The Creative Family

There are quite a few popular blogs out there that I read on a semi-regular basis. I read angry chicken, a blog about crafting and cooking, Apartment Therapy for cool children's finds in fashion and design, and frolic! for fashion. I enjoy most of what they have to offer, but if I go a few days without reading them, I do not notice. Not so with SouleMama. I read Amanda Blake Soule's blog on parenting, crafting, and creating with children daily and as soon as I get a free moment. There are mornings when i am so excited to see what she posted the previous night that I visit the site briefly for a taste of what I will be able to read during nap time.

Soule relishes the role of mother and spends her days homeschooling her three, soon to be four, children in Portland, Maine. She's a big advocate of "natural" parenting (encouraging her children to spend a great deal of time outdoors, limiting their exposure to t.v., encouraging artistic expression, etc...). Now, I don't think I am a homeschooler and I know I am not an "attachment parenting" parent, but I do think there is much to be learned from Amanda Soule and her family. While Soule's concept of slowing life down is not hers originally (I think there is actually a whole movement now!), the little moments that she captures on film and posts daily are a constant reminder to enjoy my children and the small moments I have with them right in the here and now. I am not great at this but I am getting better and here I owe some thanks to my cyber friend (although she doesn't even know me cyberly) Amanda Soule.

I recently picked up a copy of her book, The Creative Family and really haven't been able to put it down. I am a little scared though-worried that I might be finding another pastime that will compete with my knitting habit. i got a sewing machine for my birthday from my mom and my aunt and went to the fabric store for supplies for my first project. Wow, is that place fun!! My sewing machine, though, is less fun... I have not yet figured out how to properly thread the thing--every time I do, I end up with a knot. So, off to sewing classes I go. Once I do get the machine working properly, I am excited to start trying out some of the sewing projects she has described. Project updates to come!