pinterest made her do it…..

 

a cut-up-magazine-hearts-banner.

it’s so cute.

she’s so cute.

love.love.love.this month….so much love. and hearts. and pink and red everywhere.

be back soon.

xo.

glittering summer days

dirty feet. water balloons. a wet kitchen floor.

i am having a staring contest with my messy house.

things get a little bit crazy around here when mama is not feeling well. 

i have slowed way down.

like snail slow….

 when you lose your health (even if temporarily), things sort of shift into proper perspective (with God’s grace).

and suddenly you hang desperately onto something as small as teaching the baby how to tell if a cantaloupe is ripe…because that’s important.

at least it’s important to me.

so what if the stuffing is coming out of the couch….i can deal with that later.

right now we are enjoying these glittering days of summer:

a very empty calendar (by choice!!!) = time to create.

butterfly craft found here.

i had way too much fun punching all. those. butterflies. out!!!!!

and she, well, she is the artist. so there were pages of watercolors…

the pottery…well, that is courtesy of our local pottery shop which holds children’s classes….

yes, this is me screaming…”look how talented my daughter is!!!”

what can i say? i really love watching my children blossom. 

and make things.

(that is a decorative wine-cork-topper btw. a painted button glued into the top of a cork.)

i think it is (one of the many) very special components of homeschooling…dabbling in this and that…

and we do dabble…

speaking of my daughter…she went and turned 12 on me last month…did i mention that?

how dare she!

my june bug.

but what a lovely person she is turning out to be!

donning an apron and whipping up some sort of yummy baked (or not) concoction at least every other day is something that has me in awe these days…i am impressed.

and not just because her peanut butter cookies are so good!

i am impressed because of the little woman she is turning out to be.

useful. joyful. and so faithful.

these are the things i see during this time of pulling back…

and because there are so many things to say “yes” to these days…it is hard.

but i want to say more yeses to these…

these gap-toothed smiles.

and inquiring minds.

so worthy of my attention.

i often feel like there must be some well-adjusted woman out there who i was meant to be…

a woman who has her act together and cruises through her days….

but until i find her…i will soak up every moment i can….staring at faces with pink cheeks and scratches from the kitty…reading stories and laughing.

because it won’t be long before these glittering summer days will be gone….

home fires and creating warmth

 

my husband often calls me during the day to see what we are up to.

i say i am keeping the home fires burning.

creating warmth with the resources we have been given.

and that does include sewing sweet things. forcing bulbs in the kitchen. and making peanut butter and banana sandwiches on WHO bread.

i feel so blessed.

God is so good.

to me. to us. and to you too, i am sure!

as a side note: my washer has been going almost non-stop since saturday. so there is real work being done around here too.

during break time we sat outside and ate lunch on the back porch today. soaking up sun. sweet. warm sunshine. and watching birds stealing chicken feathers from our yard for their nests. i don’t know if you’ve ever seen a little chickadee with a big fluffy feather in its’ beak, but it is rather comical.

so what are you up to? especially those of you who live in the really cold parts of this great big world. i don’t know how you do it. i am a weakling when it comes to truly being cold.

drinking joy

pink leaves. the tail end of little black and yellow birdies in our elm tree. more pink leaves. eating breakfast outside. homemade whole wheat bread with wild blueberry jam. daffodil bulbs. great stories that inspire ideas for school like the color kittens. the possibilities of just red. blue. yellow. and white paint. and felt! it came today and i was so pleased.

i was especially pleased since yesterday was not such a great day. working out the kinks of having so many students with such different needs. figuring out how to teach high school the way that i love to teach while still fulfilling all the standards.

and then i had to crack the whip a bit. too many sick days made everyone around here think it was summer vacation again.

my absence in this space is because i have been really trying to be present to my children. (when i am not cracking that whip that is and even that is done with love). preparing lots of yummy food. mostly venison these days as their papa, my dad, got his deer. and then there is the reading of endless stories. snuggling. looking into their faces when they speak to me. sitting on the couch and doing lessons one on one with all. 4. kids. imagine that.

 and then there is the man who provides the necessities. working hard so i can  buy all that flour to bake bread. material. yarn. paints. and daffodils. i have been trying to sit still with him at the end of these short days. trying not to rush off to the computer. or to the myriad of tasks that call my name. needing to be done. promising me that they’ll multiply if i don’t tend to them. so i shut my door to quiet them. stealing a few pages from that book i am still reading on st. thomas more. until someone inevitably opens it. usually to ride scooters through my bedroom. into the jack and jill bathroom that goes into our daughter’s room and out into the front part of the house. round and round they go.  this really is a great house for riding scooters. and i know i keep talking about it, but i guess it is because every day it still amazes me that i can’t say no. the unadulterated joy on their faces as they whiz past me is something i’d like to bottle up and drink myself. that is if you could do such a thing as drink joy.

