Jacob, she loves to entertain us and it doesn't take much!

She adores her brothers and wants to do everything with them. This is a tricky age though. Sometime inclusive play is peaceful and other times, not so much! They try to include her when they can, but toddlers don't always follow the rules very well and that leads to some unhappy siblings. But she is so lucky to have three older brothers who adore her and look out for her and shower her with love all day long.

This girl of mine is growing up way to fast. Every now and then, I get small glimpses of a little girl and most of the time I smile. But I would be lying if I didn't say that a part of me is sad. Sad for these days that will never once come again. Sad for my "baby" growing up and getting all big on me.

From the studio

2011-09-16T20:01:00.003-04:00

Well, that is if I actually had a crafting studio ;-) Here are a few projects that I worked on last week at the start of school. I already shared the crayon rolls, but in addition to those, I made handwork bags for each of the boys (Blake's is not pictured). These were super simple to whip up and are the perfect size for a skein of yarn and a set of needles. Now the boys have their projects in one spot and they are easier to transport.

I also made several bean bags. Before we started our year, we took a trip to the craft store and the boys picked out some fabric. Jacob's is on top...he picked cardinals because they are one of his favorite birds (he didn't care that it was holiday fabric). Parker chose ladybug (not pictured) and Blake's are the green ones. We use bean bags for math practice as well as for games during our circle. Yesterday, MaKenna was walking around the house with a beanbag on her head singing "bean bag head, bean bag head". Too cute!

I also managed to work on a pair of wool pants for MaKenna. Although she is out of diapers, I still wanted her to have wool pants to wear throughout the cold months. This yarn is sooo soft and it was from a discontinued line so I got it for half price!

I was hoping to make them long enough so that they would fit next year as well, but after I bound off and tried them on Kenna, it appears that they just fit. Ha...I should have known as my kids rarely can wear something for more than two seasons! I laughed when I saw these finished. She measured in the waist for a size medium, but the length was even longer than the standard toddler size in the pattern!

She looks so tall and skinny here! Whatever happened to my little baby? Thankfully, she loves the pants (she is sooo picky about clothes!) and this weekend we are experiencing our first taste of fall weather. These were finished just in time! I am hoping to knit up another pair or maybe two (as well as four sweaters, some mittens and hats and maybe some socks...hmm, seems I will be busy).

Back to Home Learning!

2011-09-08T19:21:00.008-04:00

This past week marked the start of our home learning year! Despite the boys' groaning (mostly Blake) leading up to the start up of lessons, we had a wonderful first day! There was only one little hiccup in which after Jacob's eager participation in circle he said "school sucks" when I announced it was time to move on to main lessons. I attribute his attitude to a late bedtime the night before (it was only an hour, but every minute counts with this guy!). After some time away from the family, he was ready to rejoin us with a much better attitude and the rest of the day went great!

As in previous years, we start our morning, after chores, with a walk around the neighborhood. I find that we all do better when we start our day with some fresh air and an opportunity to get some wiggles out. This also allows us to notice the changes in our neighborhood that come along with the shifting of one season into the next. I think we were all suprised to find several beautiful fall leaves! We collected them and then added them to our centerpiece (which already had several acorns gathered from the last time we were in the woods). Fall is my favorite season and I love being able to bring autumn's beauty indoors!

After a quick drink we move on to a short circle. This is when we say some verses and poems, do some action rhymes and a circle games for MaKenna. The boys tend to get a little silly and rambuncious, but as long as MaKenna can keep up, I don't mind. It is a great way to come together and start our day with some fun! The boys still do NOT want to sing any songs, however, so I am just going to work those into our day for my sing songy girl. After circle, we move on to main lesson (for Jacob) and independent work (Blake). After our snack, then we shift and I work with Blake until lunch time.

I was so happy to see Blake pick up his knitting again. He did this completely on his own! I think the fact that I sewed up some new handwork bags for the boys gave him some inspiration to create himself. Here he is working on a potholder for MaKenna's pots <3 I plan on working in some scheduled handwork time into our weekly rhythm. This will allow me to help Parker with his finger knitting as well.

I planned the beginning of the year to be fairly "light" in anticipation of easing back into our rhythm. What I didn't know was that the boys were going to fall back into it so quickly. It was almost as if we didn't have a summer break at all! Jacob is doing a short 2 week form drawing block and Blake is doing a month long local geography block. I don't think I mentioned it here on this blog, but I decided to continue on with first grade material with Jacob this year as opposed to moving on to 2nd grade. I had some reservations last year as to whether or not we should begin and decided to move forward anyways. While I don't regret that decision, I also don't think he is ready for 2nd grade. So with some tweaking (I essentially divided one year into two!), I have created a year where we can go further into the material than we were able to last year. Despite these weeks being a review, Jacob hasn't complained so I think I made the right decision!

We ended our first day celebration with some homemade cupcakes. I ran out of butter for frosting (I never seem to keep enough butter in the house!) so powdered sugar had to do. I don't think the boys cared as they gobbled them up. We did manage to make them last all week!

With the start of a new year come some new materials as well! In addition to the handwork bags I already mentioned, I also sewed up two new crayon rolls for Blake and Jacob's block and stick beeswax crayons. They use these crayons not only for lessons but for free drawing as well. I wasn't sure if they were going to like them as my friend Chrissy had already made one for Blake that he never uses (sorry Chrissy!), but it turns out that they love them!

It's a good thing too as I had to create my own pattern which wasn't so easy for this beginner sewer! I was pretty happy with how they turned out and am so glad the boys are too! I think I need to make two more and set them aside for Parker and MaKenna before I forget how I did them!

It was a wonderful first week back and I am now even more excited for all the learning that is to come! We have some great field trips planned in the coming weeks for Blake's geography block as well as for some fall fun!

A little of what we have been up to

2011-09-07T19:42:00.003-04:00

Just a taste of what has been happening around here~

We spent the last unofficial days of summer much the same way we had spent our whole summer- laid back and low key! The summer seemed to go by in a blink of an eye and before we knew it, the leaves are changing, there is a coolness in the air that wasn't there the day before, and we are back to our school year rhythm. But no one is complaining as we love fall around here! We officially started on Tuesday (first day post to come) and next Friday, we will once again join up with our homeschooling friends for our weekly time in the woods.

A Visit with Grandma!

2011-09-01T18:36:00.002-04:00

I am a bit behind on my blogging *ahem* but am trying to do a bit of a catch up before our days are soon filled with lessons and such.

Two weekends ago, my mom came in town to have a short visit with us. I feel blessed that my children have very hands on grandparents. They aren't afraid to get down and play, play, play with their grandchildren and therefore, the kids always look forward to their visits. With my mom in particular, one of the first things they like to do is to play board games. So when she arrived with Yahtzee in hand, they immediately headed outside to play on the back deck while Peter and I prepared dinner! They game continued after we all ate and they played until bedtime. While MaKenna was too little to join in on her own, she did help grandma roll the dice and that was all she needed to do to feel included.

There was also lots of indoor play as well. Grandma was involved in quite the elaborate game of house. Babies were fed, floors were swept and meals were prepared! Since her visit, MaKenna has been playing more and more with her kitchen cooking up a storm.

Another activity the kids enjoy is when Grandma reads them their bedtime story. Even MaKenna sat through the entire book when she normally will listen for a few minutes and then toddle off until it is her turn with a more age appropriate book.

