...chocolate air...

oh, the possiblities.

We had a mimosa tree in our yard that I loved for its pretty leaves and flowers, and even more for its climbability. Unfortunately, some bug species did it in last year, and this week it was cut down by my husband and some friends (thanks, guys!)... you know, to avoid the whole "falling on the house" thing. Mike was all for chopping it to bits and taking it away to be burned, but I was actually excited about this big heap of logs and sticks. (My poor husband... oh, the things I put him through.)

I had them cut carefully to save the long, straight pieces. I've been planning teepees or forts or something along those lines. Just somewhere awesome to play. Simple, rough, imperfectly perfect... something like these, maybe. Or one of these.

Or check out this fun area that I want for myself, but would be willing to share with my son. Yeah, something like that.

Zach always loved playing under, on, and around that tree, calling that area his forest. So it seems appropriate to use the tree itself to fix up that area for his outdoor play. And for the "forest" floor... I'm really, really hoping to pull off this bit of gorgeousness...

I saw this pathway some time back, and fell in love. We'll see just how dedicated I decide to be...

ch-ch-ch-changes.

Spring is here! The birds are nesting, and so are we.

 

There have been a lot of things happening around here, but the main one causing all kinds of excitement, work, decision-making, and a general sprinkling of chaos is this...

We've decided to become a foster family!

This decision feels really good for us right now. In looking around at all the children (waaaay more than you would think!) who are abused, neglected, or otherwise in real need in our country, I have for several months been filled with just an overwhelming need to do something to help. So when Mike came to me one day and asked how I'd feel about fostering, I answered pretty quickly. Now is the time.

So due to various rules and regulations, we're moving a lot of things around here at home. Pictures to follow, I promise, once the dust settles. We have one more training class and a home visit from our licensing worker, and then we're good to go. So we should be certified in about a month or so. A month, people! Seriously, wow. Our life has been pretty quiet for the last few years. I can't wait to see what this new season brings.

Things are about to get really, really interesting.

 

 

 

 

home.

I love words. I mean, I really really love words.

So when I had seen an idea here and there in the blogosphere to leave behind the usual lists of resolutions, and instead to choose a single word or phrase to focus on for the new year... I was hooked. And I knew immediately what my word would be. I have already been gravitating toward it for months.

Home.

 

This focus for me means:

• making a home with more warmth and reverence
• creating more that is homemade... craft, clothing, food, etc.
• maintaining a clean, simple, and organized home
• enjoying and improving on our path of home education
• and with any luck, giving a loving home to more children.

It is all of this, and so much more. Essentially I want to make decisions this year based on how they will affect the spirit of my home, and how they will affect those around me.

And now I am going to say the word "home" a few more times, beacause I don't think it's been used enough in this blogpost. Home, home, home, home, home. There. That's better.

A very happy 2010 to you... and to all of us.

sing halleluia.

The quilt is done. I did not count up the hours spent on this, which I think is probably for the best.

Photo #1

...in which my semi-toothless child holds up the finished quilt proudly.

 

Photo #2

...in which said child claims exhaustion while revealing the backside of the quilt.

 

Photo #3

...in which you get a glimpse of the gorgeous fabric I used for the back. As a bonus, you get a glimpse of my wonky stitchwork.

 

Photo #4

...in which we see the quilt hanging prettily from a random tree. As if that would ever happen in real life.

 

Photo #5

...in which we see the twin-size quilt spead out on our king-size bed, since that's the only spot in the house that ever gets any sunlight.

 

Photo #6

...in which we see that the quilt, despite various imperfections, works for its intended purpose. Perfectly.

adventure.

We had big plans today to visit the science center with the cub scouts, but everybody canceled out at the last minute. Since we go there pretty regularly anyway, and today was gorgeous, we decided to do some exploring. Off to the lake!

 

I can't wait till the weather warms up enough to go camping. Just being out in the woods today was so refreshing for both of us. I believe Zach used his new favorite phrase fifteen times this afternoon, "Oh, yeah, baby!!" My only regret is that I haven't made Zach an explorer bag yet, because my pockets were stuffed with all kinds of treasures (and dirt) when we came home.

 

Check it out... we found a honey tree! And with my love of The House on Pooh Corner, and Zach's love of classic Berenstain Bears... we were embarrassingly excited to stumble on a honey tree in real life. There's very little in this world that's more awe-inspiring than the intricate pattern made by a simple honeybee.

