Clare Corner

Jag Alskar Dig!

2014-02-16T18:57:00.001-08:00

We had a very simple Valentine's Day. The day before Valentine's Day, we were one of those lucky East-Coasters who received more snow than Virginia characteristically gets. Ever. I think we got about 17 inches. In the preparation for possible power outages and weeks of possibly being snowed-in, Valentines became less of a priority. But at least we had all that we needed to make milk sandwiches for weeks.

We have been learning about Sweden, so we had a Swedish-themed day. I made the kids "dala horse sewing kits" with the pieces cut out and ready to sew, little heart baskets (that every Scandinavian country claims as their own), and found some M&Ms and leftover Christmas candy to fill them with.

We are so fortunate that we have good friends within walking distance. So we made Vaniljkakor and had a little Valentine tea party.

And the kids went out to play in the snow as the sun was setting. And this was the picture from my porch:

And days like these make me happy to be just where I am.

1 year and 1 month later

2014-02-04T17:54:00.000-08:00

Hello friends! It has been a little while (as in over a year) since my last blog post. It has been quite a year yet here we are, a year older, a year wiser, and a year more grateful. It was a rough year for us financially and for me that became a challenge for me spiritually. We have come out on the other side for now, but not without trials. Not without sacrifice and pain. But we have been given a greater dose of humility, compassion and gratefulness.

For over a year Nick juggled two part time jobs as I worked part time at Starbucks. We barely made ends meat. There were times that I was envious to tears of people who had the means to fill their entire shopping cart with groceries. I learned to cook beans many new ways and to feed a family of 5 on $100 or less a week. It was not easy. Its amazing how no matter how much you tell yourself, "its only money", it really isn't "only money" is it? Because when you don't have it, it dictates many other aspects of your life. What you can do, what you can buy, how healthy you can eat, how far you can drive. That was hard for me. Putting faith in God to provide was terribly hard. But He did provide. Every. Single. Day. And that is exactly what it was: day-to-day-to-day. I couldn't look past a single day or I would be under the covers in tears with worry. How to pay for this or that. A gallon of milk or a gallon of gas? And no end in sight. That was the worst part. Putting faith in God when you can't see His plan. And always knowing that He would provide, but needing to know when.

It was a hard year. But it was an awesome year. Working at Starbucks has been such a blessing. I cannot count how many mornings last year that started at 3:30am for me, but I have made some amazing friends who have inspired me. We had our own little Starbucks crew hiking group and we went on some pretty neat adventures in and around our little hometown. Plus, I have new, really close friends who I imagine will be in my life long after our time pulling espresso shots together.

One of my co-workers also tipped me off about this really amazing grocery store (Sharp Shopper) that is very inexpensive. That sounds so dumb, I know, but I swear this store has changed my life. Not to mention fed my family on its cheap (yet healthy) goods. My prayers to fill my entire shopping cart were answered, in such a simple unexpected way.

I also learned how very valuable my time is. I find it so incredibly hard to not get stuck in a rut when I am home, all day every day with sweet, energetic, fighting, smelly, adorable, crazy kids! Working has given me that space to disconnect, and then reconnect more fully (yet often tiredly) to these children and to appreciate all the small moments together. And unlike at home, I get breaks at work... with lattes and 10 minutes of uninterrupted thoughts!! What a treat. Now I feel like I am finding that balance between being a wife and mother... and yet still being me.

I also took up running and ran a 5k. Running lifts my spirits in hard times, and its free! And while I am trying to find a new balance now that Nick got a FULL TIME JOB and time to myself is a little harder to come by, I know what is possible and necessary for my sanity and well-being. So just before Thanksgiving Nick was offered a full-time position with the company he had been working part-time for!! It was like those cheesy Christmas movies that end so happy, just in time for the holidays!!! But it wasn't cheesy at all! It was wonderful in every little way! I was so thankful for answered prayers.

So that was my bitter sweet journey. I am grateful. I know everything could change in a moment and we aren't wealthy or out of the water completely, but for now I am so grateful. I am so grateful for these wonderful little people who teach me how to live in the moment, and seek the good, and keep the faith. I am so grateful for my loving husband who always told me it would be okay (even though I didn't always believe him or see the whole picture). I have learned a new compassion for those less fortunate who live day-to-day and wonder where they will find the money for food to feed their families tomorrow. I have met these people, and been these people and it is hard. And faith is hard too.

So here we are 1 year and 1 month later, a little wiser, a little humbler, a little stronger, and ever so grateful.

Thank you God.

Merry Christmas...

2013-01-01T10:41:00.001-08:00

...and a happy New Year to you all!

I can hardly believe its been two months since my last post. Nor can I believe Christmas has come and gone and it is already the first day of 2013! Our life has been very busy and full of joy, fun and a bit of chaos this holiday season. We had a wonderful Christmas celebrating the joy of Christ and the wishes of little children in our household came true. We are very fortunate to be given another year, and though change seems to be on the horizon, my prayers are that we can embrace it with all our hearts and grow a little closer to who we were meant to be and fulfill our purpose on this earth.

So much has happened and changed since my last post. A few hardships and many blessings have come our way. I intended to share them but time has been lacking. Time for blogging anyway. There has been time for many other things, like reading stories in our jammies and baking cookies for Santa. We have had time to enjoy Christmas lights and play in the snow. We have had time for very important things, but less time for sharing them. So lets catch up a little, shall we?

Kieran turned two in November. Oh, and is he ever two. With each two-year-old, more meaning is given to the phrase, "terrible two" and yet I try to remember that he is equally a wonderful two. He loves cars and candy, he loves being outside, swinging and sliding and he has a very developed an ability to find some kind of trouble to get into no matter what time of day and where he is.

In November my Mom treated us to a wonderful production of "Beauty and The Beast" put on by the Christian Youth Theatre in Spotsylvania. I highly recommend any of their plays, and we all thoroughly enjoyed their interpretation of Anastasia's favorite Princess Story. We also had the pleasure of meeting Belle herself (who we were thrilled to find out is also Home schooled!). And do you notice anything different about Anastasia?:

My brave little, almost-6-year-old got her ears pierced. She just decided she wanted to do it, and the next day we did it! She hardly cried and is very proud that she was so brave, and has shiny little stars in her ears now! Suddenly she looks so grown up! Especially when she forgoes a frilly dress for jeans and a pretty shirt. Whatever happened to the tiny baby I held in my arms over 5 years ago? Its amazing how time flies... and turns babies into young ladies so quickly.

Do you believe in Santa? Our household does. This year the girls each wished for an American Girl Doll from Santa. Anastasia changed her mind about 4 times and "Santa" ended up having to make an emergency run to the American Girl store in Tyson's to make an exchange. So much for planning ahead! Of course, she and Caroline are inseparable now, and Isabel received my Felicity doll from my childhood which the elves managed to clean up and make brand new for her! Four is a bit too young for an American Girl doll in my opinion, but I think we made a good compromise that makes all things fair in our household.

St. Nicholas paid us a visit one night. He filled our shoes with candy and goodies! The kids were lucky daddy was in charge of the St. Nicholas duties as he came back from the store with full size candy bars. Oh. My.

We also spent a day in Colonial Williamsburg, followed by an evening at Busch Gardens. We finished reading all six Felicity books and the girls were enamoured by the town that she once lived in. They kept hoping to see Felicity but we didn't this time! We did see plenty of horses and old time shops.

And we tried out the stocks! This is where very bad children have to stay.

Busch Gardens was decorated for Christmas with millions of lights, magic and even some real-live penguins. Unfortunately though the weather was perfect, it was so unbearably crowded! By the end of the night things cleared out and we enjoyed the beautiful array of lights. My favorite part is pictured above, you can't see it but it was snowing! It was truly magical.