On Sunday morning, the kids and I took Grandma to the greenway for a nice walk before lunch. The greenway runs along side a creek and there is a nice little spot where you can get to it fairly easily. We usually stop there for a quick look around, but this time the boys really wanted to walk down a ways and investigate a bit more. MaKenna really wanted to join in with her brothers but she took one step into the creek and said "Eeek, slimy!" and that was the end of that, ha ha! She then looked on and wondered where they went when they were out of view. I tried to engage her by looking at different mushrooms along a little trail as well as showing her some raccoon tracks in the mud, but in the end, she really wanted her brothers to come back.

It was a wonderful visit and much fun was had as usual. For about a week after, MaKenna would ask "Grandma at Papa's house?". Visits with the grandparents are always filled with great memories!

Rhythm in Our Home: Afternoon

2011-08-30T18:21:00.005-04:00

Once again, joining in with Nicole on the Rhythm in Our Home series.

Earth who gives to us the food,

Sun who makes it ripe and good,

Dearest Earth and Dearest Sun,

we will not forget what you have done.

traditional blessing

At around noon, I begin to prepare lunch. Sometimes the kids help and sometimes I make it myself. We either have sandwhiches or leftovers which makes it simple to prep lunch. The boys then set the table and we light the candle and say the blessing above. We have been saying this blessing for about 2 or 3 years now (!) and I am thinking we need to change it! Although it is really sweet to hear Kenna now saying some of the verses.

After lunch, the boys clear the table and wash their own dishes. This probably has been the best change as of late. Before, the dishes would pretty much pile up all day and then I would load up the dishwasher at the end of the night (or the next morning if I was just too exhausted). Inevitably, there were always dishes needing to be washed and the sink was rarely empty. Now that they wash their own dishes after every meal (except dinner), the counter and sink is clean and the dinner dishes can go straight into the dishwasher! It has been so nice to wake up and start the day with a clean kitchen! (I have to give credit to Nicole for suggesting this!)

After lunch clean up, the kids head outside for a short time to get the rest of their wiggles out. I found this helps a lot in settling them for quiet time. Before we started this, the boys would be pretty hyper still during their rest time which of course was defeating the purpose, not to mention keeping Kenna awake! We then come inside, wash up, get a quick drink and have a potty break and then climb into mama's bed for a little story.

After the story is read, the boys head of to their rooms and I then try really, really, really hard to get Kenna to nap, ha ha. As I said before, she has been protesting sleep as of late. I am trying to keep things pretty consistent, she may get another story then she climbs in her bed and I sing her to sleep (or not!). If she naps, it is usually for two hours and the boys are expected to stay in their rooms the whole time.

After nap/rest time, we have another small snack. Again, sometimes the boys will help prepare it and sometimes I do it myself. I am not to the point where I expect their help in the kitchen, but it is always welcomed!

After snack and clean-up, we head back outside until dinner prep! Usually during this time I finish up any chores around the house like folding laundry or do another sweep up of the kitchen (I usually sweep 2-3 times a day). Once outside I try to keep busy with meaningful work such as weeding, sweeping the porch, watering flowers etc. Now that we are nearing the end of summer and the weather is cooling off, I have been bringing my knitting outside as well!

We are officially on our last week of summer break before our home learning year begins next week! Once we start, our daily rhythm will change again to accomodate lessons and chores and fun things like crafts and painting. I am hoping I have not planned too much for our day, but time will tell. As with anything, I feel simple is best and try to keep a slower paced environment. I definitely don't want to have our learning days feel rushed!

A Day in the Woods

2011-08-18T20:13:00.004-04:00

To say this year has been challenging would be an understatement. Emotional and physical stresses have been heavy and some days it feels almost impossible to get away from them. But we try. And I know that no matter what life throws at us, there is a place we can go where it is all erased, at least for those several hours. It has been a favorite spot for years and one we have many memories from. We haven't been able to get back here for almost the entire summer so it was so nice to meet up with our homeschooling friends and once again, create some magic in the woods.

Our group will soon be meeting regularily and once again, we will have these "days in the woods" to look forward to. A perfect ending to the week filled with all that life hands us.

Rhythm In Our Home: Morning

2011-08-16T08:09:00.003-04:00

Our morning begins very much like how our bedtime began, with all the kids snuggling in our bed. Our kids tend to wake up pretty early no matter what time they went to bed the night before (which is why we have an early bedtime!). Usually, they are all awake by 7:00. Most mornings, they climb into bed with us to finish waking up and transitioning from that sleepy state of mind.

Morning is come,

Night is away,

We rise with the sun

to welcome the day.

Wynstones

After several minutes of snuggle time, the boys tend to run off to play while MaKenna and I head downstairs to the kitchen. She is the only one of my children who now requests breakfast as soon as she wakes (probably because she doesn't really eat dinner!). She is at that picky toddler eating stage and really will tend to want the same breakfast for weeks before deciding she doesn't want it anymore. Right now, its O cereal!
While she is eating, I tend to do some quick chores like opening the blinds to let in the sun and letting the dogs out for the morning. Then I prepare breakfast for all of us. Sometimes I have a helper (almost always MaKenna) and it takes a little bit longer, but that is okay. We then all sit down to eat breakfast together. By this time, it is around 8:00. We light our meal candle and say our morning blessing.

Thank you, Thank you Mother Earth

Thank you for this meal.

After breakfast has been eaten, the boys wash their dishes and we move onto chores. This consists of putting dishes away that had been washed in the dishwasher, making beds, brushing teeth and getting dressed.

After chores, the kids are free to play (inside or out) until mid morning when they are generally hungry for a snack. This is also the time we would run any errands if we needed to such as go food shopping or to the library. While the kids are playing, I am usually doing some housework that isn't a part of our weekly rhythm. As of late, it has been decluttering and preparing the house for our upcoming school year. After a morning snack, we are all outside until lunch!

I should note that this is our summer morning rhythm. This will change up a bit in a few weeks when we start our school year!

Rhythm In Our Home: Bedtime

2011-08-09T20:12:00.003-04:00

I am joining Nicole in posting a weekly glimpse of the rhythms in our home. I decided to start with bedtime as that really is when their day begins. Odd as that may sound, sleep is so important in the development of children. I have found that with my kids, an early bedtime is best. So our nigthtime routine starts with dinner! I try to have dinner prepared and on the table at a consistant time each night so as not to throw off the rest of the evening. The kids, especially Parker and MaKenna, are generally ready for dinner around 6 anyways and if it is any later, lots of whining and fussiness ensues!

After dinner, the boys excuse themselves from the table. Dishes are cleared and washed and they head upstairs for bath/showers. For awhile, they were taking showers together, as our master shower is quite large, but lately they have been requesting to take baths again. I am happy to oblige as it seems to allow them more time to unwind. I started putting a few drops of lavendar essential oil into the bathwater to aid in the calming process.

After my bath, I try, try, try

To wipe myself till I'm dry, dry, dry.

Hands to wipe, and fingers, and toes,

And two wet legs and a shiny nose.

Just think, how much less time I'd take,

If I were a dog, and could shake, shake, shake.

Wynstones

Once they are all dry and jammied up, we pile into our bed for a story. When they were little, we used to read two or three stories. That generally led into "one more story" and so we settled onto one book for everyone. Right now, it is Winnie The Pooh :-) Daddy is the story reader most nights, but sometimes the boys request that I read the story. Otherwise, I am happy to listen. After a chapter or two, it is time to be "tuckled" in (Jacob's way of saying tucked in).

