Saturday, November 1, 2014

Halloween - 2014

























As you can see, lots of good memories were made last night at our Halloween Neighborhood Party.  We start out each Halloween getting home from school around 4:15, excitingly donning on all the costumes.  At 5:00 we go outside, take pictures of everyone then leave as a group to walk through our neighborhood to meet up with the rest of the neighborhood for a grand potluck.  Each year is different and the festivities gets bigger each year, as mine (children) also grow so much from year to year.  But age doesn't matter at Halloween.  Young and old alike dress up in the most creative ways.  Everything happens so quickly at the potluck.  With all the excitement, its hard to soak it all up.

When everyone is our clan is full from all the wonderful food brought, we leave the potluck in excitement to go trick or treating.  The night air was perfect, a little chill to the air, enough to awaken the senses of the season's change.  We welcome the season's change, as we get ready for cooler days and cooler nights, shorter days and longer nights. We will spend more time inside, with our family, our routines will change, things seem to slow down yet deepen, oh how I love this time of year.

Wednesday, September 10, 2014

Five ~









Off and running, that describes Rosemary best.  She loves the out doors, to be free, run, and swing.  She turned 5 on Sunday and had a wonderful birthday.  Five amazing, transforming years.  Happy Birthday love!~

Tuesday, August 5, 2014

Ten years apart ~

When inspiration strikes, I run with it!  With a busy household that we have, those moments of inspiration are few and far between during the busy summer months.  A couple weeks back in July, we were packing the older three kids for a week long stay at a camp a few states away.  As I tucked each one into bed the last night before their big trip, I came to Jonmichael's room last.  I sat on his bed and asked if there was anything he would like me to do for him while he was away.  He said "Put Nathaniel in my room".  He has had his own room since I put the girls together, about 7 years ago.  I was pleased with his request, and was looking forward to the task of cleaning out his room, rearranging it and getting a crib out of our bedroom that had been there since before Rosemary was born. 

Before:
















After:










The Closet:








The room move went really well.  Both boys were so pleased as we all were with the change.


Friday, June 27, 2014

easy ~



Can you feel the quietness in this picture?

Yesterday was the most perfect day.  If I had to describe it, these would be the words I would use:  breezes, quiet, swings, blanket, knitting, calm.  What sometimes can seem like a day full of stress, can turn out to be a day of much needed respite - a day of ease.





Hanging outside with my two littlest ones turned out to be just that.

Friday, June 20, 2014

this moment ::

Inspired by Soulemama's {This Moment}

{this moment} - a single photo - no words - capturing a moment from my week.  I want to pause and savor this moment.

Tuesday, June 17, 2014

My Herb Garden

Earlier in the Spring, Daniel encouraged me to clean as much out of the side of the house which had been a make-shift herb garden the past couple of years and redo my herbs.  I had a few herbal plants that were well established so I decided to keep them, prune them back, and work around them.  Those were my lavender, sage, mint, and lemon balm plants.  I decided to make the sage plant a focal point of the garden, and used some various sizes of quartz rock to line the bed.







I made a list of herbs I wanted in the garden and over the course of a few weeks, the seedlings were ready to be transplanted.





A month later, the herb garden is flourishing.  The lemon balm was growing so well, I decided to prune it back the middle of May and make my first herbal tincture.  My intent with this herb garden is to learn to use the herbs medicinally as well as for cullinary uses.  The lavendar blooms were harvested last week for our annual lavendar cookies we all love.













My list of herbs in this garden:

Lavendar
Tarragon
Valerian
Stinging Nettles
Chives
Oregano
Thyme
Comfrey
Sage
Basil
Plantain
Fennel
Cilantro
Chamomile
Mint
Lemon Balm
Dill
Rosemary
Calendula

Growing any kind of garden is an experiment.  I'm very excited about this one, hoping to learn more and more how to use these herbs.  I have hopes of making salves (Calendula, Comfrey), tinctures,  and teas later this season!

Happy growing season everyone!!


Monday, June 16, 2014

This year's garden





















Our garden is coming along nicely this year.  I have to give all the credit for this garden to where it's due - my husband.  Each year we rotate our crops to a different location in the garden, there are more sunnier spots than others, but this year is looking very promising for everything we've put in so far.