Anastasia was a fairy at her ballet "friends and family" performance. She loves putting on "shows" at home and on stage. I wonder what the future holds for this talented little star of mine. We enjoyed burgers and ice cream afterwards at our local burger spot, Spelunkers.

And some of the biggest new yet, is that I got a job! I am working at our local Starbucks a few days a week. It is my first job in almost 6 years! Things have been a little tight around here, so having a little extra income was a bit of a necessity. It has been really fun and helped my extroverted side cope with the housework and isolation of being a stay-at-home mom. I am not sure how permanent this is, but for now it is working really well for our family and funding our addiction to good coffee. :)

The kids have actually been more well behaved and more independent. I think not having me around all the time to ask for things 500 times a day and having a less sympathetic parent at home working is a healthy change for them too. I feel very fortunate to have been able to get the one job I wanted most in our area!

And we had a white Christmas! It was so magical to wake up Christmas Morning to a winter wonderland! It is such a treat in Virginia!

We had a very magical Christmas morning, followed by an evening with my parents and my brother and his girlfriend. Its always special to be with family for Christmas! The girls were so happy to be with their Uncle, and grandparents and were very in awe of all their new treasures. Hopefully you experienced the true meaning of Christmas... the magic of a tiny baby, a bundle of love, sent to save the world. Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year!

All Hallows Eve

2012-11-04T09:07:00.002-08:00

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays! I love it because it is a low-commitment, non-expectation holiday, where it is perfectly acceptable to dress up in anything, and be someone else for the night! Not to mention how exciting it is to go trick-or-treating among the ghosts and ghouls that roam about in the dark. This year our Halloween was perfect! Last year Halloween was truly a nightmare of sorts. Between scraped knees and lost shoes and a fussy baby who wasn't keen on all the excitement. This year, with my little deer, Snow White and a teddy bear who refused to keep his bear-eared hood on, we enjoyed a great Halloween party and quite a bit of trick-or-treats. The kids were intoxicated by the magic and excitement of it all. Little Isabel would get seconds from all the houses by holding out her bag after she was dished out a hand-full of candy, then the candy-giver would ask, "oh, do you want more?" And give her another handful. Needless to say, her bucket was twice as full as the others! :)

Its neat how as the kids grow older, they have expectations of what we are going to do each season and holiday. We took the kids to Hill High Farm last weekend to get our pumpkins! We arrived a little late and they closed the hay ride (oh how could they?), but we visited some sweet animals and picked out perfect little table-top pumpkins!

Kieran was at least content with dressing up and trick-or-treating, but mostly he loved the party. There was a big plastic LittleTykes car that was just his size that he guarded pretty heavily all night long. Now he is so excited to pick out candy from his "Puck-in". :)

I have a goal now of keeping Halloween costumes simple, preferably using something we have on hand. I was delighted that Anastasia wanted to be Snow White because we got a lovely Snow White dress at the Flea Market this summer. Her only request was for a matching dress for Bitty Baby and a big red bow. Easy Peasy. It seems she is on a rotation each year she is either a princess or a fairy. This year was a princess year. Isabel went through wanting to be a deer, to a bunny, to a deer, bunny, Rose Red, a fairy, a bunny. Finally on Sunday I told her to choose then and there what to be so we could get her costume ready or else she would have to choose from the dress up box. I just made ears and sewed them to a headband and painted a face... for a strikingly lovely deer. And Kieran wore his old bear suit from last winter after I lost the desire to make him a monster costume (as if he needs a costume. He is always a monster).

We survived the nasty little hurricane with no power outages. Maybe because we over-prepared this time. The wind was insane and the rain was unending, and my heart goes out to those up North who lost everything.

Because of the massive storms, we kept our jack-o-lanterns indoors on our table this year. We really enjoyed them so. I hope you all had an equally lovely Halloween! And now it is November... and I am feeling the gravitational pull of Christmas on our lives already. 7 weeks is not that far away!

A forest party for my little deer... and her brother too.

2012-10-28T23:13:00.001-07:00

Last weekend we had a little party in the forest for Isabel and Kieran. Isabel is in love with deer and wanted a deer party, a new "mommy deer" for her birthday, and is going to be a deer for Halloween too. We had a perfect, perfect party in the woods, on a most beautiful fall day. My good friend Tara came up for the party, and I made a huge pot of Chili. Sadly, my camera battery died before the party even began but I got a few pictures of a few of the decorations. :)

And a blurry picture of my cute little bear... who is definitely a grizzly type bear looking for trouble. I have a wonderful woodland Pinterest board full of ideas I never used. I did use these free printables with adorable animal ears. Seriously, printing them out on a rainy day will change your household into a happy woodland. In fact, I think the bear ears will be my halloween costume. Also, this party kit on Etsy was very sweet. So I just print and cut... the forest provided the rest of the party.

My mom of course outdid herself with perfect cupcakes and an adoable fox cake! Isabel has been obsessed with that cupcake stand my mom found on clearance at Michaels. She has been talking about it for the past month and I think it was all she could have hoped for. I made a scavenger hunt and Anastasia drew clues on paper for a little treasure hunt.

So we had a perfect day.

And now we are awaiting a historic storm. Most likely we will only get rain and wind, but it looks like so many people will be getting snow, and massive winds, rain and waves. I had to get face paint at Wal-Mart today and the water aisle was wiped completely clean. Its funny how people completely panic and buy out water, milk, and bread. As if nothing else really matters as long as you have those things... so you can hydrate and have bread pudding? Anyway, we need milk and who knows if we will be able to get any in the next few days. I can't help but wonder what tomorrow will bring, and I am praying for the safety of those closer to the storm's merciless path.

My girls are getting so big..... and it is getting so late. I need to get to bed. Until next time, be safe, evacuate if they tell you to and God bless.

My Isabel is 4!

2012-10-07T22:57:00.000-07:00

Isabel turned four on Wednesday! FOUR! My goodness is she a wonderful 4-year old! Her birthdays are my favorite because she is so silly, clever, beautiful, enthusiastic and a little crazy. And she loves birthdays. She has been obsessing over her birthday all summer long. Pretty much all year long, ever since her last birthday. So the very day was the best day ever for her. At least since she turned three anyway.

She was very fortunate that I was teaching my sewing class in the evening, so we let her open gifts first thing... while birthday cinnamon rolls were baking! I had been up the night before sewing her a new dress, which was a very loved gift.

This is one of the first times I have ever sewn Isabel a dress for herself, without making a matching one for Anastasia. At least the first time in a very long time. So I think it was special. It was also special because there are deer on the bodice which is currently her favorite animal, along with kitties. I used Simplicity 1793 and a little bit of Storyboek fabric I was able to find a 1/2 yard of off of Etsy. I am sort of in love with it, and used a little deer square on a little wool bag:

I am sooo happy with this bag, and Isabel put all her birthday treasures in it. I found the wool at the flea market this summer. I bought a giant box of wool pieces... several yards worth for $5!! And so now I will be making many more lovely, wool messenger bags. I really made the bag for this:

Isabel received a camera for her birthday! This was something she has been asking for for a while. Almost as long as she has been asking about her birthday... so kind of a big deal! She has been taking pictures of everything, and as it has been dropped several times I am soooo glad we opted for a kids camera instead of a cheap adult camera. Isabel spent her whole birthday taking pictures of everything. We had her favorite dinner: Spaghetti and meatballs! For dessert I made her cupcakes and planned to ice them after my sewing class. While I was away, Kieran fed Leia (our dog) all 12 cupcakes!!! So I ended up at the grocery store buying cupcakes (and beer) at 9pm for our little celebration.