We do a round of goodnight hugs and kisses for MaKenna and it is off to bed! Hugs and kisses from mama and daddy, blessings for sweet dreams and a new day to begin and lights out. We aim to have them in bed by 7:30. Blake will generally read for another hour and then I will do another tuck in and lights out for him. And that is our bedtime rhythm!

*Now, just to add because this is what is happening in our life, we are in the midst of some sleep issues with MaKenna. She has been so, so, so difficult to get to sleep for the past several days. Since she was an infant, I always rocked her to sleep (nursing her when she still nursed). She was a pretty good sleeper in that she could be laid down awake and she would fall asleep on her own. Several weeks ago, she began climbing out of her crib so we converted it to a toddler bed. She did great! She was staying in her bed and falling asleep with no issues at naptime and bedtime. Fast forward and now she gets out all.the.time. Some days she doesn't even take a nap (which leads to an oh so fun evening). As I am typing this up, she has come out of her room at least 6 times and I have been trying for over an hour to get her to fall asleep *sigh*. I know it is a phase and hopefully, it will pass. But this mama is a bit tired and it is hard to be *on* all day long. I look forward to the time in the evenings when everyone is peacefully sleeping and I can knit, read, talk with Peter, etc. I have been missing that time these past few days! So I am hoping that by being really, really strict with our sleep time rhythms, I can get her back on track!

Filling our days

2011-08-06T19:54:00.005-04:00

Throughout the year, at any given moment, it is not uncommon to find the kids deep in the creative making process. Table surfaces are usually covered in all sorts of supplies whether it is yarn, paper, crayons, or pencils etc. I try to keep these items easily accessible so they are free to create when they choose. However, during the summer, they spend the majority of their time outside (as it should be) and their creative energy is expressed outdoors. Now that we are approaching the end of summer, the kids have a renewed interest in the arts and crafting. I must say, it makes me smile to see them busily working side by side, yet seperate, deep in creative thought!

what a difference a few months make- she will now draw with crayons as opposed to dumping or throwing them
early morning drawing session

modelling beeswax provides so much pleasure for the senses- touch, smell and taste

Blake's lego ninja drawing. He requested a little sketch book and has added quite a few drawings

simple little wood kits purchased at the craft store

Blake's biplane

In a few short weeks, we will be starting our school year and once again, the tables will be covered and the kids creations will fill the house. We have a full year planned, but it will be fun and we are all looking forward to the next adventure!

Quite Simply

2011-07-28T20:11:00.005-04:00

We are finding ourselves in the midst of a heat wave that doesn't seem to want to end! Most of the time, the children seem oblivious to the oppressive heat and humidity, but this mama is having a hard time enjoying being outdoors. But life goes on and so we are filling our days with the simple pleasures that the lazy days of summer bring.

old tree stumps provide endless entertainment
cowboys who musn't lasso their mamas "unless their mama is a cow"

enjoying the rhythmic pleasure of snapping ends off of green beans

filling, dumping, filling, pouring...life's work for a toddler

water play in the sink

creating a memory with my own daughter that I also shared with my mom as a child

loving the endless amount of kitchen help

I am trying to enjoy these last weeks of summer knowing that it will still be a while before the wind shifts and there is a crispness in the air. But there is still a little part of me that is wishing fall would come just a little bit sooner ;-)

Bringing Summer In

2011-07-11T19:45:00.009-04:00

We are quickly approaching the middle of summer already! Where oh where does the time go? The kids and I have been enjoying many hours of outdoor play (when it isn't too hot). One of our favorite things to do is to check on the summer flower garden which is in full bloom right now! It is so nice to cut fresh flowers to bring inside and display around the house.

Zinnias of many colors

almost all of our dwarf sunflowers have bloomed and the bees are loving them!

the wildflower mix (I wish I knew the name of everything, but there are 5 different types of flowers)

We have always loved to collect bits of nature to display inside our home. This is our nature shelf that is hung in our school room (not my choice in paint color!). On it you will find various nests, empty egg shells, nuts of all kinds, geodes and other stones, seashells, feathers from many many birds, butterfly wings, dried blossoms and a bleached turtle shell to name a few. I try to keep it fairly tidy and will replace things as needed, but for the most part, this is how it looks.

Parker wanted me to take the picture above. The vase is a mason jar that he glued tissue paper to. It was a project he did all by himself and he was very proud of it. He likes to cut his own fresh flowers for it. In front is "his" nest...a nest he found and wanted to keep.

This is the view from my kitchen window, above the sink. It also changes with the seasons. Can you see the sunflower garden in the pot in the lower right corner? Those are Parker's sunflowers and the other morning, two goldfinches were eating from the blossoms! How can you not enjoy doing dishes when you have that to entertain you?!

In addition to our nature shelf, we also have a seasonal shelf. I used to keep it on top of one of the toy shelves in the playroom, but Chloe decided it made a great play area for her as well. So I relocated it to the mantle in the livingroom.

I really like it in there as we spend a good portion of our day while inside on that side of the house. It contains both handmade and nature made items and lots of little bud vases for our flowers.

And right now, this is what our centerpiece looks like. The two sunflower candles I purchased years ago at Stone Mountain. I think Blake was 2? I just burned them for the first time last summer! I love them so much and I didn't want to burn them at all, but I think I can make them last by replacing the center with beeswax. That is Parker's vase in the middle...I just moved it there so we could enjoy his flowers more now that we aren't in the school room much this time of year ;-)

We have been having a wonderful summer so far with lots more activities to look forward to. And I know before long, summer will be saying goodbye and we will be welcoming in a new season.

Into the fields

2011-07-08T20:02:00.004-04:00

This morning we ventured into the blueberry fields to gather as many blueberries as we could. It is one of our favorite summertime activities and something we all look forward to! We usually begin reading Blueberries for Sal in the weeks leading up to picking season. Today as we were picking, you could hear the boys chanting "kuplink, kuplank, kuplunk!".

Parker was excited to show me the biggest blueberries ever!

My summer baby and her wild hair, happy in all her blueberry picking glory.

Jacob was pretty ambitious and filled the bottom of his bucket fairly quickly.

Kenna on the other hand was very grateful we were picking all those blueberries for her to eat!

But she did manage to pick some of her own.

In one spot, two of the bushes intertwined with each other forming this little house. Inside were some of the biggest blueberries!

We at least managed to pick more than Kenna could eat.

Near the end of what the boys could handle. Being summer in the south, it was hot AND humid and that always doesn't make for such a great time spent outdoors. The boys did better than I expected, but they still got pretty crabby. I managed to finish picking the gallon while they had a picnic lunch and played with their friends. I really wanted to pick another gallon, but soon gave up that idea as I was dripping with sweat myself. In the years past, we have picked in the evenings to take advantage of the cooler temps with the setting sun. I think we will stick to that plan for the future :-) Mmm, now to make the gallon last through the weekend...

Through the eyes of a Two Year Old...

2011-07-06T14:12:00.003-04:00

Life is perfect!

It was a good weekend

2011-07-05T13:34:00.004-04:00

We had a wonderful weekend celebrating the 4th. This was the first 4th of July celebrated at home in a really long time and certainly our first time since moving to NC. And it was a good one! Despite the humidity and heat, we spent most of our time outside soaking up the sun. There were lots of games of tag, football, bike and scooter races, bubble blowing, bird watching, toad catching, flower picking and good eating! Exactly how a summer weekend should be spent.
Of course there was also firework watching~

sparkler lighting~

and rainbow spotting~

I hope your 4th was just as lovely!

