Games

In the midst of all the excitement during the Thanksgiving holiday weekend- family in town and excessive consumption of food- I only took a few pictures. Of a board game. No photos documenting the abundant and gorgeous feast, no pictures of family members in town (some of the Staffs came out for the first time in a few years!) But in a way board games make me think about holidays, of time set away to while away the hours in these mostly relaxing pursuits. When I was a girl, I used to love this game though the "sorry' line could get a bit old. I don't think I had played it since I was a kid and Mrs. D would come over to babysit all of us. It was fun to revisit it again.

Well, I'll be looking forward to maybe a bit more lounging and game playing soon as we plan to gather again with extended family at Christmas. In the meantime I should keep myself going full-force as there's still lots of holiday preparing to do. I'm trying to take lots of deep breaths.

Seven on the seventh

Rowan my delightful one is 7. It really is a magical age. He wished for new lego sets and was completely surprised and ecstatic as he unwrapped those sought after packages. When he opened one to see a pirate set inside, he exclaimed "how did Grandma know exactly what I wanted!" and when finding his sisters had gifted him with Star Wars legos he shouted "Thank you! I LOVE you!" and dove toward them with a big hug. So sweet.

My dear boy may have a slight (or not so slight) interest in swords/pocketknives/guns/catapults/etc and dramatic, dangerous tales, but through it all his kind heart and sensitive soul shine though. Oh how we love him! Happy Birthday Rowan!

Where the wild things are

Right now, this little wild thing is softly snoozing in bed. But very soon, she'll be roaring and ready to greet the day. At two, she is full of ideas concerning all aspects of her day. From picking her daily attire to choosing her next meal, she wants in on decision making. And Halloween was no exception: she had her mind made up about what costume she'd wear.
A "hobo monster" was her choice. Never mind that I had my own ideas: I envisioned us being a cuddly kitty cat pair as mama cat and baby cat. But this adorable costume got handed down to us from a friend. Though a teeny bit small and wearing thin at the at the seams, Lilla fell in love with this suit. And who wouldn't with all those fun details?

The only unfortunate result of our trick-or-treating foray was that this little miss has fine tuned her taste for a sweet treat. Umm, I don't think it is a good idea to give into toddler pleas for candy at 9Am. Oh wise Lynn could you please tell that Sugar Sprite to have a swing by our place?

Better late than never

Well, here it is: a very belated post complete with blurry pictures and birthday wishes for my girl. Her birthday was at the end of August, but I seem to be on my own time line with this old blog. My voracious reader, fan of horses (and a clothes horse herself), fun and sweet girl is twelve. I can't believe it.

From the earth

Considering my CSA hands me this abundance and more every week, I have been asking myself whether my garden is worth all the effort. There's no way I can top the bounty of this local farmer.

But then I think back to my own childhood. We did not usually have a tilled garden space, but the yard had many fruit trees, bushes and perennials. I remember so vividly foraging in the yard for blueberries, plums, rhubarb, pears and more. With delight my siblings and I would find these edible gems and gobble them up.

Though eventually I would love to garden so productively that I could feed my family all summer long and into the year with my own labor, I'm not there yet. For now I think of it as a children's garden, a nibbler's place. A place to pluck a simple bouquet. A space to find treasures among the weeds- a strawberry here, a sugar snap there. I love to watch the joy and satisfaction of my boy as he pulls carrots from the patch. I hope to plant seeds of love for the earth that my children can carry with them always.

Could it possibly be...

That our littlest girl is now two? Highlights from her day: the balloons at Auntie Lea and Uncle Kevin's house, presents to open and a decadent, three layered chocolate cake. And did I mention those balloons? My goodness- who could have known so much happiness could come from something so simple. Watch out Little Lad, I think you may have an heir to your balloon kingdom.






Happy Birthday to our dear, sweet Lilla!

