Umm Qais

Hello Again

2012-02-15T14:46:00.003-05:00

I'm back! going to try to start posting here more. That will surely mean lowering my standards for posting but they weren't that high to begin with I guess :)

Our sweet new babe arrived this past December. Nora Anne

I hope to start posting here to help process these big changes happening in our family as we all get used to a new member of our family. Qais has changed so much with his new role as big brother and the fact that he'll be turning 3 next week! Yikes. Some days I'm so happy and grateful for everything I have (awesome husband and 2 kids, roof over my head and yummy food in my belly) and some days I want to crawl in a hole because I'm so overwhelmed. Every day gets easier though.

Goodbye Spring

2011-06-23T18:42:00.004-04:00

I love seasonal changes, especially now that I have a kid. Spring and Fall are probably my favorite seasons since they have the best weather here in the southeast but they always feel too short. This spring was no different. The weather was great....until it got too hot. This spring however, was not too short, I couldn't wait to see it go actually.

All spring I wanted to write a blog post about happy spring-y new life budding happiness. But you know what? This spring has been rough. Instead of symbols of rebirth and new growth we've had far far too many deaths and illnesses in our small bubble of family and friends. We've spent way too much time in hospitals in this spring, and consoling loved ones and crying our own tears. I just want to scoop up my loved ones and make their lives okay again.

It hasn't all been awful, there have been some beautiful little moments and it's hard not to smile at my silly boy(s). Focusing so much on the pain of others has made it easy to ignore the one budding life that has persisted through these rough months. I woke up yesterday morning and realized I could deny it no longer...

Qais will be a big brother in December :)

Important Work

2011-04-18T07:50:00.000-04:00

Simple play goes hand in hand another favorite activity these days - work. Toddler work is very very important stuff ;)

Cooking and yard work are probably the favorites, but he enjoys cleaning too, and really just carrying things around for me is super fun apparently ;)

I must admit I am really not good at letting the little boy "help" as it usually results in a big mess and there are enough messes around here to begin with. But when I do manage to let him, I swear I can see the gears in his brain working and his entire demeanor changes as he approaches these tasks with such a sense of purpose and satisfaction. As with most parenting challenges I am having to reassess my priorities. Messes can (almost) always be cleaned up. There's important stuff going on :)

Simple Play

2011-04-17T08:07:00.002-04:00

Another long absence. I blame it on my busy toddler :)

Let's just jump right in and let me show you how we're keeping busy... with the simplest of all activities.

rocks + sticks + water = endless toddler fun

Trying really hard to enjoy the toddler pace, let this stand as a reminder of how great it is to watch him discover this simple play.

Four Things

2011-02-24T08:02:00.002-05:00

Inspired by my friend Lapoli and her inspiring thoughts on simplicity we adopted this mantra around yesterdays gift giving. Four things - something you want, something you need, something to wear and something to read. They don't have to be 4 separate things if something falls into more than one category. I have to say that it really worked for us! We don't routinely give gifts to each other but when it comes to Q it's hard not to overdo it.

Without further ado, here are Q's four things...

something you want

something you need

something to wear

and something to read

He loves them all but ironically I think the raincoat is his favorite thing ever!

Happy Birthday!

2011-02-22T19:57:00.005-05:00

to my sweet sweet 2 year old

this years birthday celebrations had some serious lessons in letting go for me. Letting go of my baby.... and letting go of my near constant desire to have done more. Last year there were many more handmade touches than this year but his excitement and enthusiasm was so fulfilling that I don't regret how things unfolded one bit.

Birthday Prep & Sickness

2011-02-12T11:04:00.000-05:00

My boy is turning 2 in under 2 weeks! I have to shift gears to birthday prep and try to enjoy the anticipation of this anniversary.

As I've been thinking ahead to this birthday I have been mourning the loss of my baby, my snuggly love bug who occasionally stood still. This crazy toddler boy I have now is awesome and so much fun, but I do miss the occasional silence and I definitely miss the snuggles. I guess it's a mixed blessing then that the boy has come down with RSV (again!) and doesn't want to be anywhere except in momma's arms, in the rocking chair with a blanket around us both. He wants lots of kisses and demands to be held with both arms wrapped around him. As much as I want him to get better and get his energy back I guess I'm glad to know my 2 year old still needs his momma like this :)

Hatmania

2011-02-11T18:53:00.012-05:00

As promised here are just a few of my recent knitting projects. Enjoy :)

actually an adult sized hat, but it fits Q pretty well huh? Made with Noro Kureyon yarn.

