Our Nature Table

For the longest time I have been meaning to put together a nature table--a small place in our home that reflects the season of the year in one form or another. While we were living in Portland, we had a collection of beautiful natural objects that we found on our many hikes through the forests of the city, and this was a calm and pleasant place for us, but it was never a true nature table.

Recently, I joined the Seasons Round Exchange. To help inspire our fall nature table, I will make something for a fall nature table and send it off to my cyberspace partner and he or she will dot he same for us. I have participated in one of these "exchanges" in the past and I am looking forward to it again.

In the meantime, the kids and I put together a summer nature table using some fresh mint for a tree, rocks, shells, a blue silk for water, and various other natural items that we have collected. I also purchased this book, and I plan on using it to collect more ideas for our Autumn table.

While I love the idea of the table, I have not quite figured out how to incorporate it into our lives. Harvey does play with it--he makes animals climb on the rocks and swim in the water but it is otherwise largely ignored. If anyone has any ideas, please share!

Quotable Sunday

It is good to be back, back to my kids, back to my husband, and back here to my little home on the internet! Although we are just on the precipice of a new baby in our lives, I am hoping to be back here in a more consistent manner now that we are more settled in our new digs and our new routines.

I am going to join my Kyrie for Quotable Sunday to ease my reentry into this home of mine and to help get my juices flowing again. Nikki Giovanni is always good for that...


A Summer Love Poem


Clouds float by on a summer sky
I hop scotch over to you

Rainbows arch from ground to gold
I climb over to you


Thunder grumbles, lightning tumbles
And I bounce over to you


Sun beams back and catches me
Smiling over at you

Plastic Pool Party (for two)

An old friend has inspired some fun in the sun of the plastic pool variety and boy have we had some fun. I read her post while the kids were napping one day last week and found the answer to what we would do with our afternoon. We had one of these last summer and sold it at our garage sale before we moved. Amanda's post reminded me of the good times we spent last summer in the backyard, and the party continues this year. In between their splashed, I can even get a little knitting or reading time. I. love. summer.

Art Therapy

The recent and upcoming transitions that our whole family has undergone (a move across the country and back again, a new baby, some family strife, etc...) have taken their toll on the whole family and, most noticeably, on our daughter. She has recently begun experiencing tremendous rage and it has been manifesting itself in some pretty problematic ways.

We have been working with her on ways to express her emotions. I recently got her this book at a garage sale. Harvey has proven more interested in it than she is though. We have also been using this to talk about Mama, Papa, and Baby bear's emotions, and how they impact each other.

Yesterday, our friend, an Art Therapist, suggested that I have Norah paint rocks different colors--one for every emotion that she might feel.

We are storing them in a bowl right now, but we plan to put them in a special place of hers. Maybe these will keep help to keep her grounded. In general, I do find that giving children an outlet to express themselves creatively is liberating. Surprisingly liberating. If I keep my mouth closed while they are painting on plain white paper, for example, it is amazing the images, and the names for them, that they create. A few days ago, Norah was drawing small dots all over her paper, "These are song circles, Mama," she says. Song circles?! Wow, if only we could all access this kind of energy regularly. What a healthy place we would live in.

Cooking with Kids

Last week, a good friend and I had our kids cook together. Both of us have husbands that work pretty late and very hard, leaving us with many dinners to have on our own. So her idea was to have the kids cook their own dinners one night. Brilliant!!

And cook they did.


The kneaded their pizza douch, spread olive oil on top of it along with some pizza sauce and mozzerella, Norah and Harvey added a few peppers and... there was dinner.

Another Lazy Days Skirt

Before leaving Portland, I promised Norah that she could pick out some fabric for a skirt because she didn't like the last one I made her AT ALL. I mean, I have to bribe her with lots of forbidden treats to even get her to put the thing on. As a new sewer, I desperately want to see my kids in my creations, so I knew I would make another one in a fabric of her choice. Sadly, the fabric of her choice is not one of my choice, but... she is wearing it and I am loving it no matter what. I got the pattern here, cut the fabric to 16 inches (I think) before the seams, and cut the elastic waistband to 19 inches (18 after overlapping). Olivia, her dolly, has one on the way too.

Settling In (Sort Of)

Our stuff arrived about a week ago to our new (temporary) home in Montclair and we have begun the process of settling back in to our new (old) town. A trip to the farmer's market last Saturday made me feel even more back.

Funny how life throws you those curve balls. i can remember opening day of the Montclair Farmer's Market last year--I was happy to be there and sad that it would be one of my last trips to it. And last week, there I was, returned from Portland, a changed yet still very much the same person, buying my sausage and eggs and my spinach from my favorite vendors again this year.
What a funny life it is.