Isabel loves her Little-Tiny-Baby-Kitty seen in this picture, which Anastasia picked out as an early birthday gift. I helped Anastasia come up with a gift she could make Isabel this year. We are just learning to sew and she opted to make a sleeping bag for Little Tiny Baby Kitty. She picked the fabric for the pillow that I quickly sewed up, as we were running low on time. I am really proud of her efforts, and the sweet gift she was able to give her sister... made with love.

Its hard to imagine 4 years ago I was holding my little, bald, sweet Isabel for the first time ever. I had no idea the joy and laughter she would bring to this world. Nor the mop of red hair that would become of that peach fuzz. I could never have guessed how many band-aids one child could go through or how many snuggles a little girl could possibly need. We have had our moments, good and bad, but Isabel is my mama's girl. My needy, middle child who I have come to need too. :) Happy Birthday Isabel!

Michaelmas Week

2012-10-03T10:33:00.001-07:00

Brave and bold I will be, golden light shines bright in me.

This past Saturday was the feast day of St. Michael the arch angel, also known as Michaelmas. This is a big holiday in the Church, and also in Waldorf schools. For Christians it is a time to reflect on how God and His chosen ones fight the evil one, and the evil on earth. Waldorf education focuses on being courageous and brave, tackling dragons in our own life, as the seasons shift into Autumn. We celebrate all aspects of this spiritual day.

Actually, truth be told, this is the first year I have really worked hard to celebrate Michaelmas with my family. Usually I don't think about it, and then I am sad that I forgot. This year friends of ours were married on St. Michael's feast day, depending on the power of St. Michael and the angels to strengthen and deepen their love. It was a beautiful way to celebrate with a high mass and a lovely reception, on a cool autumn night beneath the stars. Because I was sick-ish last week and lost my voice for half of the week, I have declared this week as "Michaelmastide" and we have been slaying dragons and beseeching the power of the angels to protect us from the wicked dragon.

We decorated with dragons and knights. We have told many stories about St. Michael and St. George, including the story of St. Michael and the star children. (which is our favorite!). I am hoping to do a few more things before our week comes to an end, but we will see. Today is Isabel's birthday and I decided to skip doing school today due to the other festivities at hand.

We also made dragon bread, for the first time ever! Not too bad for a first go!

I made this wonderful dragon from the pattern at Rhythm of the Home. He was quite easy and turned out very sweet... and of course fierce and frightening! ;) I also pinned a bunch of other Michaelmas ideas on my Autumn Pinterest board. Do any of you celebrate Michaelmas also?

"Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle.
Be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil.
May God rebuke him, we humbly pray;
and do Thou, O Prince of the Heavenly Host -
by the Divine Power of God -
cast into hell, satan and all the evil spirits,
who roam throughout the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen"

May God clothe you with courage and light to defeat all the dragons in your life.

Magic Beans

2012-09-29T08:02:00.000-07:00

Lately the girls have been building little fairy houses around the huge tree in our yard. Occasionally fairies move in, and leave treasures for the little hands that built them. Last week the girls were gifted with little squirrels and a bag of magic beans. We had been reading the story of "Jack and the Beanstalk" and Anastasia wondered if the fairies knew that, and that is why they left us magic beans. I am sure fairies know a great deal more about us, than we do about them.

The girls ate most of the magic beans, but I convinced them to save a few, just in case they are really magical. We took our magic beans and placed them in the ground in a sunny spot, then watered them. The girls spent the day wondering what the beans might grow into. Perhaps a beanstalk that will take us to a magical land?

When they woke the next morning, the girls looked out the window but there was not a beanstalk growing to the heavens. At first they were disappointed, but then when they ran outside they found a little lollipop bush sprinkled with fairy dust and lollipops poking between the lovely flowers. To say they were excited would be an understatement! They really were magic beans! And they grew into magical lollipops!

I have found many people don't like to encourage the ideas of fairies and magic to small children, for fear that they may question their faith later if all other things prove false (Santa Claus, Tooth Fairy, etc). I on the other hand, find that we are really opening up our children's mind and hearts to miracles and wonder, that they may be able to believe more strongly in that which we cannot see and touch. I also think it helps children to think outside the box of our reality which is what the world needs most to fix the problems at hand. A strong imagination is essential to childhood and builds a more thoughtful and dynamic person who isn't bound to the realities of this life, and who can love the world and the magic that nature and its Creator has to offer.

May your week be filled with wonder and awe.

C is for Cat... and chalk board painted walls!

2012-09-19T22:15:00.002-07:00

The past week and a half has been a total whirlwind of emotions. Some very sad things have happened to friends we love very much, and it has been hard to digest the reality of what has happened. None the less, life goes on. On the lighter side, we added a new cat to our family. His name is Dmitri and he wears princess dresses without shame. So therefore, he is perfect. Only, he is terribly lazy. We picked him out of 8 different cats we had narrowed down to, and he was a perfect blend of sweet and playful. Well. He is beyond sweet but the playfulness has been trumped with constant napping.

I have been on a bit of a painting spree. I painted a dresser, a clock and I turned a wall into a chalk board. It was a little bit ominous painting this wall pitch black, but my only regret is that we didn't do this ages ago!

This chalkboard wall has added so much life to our living room. I have loved the idea of chalkboard paint for a while, but I was so afraid of black. Then, as we began homeschooling this year, I felt like I desperately needed a chalkboard. Only, we have no real room for a nice sized one. And so I finally went and bought the paint, outlined a large rectangle space with painters tape, and painted my wall pitch black. After the 24-hour wait period, not a moment was wasted and everyone joined in the drawing fun! Even Daddy added a castle which inspired our letter "C" mural. Our living room has not been used as much as it should, but we are slowly turning it into a rather lovely school room, especially with our new canvas.

We have been well and the girls love school thus far. Even Kieran asks every morning to do "cool". And Kieran likes to nap anyplace but his own bed. Apparently hard plastic bins are more comfortable than toddler beds. Anastasia wants to be an artist and a mom when she grows up. Isabel doesn't want to grow up. She wants to stay with me forever. I am beyond blessed. :)

Finding Simplicity in a Complicated World

2012-09-07T08:02:00.000-07:00

We just finished up reading Little House On the Prairie last night. Funny, I have never fully read the story, or at least I don't remember it. Through reading this story I am struck with how little the Ingalls family had, how hard they worked for every little thing they had, and how happy they were. I am mostly moved by how the girls had very little toys or things of their own and then when they were given a gift, an entire chapter went on about how enthralled Laura was with that very special gift. Especially at Christmas, when they each received a simple tin cup, and they were beyond delighted by that very utilitarian gift, given especially to each of them. There are sentences written about how they licked their candy canes so slowly, savoring each taste. Pa put his blood sweat and tears into that house, and then they up and left it. No big deal. A beautiful cabin left alone on the prairie. How quick they kissed such precious material possessions goodbye. And then there is now.

Now, 150 years later we are inundated with stuff. Material things drive our economy, our households, our lives. Every time you turn around someone is handing out a lollipop and some plastic, made-in-China toy that gets played with 2 seconds and tossed on the floor to be stepped on, swept up, and thrown back in to the vicious materialistic cycle. Not to mention the pace, the anxiety, the new dangers we have created ourselves! Pa didn't have to worry about pesticides on the prairie and toxic waste in the creek! Our lives today are too complicated. Too fast. We could barely write an entire chapter of a book about our year.... let alone a single day. And so in this, our crazy, unsettled world, this valley of tears, I am reclaiming simplicity... one day at a time. One Barbie, one unused cup, one dress that doesn't get worn, one moment at a time I am bagging up the excess, skimming down the needs, and moving on. I don't think my children will only receive a single tin cup this Christmas, but they will get less, so that less will be more.

