Cold Sunshine and Green Sprouts

And did you know that you don't always have to use needles to felt? This mama is always learning, a little slower than the rest some days! Hot water and soap is perfect for little hands to mold and shape felt roving into many different things. One of my favorite sources for family projects described a "little sprout" finger puppet that AnaSofia and I made during Kasper's naptime.

He was a sweet little introduction to all the seed planting we are doing around here. We sang a few songs about him and looked at lots of different seeds before starting to plant.



The gardening season has begun and I am so excited for the dirt filled adventures ahead of us!

Celebration!

Spring is here and we are celebrating the wonder of it all by being away as a family. It feels so good, but I cannot wait to get back home to magical Maine. Our Spring nature table is waiting for us with a mama-made fairy and friend reminding us that flowers and birds are on their way soon...

Happy Vernal Equinox. May you find joy in this day no matter where you are!

Mexico 2011

“One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.” – Henry Miller
First we found it on the globe...

And had a few short days to pack for the adventure Far surprised us with to celebrate our 7th anniversary and our family...
There was lots of wandering...

Lots of love...

Lots of joy...

And just moments of pure bliss...

...Never to be forgotten, but it is to be remembered that it is not so much about the destination, but more about those that you share it with.

Larger Than Life Moments

Do you ever have those thankful moments where you realize how serendipitous it was to meet such wonderful, kind people? People willing to share their nature and way of life with you?
It was to me, a perfect way to end a magical winter - ice fishing on a friend's beautiful lake just a few miles from our home. Sharing, listening, learning and just soaking in the beauty...



And AnaSofia will tell you this is no time to pull back on your fashion fancy.


I am actually looking forward to next winter to do this many, many more times. Shhhh, don't tell anyone...

A Special Train Set

My ridiculously generous friend who is always giving to me and others gifted us a train and train table. The whole ride home from their house, Kasper kept saying, "A train? For me? Is it my birthday party?". He was so happy to move on from the 4 piece IKEA set he plays with daily that we gave him a year ago. The train table turned out to be a problem to wrestle into the house, I couldn't find a place for it and really wanted to have the trains all laid out so the kids could play with them each day. So I improvised... Home Depot cut me a piece of plywood to fit the train table floor scene. I put lots of felt pads on the bottom of it (those things come in really handy on our white painted floors with lead paint hiding underneath!) and tacked the floor scene to the top of it.

I then cut two fabric straps and looped them to one side of the plywood so the kids could grab the straps and pull the whole setup out from - drum roll please - under Kasper's bed! Perfect solution!

I really do feel so blessed to have such wonderful friends and am thankful for you each day! This train set and table is such a gift to us all, especially mama who can hear the fun from the next room while I am busy working!

Making Space for It All

I get really overwhelmed by things. The less clutter and the more thoughtful placing of things make me breathe easier. The kids' room is a place that I work on a lot because they love all their silly little pieces but I get tired of seeing it out, so I make fabric boxes to hide it each evening or pack art stuff in suitcases or... A family member of a special friend of mine recently published this great book covered by the NY Times and Country Living so I decided to try one of their projects for the kids' room...
I bought a sonotube at the hardware store for $10 and some screws and washers.

We first played with the sonotube for a few weeks...

Then I painted it, cut it into pieces and screwed it together.

And hung it on the wall using two half moon pieces of wood screwed to the wall at the foot of AnaSofia's bed to make an animal "pod" for all of her special friends.

She loves that all her friends have a new hangout and I love that I cannot see them when I walk into the room! I finished it off by lining the inside with Amy Butler wallpaper and everybody who is anybody has moved in.

A Lovely Waldorf Sentiment...

when you feel the soul of the cosmos

then you will know peace



when you feel the soul of the earth

then you will know harmony



when you feel the soul of the family

then you will know love



when you feel the soul of the self

then you will know