And here's Zach's find of the day... a completely intact turtle shell. Remind me that I need to drop a big bottle of hand sanitizer into that explorer bag when I get it made.

 

 

All said and done, I finally put together our nature display, just using the items we brought home today. This was a good day.

Oh, yeah, baby.

okay, so it's been a while...

Some of you have been quite patient. Others of you have been less-than-subtle in your promptings for me to update the blog. (Kirsten, Jennifer, Karen, Renae... you know who you are. No need to name names.)

I thought I'd take a leaf out of Amanda's book and share ten things that are making me happy lately, in no particular order:

1. The arrival of camping season (and the complete happiness of a little nature-loving boy)

2. Good music running through my head all day

Night Mantra

3. Eating right, walking with a good friend, and being already four pounds closer to my pre-baby weight. (Yes, by "baby"... I am referring to my almost-seven-year-old. Give me a break. The time has come.)

4. This commercial about the power of the wind. Hilarious.

5. This little love, my friend Heidi's newest little one

6. Adorable children's books

7. Digging through and organizing my craft area (nearly done!)

8. The chance to study nature, literally in our own backyard

9. This fabulous blog, which completely inspires me to document the lives of family and friends with warmth and personality. (Look through the archives, seriously. Amazing stuff.)

10. Listening to quality audiobooks with my son (he's loving the Little House series, yea!!), and knowing that I can go to Kiddie Records Weekly and we'll be knee-deep in great recordings from the 40s and 50s. A couple of clicks and you're wading in nostalgia.

cozy.

Am I the only adult who looks forward to snowy days as much as kids do? We're giddy around here. Well, Mike wasn't quite so chipper as he was shoveling the drive, but still... I feel so cozy on days like this.

Zach wasn't feeling well last night, so we decided to stay in this morning until we could guage how he was doing. So this morning we read wintry books, The Snowy Day and Snowballs, two of my favorites. Then we talked about the collage style of Lois Ehlert, and what she used to create her illustrations. And then we took that a step further and created a little mural. It's about 2-3 feet tall and hangs in the living room. Using crumpled white paper and odd bits we found around the house, Zach made a snow boy and I made a snow girl. I especially love the chicken bone unibrow on Zach's. Very clever.

Finally Daddy came home and it was time to play in the real snow. Happy day!

And also we did something brand-new to me... we made homemade bread!!! It's funny how even though I'd never done it before, it was still so familiar from seeing my mother bake bread as I was growing up. And yum, it's good. And much easier than I expected.

Buttermilk and Honey Bread

3/4	cup warm water
1	tablespoon dry yeast
1	teaspoon sugar
1 1/2	cups warm buttermilk
2	tablespoonsunsalted butter, melted
3	tablespoons honey
1	tablespoon salt
6-6 1/2	cups unbleached white bread flour
1	egg, to glaze

• Lightly spray two small or one large loaf pan with non stick cooking spray or coat with melted butter.
• Set them on a baking sheet and set aside.
• In a kitchen aid mixing bowl, hand whisk the water, yeast and sugar together and let stand for 2 minutes.
• Stir in buttermilk, butter, honey, salt and half the flour.
• Stir with a wooden spoon.
• Fit machine with a dough hook, then kneading, add in more flour as required to make a soft, but firm dough, about 8- 10 minutes.
• Cover lightly with plastic wrap and let rise 45- 90 minutes until doubled in size.
• Gently deflate dough and divide into two or keep as one loaf.
• Shape into oblongs and place in prepared loaf pans.
• Insert loaf pans into a large plastic bag and let rise until doubled in size, about 30-45 minutes.
• Glaze well with a beaten egg.
• (You can also brush loaf with melted butter).
• Preheat oven to 375°F.
• Place breads in oven and bake about 45 minutes until well browned. You may want to cover with foil partway through baking.)
• Turn breads out onto a cooling rack and cool well before slicing.

One more cozy thing. My sister taught me how to do a basic knit this winter, and I actually created something! I made her this scarf for her birthday, and she finally got it only one month late. I think that's pretty good. Here she is modeling...

glittery.

So I went to scrapbooking last night, knowing full well that I wasn't going to get any scrapbooking done, despite being years behind. It was sleeting when I got there. Jennifer and I were the only souls brave enough to face the storm (or desperate enough for a night out). She was the good girl and created a couple of cute pages. I was drawn to creating yet more holiday decorations. Why I feel I have to make more every year? I don't know. My only excuse is... look how cute these are! I saw these online and had to try them. I added a stripe of glitter to the outside of mine just to jazz them up. I'll be paying for it with glitter all over the house, but...

