Ash Wednesday

Two posts in a day...and yes, I do realize that Ash Wednesday was a while ago.  I just love the rhythm of the Episcopal liturgical year.  I finally (after several years of wanting to go) went to the Ash Wednesday service at our church (or some of it-I dashed out as soon as Jesse got home, and rushed back home before communion to get a tired little boy to bed at seven).  But I am so glad I went.  And I decided that, rather than focus on making Lent meaningful for the children to focus on making it meaningful for myself.  The sermon was beautiful, about fasting from judging others rather than giving up some sort of food item.  (I have been stalled out in my   juvenile attempts to give up some favored food item in years past, with various amounts of success.)  And I loved having my forehead smeared with an ashen cross, both purifying and lowering. This year, I am trying to fast from judgement of others, from sel-pity--and really, already it is a challenge.  I have been shocked and alarmed at how quickly my mind can fly to judgement, of people I don't know and of people I love dearly.  I have caught myself feeling sorry for myself for whatever small reason instead of feasting on the incredible amounts of blessings in my life. 

This and that

In honor of the season we have been experiencing, rather than the actual season, Elsa and I set up our early spring nature table.  It's supposed to be like the Root Children (yet another story by Sybille Von Olfers)--the root children are underground, preparing to come out as flowers.  I want to make a little basket with little bits of colorful fabric pieces in it, as the children are sewing their flower clothes in preparation for spring.  I also thought I would make a little green shoot coming up from the root child's head...the big figure is supposed to be Mother Nature.

Jesse sawed all the wood for the chicken coop today.  It was awesome--he worked so hard, and it also just showed how great our neighborhood is.  He borrowed the saw from one generous neighbor, and two other young dads from the neighborhood came by and helped him quite a bit, one running home several times to bring in some more equipment.  We all know Sunday afternoons are valuable, and we were pretty touched that these young, busy dads were willing to come and help so much.  And I was so proud of Jesse-do it yourself is new to both of us, and I would certainly not have had the courage to try out a table saw at all.  But he was game, and worked and worked and figured it out. 

This is at the trailhead where we go for "Woodsy Wednesdays" (I know, I know, so dorky, but Elsa and David eat it up.)  We have been meeting two other moms and kids on Wednesdays to play in the woods up in Montreat.  David has a real passion for fire hydrants.  Sometimes, when I can't think of anything to do and want to get the kids outside (I have to confess that often they would rather stay inside than go out, which makes me wild) I propose a walk to the fire hydrant in our neighborhood.  Thrilling stuff, I know.

This was the destination on Woodsy Wednesday.  We don't actually usually hike for a long time--which is fine with me as I usually have forty pound David on my back--and thid kids play around.  I think there is some complicated game about being pioneers.  I just sit with the other mothers and chat in the woods while the kids play.  What is not to love about that?

In knitting news, I am making good progress on David's sweater--I am making it huge, as I doubt I will finish it before the warm weather hits and have started a shawl--perhaps for myself.  As I am newly pregnant (way earlier than you are supposed to tell anyone), I am finding more time to knit, as I just have to sit down.  I remember that I was tired with my other two pregnancies(although when I was pregnant with David, I could nap every day with Elsa), but I only remember the words, not the completely bone crushing exhaustion that comes with a new pregnancy.  I am sure I will forget again, too....

Naked Weather

Elsa just ran in the house to go to the bathroom, buck naked.  "Elsa," I said, "Could you please put some clothes on?" 

"I can't!" said Elsa, eyes wide, "because then the mole would know that I am not a stone."

We had lunch on the front porch on this almost 70 degree February day, and noticed some ground moving and our killer cat watching, and hypothesized that it was a mole.  I went in to make the bread, and both children are apparently working on a plan to trick the mole so they can see it. 

And I totally didn't make Elsa put clothes on.  Play away, play away.

Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day is big around here.  Jesse and I started dating (okay, kissed...) on Valentine's Day fifteen years ago.  (Fifteen years ago!)  And so we have always celebrated.  And then, it's a lot of fun to prepare for, when things are a bit bleak and grey.  Elsa and David worked on Valentines for several days.  I thought we might do a bunch of heart stamping for their classroom Valentine's, but they had other ideas.  They each made a kind of smorgasbord of valentines.  Some heart butterflies, some painted hearts, some doilies with stickers, some glittery creations.  My house was covered with glitter--I did discover that Elsa was sprinkling glitter in her and David's hair, and calling it fairly dust...great. 