Woodworking

2011-06-30T20:37:00.003-04:00

We are very blessed to have two experienced woodworkers in the family, my father and of course, Daddy! We have always taken the boys to the free clinics at Home Depot or Lowes since they were fairly young, but now that they are older, they are wanting to work more with "grown up" tools. So earlier in the year, Jacob had expressed to my dad that he wanted to build something with him in his workshop. He narrowed down his list of projects to a bird house. My dad made sure that it would happen (and he also said that Jacob was quite the chatterbox during their special time together!) It turned out beautifully and he was sooo proud of it. It is a bluebird house and while it remains vacant this year, we are hoping it will be occupied next spring. He even picked out where he would hang it in the yard.

Parker and Blake also participated in a building project with my dad. They made this gorgeous planter out of cedar. I am thinking it needs a matching planter (hint, hint).

Both Blake and Jacob collect mini football helmets and they both needed display shelves for them. Blake came up with this design and worked on it with Daddy. He also decided on painting it red (one of the colors of his favorite team).

Jacob and Poppa worked on his. He is still deciding on the finish, but I have a feeling it will also be red.

The more involved the boys have become in the making of things, the more pride they have taken in the final product. It is such a gift to create something with your own two hands, something that can last for generations to come, something that has a story behind it. And it is such a great lesson to teach them that instead of running out to the store to buy, they can make it themselves! There is already another long list of projects to make and I can't wait to see what they produce.

A walk in the woods

2011-06-26T18:43:00.004-04:00

This morning we took advantage of the somewhat cooler weather and headed to the woods for a hike. We decided on a trail that would take us to the lake which is always fun for the boys. We spent a good amount of time exploring the shore and of course, the boys ended up going in the water. We had a great time as we always do!

Chloe

2011-06-24T10:39:00.002-04:00

Why, yes I am doing an entire blog post about our new kitty. That is because we just love her so! It has been a little over a month since this sweet little girl joined our family and she has brought so much joy! She has quite the personality (as expected for a female calico!). The kids are still in love with her as much as they were when she first came home, with one exception-Blake. Being a young kitten, Chloe still very much likes to play using her nails and teeth and that doesn't sit so well with him. In fact, he has become a little bit shy/scared of her. Which seems silly to me because she is so little! I am hoping as she grows out of this hyper playful stage, he will warm up to her again.

It has been great having a kitty in the house again. And she certainly entertains us with all her silly antics, like pouncing on you when you least expect it or popping up on her hind legs like a prairie dog. And she is improving on her fly catching skills...just in time for summer ;-)

Celebrating the Sun

2011-06-22T13:02:00.004-04:00

This past Saturday, we gathered together with friends to celebrate the Summer Solstice. Ironically enough, the weather was pretty stormy, but thankfully the rain and clouds let up and we all could enjoy the evening outdoors.

As always, the food was amazing and our hostess even made homemade ice cream as a treat!

I do believe this was one of the highlights of the evening for the kids

And of course, there was the sun pinata filled with all sorts of treats (thanks Carrie for making such an awesome pinata!)

The evening ended with a little bit of fishing at the pond and gathering around the fire. It was a wonderful way to celebrate! Welcome Summer and we look forward to all that is in store to come.

Summer Days

2011-06-15T19:58:00.004-04:00

Summer is in full swing here and we have been welcoming some of our favorite warm weather activities back into our rhythm!

reading some favorite summertime books

lots of pushes on the swing as the fearless toddler giggles and says "more!"

cooling treats on the front porch (in her new rainboots of course)

clothing optional gardening (okay this one is only for the 2 year old)

water balloon fights!

playing with bubbles

wishing to be just a bit bigger...

so she could join her brothers wwwaaayyy up there

saying goodbye to the last of the spring veggies

and welcoming the first blooms of the summer flower garden!

lots of watermelon eating (they sat like this all on their own!)

So far, summer is off to a great start! At the end of the school year, the boys and I came up with a summer wish list- a list of activities we would like to do during our summer break. The list included things like swim in the lake, roast marshmallows, go horseback riding and fishing. I am hoping we will be able to accomplish just about everything and so far it looks very possible!

Birthday Handmades

2011-06-07T20:06:00.003-04:00

I wanted to share a bit more about the handmade gifts we gave MaKenna. This was the first time that I made a birthday crown. I have always found this waldorf tradition to be a wonderful way of making the birthday child to feel even more special, but never got around to making one for the boys. And to be honest, I wasn't sure if they would even want one (but, it turns out "birthday crowns are cool!"). I tried to make something for her that she would enjoy wearing when she was 9 or 10 as well and after doing a little bit of research on the internet, came up with a simple design. The main crown is made from plant dyed wool felt and then I needle felted her initial with green roving and sewed the felted flowers on the sides. At first I wasn't sure what colors to use (she is too little to have a favorite), but I have always tended to lean towards purple for her and so I went with that and yellow as the complimentary color. I am very happy with how it turned out!

I also made her a baby (Molly). She is a 12" button jointed baby (her arms and legs can move more than the boys dolls). And since she is a baby, she only needed a wig...blonde of course like her mama. I also was on the fence about eye color. As a baby, MaKenna's eyes were pretty blue, but as she has gotten older, they are more "gray". However, gray isn't exactly the prettiest color so in the end I went with blue. Molly's sweater is knitted by me...the same pattern used for Jakey's doll. I ended up leaving off the button as MaKenna loves to undress the babies (she is always trying to take the clothes off the boys' babies). And since she loves her babies to be naked, I didn't worry about sewing up clothes as of yet. I still have plans to make a few things for the future, but as we speak, Molly is sleeping naked in her bed :-)

And her gift from Daddy was a new kitchen! This has been the focus of much play since Sunday by all the kids. A lot of love and labor went into it and it turned out beautifully! I smile everytime I look at it! And since it was handmade, we were able to customize it a bit...combining designs from several wooden kitchens we had seen. It is a bit taller and a bit wider to accomodate our tall (and many) children. It is a great size even for Jacob, so I see lots and lots of years of play here. Blake was very excited for Kenna to get this so he spent the night before setting it up with all our playfood and cookware. Of course, now it is all mishmashed, but that's okay.

Since Kenna's birthday, we both have had requests for new babies and a refrigerator to go with the kitchen. Hmmm...I think we can make that happen!

2 times around the sun

2011-06-07T19:32:00.005-04:00

On Sunday, our baby turned 2! These past two years have gone by in a blink of an eye and that scares this mama. Oh how I wish I could slow time down! It was a perfect day and we celebrated MaKenna all day by doing some of her favorite things. She was up bright and early, so I took her downstairs and she immediately went to her new kitchen. She was very excited and said "what's this?!" It was sooo cute! She was able to play with it for a while before her brothers woke up and joined in on the fun.

After eating a favorite breakfast (pancakes), she opened the rest of her gifts from us. I made her a birthday crown...a new addition to our birthday celebrations. She wore it long enough for me to take a picture and then proceeded to throw it to the floor. I didn't have any expectations for her to wear it, but it is something she will grow into in the years to come.

Her gift from mama was a new baby. And as predicted, she wanted the baby to be naked and proceeded to take off all her clothes! It's a good thing I didn't make a ton for her to wear.