Directions are found here. Go make some. They're so quick!

savoring.

Normally I would have had Christmas decorations up by now. I'd be playing Christmas music. Wondering how soon we could get the tree without it ending as a mass of needles on the floor by Christmas Day. With all my cards mailed out, including handwritten notes in each. Okay, just kidding on the last one.

But for some reason, I'm just not ready to give up autumn. At least, not today.

o thanksgiving tree, o thanksgiving tree.

At the beginning of the month, Zach and I pulled out the brown and purple paint and went to town on a big roll of paper. We painted an area of about 3x4 feet and let it dry. Then I sketched and cut out a really ugly simple tree trunk with a few branches. After we cut out about a million construction paper leaves, we were ready.

All month we've been writing down things we're thankful for, and then adding the leaves to our bare tree with sticky-tack. My favorites from Zach? Aside from the fact that he wrote "food" on about a dozen leaves, there is also "Dad comes home", "fishing", and my favorite, "I, Zach".

Such a happy life.

new(ish). improved.

So I know I promised a long time ago that I'd share some images of the house. Thought I'd get on that.

We remodeled our kitchen some 5 or 6 years ago, with Mike and his dad doing all the work themselves, and me doing what I could also. I'd been waiting to take the "after" photos until we had all the little details in place. But then yesterday I thought, "You know, it's now or never," so here they are, going counterclockwise into each corner of the room. You really have to click on the images to see what it looks like at all.

Walking into the kitchen from the living room...

From the back door/ top of the stairs...

Sorry, no before picture here. Looking back toward the living room (on the other side of the shelves)...

From the corner with the big window...

Now some of you who have been to my house are now thinking, "Wait... I have never seen her kitchen this clean!" To you I say: Hush.

playing house.

So I'm sure you've noticed that I changed the title of my blog... er... again. Do any of you sometimes feel like, even after years of being a wife and mother, you're still just playing house? It's rather a nice feeling, actually... when I feel that way, I realize that it's so fun to have a home and play with my son and take care of my husband. It is, after all, what I have always wanted to do. And that "playing house" sensation also opens me up to all kinds of new possibilities, realizing that the outcome of our "play" is entirely up to us. We get to choose what we are going to do every single day, and I'm trying to make that more of a conscious choice, rather than just letting the days flow by.

Also, I've been working lately to make our house more "us". The house isn't really big, so I'm turning every bit of it into "living space". Mike and I are really laid-back people, and I really want to have a home that is immediately comfortable to anyone who visits. Both kids and grown-ups should be able to walk in and feel free to play here. I love that people look through our books, draw on the kitchen chalkboard wall, leave funny messages on our fridge with the magnetic letters, or grab instruments and start doing an impromptu serenade. So bit by bit, I'm creating... well... a playing house. And I love it.

The photo above is of the space I'm looking at right now, to the left of my desk. (And yes, that's Charlie and Lola on my computer desktop.) This is probably the most crowded-looking corner of my home, but it makes me happy. I just painted the living room and kitchen in these colors a few weeks back, and I'll tell ya, it beats the heck out of the dingy white that it was before. Love it.

(P.S. I love this post!)

not an illusion.

Yes, a real post from me!

First of all... thank you, thank you for all of your kind words, thoughts, and prayers. They are so appreciated. Our family is doing quite well. We have felt great comfort in knowing that our seperation from Nathan is temporary, and have been blessed to have a wonderful and supportive group of friends. All is well.

After my long absence, I wasn't sure where to begin. So I think I will quickly mention the silhouette that I did this evening... a twenty-minute project that makes me happy. I just snapped a profile image of Zachary, printed it on regular paper as an 8x10 size, and used temporary adhesive to affix it to black cardstock. Then I cut around the profile, making sure to include a few wisps of hair, etc. I cleaned up any ugly edges, glued it to 12x12 scrapbook paper, and dropped it in a frame. Voila! I can't even tell you how long I've been meaning to do this and haven't... so silly!!

Tomorrow I'll be back to start sharing some of the things we've been up to. Oh... and if you read this post in the next couple of days, please click on Comments and let me know you're here. I'd love to know that anyone still checks my blog from time to time!!

a house of order.