I recently picked up the most wonderful book, Simplicity Parenting. The concept isn't new to me, but the book is hard hitting. It really looks at the toxicity of our society on childhood. For me personally, simplifying our life is really about taking control of it. Not being a slave to my children's toy collection or ballet schedule, or even to their endless parade of desires. This month I have donated over 10 trash bags of toys, books, clothes, shoes, etc. to Salvation Army. If you have seen our tiny home, you must know what a huge deal that is! I hope to donate another 10 more before Christmas. While the 3 generations (mine, my mom's and the girls) of Barbies will probably stay tucked away in the closet for rainy days, there is more excess than actual played-with-toys floating around. I am only one chapter into the book, and I feel like I am ready to reclaim a simple and organic childhood in a very Ma Ingalls fashion.

And so I share with you, our nature table, beeswax fairies (tutorial from here) and our homemade fairy house. All part of our August "school" focused on fairy tales, nature and handiwork. Simple. Beautiful. Imaginative. Sugar City Journal has a very moving post that I read a couple weeks ago, that leaves me with a question in each situation, "what would Ma Ingalls do?" Its easy to forget how far we have come in our progressive world, and how much we have really left behind. Peace to you all.

Camping at Sherando Lake

2012-08-31T13:40:00.001-07:00

This week we took our first family camping trip since Kieran was born. We joined my parents for an overnight stay at Sherando Lake, about 2 hours south-west of our house. We had a fantastic time! We got very little sleep and had way too much sugar, so by the second day the kids were little crabapples. Its amazing that it took me a few days to pack, and a couple more to unpack and I did 5 loads of laundry afterwards. I think that in the end, being outdoors connected with nature and away from the busy everyday lives we live, it was all totally worth it.

Kieran really enjoyed just being outside all day long. Camping was as natural to him as breathing. Only, he slept poorly and was the biggest fuss the next morning. Thankfully, he gladly sat in his car seat and napped for an hour, and became the charming young man we know and love. I am glad we have several more months before another camping trip is in our future. Squishing him between Nick and I on an air mattress was a total nightmare. I honestly don't know if I slept more than 20 minutes that night.

Oddly enough, this was the first time we have ever taken Leia camping with us. She is of course the perfect camping dog. She sat at our campsite eating the scraps and scaring the bears away. They had pretty intense bear warnings posted all around the campground so we did in fact have quite the threat. Leia did her job as we didn't see any bears. And we are all incredilbly thankful that we didn't have any skunks walk into our campsite because Leia still has skunk smell in layers of her fur... many months and several baths later.

We spent our first day pitching our tent and enjoying the lake, cooking out and having s'mores over the campfire. The girls love swimming, especially anywhere that has "deep water". Anastasia finally taught herself to swim underwater this summer, so I am really excited that we finally have a near-swimmer among us! Isabel is our little mermaid and would probably live in the water if she could. Its really neat to see new aspects of their personalities come to life each day. :)

On our second day we hiked a little bit of Crab Tree Falls. We made it about 1/4 mile when Isabel flung herself around a railing above the falls. It could have been really awful if she fell, and she was beside herself that Nick grabbed and startled her. So we hiked a tad further and went back down. They really are beautiful falls.

We then drove to McCormick Farm and had lunch. The farm belonged to Cyrus McCormick who invented the "reaper" for reaping crops. The farm and landscape were beautiful and the perfect setting for a peaceful lunch.

We spent another evening at the lake, and packed up and headed home with a little Starbucks in hand. We were wet, muddy, exhausted and happy. :)

I look forward to more camping trips next year. We have been dreaming lately of purchasing a pop-up camper and kind of cheat a little, but mainly to make camping more comfortable and overall more accessible to our family. Someday maybe! But for now, I am just glad we finally made it outdoors and slept under the stars for the first time in years! :)

August

2012-08-12T21:29:00.001-07:00

I love summer. August is fading quickly into Autumn and before you know it we will be sewing Halloween costumes and decorating for Christmas. This has been the best summer. We have had so much fun, learned so many new things, accomplished so many tasks and made loads of new plans for the coming months, years, and whole life. It has cooled off outside and yesterday we enjoyed our second fire of the season in our little firepit, made from river rocks we found on one of our many adventures. We have been so busy, it has been so hot, and we had no chairs.

Thankfully on Saturday, we went to the Rte. 11 Yard Crawl, and amazingly found 2 large chairs and 2 small chairs (we had 1 small chair already), so now we have 5 camp chairs. One for every person. And seeing 2 large chairs and 3 little chairs with 3 little people sitting in them, staring in awe at the flames of our humble fire, beneath our largest tree was so cozy. My heart melted in each and every way.

Other yard-crawl finds included a box full of sweet (and some ugly) vintage linens and things (for $3!), Jan Brett's "The Hat", and a lovely new bookshelf for our living room. It was a successful outing, complete with snow cones and french fries. The sweet dresses pictured above are a bit of a mystery as some of them had no holes at the neck, and others had very small neck holes and loops at the top. They were hand-crocheted and must have taken some time. We cut holes to fit some of our dolls, and they are entirely sweet. My mom thinks they might be dish cloths? They are too pretty for scrubbing pots.

We are slowly wrapping up our summer with a little bit of school and trying to find some rhythm in our daily lives between cramming in all the fun things we have to do before summer is over. I have stuffed most of the contents of our life into plastic tubs, and am possibly the most organized I have been in my entire life. And yet I still have piles of laundry everywhere. Everything has a place even if things don't always make it to their places. There is comfort in that at least.

In other big news, my children learned how to turn the table into a little house! :) They must have all 3 played in there for hours. It really doesn't seem so long ago that my brother and I were building little cushion forts and houses out of our card table. Childhood is so precious, and fleeting, much like summer, fading into fall. And so I try to enjoy the little things, between all the washing, scrubbing and cleaning that we mamas spend our days doing.

Make believe, and stories, songs and magical worlds, peaches and ice cream, fairies and fire light..... that is how we will spend the last days of this quickly-fading summer.

PS-I am sure you noticed the new blog layout, and hope you like it! I needed a little change...

Kool Aid Dyed Playsilks

2012-08-07T19:46:00.000-07:00

My children love playsilks. We have had a few over the years, and it came to my attention that we were down to a single, ratty, faded yellow play silk. The sad looking silk had been a cape, a doll sling, a blanket, a net, a tent, a skirt, and so many other things in its dear little life. It has been a while since I went playsilk shopping, or dying, so finding the price of $14 (or more) plus shipping per silk was more than I could afford.

In steps Pinterest and every one's favorite childhood beverage: KoolAid. I found this blog post with an amazing color chart for dying silks with KoolAid. I did all the dying in the microwave, in ziplock bags, thanks to a tip from my friend Regina. Basically that means no mess. Basically pour 1 cup of water, 1/2 cup of vinegar, 3-4 packs of KoolAid into a ziplock freezer bag and heat for 3 minutes, let sit for 3 minutes and rinse. Then hang to dry (or throw in the dryer for 5 minutes if your children are begging for them). THATS IT! :)

I think the colors are so beautiful and vibrant. You can make a forest green, dark blue, maroon red, and clayish orange by adding 1/2 packet of grape koolaid to 3 packs of the solid color. It makes them a little darker. Also, if you do yellow, do like 5 packs and let it sit for as long as you can stand. I love the bright, summery colors and you have to know the kids have been playing non-stop with them. The rainbow silk I made (above) was done by tieing off sections with rubber bands in ziplock bags. I actually may re-do some of the colors that needed to be more saturated. You can also do this on the stove which I intend to try with the hope of getting some more saturated yellow, green, blue and orange. It was really hard with the zip locks to tie it off and make sure the silk was completely in the water... if that makes any sense at all!