Later in the morning we headed over to one of our favorite places, Reedy Creek Nature Preserve. We took a nice walk around their ponds hoping to feed some ducks, but the ducks were not there. It turned out to be okay as we saw so many other creatures...turtles, toads, butterflies and dragonflies.

After our hike, we enjoyed a nice watermelon lunch. And we have been enjoying watermelon everyday since ;-) My summer baby loves her fruit!

Dinner was another Kenna favorite, raviolis, followed by a mama made cake. Unfortunately, she did not eat a single piece of birthday cake. It began to thunder and she is terrified of thunder since we had a bad hail storm last month. Poor thing was too scared to eat! She enjoyed a slice the next day though.

It was a wonderful day! She was so happy and I think she understood that it was all about her. I am so lucky to have this little girl in my life and can't imagine it without her!

From Farm to Fridge

2011-05-31T13:10:00.003-04:00

I decided to end the school year with a month long block on gardening and farming. Of course, this ties directly into the 3rd grade curriculum for Blake, but it was also something the other kids would enjoy as well. One of the supporting activities of this block was strawberry picking! It is something we tend to do annually anyways, but it was fun to label it as school work this year. We went to a new farm this year and ended up picking 2 gallons. It was a very hot day (no surprise for us in the south...summer starts in spring) and the kids got grumpy pretty quickly, but I think they still managed to have some fun during the process. Now that Blake is older, I was able to point out to him the various growing stages of the berry as we were picking. And of course, there was some in-field sampling :-)

In my mind, 2 gallons of strawberries would yield several jars of preserves and at least a gallon in the freezer to enjoy later in the year (this was after already eating 2 gallons bought at the local farmers market). Ha! The kids ended up eating a little over a gallon straight from the container. I definitely need to rethink my amounts next year! So on Saturday, I cleaned the rest and Blake helped me make a jar of preserves (our first time for both of us). He also prepped them for freezing. It turns out we have about a half gallon in the freezer. I guess I will have to make those stretch as long as I can!

The kids can be pretty funny when it comes to fruit. While they will gobble down gallons of fresh strawberries (obviously), they do NOT like strawberry jam/preserves. So I get to enjoy it all by myself and boy is it delicious! We didn't have to add too much sweetener (honey) as the strawberries were pretty sweet to begin with. Now that the strawberry season is over for us, we can look forward to blueberry picking in a few weeks!

7 times around the sun

2011-05-23T14:06:00.004-04:00

This past Sunday, we celebrated the 7th birthday of our Jakey Bug! It was a fabulous day indeed. Daddy and the boys had gone camping for the weekend and this mama was anxious for them to get back (I stayed behind due to some tummy issues). I spent most of the morning getting everything ready...setting up the birthday ring and putting the gifts on the birthday table. After what seemed like forever, they were finally home!

We tend to keep birthdays fairly simple in terms of gifts. Homemade are the best and it seems to be what my kids tend to expect now. While I didn't get done everything I had hoped this year, I was able to knit up a cute little sweater for Lizzy. I will definitely be making a few more soon for the other babies in the house. We also gifted Jacob with a pair of flip flops, a swim shirt, The Seven Year Old wonder book and a few cat toys and collar. Yes, that's right, I said CAT. Because in our house, having a 7th birthday means getting your very own pet! More on that in a bit...

Poor Lizzy. The morning of Jakey's birthday and Kenna decided to draw on her face with permanent marker!!! I was trying very, very hard not to be livid, but admitingly, I did get a bit grumpy with her. Thankfully, Jacob wasn't too upset and I promised to make a new Lizzy face after I finish up Kenna's gifts. She still looks beautiful though in her new sweater!

Now, back to the kitty. Our good friends cat had a litter of kittens about 6 weeks ago. The timing couldn't have been more perfect as Jacob had decided he wanted a kitten for his birthday last year already. We had visited the kittens a couple of times and he picked her out immediately...she was the only girl of the litter. So after opening presents yesterday, he and I set out to bring her home. She was a bit shy at first and wanted to hide under the bed. Of course, the kids wanted to play with her, so they spent most of the time climbing/squeezing under there to get her. MaKenna squeeled with delight every time she saw her and kept saying "kitty, kitty". I had forgotten how much Dakota loved cats too, but he was right there under the bed with the kids. In fact, he didn't leave Chloe alone all evening. Silly old dog!

Jacob decided on pizza as his birthday dinner and then chocolate birthday cake. When we lit the candles, I told his rainbow bridge story and Daddy lit one candle at a time on the birthday ring for all seven years of his life with us. I did get a bit emotional at the end. It is really hard for this mama to watch her babies grow up. I look at him and he seems so big to me right now (even though I know he is still little!). Ugh...it never gets easier though!

It was a long night...the boys were too excited to settle into sleep and kept playing with Chloe. Finally, it was quiet and Daddy headed up to bed. He then said we had a missing kitty. After searching for her for about 10 minutes, I finally found her- she was all curled up with Jacob under his covers! A sweet moment to end a really great day!

I asked Jacob when I was tucking him in for the night if he had a good birthday. He said "it was the best birthday...I don't want this day to end!"

And this is the only picture Daddy took of the boys and their mountain camping trip. Poor Jacob was getting a bit carsick from the mountain roads...you can see the misery on his face! But despite this, he said he had a great time.

I really am such a lucky mama to have been given this gift- to mother a boy who challenges me to grow as a person and who brings such joy and laughter to my life. I love him more than he could ever possibly know! And I am so proud of the little person he is turning out to be.

Working with wool

2011-05-23T13:49:00.004-04:00

The boys have shown an increased interest in knitting again. I have found that the afternoon seems to be a perfect time to pick up the needles, so one day last week, all four of us were knitting on the couch (love!). Parker is still too young to use needles, so he finger knitted instead. It felt so wonderful to be working creatively beside the boys. I can't say what they are working on as it is going to be gifted to someone who reads this blog ;-)

I have also picked up a new handwork hobby- needlefelting wool! For those of you who may not know what that is, it is simply creating a 3D object made of wool roving by "stabbing" it with a special barbed needle. I had needlefelted a pumpkin a couple of years ago, but never really pursued it as I was also just learning how to knit. Now that I am fairly comfortable with knitting, I decided learning something new was in order. Well, Blake has also been wanting to needlefelt so I was more than happy to show him how. He is working on a fairy and is about half way done at the moment.

For Easter, I made some gnomes for my gnome lovin' guys. These were inspired by the book A Donsy of Gnomes (which is one of our favorites!). I still don't quite have the hang of the caps, as you can see, but I was pretty pleased with how they turned out.

I recently also created a little fairy for one of our friends who had a birthday this month. She was my first stand-up figure. I can see myself making a few more of these in the future, hopefully improving my technique on the hair and embellishing the dress a bit more.

She is left without a face so that the child who is playing with her can use their imagination to create any sort of emotion. Honestly, though she doesn't actually have a face, when I look at her, I can "see" her eyes and bright smile! I will be sure to post pictures of Blake's completed fairy as well.

A taste of summer

2011-05-23T13:40:00.002-04:00

We are in the midst of a heat wave, so the boys put on their bathing suits and we had our first sprinkler run of the year! They became a bit obsessed with me taking pictures of them trying to capture them in mid-air...I will spare you from all of those, but here are a few. Kenna does NOT like to be sprinkled on, so she occupied herself by ringing the doorbell! This kind of weather makes me long for ice cold lemonade and watermelon slices. Soon enough, summer will really be here.