Well, a room of order, anyway...

This is probably going to be a bit of a long post, but I promise it will be worth the read. Some of you may already be way more organized than I am, but this was literally life-changing for us, so I wanted to share. A little history...

 

When Zachy was two or three, this is what his room looked like. At all times. I tried to keep it picked up, but I wanted him to learn to do it himself. So there were these horrible struggles to keep him focused enough to pick up a toy, make it to the toy box and drop it in (without pulling out another one in the process!). After about five or ten minutes of giving him constant direction, we were both frustrated almost to the point of tears.

Another thing that I noticed is the way he was playing... that photo above pretty much says it all. He'd dig around in his toy box, dumping out every toy he owned in an attempt to find what he wanted. Then he'd sit in the middle, and jump from one toy to the next... push a button on this one, then turn to mess with another for five seconds, etc. So he was never really engaged in play with any of his things.

So I decided to take action. I read the book Organizing from the Inside-Out by Julie Morgenstern. I soooo recommend that everyone have that book in their home. Really. Really. Go get it. Now. She lays out a way for you to create your own organizational system, that works with your habits and preferences, not against them. I actually taught a class about this, so I created a basic outline of how to create your system:

Creating a House of Order

Worksheet

Please, please feel free to ask questions about those if they don't make sense. They were meant to go along with the explanations I gave in class.

So I gave it a try. I sat down and wrote out what was and wasn't working, sorted, purged, and rethought everything. And then following the kindergarten model of organization, I came up with this room. (These photos were taken a few years ago. Things have changed since then, but I'll share those images another time.)

As you come into the room, here's the wall on the left. The dressing area, where we find the hamper, dresser/changing table (Mike made that!), mat and diaper genie for changes (remember these were taken a few years ago), and a shoe rack. His clothing is divided up by type in the drawers.

Moving around the room to the right, there's the bedtime area. Glider for cuddling, with bedtime books at hand in a repurposed dump truck. Right by the bed, for easier nighttime transitions. (Hmm... I see crayon on the walls and mirror, and dirt all over the chair. This must have been his artistic stage...)

To the right of the bed is a closet, which I emptied so we could add shelving for books. I tossed in a few pillows for comfort, and we plan to lay some carpet in there. It has a nice raised base in the closet, and I thought it would work just right as a quiet space. He goes in there to read by himself, or with friends to hide in a "secret spot".

The next wall just has a large window, where I strung ribbon to hang his artwork.

The last wall is reserved for play time. The desk we had for him was there, as well as the toy box, which now holds only stuffed animals.

The rest of the toys are in that closet on the right, separated by type, put in containers, and labeled with photos I took and added type to.

So what was Zach's reaction to this? I brought him into his room, opened his closet door... and he squealed! "Mommy, it's my toys!!" Then he looked them over, chose a box, and played with his Mr. Potato Head for ten minutes. When he was done, he put the pieces back in the box and returned it to the closet, without my saying a word.

Now, does he always keep his room clean? Of course not. But clean-up is so quick now. When friends come over to play, they actually like clean-up time, because it feels like a game to them... and they always know right away where everything goes. And best of all... the power struggles and frustration just faded away.

So... I'm going through the house, room by room, closet by closet, drawer by drawer... setting up systems that actually work. It pretty much takes forever, and I'm nowhere near finished. But I guarantee you, once you organize just one area this way, you won't be able to stop yourself.

thrifty. nifty.

Some time ago I was wandering through the thrift store and spotted this. I was a little too excited to see it sitting there. I've been saving it back for a while, waiting for the "right time" to get it out and set it up. Then yesterday I thought, "Every day it spends sitting on that shelf is another day that it doesn't get used." And well, what's the point of that? So last night I pulled out the box and got to work on the assembly. And let me tell you... there was definitely some assembly required. The dang thing took me most of the evening to put together, and when I was done... there were, um, a few screws and pegs left over. I'm sure they were extras, right? I mean, it really does seem sturdy. So let's just pray it's all good.

Did you happen to notice the $80.00 price tag on the Target site? Well, get this... my price? $20.00. All because the back corner of the countertop was a little crunched. You can't see it at all from the front.

Zachy is ecstatic with it. He's been baking cookies all day, and saying, "Mommy, I really, really need you to make me some cooker clothes." In English... a chef's hat and apron. So I'm sure I'll have that to show you soon.