I bought the silks from dharma trading post for $5.35 each I think. Even with shipping and KoolAid they were still around $6 total. Much better than $14. I must have purchased 50 packs of Kool Aid in all the primary colors! I went several places and Wal-Mart had the best selection. They had all the colors I needed and then some! I didn't have enough silk left to make some pink. Maybe for Christmas?

We have been really into Mermaids lately, and the silks have really added a lot of color to our Mermaid world! :)

Can you guess who Anastasia is pretending to be? I really enjoyed this project because it was quick, easy and super rewarding. All the Kool Aid brought me back to my own sugar-induced childhood. I think I drank gallons of that stuff. The scary thing is, my hands are still green and blue from yesterday's dying adventure. All I can think is what all that color does to one's insides?? Yikes! I am so glad I can pass on the beauty of Kool Aid to my children in another way. :) hehe.

Now go buy some silk and add some color and creativity to your life!

Finished Projects

2012-08-06T13:32:00.002-07:00

Once upon a time, Little Red Riding hood took a walk into the forest...

There is a great sense of accomplishment that follows a completed sewing project. Especially one that was ordered nearly 3 weeks ago. Unlike housework which is only accomplished for mere moments before someone tracks mud in on their feet, dirties a dish or decides to change for the 16th time that day because apple juice spilled on their dress. For one reason or another, I ended up with several custom clothing orders all at once. My sanguine temperament took over and had, as always, an overly optimistic outlook on how quickly and easily I could finish these projects. This little red riding hood "caplet" and ruffled skirt (with little red fabric) is for a cute little girl on her 2nd birthday. It is terribly small looking on Isabel, but the measurements are as ordered, so my fingers are crossed that they will be well received.

Its always a little scary for me, sending a piece of my work out into the world, to a new home. Thus far I haven't had an unhappy customer. Lets hope there is never a first! In the midst of orders and our anniversary, we were invited to a "Pirate Party" for our little friend Elan, who is my childhood friend Tara's little boy.

We found the cutest paintable ship at Hobby Lobby and I made some little pirates for the birthday boy. The girls had the time of their life with a kiddie pool and sand and a treasure hunt! What fun.

And 3 weeks ago I made the above dress for a friend of mine. She has 3 little girls, and I have 3 more dresses to work on now that all of my Etsy orders are FINALLY caught up. No thanks to coming down with Strep throat last weekend. I am thankful though, that my children didn't catch it, thanks to an immediate dose of antibiotics. Love 'em or hate 'em, antibiotics save lives, and entire families from misery! Whew. So it had definitely been a bit crazy over here. Last week Nick sold the Jeep and we are down to one car until his truck is up and running. Also, I have kept the kids inside all week long in case they were contagious, so they are all a little stir crazy! Establishing a bit of rhythm and beginning our life-long adventure in learning has been a beautiful necessity as summer fades quickly into fall.

Homeschooling

2012-08-02T19:58:00.000-07:00

Had you asked me 3 months ago about homeschooling, I would have told you I had no idea what I was doing and probably told you how badly I wanted to send my children off to school like every sane person on the planet. But we had made the decision long ago to home school and that is what we are doing. Thankfully, the past few weeks I have felt a renewed sense of peace and passion on the subject as we plan and piece together all the particulars and start a new season of learning. A little over a week ago, I stumbled upon this video that really sums up a lot of my attitude towards education:

(Sorry it is off center)

I find it is so important to educate the whole person. Mind, body and soul. And that the most important things we learn, we learn through creativity and using our imagination. As Albert Einstein mentions,

“If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales.

If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales.”
― Albert Einstein

So all those things considered, we begin our adventure into education at home.

I have taken a Waldorf approach to homeschooling with a good amount of Charlotte Mason's concepts mixed in. I also like a lot of Montessori ideas, especially the introduction to reading and spelling. I love the beauty, simplicity and pure imagination of the Waldorf Concept. I like how every subject is presented in stories. Handiwork, art and movement are considered as important as the intellectual subjects. The approach focuses on the whole person and rhythms of life. I am also drawn to the importance of spirituality and nature to the education of the soul. We are so fortunate to live in a mecca of natural beauty, and it is absolutely important to me that my children have a deep love and a healthy relationship to God's creation. I love the overall picture, but I am not a Waldorf purist but think than any educator can really gain so much from adding some of the concepts to their lives. I like Charlotte Mason's ideas to keep a nature journal, read "living books", encourage good habits and again, art and handiwork. I also like her classical studies, and some of her approaches to different subjects. Like all theories of learning, not one is perfect but so much can be gleamed from each concept to fit your children, life and style of learning.

For curriculum I chose the Kindergarten curriculum from the BEarth institute. The curriculum is mainly stories, wonderful stories, songs, and crafts. We started doing a little "Science" yesterday and the curriculum uses the Storybook of Science (that you can download free here!) and the first story was about poisonous berries and plants. We learned so many plants in our yard are toxic and the kids were completely glued to my total surprise! Anyway, I have been using Simply Charlotte Mason as a guide for adding things like music, art, Bible and poetry. We will be studying one composer a month and one artist. For History we are just reading chapter books. We will be finishing up "Little House On the Prairie" this month and begin studying Native Americans through stories. I would love to rhythmically go through American History from Indians to present day every 2 years so the children almost get a timeline in their heads. I also am not sure where to fit in world geography/history. But I am not worrying about it for Kindergarten...... I just need to see if I can get through this year! Not to mention ballet and Girl Scouts. We will have a full plate! :)

I am so excited though, and truly blessed to be on this crazy, beautiful journey of homeschooling. I can't wait!

7 Years

2012-07-23T20:00:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we celebrated 7 years of marriage. We were able to sneak away for a night for the first time since Anastasia was born... 5 1/2 years ago. Its funny how you forget what it is like to be just 2 people instead of 5. Not to mention how strange it is to have an adult conversation without interruption. We had a fantastic little getaway to Magnolia Manor, a wonderful bed & breakfast a few blocks from historic Williamsburg. The house was very colonial-feeling and beautiful. The owner, Scott, was beyond accommodating. The entire trip was perfectly relaxing. Our bed had a brand new, fancy mattress that can only be described as "sleeping on a cloud." It really was a little Oasis in the midst of the crazy life we live.

We had dinner at the Trellis in downtown Williamsburg. We enjoyed a relaxing, quiet meal until we realized we were dining with the head of homeland security, Janet Napolitano and her posse of secret service guys. It was a little strange, and slightly unnerving but what is a date night without a little excitement? Haha. Anyway, the setting was superb but it seemed like they were a little more concerned with presentation than actually making out-of-this-world food. None-the-less, a dinner without whining, demanding, adorable children is a luxury in and of itself.

After dinner we enjoyed walking back to our bed and breakfast through the campus of the College of William and Mary. We found a neat little trail through the forest and around light poles that wear sweaters:

Silly light pole. It was 90degrees. A bit hot for a sweater, don't you think?

And of course the B&B came with an exquisite breakfast where we met another couple who were staying at the manor. They were from Fort Wayne, Indiana, a couple of hours from where Nick grew up. When Nick asked them what brought them to Colonial Williamsburg, can you believe what their answer was?? "My husband is really into woodworking, and I really like crafts." Seriously? It was providential I am sure. And they play amazing, handmade Renaissance Instruments including the Lute and Viola de Gamba pretty professionally. So Russell (the gentleman) gave us a little concert on his Lute and large-instrument-I-had-never-heard-of. Anyway, we talked about crafts and education as Melanie (the wife) is a music teacher, and semi famous. It was hard to say goodbye to new friends, but we had a fun-filled day at Busch Gardens ahead of us.