I'm in love despite the fact that it was supposed to be for me and it's too small

another noro yarn here - noro silk garden yarn. Lyon hat.

The ear flaps button off and it's so freaking adorable, another love

this one out of cascade 220 superwash merino yarn, a very simple beanie for my darling husband

I've been hat crazy as you can tell.

I've made this pattern above three times so far because family members keep asking for them! That feels good :)

I think my favorite hat so far is the one I finished yesterday. Soulemama's Rosa. I did it a little differently from hers because I didn't care for the super poofy, gathered top and I'm quite happy with how mine came out.

and here it is sitting on my little model

and I have one other hat that's almost done, a very valentines-y hat actually. Not planned that way but it is rather fitting ;) pun intended :)

phew, that's a lot of hats (and that's not even all of them!). I'll show you some of the other projects I've been working on in another post :)

....and we're back

2011-02-08T06:44:00.000-05:00

What can I say? Holidays, family, winter. It was not my intention to be gone for over a month from this blog but here we are. Happy New Year! Welcome 2011! My boy is going to turn 2 this year, this month in fact. That's just crazy.

We had a wonderful holiday season, always crazier than you want it to be and I always have so many ideas about how it will be different (and better) next year and then I forget them in the final weeks. Like how I'm going to make all my gifts, and make an advent calendar, not get Q too many gifts, have less plans, be calmer, etc. Yeah, that flies out the window during that last week where I tell myself - just one more thing, just one more party in there, we can do it.... I always regret it though. Mark my words, it will be different next year! I'll write a blog post soon about all the things I'm going to try to do different.

Since then we've been home just trying to keep up with life. Hard stuff with a toddler underfoot. I have tried to carve out some time for crafting. I've been neglecting my sewing (among other things, like this blog!) for knitting and have been churning out some woolen wear to get us through the cold weather (and snows) we've been having. I don't think I enjoy anything quite like I enjoy seeing my kid wearing things I knit.

I can't wait to show you the knitting and other things we've been up to! I promise not to go away for so long again :)

{This Moment}

2010-12-24T08:03:00.001-05:00

{This Moment}

2010-12-17T07:30:00.000-05:00

Toddlerhood

2010-12-11T07:48:00.005-05:00

Toddlerhood has been kicking my butt these past few weeks so I thought I would share this quote that lives on my bulletin board. I put it up there when Q was just a few months old and I was consumed with making all sorts of decisions about sleep training, breastfeeding, vaccines, etc.. but it really has helped me now as well when I am struggling with diet, discipline and routine.

Peaceful Problem Solving

There are no absolute rules about raising children and no guarantees for any parenting techniques. Raise your children how you choose to raise them and in ways that are right for you. Within the range of your comfort zone, modify your approach for each of your children based on their needs, personality, and temperament.

Address only those problems that are true problems to you, and don't create or imagine problems because someone else things you have them, no matter if that person is family, friend, or expert.

Keep your problems in perspective and take ample time to plot the best course of action. Solve your problems by analyzing possible solutions and choosing those solutions that are right for you and your family. Know tat there is rarely one right answer, and often it will take multiple routes before getting to the best destination.

React, listen, and learn constantly, but always sift what you learn through the strainer of your own personal beliefs and parenting philosophy.

- Elizabeth Pantley

Somewhere between a WIP and a FO

2010-12-09T09:03:00.012-05:00

It's Thursday. I was going to post some pictures of all my Works In Progress yesterday, and then all my Finished Objects tomorrow but since yesterday didn't happen (like so any of the blog posts I've been writing in my head lately) I thought I would pop in today.

We've been busy gearing up for Christmas, for more cold weather, and for time with friends and family over the next month. I think it's the cold weather most of all that has infected me with knitting bug. There's nothing like knitting needles clicking away with a pile of wool yarn on your lap to keep you warm during the cold. So here are a few of my recent projects - knitting and otherwise.