In related news, I also picked up this hand-carved walnut fruit set at another thrift store, for so cheap. I would have paid more than that just for the bowl. It's going into the play food, as I'm trying to have better quality items for him to "cook" with. I'm thinking about painting them... not sure yet. I'm definitely going to ditch the plastic top on the pineapple and make a fabric, less abrasive top for it. Here's what I'm keeping from the set:

I have two extra bunches of grapes, an apple, and a pear that we don't need. Anyone interested? Just mention in your comments that you'd like them, and I'll draw a name tomorrow evening. Here they are:

Good luck!

sprung.

Ahhh... we had the windows open today!! Halleluia. Spring. Isn't it amazing the difference in the way a house feels when there is fresh air blowing through? Total mood lift.

So Zach and I had the pleasure of spending the morning playing outside with friends, with no coats even! My friend Emily and I were discussing backyards... so much usable living space often going to waste, because we don't know how to go about improving it. It seems like you could create such a wonderful play/relaxing area with a little creativity. We have a basic yard... grass, a few trees, a wooden playset, and an occasional garden. So I'm kind of thinking over what the possibilities are for outdoor space. Do you all have anything in your yard that you just love? Anything your kids are wild over?

I have the most wonderful thrift store purchase to show you tomorrow after I get a few pictures taken. Soooo happy.

See those lovely flowers? I watched a friend's children one day last week, so she sentenced this poor plant to death by giving it to me. Isn't it beautiful? It's one that can be planted outside after the last frost of the season. I'm going to try my darnedest to let it live until then, but my track record isn't so good.

going yoyo.

Does the word "garland" conjure up images of glittery plastic tackiness in your mind the way it does mine? But then I look at our tree and think that it really needs something to tie it all together, you know?

So last week I started stringing popcorn and cranberries. Have you ever actually tried that? So, um... I didn't get very far with that, and resigned the little string that I accomplished to my table centerpiece.

Plan B: Heather had the greatest idea... a yoyo garland! I LOVED the look of hers, so of course I jumped on the idea.

I started by getting some gorgeous fabric half-price at Hobby-Lobby. I love that place!

And so far I've made about 80 yoyos. (I know, I know... I'm a total wacko!) There's a great tutorial on that site. Thanks a million, Heather!

I used fabric glue to attach ten yoyos to each section of grosgrain ribbon. The package said nothing about a well-ventilated area... I should sue. I lost half my brain cells gluing these things on. I simply can't afford to lose that many. I was running short as it was. :)

I did it in sections so the garland would be more versatile. This way I can tie together as many sections as I need for a certain area, whether it be over the piano, around the windows, or on the tree. Now mind you, I only have about 12 feet to work with right now, so the tree thing is still out of the question. I think it may go garlandless this year.

And despite the fact that several of my yoyos are quite wonky, I think the overall effect is lovely. Now to figure out where to hang them...

cinnamony.

Zachary and I made these cute ornaments for the tree two days ago, and the smell of cinnamon is still permeating the living room. Yummmm.

They are so easy. Just mix a cup of applesauce with a cup of cinnamon (yes, you read that right). The book suggests adding a bit of white glue to it to make them less crumbly, but as we apparently don't have any white glue in the house(!), we did without and they turned out fine.

Roll out the dough to about 1/2 inch thick (ours are thinner than that, though). We used extra cinnamon on top of the dough and on the rolling pin to prevent sticking. Cut out shapes with cookie cutters, and then poke a hole near the top (you could use a toothpick to carve out a hole... I used a noodle to punch out holes). Place them on a cooling rack and let dry completely... no baking. Ours took about a day and a half to dry.

Thread a ribbon through the top and hang them on a Christmas tree, a wreath, a mantle, over your stove... wherever! They're festive and smell oh-so-good.

a new old treasure.

So... is this hunk o' junk worth keeping? You betcha. It was Mike's, and we dragged it out of his mother's barn attic this weekend. Yippee!! I'm so excited to work it over and fix it up for Zach to use. I'll let you know how it goes.

(Someone... Mike or one of his brothers... had carved Fire Hawk on the desktop. Haha!)

think pink.

So... I haven't posted in a while. But I return with news!

We're adopting a baby girl!! Yahooee!!! I have just been leaping around the house since we officially made the decision. We just started the paperwork, so it will be a while before we know when she's coming (or who she'll be!).

Mike gave me this oh-so-sweet baby girl from Willow Tree, my new favorite. She says it all.