We had a great time riding all the roller coasters we could handle... you know until I started questioning if it was just the darkness inside the ride or my head blacking out. It was fun and even kind-of peaceful, as their were not many crowds or lines at the park. And this is what 7 years of marriage, 3 kids, 6 roller coasters, and 2 rides down waterfalls later looks like:

Sometimes life is a bit of a roller coaster, but I am glad I am riding it beside my soul mate! Happy 7th Anniversary Nick (plus 1 week)! :) Wouldn't want to be free falling with anyone else!

Remember Me?

2012-07-10T22:12:00.001-07:00

Remember Me? I used to blog here. It has been a very odd couple of weeks. Do you ever find yourself living in a life that feels like it is someone else's? That is kind of how its been over here. We are all happy, healthy and enjoying our most fantastic summer! Despite the ridiculous record high temperatures (aren't they record high every year?), we have been keeping it cool and fun over here. Kieran in the above picture is in fact modeling his sister's Sleeping Beauty underwear on his head. He gets very upset if he brings us underwear and we don't put it on his head. I plan on saving this picture forever.

One day last week it was 103 degrees and the girls came to me dressed as you see them above, asking if they can play outside. I tried to explain it was too hot. "Thats why we have our coats on, to keep us cool." haha. They are too cute for words sometimes.

After our vacation I felt like I was finally bringing order to our lives. I started painting my craft room/pantry, and organizing it, we became members of Costco so we could buy more and spend less, I seemed to get the laundry down to a science... for a few days anyway. And then Kieran broke his collar bone. He rolled off of our bed, and was terribly fussy for a few days. It took 5 days to realize something was more wrong than a pulled muscle, my poor guy. Thankfully it is healing up nicely and he is back to his old self.

A few short days after Kieran broke his collar bone, this sweet, sweet, HUGE dog wandered into our lives. One thing we don't need is a giant dog who is 100% puppy that barks at everything (including cats and chickens). His owners never claimed him and we made up our mind to take him to the shelter. But we couldn't do it. We love him so. His name is Ollie. After St. Oliver Plunkett of Ireland. We kind of need another big, loving dog afterall.

And today, I had the best surprise. I went out to muck the chicken coop and add fresh straw to the nesting boxes and found this!!!!:

We left 6 eggs in one of the boxes when one of the hens began laying on them. I totally love her (at least I really, truly hope its a her) and the kids were beside themselves with glee at our new arrival. I really hope the other 5 eggs bring just as cute bundles to us soon!

Last week we enjoyed yet another day at Busch Gardens with my childhood friend Tara, and her little boy Elan (who Anastasia has decided to marry someday.) As always the kids had a fantastic time splashing and riding rides. And it was good to see my good friend too!

On our way to the park though, the van made this thunking sound when the tires spun. I pulled off of the highway, thinking it was a flat tire. It wasn't, and the noise got worse. I drove to the next exit, called Nick and we had no clue what it was. We decided to take our chances and get to the park so at least we had something to do while we waitied for Nick to come get us and then we would call AAA to get towed home. Unfortunately we had very well-intended, bad directions and we ended up in West Point. I prayed we would get to the park safely, and that my wheels wouldn't fall off. The van sounded worse, and we stopped at a chevy dealer with a service station and they told us to go to the Chrysler dealership. So we did. And they were so kind to us, looked at the van and figured out that a pin had fallen out of the Caliper of one of the breaks. Thank goodness. For less than the price of a tank of gas, we got back on the road in less than an hour. Kind people are hard to find... but they are out there. So that is the brief story of our life the past couple weeks. Broken bones, new pets, and lots of love, laughter and summer fun. :)

The Smokey Mountains

2012-06-23T06:37:00.000-07:00

We returned home from our trip to the Smokies on Wednesday. We had a fantastic vacation that went by way to quickly. The Smokies really are magical.

We stayed in an amazing cabin in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee with Nick's mom, dad and sister. I had never been to this area of the country, so it was really exciting going somewhere new. The Pigeonforge/Gatlinburg area was completely different than what I was expecting and very different from places we normally choose to visit. It was totally crazy and fun with a strip similar to Myrtle Beach but it seemed larger in scale. There were putt-putt golf courses, extreme rides, mini theme parks and go cart race tracks, restaurants of every style, outlets, bizarre attractions and museums every square inch of the strip. It was totally packed with people having fun! And normal people. Not wealthy, upscale, privlaged individuals... just down to earth, NORMAL people. Everything was totally campy, but you could really spend a week there and not see everything!

The Smokies were beautiful. We enjoyed a ride to Cade's Cove in Smokey Mountain National Park. The creeks were laced with pretty little falls and at the Cove the mountain views were in abundance. Unfortunately people were in abundance as well. The 9 mile loop took almost 2 hours because of the large amount of cars stopping at every twig swaying in the forest. And a single deer held up traffic for a mile or so!! Holy cow! It was a little insane. But it was very pretty none the less.

One of the highlights was the above Old Mill Restaurant and the shopping area that surrounded it. We found an amazing pottery shop there that spilled over with beautifully glazed vases, bowls and mugs. And the restaurant was devine. Best meal I have had in ages! We also really had a blast at Dollywood! It was the least campy thing in Pigeon Forge for sure, and the landscaping was beautiful! There were fountains everywhere and sluices from old mountain town-themed buildings. The kiddie area was packed with rides and there is one of a few remaining coal-powered train engines that took us for a scenic ride up the mountain. The kids looooved the kiddie roller coaster and we all enjoyed a trip on the white water rapid ride.... where of course Isabel got completely drenched. The Dixie Stampede was also very fun! The kids loved every moment of it... even Kieran. The bluegrass at the pre-show was stellar! All the horses and riders were totally amazing! There were a ton of surprises in the show and even "princesses" of sorts.

After our 4-night stay in the Pigeon Forge area, we headed over the mountains and through the woods to Mingo Falls on the Cherokee Indian Reservation. Supposedly these are the tallest falls in the smokies, and the picture just doesn't do justice to how pretty they were.

After Cherokee things went a little downhill when we headed into no-man's land to Hot Springs, North Carolina. We had never been there before, and the drive to get there was pretty frightening. Not only was it completely desolate in places, but we took this bizarre road that would go from two lanes to one lane with railroad tracks on one side and a river on the other. It was soooo scary! Thankfully no trains or cars came or we may have ended up in the river.

Hot Springs was very beautiful, but the rustic cabin we rented was beyond tiny! There were three stories of bunks and while the kids loved it, the space was way too small to do anything but sleep. So we enjoyed a walk by the river and catching fireflies until bedtime.

Our last full day was spent enjoying Black Mountain, North Carolina and the lovely creek-park beside Montreat. I enjoyed all the artsy shops in the small, perfect town while Nick got some work done at the Dripolator. I could totally live there. We spent the evening in Asheville exploring different areas and ended up at the Mellow Mushroom for a perfect outdoor dinner of yummy pizza!!! It was a perfect day. And we drove home the next day. After another night in the tiny cabin I was soo glad to be home in my own bed with some new fabric, some pretty handmade coffee mugs and a renewed love for our own tiny cottage. And now that our trip is over, I feel like we can kick back and enjoy the rest of our summer! Bring on the sunshine and watermelon!