First, my first pair of socks! not as hard as I expected thank goodness. The yarn is a beautiful handpainted merino fingerling yarn spun up by a friend of mine. These will probably be in Q's stocking.

speaking of stockings. I had planned on knitting everyone a pair of socks for Christmas and having one of those be their stockings but that didn't happen.... So then I thought that I would buy us each a pair of nice wool socks and those would be our stockings.... but then that didn't happen either. So in the end I just got frustrated with my knitting one night, set it aside and whipped these up with some fabric scraps I had

another Christmas knit for the little boy is this wizard hat

doesn't look like much now but it's a HUGE hat that will then be felted down and some decoration added and it will be a wizard hat! trust me ;)

And one more felted knit project and another first for me - mittens!

the one that's finished I have felted some already and tried it on Q, for some reason the thumb is freakishly long so I'm not sure what I'm going to do about that yet, this one is sort of hibernating while I figure that out

and last but very much not least on my knitting needles this week is my first sweater! Sweaters have always daunted me but no more! super easy!! This was also #20 on my list.

This photo was actually taken a few days ago and the sweater is much more completed now, just waiting for one last sleeve to be sewn on and I can show you some pictures of it all finished up! Unfortunately I think I'll have to make some adjustments once it's done because it seems a little bit short for Q.

I also finished this pumpkin hat a few weeks ago, it was a super quick and easy knit and something I've been wanting to make for a while now. I made it a bit longer than called for so that it could roll down over Q's ears but I still wish I'd added another inch to it because it's so damn cold outside. I can't wait to use this pattern again in the spring to make a strawberry hat :)

That's most of the knitting I've been doing lately, and it's all for Q! I did find time to make myself one little thing, very practical but very handy as well (pun intended!)

Fleece-y fingerless gloves!

Can you tell how incredibly easy these are to make? yup, it's just a tube of fleece with a slit on the side for my thumb. Fleece is so easy to work with since it doesn't unravel at all, I love no hemming! I need to do more decoration to these but I've been using them a lot as is - especially when I get in the car first thing in the morning and the steering wheel is so cold.... fleecy mitts to the rescue!

I actually have a few more finished things to show but I need to find them and snap some pictures of them, between the cold weather, the crud going around and a toddler it may be a while though :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

2010-11-25T19:41:00.003-05:00

I hope everyone out there has had a wonderful day today, we certainly have! So much to be thankful for this year, I am a very lucky girl!

We spent the day in our favorite ways - lazing around the house, cooking, crafting, visiting family, eating and then going to bed early :)

Sunday

2010-11-07T20:52:00.007-05:00

We've had a rare weekend at home, no big plans or expectations. It was great.

We spent Saturday around town, seeing friends, at the children's museum and walking around downtown. Today was great, a cold clear day with time to be productive around the house. This is my idea of a good Sunday morning - tea, crafts, catching up on stuff online.

I was able to finish up a few fall crafts like this needle felted pumpkin

and make progress on some handmade holiday presents like these socks

(I've actually gotten all the way to the heel since this picture was taken)

This afternoon we went to Hope Gardens, a local community garden for an open house. What a great organization - you can pick and pay for produce, you can lease a plot, and you can go on any Saturday for a work day. It was great to look around and let the little one run through the garden making friends with everyone.

Since last night was our first frost we spent some time outside rearranging in the garden and making our last batch of pesto - yum!

What a great weekend at home!

{This Moment}

2010-11-05T08:15:00.000-04:00

that's me and Q by the way

Fall Felting

2010-11-04T08:08:00.001-04:00

I've been feeling the felt crafts lately and I'll try to share a few of them on here over the next week or so. First, felt acorns!

Aren't they just adorable?

I love them. I've been seeing them on etsy but they just looked too simple to make to justify buying any.

Super simple to make, I wet felted up some small felt beads (although I know you can buy bags of these as well)

and then just hot glue gunned (although I'm sure you could super glue/tacky glue them) into the acorn tops. Voila! Adorable felt acorns!

Happy Halloween

2010-10-31T13:56:00.003-04:00

Double, double, toil and trouble;

Fire burn, and cauldron bubble.

Fillet of a fenny snake

In the cauldron boil and bake;

Eye of newt, and toe of frog,

Wool of bat, and tongue of dog,

Adder's fork, and blind-worm's sting,

Lizard's leg and owlet's wing,

For a charm of powerful trouble,

Like a hell-broth, boil and bubble.

