Sewing, Walks, and Beyond

SEWING
I have done a bit of sewing this month. This is one project that has been on my to-do list since I read the book "The Creative Family". This author has a fabulous blog that I go to when I need inspiration. This is a pair of pants for Landis that I made from a shirt I purchased at a garage sale. I am working on finishing a pair of wrap around pants for myself. I also have some grocery and bread bags to sew. I am suddenly drawn to the machine and am wanting to begin some larger projects and quilts. This is certainly not the time of year to be indoors sewing but I am craving this creative mode and can not deny it.

WALKS
With Nick gone in the evenings, the kids and I have begun taking walks. Thanks to our new jogging stroller (Thanks Eva!) the children are delighted to ride and let me stretch my legs! We have walked when it was cold, warm, dark, and whenever! The kids love to throw a blanket over the shield and create their own little cave. Here they can whisper secrets, read books, and share snacks without mom's intrusion. Often it has been a wonderful way to snooze while traveling home from a picnic with Daddy at his nearby job site.

We ventured to a local nature area one night and discovered a small stream with some wonderful trees that has turned into a common gathering place for us to explore.

Unfortunately we are not the only visitors to this place. At least the villains properly named themselves when spray painting this tree. It is quite a challenge to explain to Teilee how mommy feels about grafiti. I often find grafiti on buildings and even trains a beautiful artistic expression. However it is also an act of vandalism and I do not condone the random acts of nature or property distruction. That was my soapbox and I think that Teilee and Landis are a few years away from understanding the grey areas of grafiti. :)


Some walks make for late nights but we are fond of the views at night also. The blooms on this tree are spectacular in the day and sureal on a quite night. The street light helps for us to find our footing when the moon is hidden or small. Despite the non-natural light we are still able to spot the stars and the artwork painted in our sky. Human noise is quiter and the wildlife (including neighborhood foxes) tend to expose itself.
We love taking our walks and hope to discover more amazing secrets about our neighborhood!


BEYOND
A great thing about the town where we live is our access to cheap organic flowers. On rare occasions we gift ourselves with a beautiful view on our table. We also grow our own centerpieces.We were growing Wheat grass for Easter and happened to have a neighbor with a wheat grass juicer. Oh yes, even the kiddos got in on the green goodness of wheat grass juice!





Our mountain sunsets are amazing and we get a view of both from our backyard. I wish I could capture the color of them with my camera. Someday I will have a camera worthy of the pictures I wish to take!
It has been absolutely beautiful and unpredictable this spring. If you can't tell I am feeling truly lucky to have this and hope that you are vicariously experiencing it through me.

Spring Treasures

Every year we are overcome with the excitement that comes with planting and preparing our garden. We have lived in this house for almost four years and this will be our third garden and our third spring. Our yard has changed significantly over the years. Our boring backyard of grass, 4 trees, and a lilac bush in the corner, has grown into a large garden, swings, small flower gardens, side beds, kids corners, a chicken coop, and more. The entrance to our house lies on a sidewalk that passes between the house and our garage. What I call the front door is flanked on either side by what I call the 'side garden'. In previous years we ripped out massive vines that covered the entire section and have replaced it with many different flowers, vegetables, and herbs. Last year we went to town planting and it has been a delight watching what we tended bloom and grow. Everyday something has changed or developed like little thank you gifts. Our own rewards for the effort. New to the side bed this year is some chocolate mint, some peppermint, and of course a few tomato plants. I am hoping that this area will bloom with a variety of sights and smells (and will help make some great tea too)!

(This is the West side of our property with our garden and small aspen trees.)