And then, we made these:

Hmmm...these are hard to see, and it sure does make me realize that the windows are totally gross.  I remember when we got these new windows (we had some lead issues in this 1917 house) I had a moment of thinking how excited I was that they would be easy to clean.  I quickly got a hold of myself however, and you guessed it, I don't clean them--at least not the outside.  But, anyway, the window hearts--we made them last year, and I love them.  You just grate up pink, white, and red crayons, but them between two sheets of wax paper, and iron them.  Then cut out hearts.  They are really pretty--I have to admit that in totally un-eco fashion, I actually bought some crayons to make them.  For some reason, crayons are not our craft medium of choice--we all prefer colored pencils and markers, so we had no leftover crayons-we used them last year.  Then we gave them out to the neighborhood, which was great fun.

I made this for David:

I used pipe cleaners for the body, a first for me, and then wrapped roving all around it and needle felted it. 

I made this for Elsa:

Elsa made Daddy and me some beautiful valentines--check the blog header.  David made some too, although he is more of the give them immediately school of thought. 

We read lots of valentine stories and it was a nice, sweet day. 

Joys

Little broccoli starts in our dining room window.  (And the fact that my children helped me, so there are quite a few in each little pot.)

Hearts everywhere.

Wood for the chicken coop purchased and waiting on our front porch.

Woodsy Wednesdays taking off. (There are no pictures of David because he skipped his nap and rode on my back--38 pounds!)

Successful granola and yogurt making.  Homemade breakfast in minutes.

This nightgown (Elsa has had it since she was 18 months old.)

Reading The Secret Garden (with illustrations by Tasha Tudor) with Elsa, and feeling her vibrate with joy as we read.

The return of their old favorite, "Animal Rescue Hero" stories, told by Mama.  (Thankfully, so easy to tell--same basic story of Elsa and David rescuing a wild animal, using a helicopter, walkie-talkies, a well set up yard, and a mystical power to communicate with wild animals.)  I am getting another request now.  It may cease to give joy after a little bit.

All of these brought to you by thyroid medication.  I just started taking it, and I do have a new lease on life.

Mornings....

Sorry, no pictures again today, as my camera needs batteries.

I do not like the morning, at least as it stands.  I am grumpy and slow to wake up, and I know the secret might be to get up a little earlier, before my little ones are up, and slug back some coffee and just sit...but I don't want to.  My bed is warm and the kitchen in our old house is cold.  And David would probably get up with me, as the last hour or two of the morning still consist of him nursing on and off, and me being wildly inconsistent about allowing him, and how I respond.  Sometimes lovingly, sometimes with some irritation.  Depending on how early I went to bed, I suppose.  But at any rate, the mornings around here are not pretty.  I get up and make breakfast and coffee, and try to cajole my non-morning sweetie girl out of bed.  Then breakfast, which is almost always the same-oatmeal, frozen raspberries, maple syrup and whole (raw) milk.  When I try to shake things up, I get complaints, or if I try just cold cereal, I get cranky hungry kids an hour later.  And then the dressing saga--Elsa is in school every day, and she likes it mostly, but for some reason, this piece totally wears me out.  Often, while I am busy doctoring up my coffee, the children enter in some complicated and adorable game--groundhogs being the latest, where they load the bottom bunk with all of their possessions and move and I don't know, while I repeat myself and get irritated about getting dressed.  (Often, I am  not dressed myself.)  Halfway through the dressing process, one or all of us, gets distracted by a book, the weather on the computer (I am an obsessive weather checker--hoping for some SNOW), or some kind of game--this morning, it was dumping all the chess pieces in a big bowl of water to "dissolve" them...good luck on that one, kiddos...but I suppose they are doing science.  Anyway, suffice to say, I don't know how some mamas do it--getting it together in the morning to get out of the house (and  not have dirty breakfast dishes sitting around all day.)  I am, in the end, so grateful to be home.  And I suppose, when it matters more, I will be able to make the morning happen in a better, more productive way.  Especially if I don't have a child (or children) in bed with me, snuggled up and warm.  Some day, some day.