Mother's Day

2011-05-15T14:32:00.008-04:00

I had the most wonderful Mother's Day this year. My family sure does know how to spoil me! While I was hoping to get a chance to sleep in a bit (whatever that may mean), that was just not going to happen. The boys were too excited to give me my presents and cards and they just didn't want to wait. They had made the sweetest cards (as they always do). They also know this mama well as they gifted me with gnome garden stakes, garden hand tools, and cucumber, pepper and sunflower seeds. After a delicious breakfast in bed, we headed outside to test out the tools and plant some seeds!

They planted the sunflower seeds all by themselves...all I did was take a couple of pictures. I have no idea where they planted them or how many, but it doesn't matter does it! I am just so happy they love to garden as much as their mama does (and grandma!).

Peter made this for me...he wrote "because you deserve flowers everyday" on the back! So sweet!

We ended the day with a delicious daddy-made dinner and smores makin over the fire. I am always amazed at how blessed I am with such a wonderful family! This day couldn't have been any better.

Reedy Creek

2011-05-04T14:10:00.003-04:00

Last Friday, we met up with the Clarke's at Reedy Creek (one of our favorite spots). When we got there, it was pretty packed so we ended up taking a trail that led down to the pond. It was such a gorgeous spring day and we could have stayed there for hours! The kids immediately went into the pond to look for anything. It turned out to be a great day for spotting nature- tadpoles, toads and bullfrogs, water snakes, ducks, crayfish and a pileated woodpecker! It had been such a long time since we had such great finds on our visits. After the kids were thoroughly soaked, we headed over to the natural play area and stayed a bit longer. All in all, it was a great day and we look forward to heading back there again soon.

A bit of gardening

2011-05-04T13:38:00.005-04:00

*a bit of a warning...I think the only other person besides me who would appreciate this post is my mom!
Gardening, both flowers and vegetables, was always a part of our seasonal rhythm growing up. It was something that I wanted to bring to my children as well (and besides...it's fun!). I was pretty excited to learn after moving to this house that the landlords had given their blessings for our gardening adventures! While the boys have always helped grandma over the years, we never did much gardening of our own (last year was our first attempt at something other than sunflowers). As the weather became warmer, I pretty muched stalked the yard, following the sun's path throughout the day trying to determine where we could get a raised bed planted. Well, as the canopy filled out, my dreams of a raised bed were quickly crushed. Can you believe we have too many trees?! Ah, I had to settle for flowers. But the thought of having cut bouquets for the rest of the summer makes me just as happy!

My little helper...MaKenna is always ready to help water everything and anything. She finally stopped picking the flowers, well at least until she saw me taking the dead heads off :-)

Here she is watering the children's garden. It is just a small bed, that was already here, planted with annuals the boys had picked out themselves....petunias, marigolds, snapdragons, and a white blossom flower I can't remember the name of (mom?)

I also cleared out a bed on the side of the house which gets the most sun. Here I planted a mix of seeds...wildflower, sunflower, daisy and zinnias.

We do have some veggies growing in pots on the back deck. The boys "pizza garden" seedlings are coming up and I was also given a pot that had two pepper plants, a tomato plant and some basil. We also have more pots of sunflowers and daisies (from the flower egg kits given at Easter)

When we moved in, the previous owner had already planted a few rose bushes and they are now blooming like crazy. I wasn't sure at first as all the silk worms were feasting on the leaves and some sort of mystery bug was eating the buds. But it appears they are doing just fine. Now I am just keeping my fingers crossed the gardenias will bloom!

The boys and I still talk about the "someday" when we will have some acreage and can really tackle gardening. I think Peter is in a bit of denial as to what our future home will actually look like (think less suburban, more mini-farm). But he will come around ;-)

New Reader

2011-04-30T14:52:00.002-04:00

As were are approaching the end of the school year, I am very proud to say we have another reader in the house! We are beginning with simple readers (with a plan to make our own as well). I can't even begin to say how proud I am. We took a very slow approach and I believe that he is just proof at how easy it is to pick up reading when they are ready! Yay!

Babies

2011-04-30T14:31:00.003-04:00

Nothing says spring more than babies! When we moved in last summer, there were two empty nests on our front porch. One got dismantled and this one remained. A mama finch moved in a few weeks ago and laid 5 eggs!

The day after Easter, I recognized the familiar sound of baby birds being fed. So I grabbed the camera and snapped a picture when the mama had flown off. All 5 babies hatched and are growing like weeds. When I took these pictures, they weren't visible from the porch, but now you can see their heads popping up and even stretch their wings once in a while!

The mama is feeding them more often and they seem to be getting louder! We are lucky enough to have a close up view from the playroom window. Everytime the babies start "screaming", the kids run to the window to watch. MaKenna especially loves to see the mama feed the babies.

We are all excited for the day when they fledge, but I know they will be missed as well! Yay for spring!

Easter Weekend

2011-04-30T13:57:00.005-04:00

We were lucky enough to have a visit from Uncle Spencer and Aunt Kristen last Saturday. And since it was the day before Easter, they got to help us dye the eggs. I tend to go a little crazy with the dyes...I think I had 12 different colors?! But that makes for a beautiful assortment, don't you think?

Easter morning, the kids were up early and ready to go! They had all checked out their baskets before we even made it down the stairs, but were patient enough to wait (for the most part) to dig into what little candy they had. This year, they each received a little seed flower kit, bubbles, a felted gnome (made by mama), a book, a chocolate bunny, a chocolate peanut butter egg and some natural jelly beans. It was just the right amount of sugar ;-) The Easter bunny also did a great job hiding the eggs in the house this year. We colored 3 dozen and only lost 2. I ended up finding one of the missing eggs a few days later. I am hoping one of the dogs ate the other one.

It turned out to be a beautiful day and we spent most of it outside. We ended the day with a delicious daddy-made dinner. Jacob told me "this was the best Easter he could ever hope for" and I agree!

Growing Up

2011-04-22T14:52:00.004-04:00

I know I say it a lot on this blog, but my babies are growing up way too fast! In so many ways I feel like it was just yesterday when I held them in my arms for the first time. There are days when I wish I could just freeze time and keep them little forever!

weaving a dream catcher

Blake has grown so much over the course of the last year, both physically and emotionally! I have seen him gain confidence in himself in ways that wasn't there before. While we still struggle with motivation when it comes to school, he will sit and devour books in days. His handwriting is beautiful and he has improved so much in his artistic skills. He loves music and sports, especially football and basketball. In Waldorf pedagogy, 9 is a big year. It is the beginning of seperating from the dreamy land of early childhood and waking up more to the world around you. We have noticed this shift in Blake with moments of questioning authority followed up with needed reassurance through cuddling. I won't lie, some days have been difficult, but we seem to be through the toughest moments. To balance this, he has also taken on more independent chores around the house like cleaning the boys bathroom and doing his own laundry! He is still unsure of cooking, but will gladly help if I stay and supervise. I am hoping to help him build his confidence by allowing him to make some simple meals. Recently, he just picked up interest in knitting again. I taught him how to purl and he is reading a pattern on his own. His interest has always gone in spurts so we will see how long it lasts ;-)

searching for ladybugs

Ah, my Parker. Wow, 5 has been rough! This is most definitely the toughest year for us. Parker was always my easy going little helper and while he still is most of the time, we also now have moments of tantrums and talking back as well a bit of sister teasing. This is new territory for me. I know there is a lot of changes going on developmentally with him (he is eating a ton and has grown over an inch in the last month, not to mention he is almost wearing the same size clothes as Jacob now) and I am trying to be the calm, patient mother he needs as we sort through this. But it is not easy! He has also shown a new interest in playing sports with the big guys. In the past, he would just do his own thing while they played, but now he has joined in. I have also noticed him being more comfortable in new situations. He is such a shy kid and would literally hang from my pockets whenever we were out, even if we were with friends we had known for years. Now, he may need me for a few minutes, but then will happily play without my presence. He is such a creative dude and always has us laughing with the things he says. I just love how his mind works. And most of the time, he plays so well with Kenna. In fact, they have quite the special bond.