While the building of the chicken coop has taken over the yard I know that the random screws, blocks of wood, and mess will soon be cleared out and we can resume the remainder of our projects. Yet to build is a tepee (from logs and then surrounded with sunflowers), a deep pitted sandbox, more garden beds, the rest of our bohemian garden fence with arbors, a small pond, arbors over our patio, a small back porch, oh I can keep going. In fact I do believe that I am thinking of a few other things to do! :)

Recently a friend visited our backyard for the first time and commented on the little surprises hidden throughout our space. She said something to the tune of how she would love to be a child in our backyard, all the areas of discovery. I have consciously worked hard to make this a space that our kiddos would thrive in. Little hiding areas, natural toys (sticks, rocks, shells, etc..), tools and kitchen ware for the sandbox, small faerie houses and gardens, these are similar to things that I enjoyed in my youth and continue to adore. I wanted my children to gain the same pleasure. I have tried to create these with their growth and learning in mind. I can not move them out into the country/mountains, but I can create our own little homestead in the city.

Our work year round pays off every spring and summer. We planted a crocus spiral (a large one) in the grass in our backyard last fall. We only received a few blooms but are anticipating next year to have a flowering masterpiece. Someday there may be a smiley face, or heart of crocus in the front yard as well. :) Last fall we found a few caterpillars and watched them cocoon and then transform into moths. This is one of our pet moths enjoying its first breath of the outdoors.
With our hectic schedule and lives we are fortunate to have such peace in our outdoors. We also have been generously gifted so much of what makes our backyard beautiful. The wood for the chicken coop, the absolutely stunning garden fence (Thanks Delta), the logs for the tepee, herbs and plants, and so much more. It is no easy task to achieve all the work we accomplish with young children at home. Although I love the exhaustion that comes with these outdoor tasks (mowing, shoveling manure, etc..), it is difficult to pair that with the exhaustion of child rearing. We are not always able to do everything we would wish to do in a single day or week. We are careful in our creation and are remaining conscious of the environment, our children's development, and our own enjoyment.

I am overjoyed with what we have created and excited to see the shape of things yet to come.

Another leaf

When reviewing old photos it is easy to see how much Teilee has grown physically. The difficult task is to identify the day to day areas of growth. Teilee has been taking pictures for many years but I have noticed that more recently she is able to find what she wants to photograph and then focus and center her target. No easy task when one of your subjects is the fast and furious Landis. Here is a sample of the photos Teilee has taken recently.


Yes, that is my son dressed in his Sunday best. Complete without clothes, with a cape, crown, and sister's rain boots.





Then we have captured Landis stiring up trouble in the bathroom and with sister's dinosaurs. I love seeing the photographer in the photo!



I have no idea how she got the camera to focus on the water. Really it is incredibly difficult with our camera. Our old digital used to take pictures quicker and focusing in at shorter range. Don't ask my why? This one, unless you are four feet back, is almost impossible to get it to focus.

I love seeing things from their viewpoint and even landis gets in on the gig. Although he likes to take pictures of peoples bottoms right now so beware the boy with the camera. It is great watching these two weeds grow another leaf.

Final Stretch

We are nearing the end of our no TV and facebook month. I have to say I am concerned at how excited I am to have those things back. We have snow again today. We have had quite a few rainy, cold, snowy days during the last month. I am not feeling very well (no swine flu yet) and would absolutely love to snuggle under the blankets with the kids while watching a movie. Nick complicated things by saying, "we are close enough to a month, let's watch a little TV. What's the harm?". Bad Nick, testing my resolve so close to the finish line. The kids have been relatively unaffected by the whole experiment. Twice Teilee has asked when no TV month is over (only twice). I guess the lesson is, the kids are fine, they get an okay amount of TV. Not too much, not to little. However, mama maybe gets too much. I definately use TV and facebook as a way to escape. Usually the TV comes on after the kids are in bed at night and I do nothing but veg. I don't know if this is something I want to change. I will ponder some more. We are not going to watch TV until this Sat. the 2nd. That way we can have a family movie night with snacks, drinks, pillows, blankets, and cuddling. I know the kids will enjoy that as a reintroduction to the possibility of TV again. I will continue to contemplate if any changes need to be made to my TV and computer habits. Perhaps restrictions like only two days a week (maybe three). I must decide before the switch is turned back on and I have open access to it all.

Happy Earth Day

I thought I would pass this along since it basically sums up Earth Day for me. My sis says it all with her blog about Earth Day!

