Thursday, September 30, 2010

candle making

this pound of beeswax has been sitting atop our fridge for months



It sometimes takes me a lot of research, review and courage to try a crafty thing like candle making. the mama at childhood magic gave step by step instructions which included pictures. thus, i finally got my head wrapped around making them and had all of the tools and materials.
playdough made it's first entrance into our home for this project.


We used cookie cutters as the mold. we put the candles into the freezer to firm up. they popped out really easily.  next time, i would add more beeswax as they were way shorter than i had wanted.  they did not burn as long b/c of how shallow they were.

floating stars

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

simple book nook

there are over a hundred things that i really like about my house.  
one is how the stairs split so there is a little landing half way up/down.
last year, we created a space to hang out for a bit while people were in between...  in between what?  well, at the top of the stairs is the bathroom and at the bottom is the backdoor where all of our shoes are kept.  we often sit on the bottom of the stairs to put shoes on and sit on the top of stairs to brush teeth.  inevitability, someone is done before the other someones in our house are done.  so, it's nice to have a simple place to hang out in the in between. 

the runaway bunny, apple of my face, god made me, the itsy bitsy spider, owl in the garden, something by ezra jack keats and a few indonesian books.
the frog has been with us since e was about two years old and who knows where i picked up that basket and stuffed it with books?  they both fit just right into the book nook.  it's a great place for books that we are not really reading at the moment to get stored.  sometimes, they find their way into the playroom or by the bed, of course.

Monday, September 27, 2010

quick beach

at the ocean with her dada
 one day this summer, we decided to take a quick trip to the seashore, to a part of the coastline that we had not experienced with our daughters.  so, the drive took way longer that we expected and people kept giving us inaccurate directions to our lunch destination.  we finally arrived there and got our bellies full.  it took another round of 'way longer than expected' driving to get to our destination, which was an aquarium. 
two silly little geese     




because we arrived at the aquarium as they were closer, we were not required to pay the entrance fee due to the kindness of a man who will remained unnamed.  THANK YOU!  it was great to explore this new to us aquarium as we have been again and again to the one on the outer banks.  we were glad to get some energy out before driving a few blocks up the beach.  we hung out there all afternoon into the early evening.  then, we went back up for a later than usual dinner.  we went to an amazing burrito place and ate outside.  i just sat here racking my brain to think of where we stayed, what the hotel room looked like, the parking lot, checking in, anything...all just to realize that we did not stay the night or ever plan to stay the night.  it was a quick day trip, remember?  haha.

she was loving the sand

Saturday, September 25, 2010

Friday, September 24, 2010

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

E is for...

my E bear!

Although this picture is from over a year ago, it was worth sharing.  Last year right before Christmastime, we met up with my grandparents.  They live in Georgia so we met halfway. We visited a cool children's museum that happened to have her letter big, bold and made from recycled cans. Super cool!

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

the ways of the bear

the bear is rather consistent. 