saying "cheese"

Now this girl is definitely growing up way too fast! Last month, she decided she wanted to pee pee on the potty and thus began our potty learning adventure. She is doing so, so good! She is down to wearing a diaper during naps and bedtime and that's it! As long as I make time for regular potty breaks, she rarely has an accident. I was not expecting this to happen so soon. Her little personality is coming out more and more. She is very independent (and can be quite bossy!). She refuses to let me dress her or even pick her clothes out! She knows exactly what she wants to wear and there is no talking her out of it. Some days she will change outfits 3 or 4 times. She loves to read books and will bring us the same 4 books to read over and over. Her favorite books all involve animals (thats my girl!). She also loves to sing. A lot of times, I have no idea what she is singing, but she has the cutest little voice. Over the last several months, she has gone from being my shadow to playing independently or with her brothers more and more. She still loves to be my little helper, but she also will hang out with her brothers. It is so cute to see her kiss her baby one minute and then attack me with a sword the next!

another knitter!

We are approaching the end of Jacob's first year of formal learning. I couldn't be more proud of how much he has accomplished! He is in the beginning stages of reading (sight words and early phonics) and his handwriting is much improved. He was begging me to teach him to knit, so a few weeks ago, I finally sat down and did. I had been putting it off, debating whether he should learn to knit left-handed or right-handed. In the end, I decided I would just teach him so I would be able to help him if he needed it. I have also noticed a change in Jacob developmentally. Up until recently, we had lots of tense moments throughout our days. It was almost as if he just couldn't control his emotions and now that has seemed to pass...for the most part. He is able to stay calm and in the moments when he isn't, I am able to calm him down quicker. I look at him and see glimpses of what he will be like in a few years, as a young man. He still likes to be the center of attention and will tell "tall tales" just to entertain an audience! And he has a laugh that is so infectious and so genuine!

There are days when I look at these little people and can't believe they are mine. I am so blessed as a mother and cherish every moment I have with them!

Creative Play

2011-04-22T14:20:00.003-04:00

One of the many benefits to homeschooling is flexibility in our schedule. While we definitely have a "flow" to our day, we are not limited by the clock. This allows us to approach our time together unrushed and more peacefully, something I feel is very lacking in today's modern society. But this also means there is a lot of time to do "nothing". Over the last several years (I think it has been 3 since we went tv free for the kids), I have been able to witness my children's creative play blossom! This growth was especially noticeable in Blake. Whereas before, his play was limited and very closely tied to media images and story lines, he has since been able to freely imagine anything! It has been such a pleasure to watch him grow and expand in this way. And as the boys are getting older and stepping away from this imaginary playland a little more, I try to take notice and soak it up whenever I can.

a common scene, creating their own books
all four of them have very seperate ideas going on yet they are creating together

Parker is putting on a puppet play involving a lush meadow, flowing river and several gnomes

in the end, he lifted the green silk and unveiled a world full of precious gems

this particular morning, I was a customer at a very tasty (and local) restaurant. Parker loves to use the shoe bench as a stove/oven

Jacob was also the owner and chef of a restaurant

my very tasty fruit soup. While we have play food that they could use, they were able to create using cut up paper.

I am so grateful to be able to provide my children with time to just play! Not only are they creating memories, but they are also learning so much.

Patterson Farm Field Trip

2011-04-21T09:47:00.007-04:00

No spring is complete without a trip to the farm! Yesterday, we ventured out to Patterson Farm with some of our homeschooling friends. It was such a wonderful day and we practically had the whole farm to ourselves. We started the day off with a quick video about the farm and then headed over to plant seeds for our pizza garden. Each child got to plant tomato, pepper and onions seeds to take home (yippee!). After planting, we went on a wagon ride around the farm and then headed into the barn to visit with the animals. The kids especially loved this as there were many baby animals! We picniced in their play area and hung out there for quite a while before topping off the day with ice cream and fresh strawberries. All in all, it was a fantastic day and the kids are already asking when we can go back (their u-pick for strawberries opens next week, so I am thinking soon!).

listening to the planting instructions
diggin in the dirt

on the wagon ride

feeding the goats

oh my, I fell in love with this baby goat!

cute little pigs

MaKenna loved this bunny!

more babies!

a few of the peacocks. One of the workers went into the pen and gave the kids each a peacock feather!

driving the tractor at the playground

the kids discovered a little creek near the play area and spent a good amount of time playing in it. They even built a fairy house out of mud. I think this was Parker's favorite thing as he was talking about it all night.

cutie patooties

a great ending to a great day- ice cream!

After the we left farm, we headed over to a friend's house for a quick visit with their baby ducklings. The kids LOVED them (and I am thinking ducks will be in our future, if we ever live near a pond!). MaKenna wasn't too sure about touching them at first, but after a few minutes she was brave enough to pet them. I think she had sooo much fun seeing all the animals she usually reads about everyday.

Kite Weather

2011-04-10T15:41:00.002-04:00

High on the hilltop I fly my new kite;

Springtime is kite-time and full of delight;

Kite on the wing, I hold the string;

Pull away, tug away, kite in the sky.

A. Carpenter

Springtime means kite time! Last week the winds were gusty enough to use the kites for the first time this year. Our neighborhood has a lot of trees in it which blocked some of the wind, but the kids were able to get the kite up and keep it up by running up and down the street. I wasn't able to get a picture of the kite way up in the sky, but they did a good job getting it to fly. MaKenna had no idea why we were running up and down the street, but she thought it looked like good fun, so she did too (cutie). I am hoping the next kite-weather day we can go to an open field and really let them fly! There is just something magical about flying kites.

Bits of Spring

2011-04-08T19:52:00.004-04:00

even doggies like to smell tulips

our dogwood in bloom new finds in the warm clothes box

lizard taming

and bonding

azalea bouquets at the dinner table

children's garden

more tulip smelling

and spying new friends (do you see the skink?)

Spring has been oh so good to us so far! We have been enjoying spotting mother nature around our house and new finds appear almost daily. This has been our first house we have lived in since having the kids where there are flowers to pick in the yard, snakes and lizards hiding in the tall grasses and lots and lots of trees! Last weekend we spent a good portion of our time just hanging out in the yard. MaKenna always goes to the tulip "patch" to sniff the flowers and then she proceeds to find dandelions or other "weeds" to pick. One day she was carrying two sweet gumballs in her hand and then she quickly dropped them and ran over to a small violet patch we discovered a few days before. She proceeded to pick three violets and gave them to me! I have memories of picking my neighbors flowers when I was young to give to my mom and I have a feeling she will be the same! The boys will pick flowers for me every once in a while, but they are definitely more interested in lizard and snake wrangling. MaKenna and I discovered the anole and the skink on the side of the house and I called the boys to come take a look. Jacob caught the anole and then he told me he was going to put it to sleep and began to stroke it. To my surprise, that lizard was as still as still could be! He was pretty proud of himself. We were lucky enough to witness his color change as well...he went from brown to green within a few minutes. I can't tell you how happy I am that my children share my love for the simple things!