Dolly dresses and diapers

2012-06-11T10:01:00.000-07:00

So a few years ago Anastasia had been gifted with an American Girl Bitty Baby doll that only recently becamse a well-loved member of our family. For the past few months now, Isabel has been begging me for a Bitty Baby too which I told her she might get for her birthday in October. Well, Isabel's wishing must have been heard by some little flea market fairies because on Saturday wee found a little blonde Bitty Baby for $3. $3 DOLLARS!!! I have never seen my little red head more happy!!! In fact this baby hasn't left her side for the past 2 days! The only issues were that there was a little, light green permanent marker line on the dolls nose and she had no clothes. From 2 feet away you wouldn't notice the marker but it was there. Isabel didn't mind but thanks to a Magic Eraser and a lot of scrubbing by Isabel, this doll is as good as new! And I made her some clothes:

Anastasia begged me to make matching dresses for their dolls like the ones I had made them! Thankfully, I had just enough fabric to pull something together. I didn't use a pattern... so they are a little funky-fitted, but that is okay! Little girls don't mind imperfections.

Anastasis also wanted me to take a picture of her and her doll. So there ya go.

And I made little matching cloth diapers and wipes and a wipe case from the tutorial here. These were sooooo easy and quick and a perfect way to use up larger fabric scraps!

AND as if that wasn't enough I finished up my evening with a pair of pajama pants for myself from a vintage sheet. As you can see, I had a lot of help! In the end I have an amazingly comfortable, cute pair of pajama pants that cost me less than $1. I still have quite a bit of sheet left... so I see some matching nightwear for kiddies coming soon! Oh Binge sewing is the best!!! Only I should be binge-packing for our roadtrip!! YIKES!

Pretty Fairytale Dresses

2012-06-07T20:47:00.002-07:00

Once in a while, right in the middle of an ordinary life,

love gives us

a fairytale...

Its been so very long since I have sewn anything more than pants or a skirt. This week we finally laid low and enjoyed a week at home after a month of excitement. So I finally had a little extra time here and there to piece these little dresses together!

Excuse the bizarre facial expressions and wild hair! I was trying to grab these pictures while chasing an 18 month old around the yard, and bribing my children with lollipops! I was lucky to get any pictures at all!

I used my absolute favorite pattern that I always use: the Portobello Pixie "Claire" pattern. I used a bright blend of Woodland Friends for Riley Blake, Amy Butler's Lark, and Apple of my Eye by Amanda Herring (the yellow at the bottom).

To say my girls love them would be an understatement. I had to stop the twirling just to snap these pictures. They ran around outside twirling together all afternoon... like little fair maidens in the Springtime.

And they did some swinging, and singing.

I have another dress in my mind to start on as well! I find I now dedicate Kieran's naps to sewing. I read in one of Dr. Sears books many years ago, that mamas should spend nap time doing something they really enjoy and not doing housework or some other form of drudgery. It has taken me 3 kids to really take that to heart, but now I relish every moment Kieran sleeps... because it means I can whisk myself away into my craft room and make beautiful things. I try to set the girls up with a craft or movie and use that time to recharge for the rest of the day. Kieran has been such a handful lately, but I know this too shall pass. :)

Oh these girls, their handmade dresses, the curls, and the holding hands melt my heart a thousand times over. We mothers have the best job in the entire world... even if we only get a few naps worth of time to ourselves.

lightning and ballerinas

2012-06-05T21:25:00.000-07:00

We had another fantastic, yet busy weekend last weekend! My brother Andy came to town for a quick visit before heading off to Colorado, Wyoming, and then a quick little 4-month hike along the Pacfic Crest Trail in California. He just finished the very CRAZY and not-so-well-known Hayduke trail through beautiful canyons in the desert. Yes, the desert. Where people are scarce and water is scarcer. He is a little bit on the crazy side I suppose... but who wants to be normal anyway? You can read his trail journal from the Hayduke Trail here.

Of course when given a choice between Busch Gardens and a hike, he chose Busch Gardens... maybe because he is spending the rest of the summer hiking! Kieran took an instant liking to his long-lost uncle, and pretty much wanted nothing to do with anyone else whenever he was around. It was endearing to say the least, and I am so glad these two got so much bonding time. We had a great day at Busch Gardens, despite the downpour. After the downpour most of the park was cleared out so Andy and I spent the most terrifying few minutes of our lives on the Verbolten!!!

We watched the Irish show again during a downpour that closed the animal area of the park. The show was stellar all over again. Totally worth the price of admission! ;)

Isn't that picture great? Yeah, that was 5 minutes before I realized I had lost my wallet at Busch Gardens! I ran to the lost and found after searching where I had been, and it wasn't there. As I ran back my mom and Andy and the kids had rode one ride before realizing that the park was being evacuated and shut down due to severe storms. They advised everyone to seek shelter. WOAH. And I decided to run to the back of the park and ask all the park attendants if they had seen my wallet. I was running in as everyone else was trying to get the heck out! Finally I found a lady who had in fact turned my wallet over to security, so as the sky darkened I ran back to lost and found where I waited FOREVER!!! The park called a CODE RED meaning no one was allowed out of the buildings. there was a wild storm and then came the CODE PURPLE which meant tornadoes were on the horizon. They made me stand in the middle of the building away from the windows... I was the only one left in the park it seemed and my wallet was somewhere with some security guard. Finally, the storm let up about an hour after the park closed. I went up to the lost and found people and asked if it was logistically possible to get my wallet before the next wave of bad weather came. Then the head of security picked up his walkie talkie and 2 minutes later I had my wallet, my license and all my credit cards in my hands!! THank God! I grabbed my wallet and ran through the lightning bolts to the van! I am so happy that story ended well. And from now on, I am only bringing cash into the park with my pass! You should have seen the buckets of cell phones (and really nice ones), wallets, purses, debit cards, hats, and oh, the cameras that were hanging out in the lost and found. I felt a lot less dumb because I am sure some of those lost cameras or phones were worth more than everything in my wallet put together! lol!

On Sunday Anastasia finished up her year of ballet with her performance of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star! She did a great job and wasn't a bit nervous. In fact she said afterwards, "I wish I could be on stage forever!" Someday little one, maybe someday. Sadly I had issues with my camera (user malfunction! haha) so I didn't get a video. :( But I did sign both girls up for ballet next year so I will have to be better prepared! And you should have seen all the tiny ballerinas in their fluffy tutus. It is enough to melt your heart ten times over! :)

My oh my is my little Anastasia growing up so fast!

We had a fantastic feast after the ballet show with the whole family over. On Monday I drove Andy to the airport... twice. We ended up at the wrong airport and drove into DC to Reagan National. It was actually fun driving near our old stomping grounds and Kieran and I enjoyed watching the planes take off for a while before leaving the airport with a cup of coffee in hand. What fun! And now I am waiting on my cherry jam to finish up... YUM! Have I mentioned that I loooooove summer? Because I do.

Happy trails Uncle Andy. And Happy trails to you all!

Just Beachy

2012-05-29T14:06:00.000-07:00

We just came home from our mini-vacation to the beach Saturday, and despite the gloomy forecast, we had perfect sunny, 80 degree weather for the two of the three days we were down by the bay. It was cloudy when we arrived, but after an hour or so on the beach, the sun came out to play! We had a bit of rain one night, and when we woke up to a comfy dry, bed in our cabin I must say, we were glad not to be camping for sure!

We stayed at First Landing State Park on the Chesapeake Bay. My parents have taken me there camping since I was a little girl, and my mom's parents used to take her there since she was a baby as well. So its the place we call "the beach" and its beautiful to make new memories with our children, as we rekindle memories from many trips before.