 but then again maybe that is what i am doing when i take pictures. it is my way of drinking in the joy that is present every single day. even on the bad days. because even on those bad days, it’s really not so bad.

ps. i did finish the advent calendar, but it doesn’t want to photograph very well for some reason. i’ll try again tomorrow  when the natural light is at its’ best in this old house. it couldn’t be that i just didn’t do that great of a job making it…

on creativity

my tools

yum! bubblegum pink

our first egg ever!

oohing and ahhing...

egg art

old lace and new pillow cases

finished pillow cases

 

“to be creative is to be like God. To know how to take the things God has created and extend them further in acts of our own creating, to search out in one’s head an idea, and work over it with a mind and hands, selecting this, combining it with that, cutting away, discarding, adding, fitting and finally bringing forth something new-this is how we are made to be creators like our Father.”

~excerpt from We and Our Children, Molding the Child in Christian Living

***

finding the time to do some mama creative things during these extremely hot days isn’t easy. most of my activities revolve around keeping 4 children of such varied ages-busy. and alive. especially since the bickering seems to increase with the temperature. away from the television. and even finding things for them to do that keep them out of my hair for a while.

i cannot believe what an event the first egg was! here i was thinking i was the creative one today, getting two projects off my to do list completed. all along those chickens far outdid me! the kids were so enthralled at the discovery of this one precious egg. we were rather busy for quite some time. guessing who the lucky girl was that laid the masterpiece. discussing nesting boxes and plans on expanding the coop. there was even a hushed discussion as to who was going to be the lucky person to eat this first of many. middle son, in a hushed voice, noted that this was different because the ones that come from the store are already in a package, we don’t know the chickens. but this. this is OUR egg.

so i know i wasn’t supposed to move it. my hubby is an expert ya know. he lived with his grandmother one summer and apparently he learned all the tricks of the raising chickens trade. but that egg was too precious to us to be left out there with all those ladies. they step so carelessly on each other, in their water and food. that egg would’ve been scrambled for sure!

anyway, i did manage these two projects today, along with a thorough dining room, front room and girl room cleaning. tomorrow it’ll be the kitchen, bathrooms, and my room. wednesday the boys’ rooms and the loft and upstairs closets. although the loft will probably take me into friday. but it is time. after all we have been here since june. school will be starting before i know it. and we need a place to learn. and create. and play. an organized space close to the computer for the teen. space for the kindergartner. and a table for the middles.

well, hope you are finding ways to keep cool and be a little bit creative! i don’t know what other projects i’ll be able to squeeze in. especially since coconut kisses and chocolate chip cookies are somewhere in our plans this week. and for some reason things like that make me tired in this heat. can somebody tell my kids baking isn’t even legal when it’s 113 degrees outside? geesh.

ps. with regards to the corn tortillas, yes, they were good. a little salty. but i served them kind of like tostadas with a scoop of turkey chili beans, sour cream, lettuce and cheese on top.

lemony snippets

or rather, i guess this post could be called: what i do when i should be sleeping. but i thought lemony snippets was much more catchy. it is almost 5am and i have yet to sleep. i can hear the trash man. i wonder how he can even see. it is still dark outside. i wonder how i’ll be feeling in 7 hours, with a house full of little girls, well, not really full, but 6 is a lot, considering it is usually just me and my girl. i should’ve taken something to relax. but there was a cake to be made. lemon. with chocolate/sour cream/cream cheese frosting. and miles of wood floors that needed mopping. and it seemed so much more fun to stay up and make these pom pom daisies and birthday banner. martha stewart would be proud that i copied her daisies so nicely. not happy because i didn’t buy the ones in the store. but proud. my girl said to me, “but how will you make the petals, mom?” and i am so terrible that i almost felt like it was a challenge. so, 12 petals. cut imperfectly. tacky glue and a yellow pom pom for the center. and did you notice that i took the cake out of the oven with a completed pot holder? yes, i finally finished it. i even taught myself how to finish it. i’ve already started another one. it is white cotton. so impractical for the kitchen, i know. but i am dying to edge it with some pretty crochet lace i made. my very own pattern.

this party was supposed to be simple you know. finger foods. veggies. cake and icecream. but for some reason i don’t work well with simple. i waited until the eleventh hour to do everything. it seems that i only work well under immense pressure. i know it is a terrible character flaw. so, do tell me what you all do when you can’t sleep. and don’t tell me you pray. i only can seem to do that if i actually make it to bed and am just laying there (sorry mom). another character flaw, yes. so if you don’t hear from me for 3 days, you’ll know it is because i am sleeping somewhere. but at least i have left you with these yummy lemony snippets.

and btw. that cake came out sinfully yummy too. i won’t tell you how i managed a taste. it totally has to do with yet another character flaw and i am afraid i have revealed far too much for one nite! ok. i really must go. i am now hearing birds chirping………