Welcome Lady Spring!

2011-03-21T12:57:00.004-04:00

This past weekend we were fortunate enough to welcome Lady Spring's arrival by celebrating with friends! After what seemed like an eternal winter, it was wonderful to officially say goodbye winter, hello spring! Friday we ventured over to our good friends house to dye some spring eggs. The older boys lost interest pretty quickly (are they really getting to be that age already???), but the younger guys loved every minute of it. The biggest challenge was keeping the two little girls from trying to eat the already dyed eggs!

picking their eggs
the dyeing assembly line

what will it look like?

Half of the final results! The eggs turned out beautifully!

On Saturday, we hosted our potluck Spring celebration. The weather couldn't have been more perfect and it was such a great night! After eating together, I did a small puppet show for the kids while the daddies hid all the eggs. Then it was time to find them! We ended the evening by roasting marshmallows by the fire. We all had so much fun and it was a great way to start Spring.

grown up talk (with no kids!)

waiting to hunt for eggs

the kids did a great job and were able to find all but 1 egg!

marshmallow roasting time

enjoying the fire

I love Lilah's face (I have no idea what she was telling Jacob though)

We have been enjoying the warmer weather and spotting the changes in our neighborhood on our morning walks. There is always a bit of excitement for the kids around the change of seasons. Our spring is already setting up to be busy with camping trips, planting our first garden (however small it may have to be!), birdhouse building and nest watching, hikes and playing in the creek once again, more spring celebrations, visits to farms, birthdays and visits with family!

Blue and Gold Banquet

2011-03-20T08:41:00.003-04:00

Last Saturday, we attended the Blue and Gold Banquet for cub scouts. At the banquet, Blake received his Bear badge and Jacob received his Tiger badge. Both boys also earned various belt loops, bead and pins. We were all very proud of their hard work! Grandma and Poppa were able to come up and attend the ceremony with us.

Jacob is extremely excited about now being a Wolf scout and would do all the achievements now if we let him. I told him he needed to pace himself or he would have it all done before summer!

Nine years around the sun (eeek!)

2011-03-01T20:55:00.004-05:00

How is that I am already the mother of a 9 year old!!! We spent a long weekend celebrating the life of Blake and what a wonderful (and busy) time it was! Grandma and Papa came up for the weekend to join us in our celebration and then Monday was a party with friends. Blake declared this birthday the best one ever (yea!). I get a little teary eyed thinking about my first born growing up so quickly. It seems that all too soon, he will be making a life of his own out in the world. I am just not ready for that!

the birthday table
checking out some gifts with daddy (specifically, an ipod!)

Papa helping him with his leather pocket knife case

Elizabeth's new clothes- mama knitted her a new sweater and made her a new dress, my first attempt at sewing clothing

silly boys at dinner

the birthday boy!

making a wish

present time- his friends were so thoughtful and gifted Blake with wonderful gifts

I can't even begin to articulate how proud I am to be his mother. Nine years ago, he changed my life forever and helped me to find my place in this world. I was young and had NO idea what I was doing, but he made mothering easy. My sweet, loving, kind, generous, helpful, funny, smart, athletic, goofy son, I love you so, so much!

Monday, Monday

2011-02-21T20:46:00.003-05:00

I suppose like most people, I do not particularily enjoy Monday's. It seems most Monday's tend to start a bit rough, trying to get back into our weekly rhythm after a weekend of loose structure. Today, I was determined to change that! We used to start our mornings (after breakfast and chores) with a walk around neighborhood and somewhere along the line, probably with the colder weather, those walks ceased. However, we have been having some unseasonably warmer weather and this Monday morning, the sun was beckoning us to come outside and join the birds. I find that no matter how grumpy one or all of us are, our moods are lightened after being outside.

buds on our Maple tree-spring is almost here!

The walk was wonderful! The morning air was warm and the birds were singing and warming our hearts. Everyone was smiling and all of the grumpies were washed away. We now could begin our schooling time on a good note! Jacob was able to finish his consonant block today while Blake worked on a bit of math and some Old Testament composition. But we just couldn't stay indoors for very long...

big brothers make great wagon pullers

There were lots of wagon rides, bike races, scootering, tree climbing, and bird watching.

After lunch and quiet time, we headed back outdoors. The wind picked up quite a bit, but that didn't stop us from enjoying our time outside. The sidewalk chalk made its appearance again and now the driveway is covered in beautiful art.

Generally after spending a lot of time outside, the boys need to balance that energy with some downtime. So the rest of the early evening was spent playing cards and games. The games have been packed up since our move as I haven't found quite the right spot for them yet in this house. But the time away allowed for a new found interest that kept them happily playing while I prepared dinner. Follow up dinner with bedtime routines, some laughs and some reading and that was our day!

On another note, MaKenna is continuing to amaze me in her growth. She is becoming quite the little person and somedays I can hardly believe how big she is! Why just two days ago she was saying "dada" and "mama" and yesterday we became daddy and mommy. She loves, loves, loves to sing and while I don't always know what she is singing, it is beautiful none the less. She is a perfect mixture of rough and tumble and sweetness-tackling her brothers one minute in a playful wrestling match and then kissing her baby and rocking it the next! After having three boys, I wasn't quite sure what to expect with a girl. And maybe I still don't. She is afterall her own being. I am soaking it all in for sure and I would be lying if I didn't say there are days I long for that little, cuddly newborn, but she is oh so much fun!

my own little kitty

I couldn't help taking these next pictures. Jacob was in the middle of telling me how "Blake was being unfair" and I think these photos sum up the intensity that is Jacob. He has a true choleric temperament...all fiery and passionate. When he is happy, he is really happy, and when he is mad...well, you get the picture. He also suffers from middle child syndrome (and I can relate being a middle child myself). A lot of things are unfair according to him, but in the end, I think he just wants his voice to be heard (and is it ever!). Jacob knows how to push my buttons like no other, but he is also one of the funniest little dudes and has a laugh that is infectious. Life is definitely more interesting because of him!

Feelin the love

2011-02-16T13:42:00.003-05:00

mommy's gift from daddy- tulips and irises!

daddy made kitties for Kenna

mama made gnomes for the kids (kenna's is not pictured- it's pink)

a lego heart gifted to me from Blake

Valentine's from my boys (only a few of the many that were made!)

window heart transparancies

Valentines in the making

Valentines for our friends

more Valentines for our friends!

The last week has been spent creating lots of "love". We try to keep Valentine's Day fairly simple, but it always is just enough to make it special. This year, in addition to the felt gnomes, the kids all received a small pot and seeds (strawberries for the boys, forget me nots for Kenna) and a sweet treat. We spent the rest of the day crafting Valentines to exchange with our homeschool co-op friends and to play outside in the beautiful spring like weather! Yesterday was our Valentine exchange and when I was making Parker's bed up for the night, I found all his Valentines under his pillow! For Parker, that is where all his most prized treasures end up and it was sweet to see how much he loved those handmade cards from his friends!