Double, double, toil and trouble;

Fire burn, and cauldron bubble.

- William Shakespeare

The Last of the Apples

2010-10-16T07:01:00.000-04:00

Using up the last our apples this week. Last year, you may remember, I baked lots and lots of apple treats which I shared here. This year we're not enjoying as many baked goods so we have to come up with other ways to enjoy our apples, and preserve them for the rest of the year.

We've put away many quarts of apple sauce

and have over a gallon of dried apples ready to be used in recipes or just snacked on

but I do have one super easy baked apple treat to share with you. I made this last year, and I made it again this past weekend when we had a bunch of family over for brunch. Both times it was a hit, and it's sooo easy! It can be served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, just just by themselves as a breakfast pastry.

Recipe: thinly slice ~6 apples, put them in a bowl with a cup of brown sugar and toss to cover the apples. Defrost a box of puff pastry and lay the sheets of pastry out on a baking sheet. You can divide the puff pastry into 2 or 3 sections. lay the apples in the middle of the pastry and bake at 375 degrees for ~20 minutes or until the pastry is puffed up and golden. Top with confectioners sugar.

{This Moment}

2010-10-15T06:57:00.001-04:00

Autumn Nature Table

2010-10-14T14:31:00.019-04:00

I love fall. I love just about everything about it. I think I'm just so grateful for a break from the summer heat, but I also love all the other things that mean fall - the smells of cider, pumpkin, apples. The crisp air and the crinkly leaves under my feet are other favorites of course :)

We are in the process of welcoming fall into our house, bringing out the nutmeg smelling candles and the wool slippers that were in the back of the closet, layering up in fleece and wool and making soup and fresh bread for dinner. As a representation of the changing seasons we revamped our small nature table to reflect Autumn. Let me show you.

and here are a few of my favorite things on the table right now

A little picture to remind us of our apple picking. Card by Ruth Elsaesser.

I love having a few of our seasonal books up on the table too. Plus our fall tree that I watercolored.

and a nest to remind us of home and warmth. It also smells like sweet beeswax (the polish) and I just can't get enough of it.

How are you welcoming Autumn?

Wordless Wednesday - Judah Charles

2010-10-13T15:45:00.000-04:00

WIP WIP

2010-10-06T22:13:00.015-04:00

Such a WIP-y Wednesday here. The fall air has filled me with motivation (or maybe it was the dark chocolate...) either way - my house smells like applesauce (again) and my kitchen table is full of various projects. I like it this way, full of projects :)

Here's a peak around the house

mmmmmm. applesauce

the first knitting project I've started in ages. Cozy socks for my little toddler

and a pumpkin hat for halloween that should be a quick project

The beginning of a new sewing project. My niece who visited this past weekend requested a purse like the one I made for myself, of course hers will be pink with monkeys :)

and I checked out Amanda Soule's Handmade Home from the library this week and found this pattern for a bath mat that is perfect for some terry cloth I had laying around.

Wow. that's a lot of projects going on for me. Considering the real WIP (Q) doesn't give me too much downtime these days. And now for the last WIP of the night.

Anyone want to come and fold my laundry for me?

Happy Tuesday!

2010-10-05T20:46:00.011-04:00

Well those book reports didn't happen. yet. Oops. But really, it's been crazy around here. We had an unexpected weekend long visit from some family. Always a wonderful thing really. Especially with the fall weather (!!!) and when there are cousins for Q to play with

and then yesterday I got my practice in for being a stay at home to a toddler and an infant while watching a friend's kid for the day. I had quite a few moments of "I can totally do this" followed closely with "omg, how will I ever be able to handle this?!". Let's just say I was happy that it only took 45 minutes to get both kids out of the house, between feedings, diapers, naps, clothes, loads back and forth to the car, it was a pretty busy day for not really doing much.

Between the cousins, and the day yesterday we've been going going going, so today (and tomorrow) we're going to lay as low as possible. We have plans as usual but they don't extend further than our neighborhood park. I'm canning the last of our apples tonight (and making an apple pie - below), and tomorrow I'm going to attempt to bake challah bread (wish me luck!), I also have a incredibly huge stack of library books all about education (I'm on another schooling kick right now), and I pulled out my box of yarn and have been pouring over my ravelry queu. So yeah, even staying home we'll keep busy. Not to mention our yard - I'll tell you all about that very soon!

