Scenes of the Season

Balancing.


Playing with a Solstice present.




Making popcorn and cranberry chains.










Or just cranberry chains.


Being inspired to create her own paper dolls.


Playing with Magical Creatures.


The Chess Pose.


The Naked(ish) Chef.

Playing with letters.


A unicorn and a rubber ducky having a conversation.


Heading outside to chore with Daddy.


Making gingerbread people and reindeer cookies.












Santa visiting our house.


Grayson spying on presents under the tree.

Christmas morning.

Gray's big present. Whee!


While Gray loved his present, this was my view of him for most of the morning. Right up against my leg, smiling at me. Not a bad view.


Sometimes he chewed on a teething toy that a very good friend sent him for Christmas - it's felted and the sweetest teething toy.


Once again, Whee!!!


Hannah immediately dressing her doll after opening the clothes her aunt sent her.


Santa brought her a stroller that is just like her sister's stroller. Santa's a very smart man. Peace on Earth and all that.


Playing with the pony she gave her sister and the unicorn her sister gave her.


First order of business after exploring new kitchen? Write shopping list.


The beanbags were a huge hit. This picture was taken about six seconds after her father brought them in the room. A run and jump. Very satisfying when it's a homemade gift with much swearing involved in stuffing them.


Ains is our very physical child - always moving. It makes the winter a more challenging season. We're hoping these will help her expend her energy while trapped in the house.


Good start so far.

Snapshot Sunday

I'm not the only one with dirty dishes in the sink.










Two lamps on the same hook so that I can use the other hook for cheese making. The last time I made cheese was four months ago.

It's 3 pm.

And Hannah's bugging me about going to bed. She's been wanting to go to bed for the last few hours.

You see, it's Christmas Eve. Santa can't come until she comes to bed. Earlier to bed, earlier to rise, earlier to presents.

That's the four-year-old logic anyway.

“If living is learning, am I living a large enough life?”

This question was asked in this wonderful post on Handmade Homeschool. Go ahead. Click through - her blog is worth it. I'll be here waiting for you.

The basis behind my children's education philosophy is that humans are driven to learn. Little humans are especially driven to learn about the world around them, their society, and their place in it all. This covers all of the broken up 'subjects' in school. Science, history, math, art, physical education, language, even the new-fangled classes like 'community'.

I ran into a lovely woman at the grocery store the other day. It was the middle of the week and she had her five year old and two year old daughters with her, so of course I asked her if she homeschooled - you make connections wherever you can out here in the boondocks. She said that her older daughter was in morning kindergarten, but that she wanted to homeschool. Her husband wanted the kids to go to school because otherwise how would they see the "real world"?

When did school become the "real world" and grocery shopping become... I don't know - the fake world? Not the Real World? Running errands, going to the library, following your interests, doing what is necessary to earn money enough to cover needs and wants, socializing with friends and neighbors, *this* is the real world. This is the world that my children live in.

Having this educational philosophy forces me to wake up and live my own life well and fully. My children need to see me following my own interests, get out of my house, or retreat to my house. It can be an overwhelming feeling to have these eyes on me, but at the same, quite confusing time, a comforting feeling. I have to - and get to - keep asking myself the question that is rife with possibilities,

"If living is learning, am I living a large enough life?"

Happy Solstice!

It's Solstice, the longest night of the year.



The Holly King grows old and leaves, the Oak King is born.



In the morning, the sun is born again and nights will get shorter and shorter.


The sun has gone to bed and so have my children. May they sleep as long as the sun. I'm not holding my breath.

Tomorrow is the first day of winter and the girls are going to wake up to new, soft snow covering the ground. I hope my husband can get out of the driveway to go to work.

He's been home all day - a rare gift these days - so he had to deal with very attached girls.



Very attached, indeed.



This is my first year doing Solstice presents, so I need to get those wrapped up and set out. Right now I'm using my sleeping children time to finish up the Christmas present that Matt wanted to get them. I turned this:



into these:



For both surprise impact and because I'm paranoid about packing peanuts, I waited until the kids were asleep. I'm also paranoid enough about packing peanuts that there are actually four bags there - I made two muslin bags to go on the inside to hold the peanuts and used the cotton bags (the pink and blue fabric) to cover the muslin. I'm frustrated with muslin right now. Muslin is easy to sew and cut, but requires a lot of ironing. Even so, muslin is angelic compared to packing peanuts. I despise static-y peanuts that have to be stuffed handful by handful into two huge beanbags.

The kids will love those bags, though - they'd better.

Snapshot Sunday

Sprouting buckets waiting to be put into use.



Ainsley's favorite Christmas picture.

Four year olds today.

Hannah's a very attached girl. It's in her nature. So when she heard I was going to do a Pampered Chef show, she wanted to come. I explained what was going to happen there, that I would be busy "doing the show" and that she would have to sit very still and quiet. She asked why I was doing this, I explained that I was earning money. She is finally grasping the whole need-money-to-buy-things concept. Not unusual for that to take about five years to sink in. Some adults still haven't grasped it. She begged to come and earn money too.

I knew that my sister would be there and could take care of Hannah if needed, so I found some jobs for Hannah to be in charge of and offered her a portion of the sales if she helped me out. She was thrilled but wouldn't tell me what she wanted the money for.

We got to the show and she was a huge help in setting the catalogs and receipts out, making sure all of the guests got a pen and a drawing slip, and telling them about her favorite tool (right now it's the citrus peeler). She was insistent about helping do as much as possible and then she sat with her aunt for a little bit.

When I introduced myself at the beginning of the show, I introduced her too and said that she wanted to earn some money. One of the ladies looked directly at her (I love it when adults treat my children as interesting people instead of 'just kids') and asked her what she was earning money for. "A computer", was her answer "so that my mother can't kick me off of hers."

Oh, dear.

What is it with kids these days? Next thing you know, she'll be asking if she can buy an iPod.

Here she is at the show in the apron that my other sister - the professional seamstress - made for her. Gorgeous, in't it?


She'll likely be coming to my next show.

An oldie, but a goodie.

Last summer, we loaded up the kids and headed to 'the city' to watch a movie. We heard lots of giggling from the back seat, but couldn't determine what they were up to. Sometimes you just tell yourself "If it's too bad, I'll take care of it later. They're happy." That's what we did.

Grayson was the one who had to live with the results.

Hannah said she wanted him to look like Daddy.

STUCK!

Now before you get on to me about this, hear me out.

She put herself in there. *She* climbed up there, she put her head in, she closed the brace, and then she started yelling "STUCK, STUCK!!!"



Before, I've always just gone and gotten her out. Yes. There were several "befores". This time, my sister was there and snapped some pictures for posterity.



Stuck was her first word. Stuck was her most frequently used word for many, many moons. My sister suggested that I do a post entitled 'Stuck' and just put up pictures of the many fixes she gets herself into. These are the only pictures I have, though. Good momma, bad blogger.

Snapshot Sunday

Sorry for the day late. It's windy here. Very windy. Tis the season for spotty internet connection in the country.

This one's for you, girl.

My sister and her family stayed with us over the summer. Her daughter adored Gray and was rarely away from him. In organizing my pictures of their visit, I came across a few pictures that show how much she was with him. I do believe he went through Ash withdrawal when she left.










Dancing with Gray.


Teasing him - he was laughing so hard he could barely breathe.

Frozen