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.

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.

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!

First day of school - 2013

Today was officially our first day back at school.  Or should I say school(s)!  We're in three different schools this year and four buses.  Yep, this is a family that loves challenges I say!  After the last bus came and went and once back inside and dishes and kitchen were cleaned, I found Nathaniel busy with his block activity, he loves putting things into containers.





Seeing him play like that made me think of this moment from 7 years ago when I got back home from taking my now 6th grade middle schooler to Junior Kindergarten for the first time.

First day of school - 2006




I remember there was this strange quietness in the air as the siblings who are left behind got lost in play.  I can now feel my heart sink a little lower in my chest.  Its not often that we stop long enough to sit in these moments, there is so much hustle and bustle going on in our homes that sometimes its hard to feel the tenderness.  These little ones are growing up so fast.  Hopefully the butterflies went away quickly for everyone who was a little more worried than usual this morning.  Its all so normal.  I'll sit and anxiously await each of their arrivals this afternoon.  I'll hear their stories, laugh with them about their day, share a snack and enjoy our reunion for the evening.  The first day back to school . . . its glorious I say! 

First day of school - 2006



First day of school - 2013 - today!

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. 

Portraits of my children

Whenever I can capture the essence of my children with my camera, I am delighted!  There are times when I view my world as through a camera lens, I can see the pictures before I ever see them on screen or paper.  It can be frustrating to me when the camera isn't seeing what I see for whatever reason, the lighting might not be strong enough for the camera, or it might be too strong, or the pictures come out blurry from the movement of the child.  These days, it’s rare for me to be able to capture that special millisecond of time because of all of the demands, but it certainly is special when I do.  Sometimes it comes from a child calling my attention, other times I happen to be a part of the action and can see the photo unfold right before my eyes. 

I love portrait photography.  It tells a story without words, it has emotion, it has meaning.  It’s like carrying that one moment into eternity; that one moment that gets frozen forever.  It’s that special. 

Last night I had one of those moments.  The story goes like this.  Elise comes up to me telling me about this bee costume she made, I look up from the computer and know instantly to go grab the camera.  She had cut and pasted bee antenaes and wings, found the perfect yellow shirt from her drawer, attached a stinger, she had thought of everything.  Out the door we went to get the right amount of lighting and click click click.  The photo I was most proud of was captured towards the end as we were wrapping up our little session.  She happened to look up at the sky and there is was, that was amazing.  Intuitively, I had an a-ha moment and snap, I got it.  Now I have a wonderful little memory of these 5 minutes spent reveling her little homemade costume, and grateful I took the time to make a big deal of her creativity.   

It's his turn

It seems like only yesterday that I was introducing you all to our newest guy in the family.  He’s been with us already for a whole year.  I’m stunned.  This has been the fastest year of my life.  He’s a joyful little bundle, loves to be held, loves to play with all his siblings and loves to say his first word, "good!" 

This birthday celebration I wanted to keep simple.  Simple in a 7 person family kinda way.  I picked a rainbow theme, bright and definitely cheerful and is he.  I was coming up empty handed as far as a handmade mama gift, so last minute I headed over to Good-Will and purchased a large men's tie-dye t-shirt to sew him a pair of pants for the party!



Party production was at its finest in the wee hours the night before!  Sewing, and cake decorating made for quite the memories, was so glad to get the machine back out again, it had been far too long.

We had an amazing day!  Everything came together perfectly for his first little birthday.  So many memories were made that day, I'll never forget how he ate his cake and how he played outside, how nice it was to have family over and relax and enjoy the day in a non-stress kind of way.  We're so grateful for this little guy, his sweet, and charming personality.

Happy 1st Birthday Nathaniel Gene!
xoxo,
Mama

Outside

This weekend, lots of time was spent out of doors.  Stroller riding/pushing, biking, planting, measuring, watering, it was a full weekend.  We're getting our garden ready for the planting season.  All the root vegetables were planted several weeks ago when the moon was in the dark phase.  I refer to this often.  We're excited another planting season is upon us!  I love this change of pace in our family day to tending to the small crops planted, excited to see what grows best this year (hoping for more squash this year and earlier tomatoes!) Its always an experiment isn't it?  So much depends on the weather and how many deer pass by, but each year we gain more experience and knowledge to apply to the next growing season.

A Little Montessori

I don’t get around to doing as many Montessori-like activities as I wish these days, but on Friday it so happened that I was able to sit Nathaniel down in front of his Object Permanence Box and he stayed engaged for longer than I expected, especially with me snapping the camera hoping to not distract him.  

I have been a big fan of the Montessori approach for teaching children for many years now and feel like I'm at a place where I can practice some of that knowledge researched years ago with our baby Nathaniel.  I had introduced the Object Permanence Box about a month ago and he would just crawl away mouthing the ball.  But on this day, he stayed engaged, so that tells me that he is ready for it.  It challenged him.  

I have also opened a YouTube channel for my blog.  Its not perfect by any means, but I wanted to share some of the videos I've taken and will continue to add more.  So far, there are two uploaded, I have more that I need to locate and upload.  You can find them on my channel here.  {This is also the video of Nathaniel doing his work with his Object Permanence Box.}  

Days / Nights

Many days and nights have passed since I was last at this space.  Reason being . . . my external harddrive that contained all of my pictures since Christmas of 2009 was dropped and unless I fork up $1500, nothing can be retrieved.  So it sits up on a shelf waiting for technology to catch up to my pocketbook!  So what few pictures I have scattered among the various computers in the house, what I've uploaded to a few internet photo sites, what's on my blog via Flickr and what's on my camera currently is all I've got for now.  I just haven't allowed myself to think about it really.  I vowed to be at peace about it and that's where I stand.  That being said, many more pictures will be taken and many more pictures will be safely archived in the future!

Here's a look at our recent days and nights:



















Days: A look into our days around the home.
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Nights:  A joyful ending to our busy days.

Hope your days and nights are too filled with joy!

this moment ::

Inspired by Soulemama's {This Moment}

{this moment} - a single photo - no words - capturing a simply fantastic moment of my week.  I want to pause (and savor) this moment!

growing up fast

Again, as I scanned over all those pictures last week these got a category on their own.

As we wait to ride out hurricane Sandy today, I'll be sure to enjoy this day of family together-ness {sneek in a few little extra hugs} and be grateful that we are forced to slow down and think about what matters most, our love for each other and how amazing our lives are.

Here's to hoping every one gets through this storm safely!!  Enjoy your family today!