1. she has always slept "well", meaning she doesn't fight sleep, does rest for a decent stretch of time and wakes up refreshed.  in the very early weeks, i had to check in with hubs and other friends again and again b/c i just not not used to a sleeping baby who was also an efficient nurser.  it was so different from e's pattern of needing to wake up and nurse more.  i do understand, of course that e's early birth and low weight contributed to her needing more frequent nursing sessions. but i did not realize until the bear was born what a difference it would make!
she has taken naps regularly.  she goes to be easily most nights.  there were a couple of seasons where she woke up in the middle of the night inconsolable.  hubs i were so confused by it. which leads to number two...
falling asleep quickly mid-snack
2. she sometimes is inconsolable and does NOT want to be touched or comforted.  when she was barely a year old, we taught her to say, "space" to let us know she didn't want to be touched or talked to but was okay.  it was her way to say she needed to figure it out & it helped us to know she wasn't in pain and to leave her be.
beginning to say, "space" and putting her hand out as in "stop, don't come any closer.".
Oh, my this was such a huge, hard lesson for me who worked my butt off to be an attachment parenting type of mama and who had a first child that was into being held plus easily consolable.  she still has times when she needs her space and i give it to her.  if you see her on the floor crying somewhere and me sitting by, no worries.  i really am doing what she wants me to do & not ignoring her.  and, trust me, nobody wants her to stop crying more than i do.  i really do not like to hear yelling or crying.
playing quietly all by herself one morning
3.  and 4. she likes to wake up early and play by herself for a bit.  she's been an early riser even though i tried to 'fix' that and get her to sleep in, as i prefer to do.  nope.  e bear still will sleep in but rarely, rarely ever would the bear.  if she had a long night of waking or late, late bedtime, she may sleep in a bit.  she is like her dada, a morning person.  anytime of day, she likes to play alone with sticks, wooden animals, beeswax, train sets, puzzles, books, dress up, coloring, playdough, little cups and bowls, etc...she is not picky about what she plays.  but she is totally fine to play for a solid 30-60 minutes by herself.  i was just looking back at pictures from this summer where i took one at 8am of her playing quietly on the floor and the last one was at 8:30am of her still playing on the floor all by herself while i had coffee and her sister slept.  she had moved through three different activities but she was content the whole time to just peacefully flow like that all on her own.  this isn't just a morning thing, either.  she is totally content to play quietly by herself for 45 minutes or so at a time.  it's just precious and heart-warming to me how happy she is doing this kind of thing.

Friday, September 10, 2010

Thursday, September 9, 2010

solo parenting time

white water rafting on the upper gauley 2006

rafting 2008

This morning, hubs left for his annual rafting trip up in West Virginia.  He'll be back on Saturday afternoon.  This trip is so great for him; I have no interest in going rafting ever.  The guys who go each year are awesome dudes full of love for my hubs.  They come from all over the country to hang out for a few days on the water and camp.  It makes solo parenting a little easier when I know he is having such a great time.

Saturday, September 4, 2010

a lil' kitchen

One of the favorite themes in our playspace is restaurant, which probably means we eat out too often! Menus are created, a full-service waitstaff from hostess to server to cook are available with booster seats and high chairs offered in this pet-friendly eating establishment.

stovetop and shelf that was left in the house when we bought it.
Some of our friends have really cool kitchen set ups in their playspace.  We wanted to keep it simple and flexible so just bought a little stovetop as the main part.  That shelf was hanging in the bathroom when we moved into the house.  I painted it with leftover "Dancing Light", which is a favorite color throughout our house.  It's a no VOC paint we used in the hallways, a bathroom and a bedroom.  Lovely color.  When we need to change things up, the shelf can turn into something other than kitchen space. 
 lil cups, bowls and baskets, lil colander and muffin pan, lil spatulas.  just right.
Over the years, we have picked up some great kitchen items just the right size.  The tiny cups are from a craft store in the doll section while the bowls are considered "ramekins" from a big bed, bath, etc store.  The wooden baskets are from our last trip to Bali and can become a well for dipping water out of or be taken outside to collect berries, flowers and food on our nature walks or in the garden.  The box storing pots and pans once contained tangerines, if I recall correctly.  The rolling pins are great for playdough.
elephant hook for aprons, kid broom, placemats my mom sent to us.



This works as our refrigerator or pantry space.  It has two shelves inside, a latch and is solid wood.  Somehow stickers got stuck to the door and will not come off!  on the left side, we drilled a screw to hang that basket.  There is a hand broom, and a tiny broom and dustpan in the basket. 

highchairs and booster seats (extra pillows, really) are available.
This little doll has been with us since staying with the Shavers in Bellingham, WA upon flying in from Bali back in Fall of 2007.  E bear was missing her friend, Ana who lives in Bali so this little doll became known as Ana on our cross-country trip back to North Cack.