We spent one afternoon at the Norfolk Botanical Garden where they have an amazing children's garden with a water play area. Kieran was not at all sure about the fountains everywhere but we all enjoyed feeding turtles in the pond and watching a mother and baby geese.

Its always beautiful to watch children at the beach. The girls were like little mermaids in the water while Kieran enjoyed playing with his sand toys. He finally warmed up to the cool bay water during our last hour or so on the beach and then we couldn't get him out of it!

We spent one evening at sunset on the bay catching ghost crabs, which the girls loved! There were hundreds of tiny little crabs running along the beach in the dark, and Anastasia quickly became an expert baby-ghost crab hunter. :) What fun!

Sometimes I think it would be nice to live at the beach, and let the tide wash away all my cares, but I fear that I might become too relaxed sitting by the seashore that I would never do anything productive ever again! Unless productivity included knitting and reading chick lit. Of course I would love to take up surfing and kite-surfing in my spare time... between knitting sweaters and hats... and heck, bathing suits! LOL So I live in the mountains and relax at the beach a few days out of the year and life is good and productive. usually.

We also went at Busch Gardens on Friday for the day! We are completely spoiled! Nick and I rode a few coasters and water rides together... which was beyond fun! We have yet to tackle the Verbolten which looks like SO MUCH FUN! Maybe next time around! Anastasia and Isabel both rode the kiddie coaster twice! Isabel is just tall enough to ride! And she LOVED it! Both of them wanted to ride over and over and over again! I am so glad they are way braver than I was as a kid! :) It means more fun when they get older! And we also watched the Celtic Fyre show, which was really amazing! I think I am an Irish dancer at heart. So overall we had an awesome little vacation with my parents down at the seaside. Sadly while we were away, our dog Leia attacked my parent's cat (who was pretty old and looking sick already) and they had to put him down yesterday. It put a little damper on our lovely vacation. And our same, very bad dog ran away from my parents last night. She ran down the street from them and jumped in someone's Jeep as they were getting ready to go somewhere! haha. She may be bad, but she is pretty smart. Sooo she was bailed out from the SPCA this morning, and is coming back to live with us. That dog. That wonderful, terrible furball of a dog.

and on that note, I leave you with a picture and a piece of my favorite Poe poem..

"As I stand amid the roar
Of a surf-tormented shore,
And I hold within my hand
Grains of the golden sand-
How few! yet how they creep
Through my fingers to the deep,
While I weep- while I weep!
O God! can I not grasp
Them with a tighter clasp?
O God! can I not save
One from the pitiless wave?
Is all that we see or seem
But a dream within a dream?

-Edgar Allan Poe

Packed and waiting...

2012-05-22T23:02:00.001-07:00

I am all packed and ready, made some yummy juice and bean salad, have little bags of goodies lined up for the kids, DVD player is fixed so we are ready for a little trip to the beach this week! Sadly, "scattered showers and thunderstorms" are in the forecast for the whole trip, which is why we are not camping. Instead we are staying in a little cabin with my parents for a couple nights! I am praying for good weather. Now I am up waiting for my toenails to dry... I ALMOST FORGOT TO PAINT MY NAILS!!! Isn't that like automatic beach bad luck? I think the real bad luck will come in the morning when the girls see my sparkly red nails and are beside themselves that we won't have time to paint theirs. Oh well. I am sure they will forget their woes as soon as we put on "Totoro" and head off towards the (hopefully) sunny seaside!

Do you like the retro feel of this post? I have really enjoyed watching movies from the 50s and 60s. Lately I have been really into Marilyn Monroe movies.... and just her style. All the styles, and the feel of a bygone era, so fashionable and innocent. Annnnd I found the perfect swimsuit to match:

What is so great about this swimsuit is that it is very retro, and doesn't look HORRIBLE on me. So that is a plus. It is from Mod Cloth and is amazing like everything they sell (look at THESE). So next time you need a Christmas gift for me, just go on their website and buy anything and I will love it. :) hehe.

And another quick item that I LOVE are theses shovels and pails for the kiddos:

They are from Green toys and the most durable and ever lasting sand toys I have ever seen. Plus they are made from plastic milk jugs. They are also great for observing turtles and carrying home frog eggs as we learned last week! And our little eggs are slowly hatching! Hooray! Hopefully when we get back we will have a whole bunch of baby tadpoles!

Anyway, these items are all packed up, my toenails are dry, so I better get some sleep before the looooong drive! :)

Weekend thoughts

2012-05-19T19:50:00.003-07:00

I can't express how much I need to remember these words of wisdom. Some days, our house is too small, my children are too whiny, everything is a mess, I don't have enough money for all the little things I wish to buy, we have too much stuff, I have "nothing to wear" in my closet of clothes, and the list of ungrateful thoughts go on. Oh how they go on. We silly, whiny middle-class American's have no clue how rich we truly are.

Ungratefulness is only afforded by those who already have too much.

And now my babies are finally asleep in their cute little beds and my craft room beckons me... its pull is much greater than that of the laundry piled on the dryer right now.

A Day at the park...

2012-05-15T11:01:00.002-07:00

As if I haven't been spoiled enough lately, my mom and dad bought us season passes to Busch Gardens. We went for the first time last Friday and it was a blast! The girls couldn't believe we could go on as many rides as we wanted... unlike at the mall! haha. And Kieran rode his very first ride and many others. I was soooo happy they allowed him on so many rides at 18 months. Everyone had a total blast.

I didn't bring my nice camera, and let me tell you, my Craigslist Elixim worked, but I really missed my Nikon. I was happy to get a few decent pictures from the day. I missed getting one of Anastasia by her FIRST ROLLERCOASTER EVER!! There were no lines and no time to think about riding the coaster so we hopped right on. Isabel was sad that she was too little. Let me tell you, it was a rough ride and Anastasia's face was one of sheer surprise and terror! I was totally taken back to when I was a kid, terrified of coasters. I was still completely proud of how brave she was, though it might be a long time before she ever rides one again! Isabel on the other hand... she will probably be my Coaster buddy. She is such a little daredevil!

Also, I think it should be mentioned (because if you call the park they don't "offer the information") that preschoolers (5 and under) who are Virginia residents can get in for free. Both girls and Kieran (who is also free) got free passes for the year (after my mom had a few friendly discussions with customer service after already purchasing passes for them... ha.). You just have to bring their birth certificate... or a copy of it.

So they have this Sesame Forest at Busch Gardens which was the highlight for the kids. It is a bit amusing because my kids don't really care for Sesame Street... or they didn't until they met the characters! :) Now its all over! At Target yesterday they had to have Elmo bubble bath... which they picked over the PRINCESS BUBBLEBATH. That my friends is a miracle in itself. I think they were perplexed though that the bubble bath didn't come out looking like Elmo... or turning the water red. Marketing to children can be soooo dissapointing.

Overall we had a perfect day with little crowds and no lines. We watched the show "Entwined" and it was really fun! All the kids LOVED it! It was a musical involving storybook characters... Little Red Riding Hood, Goldilocks, Hansel and Gretel and they had the most adorable acrobats dressed up as gnomes!! Right up my alley for sure! And the kids too of course. I also rode Appollo's Chariot... the first roller coaster I have been on in over 10 years. Oh my was it scary going up that 200 foot hill. But then it was sooooo much fuuuun! I guess I still can stomach those things.

And in case you haven't seen them yet... I put some new "Little Red Riding Hood" skirts in my shop! They are made from the same fabric line as the fox/big bad wolf pants and would make sweet sibling outfits. :) They have been my most complimented clothing on my girls, as well as their most worn skirts! Anyway, enjoy your week!