Yucky Soup

The kids are in the bath right now because they were just working on "Yucky Soup."  Actually, this year it has become "Poop Soup."  Awesome.  Last week, I got the hose out from under the house--I am facing the fact that it seems like winter is not coming here this year, and I wanted to water our compost and the part of the new garden where there is a bunch of leaves, compost and cardboard.  And the kids got out the big metal washtub and filled it with dirt, compost and water, making, yes, Yucky Soup, an ongoing project in spring and summer around here.  Usually, it works out fairly well, because eventually, it starts smelling, and we dump the water out on the garden.  They worked on it again today--I was in the house, making yogurt and bread, and suddenly two naked children came running in, very cold and muddy. I think they were filling their sled with mud... Now, it is definitely unseasonably warm here, however, it is still February-not naked weather yet.  So, they are in a warm bath, before we have to head out to violin lesson.

Jesse left today for Florida, and Elsa was so sad.  I bought a whole bunch of very easy to prepare meal items, and realized that that is totally boring and not my thing at all.  So, David and I made bread again this morning (I do still make all of our bread, but we haven't always actually had bread for a while), and I am attempting, yet again, to make yogurt.  I would love for it to become a regular thing, but  we will see.  We order our raw milk every other week, and it is kind of pricey, and I would really have to order four gallons in order to make it work to make yogurt, and have enough to last through the two weeks.  Tomorrow we are going to make granola--always a good plan when Jesse is away, because, he loves it and it does not last...

Let's see, what else--I have almost finished Buttercup Anne's sweater--I am realizing that while I like knitting sweaters and hats, I really love making playthings...the yarn that I ordered to begin Elsa's doll shipped today.  Very exciting.

This Weekend

This weekend was very much about preparing for Jesse's departure for Orlando tomorrow.  He is presenting at a conference, and we talked (very briefly) about us all going, and decided, absolutely, hell, no.  Really, I can't imagine anything worse than taking a five and a three year old to Disney World.  I can totally picture them, particularly David, terrified of Mickey (I kind of am), and wandering off, and it just being a totally over-stimulating extravaganza.  So, although we hate to be apart, the kids and I will be holding down the fort while Jesse goes.

Jesse took the kids off to see some puppies on Saturday so I could (this is thrilling) clean the house, and just kind of get organized--do the many, many loads of laundry and maybe find their socks again.  They don't seem to mind, but I just don't like it when they wear their rainboots with nothing underneath.  It creeps me out.  Anyway, Jesse's friends were fostering the puppies, and they were so little that they still needed to be bottle-fed.  And Elsa came home in tears, wanting a tiny puppy so badly.  And really, I wanted to run out and get one for her immediately.  But we need to slow down just a little bit.  I mean, I also really want angora rabbits....and goats...and chickens....

And then, that afternoon, Jesse took David to Home Depot to (drumroll please) buy the wood for our soon to be chicken coop.  His idea (which is a really brilliant one, I think) is to get it built with a sort of an old fashioned work party.  We will provide beer and food, and hopefully our friends will  come and help us get it up.  Then we need to order some chicks, and do it.  Very exciting.  I hope Jesse will have time to write about their trip.  When David came home he was very sweetly serious about carrying the plans and talking about his tools. 

Elsa and I hung out at home and practiced and I started knitting a doll sweater.  Really, it's the way to go I have decided.  The sweaters are fast to finish, and the dolls aren't going to complain and refuse to wear their sweaters because they are itchy.  Also, I have figured out how to have yarn not cost so much...ahem, order it on-line.  I found a knitted doll pattern in Living Craft Magazine--it looks kind of like this, but cuter, and I have to make it--and if you order the yarn on-line, it is much less expensive.  Not that I am going to comletely stop going to our local yarn shop--I just need to spend a bit less money.  This does, of course, mean that I am going to have to learn to wind it.  That can't be too bad.

And finally, in the last of this long and rambly post, our broccoli starts have sprouted.   It's kind of funny, because while I instructed the children to put three seeds in each container, it turns out that they put, ummm, a lot more.  Oh well....

The Birds

When I was a teenager, I remember coming upon my parents, sitting in the living room, listening to a CD of bird calls.  I teased them (gently) about what huge nerds they were.  I was not remotely interested.  Now, I am obsessed.  We have several bird feeders hanging outside of our room, and I often go in to gaze at the many birds fluttering around.  Unfortunately, I am not blessed with good vision.  I have some serious glasses, which I use for driving, but they give me a headache--apparently, you are supposed to just deal with the headache for a week, and then it goes away, but I really don't have time for feeling headachey and faintly nauseous, even for a week, when the solution is that simple.  So, often, I call to the children, and we consult the bird book together, because you know, I can't really see.  And they are getting itnerested, too.  Isn't it funny and wonderful (and scary) about how children at this age will just follow you along in your interests?  I realize this will change soon enough, but now it's kind of fun.   And I imagine someday soon I will be following them.