Book Reports

2010-09-26T18:32:00.000-04:00

I've really been wanting to start a series of reviews of books I'm reading or have read. I want to do this partially for any readers of my blog to hear about these books and the ideas in them, but mainly I want to write up a little report so that I don't forget these books and what I got from them. I am specifically talking about parenting and education books. I am writing this post now to motivate me to actually do it :) So I'm going to commit to writing about the last three books I read this week. I'm going to write about them this week that is, I didn't read three books this week! Far from it! It probably takes me three weeks to read a book these days. Unless you want to talk about how many times I read 'Go, Dog. Go' this week, in which case that would 8,476 times :) I love having a book loving kid. Anyhow, I digress.

The three books I want to talk about this week are My Child Won't Eat, You Are Your Child's First Teacher, and Good Nights. Each of these books made a strong impression on me and I can't wait to share with them with you this week!

Apple Picking

2010-09-25T08:58:00.017-04:00

Last weekend Q and I went to the mountains for our annual apple picking trip. The friends we usually go with weren't available so we picked a lot less than usual. I think we brought home fourteen bushels last year and this year just six. Six bushels is still a lot mind you. It was hard to restrain ourselves to six bushels too, apples are so easy to pick and the orchard we went to had so many great varieties in season right now.

I have lots of apple plans for the next few weeks, but this year baking won't be the main focus since I've given up sugar. boohoo :( I have so many favorite sweet apple recipes I will only be able to make for other people.

I love knowing where my food came from and picking it myself too. It was really a wonderful weekend filled with friends and family, we love going up to the mountains.

Q totally got in on the apple action too, he ate soooo many!

luckily if my plans go accordingly he'll be able to enjoy these apples for the rest of the year!

{This Moment}

2010-09-24T07:37:00.000-04:00

Snack Bags

2010-09-23T08:17:00.000-04:00

I'm finally going to post some of my recent projects. First and one of the simplest - snack bags! I loosely followed this tutorial

and I think they were a hit. Qais can't decide if he would rather carry them around to look at the 'ment mem' aka cement mixer, or if he wants the 'gookies' aka - cookies (which is any snack) that are inside.

{This Moment}

2010-09-10T08:15:00.002-04:00

A Walk In The Woods

2010-09-09T21:52:00.015-04:00

We are loving this cooler weather, it makes us want to spend so much more time outside!

We have a new favorite hiking spot near our house and most mornings this week we've skipped our usual YMCA routine in favor of fresh air and trees (that are starting to turn!).

I love watching Qais explore the forest, he's so curious and content.

I also love that when we're in the woods he is free to roam - a free range kid - he can wack a stick around all he wants, he can make piles and stomp on them, he can pick up rocks (and leaves, and sticks and anything else) and throw them and he can run off the trail and go anywhere he wants.

Not only does he have a blast but he totally wears himself out (love those good naps). We still have to make sure we're home by about noon or it gets too hot for us but soon we'll be able to stay out longer and I foresee some daytrips to state parks.

So grateful for the cooler weather making this possible, bring on fall!

Long Weekend

2010-09-06T21:51:00.010-04:00

We had a wonderful long weekend, full of family, babies and playing outdoors, some of my very favorite things.

I love this time of year so much, cooler weather, watching kids go to school and finding a new routine. The leaves around here look like the end of summer - over ripe, over saturated and a few are even starting to turn orange! It's so nice to finally be able to spend more time outside, our to do list is growing with activities that require cooler weather - beach trips, river trips, apple picking trips, trips to the zoo, museums, hiking, camping and more. We've also been spending more time in our own backyard. I'll post some pictures of what we've been doing later this week, but here's a sneak peak

our first backyard bonfire.

Wash Wednesday

2010-09-01T20:35:00.009-04:00

We've been battling some crazy diaper rash here, and after a few days of disposable diapers we're eager to get the little one back in his cloth diapers. Inspired by Gardenmama's Wash Wednesday series here is a little peak into our backyard today.