Kingston

Crafty bits

The kids and I made a few little crafty things. To lend a festive vibe to our dining room, we made papel picado:

Ava and Rowan loved making these and given a little more time would probably have covered the entire house with paper banners. We used fairly large rectangles of tissue paper, folded them in half many times and then cut out various shapes to create the designs. There are some amazingly intricate ones pictured here.
The painted silhouettes of the kids were a gift. I used acrylic paint on 11" by 14" canvas panels. This project has been waiting on the back burner for ages.  And with the help of a digital camera, the whole process didn't take very long- just part of an afternoon. First I took profile shots of each child against a blank wall. Then I fiddled with the size of each photo and printed them out. Next I cut out the profiles and traced them onto the canvas panels. Lastly I painted two coats of black acrylic paint inside the outlined silhouettes.

Heart Day

A woodblock print I found at the farmer's market : Danish paper hearts filled with chocolate goodies. This site has wonderful directions.
Rowan carved his very own soap with inspiration found over here. My sweet boy has wanted a real carving knife for quite some time. The butter knife and soap method is a great way to get those itching fingers crafting. The added bonus was mama received a fresh supply of castille soap shaving for whipping up a new batch of laundry soap.
And of course some heart shaped (or something approaching that) pancakes on the breakfast table.
Hope your day was surrounded by those you love.

Decking the halls

The farm looked like this the day we went to pick out our Christmas tree: Yes, almost every tree covered in mounds of snow, but that didn't stop of from trudging around through the deep, deep snow looking for that perfect one. Finally choosing, we circled round our tree to give thanks before cutting and bringing it home. I love so much the sweet forest scent that now fills the indoor spaces.
And I love the gleam captured on sparkling ornaments.
More little bits to add some holiday flavor:
This one is Ava's.
Here's Rowan's.
The advent garland which I can never seem to get a good photo of, but on most days the kids awake to a little treat tucked inside.
And the little felted bird- an idea stolen from the fabulously crafty Leanne at Homemade Rainbows. I've been admiring the ones she made some time ago for her little one's birthday and have been waiting for the moment to make my own. And now I can't wait to sew a few more.
Hope your holidays preparations are merry and bright!

And now Rowan is six

December 7th- six years ago when we were graced by the arrival of our dear boy. I pulled together a simple birthday celebration beginning with a star path (an idea from The Birthday Book, which I adore).

Rowan awoke with morning's first light to find a trail of golden paper stars laid out on the floor beside the bed. After realizing the trail was meant to be followed by a certain birthday boy, he bounded out of bed and tip-toed his way to discover this at the end of the path:
And the unwrapping and playing with new treasures ensued, with my boy still pajama clad:In the afternoon the kids (all three!) and I ventured out to see a movie . As we so rarely go to the theater, this was indeed a very special something. Rowan guessed that he had only been out to the movies once or twice before... and it was Lilla's theater debut. Considering the intensity of the surround sound, I'm not sure it was such a great idea for the little one's ears. But we went and had a perfectly good time munching popcorn in the darkened theater, laughing a bunch and me crying a little too. Afterwards, we treated ourselves to Rowan's requested pizza dinner and returned home for a bit of carrot cake and the company of my sister and her husband.
Happy Birthday Rowan!

Giving thanks

Last Thursday we celebrated Thanksgiving here, just us. We did not travel to visit family as we normally do and skipped cooking the usual feast to instead eat at a restaurant. All in all a very untraditional holiday, but it is such breaking away from tradition that makes one appreciate it all the more. Too often, amidst life's busy-ness and responsibilities, I forget to feel gratitude for the joy and wonder that surrounds. At this time of the year, I am reminded to pause and reflect on all the happiness in my life: family, friends, the peace and comfort of home, nature's beauty and the bounty of good things to eat. In honor of this holiday, we made a Gratitude Tree using our watercolor leaves painted a few weeks ago and took turns writing what we are thankful for on the back of each leaf.
While the word family was written more than once on our leaves, I was grateful for Saturday afternoon when  I stayed home alone to putter around (very novel indeed!) I even had a chance to play around with the new sewing machine  and paint a bit of my boy's bedroom. And when the kids returned, I was ready to receive them...for a break was just what this Mama needed to feel all the more thankful for these loves of my life.

Happy December 1st!