This is what is currently growing:

Sunflowers
cucumbers
beets
parsnips
carrots
corn
beans
potatoes
onions
garlic
limas
peppers (red, banana, Jalepeno, Cayenne)
tomatoes
brocolli
cauliflower
cabbage
kale
zucchini
yellow squash

I think I'm most excited about the beans this year.  The bamboo tee-pee's are already getting covered with growth.  Last year we didn't have any luck with them, they just wouldn't grow.  New to our garden this year are the onions and garlic, and so far the broccoli, cauliflower and  cabbage are doing well and look healthy.  The squash plants have been blooming for a few weeks and we have our first squash growing this week.  We're looking forward to a bountiful harvest this summer.  I'll keep updating here as our garden evolves this season . . .  a record of this year's garden.




Tuesday, June 10, 2014

outside

From the very beginning of Spring, we have enjoyed being outside.  We eat outside, play, and garden as much as we possibly can.  Our garden is growing leaps and bounds, but I couldn't go forward with sharing about it without retracing the beginnings of it all - how our Spring began.

















Friday, March 28, 2014

Setting up play



I wanted to share with you how I set up play for Rosemary each morning.  Our morning routine can either run two ways, smooth or chaotic.  I prefer smooth.  As I mentioned in a previous post, Rosemary is learning "in", putting objects "in" things.  One day when I was observing her play, I realized that she was taking out the play kitchen sink (which is a metal bowl) and dropping objects down the hole.  I have since taken away the sink and left the "hole" permanently.  Each morning, I set up a few items on the shelf of the kitchen and within a few minutes of her coming downstairs, she makes her wake to her play kitchen and drops each of the items down the hole, that's part of her work and routine.  She's very sensory seeking, so the sounds the wood makes with this kitchen set suits her perfectly.











The rest of the morning while she's waiting for the bus to pick her up for school is spent playing with any other musical toys/objects in her space.  She is also very musically driven which has been a wonderful reinforcer for her.



Once everyone is out of the house except for Nathaniel, I set up different activities for him to engage in.  This morning, he spent most of his time working on building this tower.  I grabbed my video camera and managed to take some good footage of him doing his work.  The video is here.



This "setting up play" is always changing, always evolving, and always amazing to me.  Watching all of our children learn and grow has been one of the most rewarding experiences of being a mom and ultimately their first teacher.  I am always looking for ways to nudge them a little farther down their path of growth in this world, to give them just enough challenge to stay engaged and curious and to keep learning exciting and fun.


Thursday, March 20, 2014

Springing forward



Hello everyone!  I'm so glad Spring is here!  With that being said, let's backtrack a little.  This has been one of the fastest winter seasons I remember.  With so many weeks of snow and school cancellations, my dental surgery, inconsistent schedules, abrupt illnesses, it sent my head spinning.  Here is a small glimpse into those weeks spent.





















Highlights for me this winter have been the Daddy/Daughter Dance, dinner out with my straight A student!, Nathaniel's play these days are so much fun, his self feeding is fun too!  Rosemary is growing leaps and bounds, is beginning to say a few words when prompted, she can now put items "in", which is something we've been working on for years.  She's learning how to self feed using her spoon which is amazing, she's as joyful as ever!  This season was a wonderful mirror into my own growth.  My lack of focus and planning is what stood out to me most over the last three months.  As the children are getting older, I'm seeing how much more I have to work on these things, not only to have a more functioning household, but to become a better model for them as a parent.

The season had a way of stretching all of ourselves in ways that are necessary for growth.  I've come out on the other side celebrating in the ways we all have changed and grown, and learning how to rejoice, even in the chaos of it all!

Tuesday, March 18, 2014

Refreshing



With all the snow and closed school days behind us, we are focusing on one thing this week, Spring, Summer, and gardening.  Our first step into that glorious manifestation was buying seeds, making plans and dreaming for warm sunshine.   Each year we make changes to the garden layout, decide what we're going to cut out of the plans or add.  This year we're adding more potatoes and have 6 rows already in the ground as of last week when the temps were in the 70's which is unlike this week where we're getting more snow and freezing participation even as I write this.  Such bi-polar weather we're getting this season, which has proven to really reveal and stretch my patience more than I'm willing to admit.  It's times such as these, that with this winter card we have all seemed to have drawn this year, that we grow, mature a little more and reflect that which nature has always been reflecting back to us, that we can be peaceful during a lot of chaos, we can grow during a lot of chaos, and we can have faith in the unknown and trust that all is well, even when it feels the times we're in are so tremultuous.   







So here's to the most sought after change in seasons I've ever experienced.  I honestly can't wait to feel the warmth and sunshine on my face that will stay with us for more than a day or two, and look forward to what's ahead, yet at the same time, trying desperately to enjoy the days we're in.