There is something so beautiful about clean laundry hanging on the line in the sun, so much more beautiful than the awful diaper rash that brought this washing day on. I didn't think you'd want to see pictures of that :)

here's my helper, doling out the clothes pins

and for those who do cloth diapers let me tell you what we did today - we did a long soak in bac-out, followed by 2 heavy duty wash cycles with the washer's heat setting on 'sanitize' with a couple drops of blue dawn and then a bunch of rinses (until there were no suds), a final rinse cycle with vinegar before hanging them in the hot sun.

{This Moment}

2010-08-27T12:41:00.003-04:00

{This Moment}

2010-08-20T09:06:00.000-04:00

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see. Inspired by Soulemama

#27

2010-08-19T10:07:00.023-04:00

on the list was to learn to can. This summer was the perfect time to learn, so much produce at the farmers market and in our own garden.

At the beginning of the summer I used up an amazon gift card and bought these three items -canning tools, water bath canner, and one of the Ball complete book home preserving. I have loved flipping through the book at all the fun recipes, I have so many ideas for things I want to do in the future - brandied peaches, tomato sauces, juice concentrates, apple pie filling. I would love to have a pantry full of food I've put away for the year. Someday I will...

Here is a small portion of the four things I've canned this year, I just pulled out a jar or two of each to take a picture of. There's strawberry and blueberry jam (which were by far the easiest things to can) and then there's pickled peppers and canned crushed tomatoes. I haven't tried the peppers or tomatoes yet but the jams were unbelievably yummy. I also made a bunch of bread and butter pickles a few weeks ago but they were so yummy that they're just about gone already!

I'm really so glad I learned how to can. It's really easy and fun and I love looking in the pantry and amid the various things I've bought to see things I made - even picked (like the blueberries) and then preserved is so great!

All You Need To Have Fun Is..

2010-08-18T09:53:00.000-04:00

water and a cup

Sometimes the simplest activities are the most enjoyable.

Happy Birthday

2010-08-17T20:39:00.002-04:00

to me.
I am 27 today.

{This Moment}

2010-08-13T04:54:00.001-04:00

Lazy Afternoon

2010-08-12T16:15:00.000-04:00

Overcome with exhaustion this afternoon, I showed Q one of the greatest indulgences in life - laying in bed reading. I was trying to trick him into a nap (more than the 20 minutes in the car he thought could replace his normal 3 hour nap) so we surrounded ourselves with his books and snuggled in the covers to read them. Of course, wild toddler that he is he spent most of the time trying to shove the books between the bed and the wall but it was still really nice to snuggle down and savor what a bookworm he has become lately.

A Seriously WIP-y Wednesday

2010-08-11T15:28:00.009-04:00

I've been meaning to get my sewing machine out for a couple of weeks but every time I start to I get overwhelmed with all the half done projects that are waiting for me. This week I finally got around to pulling them all out though and now they are waiting for me on the kitchen table, not to be ignored!

Hopefully I'll be able to show off some finished projects over the weekend, when I get more time to work on them. There are a couple play crowns that need elastic, some snack bags waiting for buttons or elastic to be sewn on, some pants to be patched, baby wipes to be finished and a couple shirts to be mended and decorated.

Butterflies

2010-08-07T16:57:00.011-04:00

For Mother's Day I bought myself a subscription to Living Crafts magazine, if you don't know the magazine - it's awesome. Full of great patterns, tutorials, inspiring photos and great articles. I have been ear marking patterns I want to do for a while and this week I was thumbing through the summer issue and came across this quick easy butterfly decoration. I decided to make it one afternoon while Q was sleeping and hang it from a branch above our nature table.

I just took some random bits of colorful wool roving, in sections about 6 inches long and an inch or two wide

then I folded them end over end and with a 6 inch long piece of pipe cleaner I made the little rectangles into butterflies, twisting the pipe cleaners to close them up.

then I turned down the ends of the butterfly antenna by rolling them over a pen, then I put embroidery floss around the middle and hung them up on a branch.

I really like how they turned out, they really brighten up our house

Blueberries

2010-08-06T14:47:00.016-04:00

I love summer cuisine. I love living in a place that grows amazing fruits and vegetables. My diet this past week has been pesto, tomato sandwiches and blueberries, so many blueberries. We've been blueberry crazy around here lately. We've gone picking every few days (or more) these past few weeks and I've lost count at how many pounds we've brought home, but it's a lot.