Click on the link or just type this into your browser and happy reading!

http://mammashere.blogspot.com/2009/04/happy-earth-day.html

This year we are going to spend the week cleaning the trash out of our greenbelt. We do this every walk we take but this time we are going to really get to the nitty gritty. This year I only managed to get a few friends and their kids involved (one even told his mom that this was the one thing he wanted to do for Earth Day), but next year I think I will try for the whole neighborhood. Then I want to pursue a neighborhood garden out there, if the city will let me. Anyways, Happy Earth Day!

(sing to the happy birthday song)

Happy Earth Day to you,
Happy Earth Day to you,
Happy Earth Day to everybody,
Happy Earth Day to you!

Death and Pants

The kiddos and I were driving in the car tonight when the most interesting discussion occurred between Teilee and I. While Landis sang "I am a rock star" (by Pink) in the background we were simultaneously listening to "Knocking on Heaven's Door". Teilee was of course inquisitive about why this fellow was knocking on heaven's door. I explained several scenarios that could explain his lyrics, being careful to not reveal the answer nor to upset delicate emotions surrounding death. Teilee thinks about this for a while and is silent, the music continuing in the background and Landis persisting with his rendition of a loud pop song. After a while Teilee asks, "Mommy will you take me to Heaven's door"? I asked her why and she of course said that she wanted to say hello to someone. "Who would that be?", I asked smiling. "Great Grandma", was her reply. I said while we are up there we could say hello to Strider too (our neighbors old dog who when he died we discussed how he would help keep Great Grandma company). We continued to discuss Great Grandma, death, and the inability to get to Heaven's door until she had enough of sad things and moved on to the happy side of life. Her little brain processes things in such a philosophical and profound way. I try to not insert my own logic into the mix (which is soooo hard for me to not do). When I am able to let her 'thinks' (her word) find her voice on her own I am constantly amazed at the things she teaches me!

So entirely random but still needed to share. We went to the museum yesterday. Oh yes, we saw the dinosaurs and Teilee recognized almost every single one by their fossil skeleton. She ever had to set Daddy straight on a few;) I will have to share some pictures of that experience sometime. However, when we returned home I took to the massive pile of laundry. (We thought we had caught up with moms help the previous weekend, but we were wrong.) Despite my exhaustion and constant dreading of folding and putting away I was able to drag myself to the chore. As I was folding Landis' pants I realized that these could be the smallest pants I was ever to fold again. If indeed we are done having children (which some days I think we are, and some days I think we aren't), then once Landis grows out of those size 2T pantsm, they will disappear from my laundry. Sometimes it is easy to forget how fleeting these chores are (or at least at this magnitude) and how we will miss seeing their tiny pants and socks in those massive piles of laundry. If I can keep this in mind every time I fold, I swear it will be a loving, beautiful, wonderful experience. Then when Teilee is 20 and Landis is 17, and I inevitably come across one of their size 2T pairs of pants I will think longingly of that time when they could wear them but I will also remember that I cherished it then too.

No TV + No Facebook = hunger

Tomorrow will be the week mark of no TV and facebook. The kids haven't asked once to watch anything and really aren't missing it. Like I anticipated, it has been hardest for me and for Nick. We really, really, really want to flick on the TV after the kids are in bed and he is home and just veg. I am hoping this desire will fade and be replaced with a better relaxation habit. Already the programing of flipping over to facebook whenever I am on the computer is fading and that is a good thing. I do miss it, and there was one occasion where I really needed to get on so that I could get some contact info on someone. (I couldn't remember for the life of me what her buisness was named and so couldn't find it on etsy.) I resisted and found it elsewhere, whew, crisis averted! The tricky part is figuring out what crosses the line. Online TV, no. You Tube, yes. Downloaded netflicks, a definite no. Computer games, yes. Blog, yes. I think I might step it up a notch each week. Maybe this next week I will cut out either computer games or you tube, cutting out the other the next week. Then maybe I will cut out the blog for my final week. It is hard to distinguish where the line is and how far I want to take it. I think I might even reintroduce things slowly and with limits so that we don't go overboard when the restirction is lifted. That way we won't be starved for TV and ravinously binge on the devil.