David loves to paint-pictures and himself (and the table and walls if I am not careful.)  I posted a similar picture on Facebook, and someone thought it was blood.  It's not.

Snow Children Nature Table

I wish I were a better photographer, because I can't really get a good shot, but here is our late winter nature table.  It is kind of funny, actually, because as I have been totally obsessing about, winter has not truly arrived here.  I actually just cut that dogwood to force the blossoms, because they are getting ready to come out.  Anyway, these are supposed to be figures from The Snow Children, a lovely book by Sybille Von Olfers, which is one of the hits in our winter book basket.  We also have The Snowy Day, The Tomten, and Winter Fairies.  I think it is time to start changing it out, although we still might get some winter weather...

 

I needle felted Poppy (the red girl) and the snow children, and made the Snow Queen's daughter out of a doll clothespin with felt and a glue gun.  Elsa needle felted some carriages in the background for the snow children.  It's funny--every night she puts everything to bed--sometimes in the tree, sometimes they are all just horizontal on the nature table.  I always want to fix it and arrange it, but then I remember it is for the children.  David has even been showing some interest...

I have been knitting David a sweater, and some little Valentine crafts are going up throughout the house.  And, we started some (way too many) broccoli plants.  I would love to get these in early, because they take up a lot space for not a whole lot of production, but it is one of the leafy greens that my children will always eat.  David sewed the felt heart (you can't really tell it's a heart) hanging from the window, and some more heart butterflies have been added to the windows. 

Groundhog Day (And Candlemas and St. Brigid's Day)

Well, it was sunny and we could definitely see shadows, however, it certainly doesn't seem like winter is going to stick around much longer.  It sure wasn't here today. The kids and I went to the local garden shop to get some potting soil to start our broccoli.   I love the lady there--she is working toward being as self reliant as she can--she wants to get mini goats as well as chickens--apparently, you can't have pigs in Black Mountain.  She wanted one--I can't say that I do.  I mean, I like bacon, and we are careful about buying happy pork, but pigs are really big, and piglets are really cute.  I respect meat farmers, but I am not sure that I could do  it.  Anyway, I came home with a bee in my bonnet about buying the land across the street so we could have some mini-goats (not sure that is the right term-it might be miniature or maybe pygmy but I like saying mini..).  Jesse wisely reminded me that we should start with chickens.  He is planning to buy the wood for the chicken coop this weekend.   In all his spare time.

Anyway, we have been enjoying the unseasonably warm weather around here--at least the children are.  I feel a little anxious about it, but I am sort of keeping it on the downlow--except when I nervously ask any old time locals if this is normal.  (Most say no...)

The kids are in this fairly amazing stage of being able to play together, with no intervention from me, literally for hours.  Sometimes, to be honest, it leaves me wringing my hands wondering what to do, and wandering around the house, doing a little of this and a little of that, getting nothing really accomplished...I feel guilty if I am crafting or writing here for too long, but frankly, the amount of cleaning chores overwhelms me, so I flit about, knitting a row here, doing a little needle-felting, sweeping...Anyway, the kids...here they were playing bear family.  This is a long standing game--David is Rocky, Elsa is Rocky Rose...I have a name in the game too, but I can't remember it, and I am totally dispensable.  Anyway, they were playing upstairs, and then I made them some biscuits, which they took outside to Florida to the county fair.  They were entering my biscuits (Elsa said they would win, but they wouldn't) and the pictures.  Then it was off to the farmer's market to buy broccoli seeds--

This is on the way--we took the stroller, which they pulled a good bit of the way.  Have I mentioned the Greenway in town?  It's the best--it goes along a little creek, and it shortens our walk into town (distance-wise--definitely not time wise as lots and lots of the above happens.) 

And, by the way, I recently read this post at Feather and Anchor which was important.  I have been in this constant state of frustration about the state of my house.  I am pretty much a terrible housekeeper but I have found myself feeling like Sisyphus and a failure all at once.  But I have to remember that good, homemade meals are being made, crafting is getting done...and we are all there.  It is really, really hard to keep a house clean with small children about.