(this was just one days's worth)

Here are some of the things we've done with our berries.

frozen them

canned them

and eaten them. a lot.

I've tried a couple different recipes and so far the favorites have been this blueberry cobbler and this blueberry cream pie. I have these blueberry (spinach) bars in the oven right now and this blueberry zucchini bread planned for later.

We're also been eating blueberries by the handfulls at just about every meal and I have a dehydrator going on the table right now with dried blueberries and blueberry fruit leather. But you know what? Of all the different ways to eat blueberries my favorite is this

fresh, with vanilla ice cream.

Truck Obsessed

2010-07-28T07:53:00.001-04:00

So many developments with the little boy these days, it seems like a new skill, sign, or word every day. The newest word around this house is 'truck'. It comes out more like 'dtouck', a little d with the t sound and a little deeper in the middle, like 'truck' with a german accent maybe? So now everything is a 'truck', cars, fire engines, trains, tractors, really anything with wheels is a truck in Q's eyes.

Fortunately, a few weeks ago someone gave away a bunch of toys that had been outside toys for their twins and part of what we got were trucks! lots and lots of toy trucks.

We're Home...

2010-07-27T14:44:00.008-04:00

from a very long weekend away. I'll write some about our adventures later this week but now, guess what I came home to?

a bloom!

there has been a bee on it since it opened up, constant, drunk on the pollen

and there is a smaller sunflower following close behind, I think it will open up by the end of the week

{This Moment}

2010-07-23T07:56:00.004-04:00

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. Inspired by Soulemama.

Playroom Part 1

2010-07-22T08:19:00.001-04:00

We're working on making the catch-all room between the kitchen and the screened porch into a playroom. I've finally gone through and stored away most of the baby toys, and started to sort through stuff we have and separate it into separate baskets and themes. Still not really sure what I'm doing, just trying to start somewhere though. There is so much amazing inspiration online for playrooms - it's overwhelming! We just need something functional, simple, and inexpensive! Right now the room has bookcases, our comfy chair and a piano in it - these will stay. It also has some craft supplies that need to get moved out and some various little tables and whatnot that will leave as well.

I'm trying come up with ideas for inexpensive ways to jazz up the room, I think dealing with the floor is priority #1. It's crappy off white wall to wall carpet that's stained and just ick. We've had a rug on it that's been handed down in our family and it needs something more kid friendly. Ideally I would love to have hardwood in there, but that's not an option right now so it's going to be some sort of mat, or kid friendly rug or something. I've been checking Craigslist and I think we'll be able to check out Ikea this week also so maybe we'll have good luck finding something. I'm really wondering if I should paint the room, it sounds time consuming but I think it really would make a big difference.

There are some bigger things I want to get for the room too - a kids table and chair set, I'm thinking this one from Ikea will fit the bill. I also want to get some shelves like we had in our old house, they're from Ikea again and we still have the baskets that we used to store CDs, now we can fill them with toys and art supplies and stuff.

Here are some photos of some of the stuff that we've accumulated that will stay in the room for now...

some musical instruments

puzzles and stackers

blocks, babies

books, more books, only one shelf of our books. My boy loves his 'boops'

the beginning of our play kitchen. Veggie soup anyone? please disregard the cookie in the soup

Time

2010-07-21T13:42:00.006-04:00

Sorry for the absence again, I really should just stop apologizing, blogging just doesn't happen as much with my energetic toddler and the crazy summer heat. I find that we've been going out a lot more to make up for not being able to spend time in the garden - YMCA, playdates, La Leche League and spending time with the new baby in our family have kept us busy. Even though we've been inside, we're still watching the garden and reaping the benefits on our dinner table. Here is the most exciting thing happening in our garden right now

We're waiting on our biggest sunflower to give us it's first bloom, and unfortunately we're leaving town for a little while right as it looks like it may happen. I'll update with a picture next week when we're home again.

My Weekend Conundrum

2010-07-11T21:45:00.001-04:00

We spent most of the spring going out of town every weekend, it was really fun but exhausting and it took its toll on all of us. But for the past few weeks we've had open weekends, usually we have one or two things we need to do but they're around the area and don't require overnight stays. Even more recently we've had a couple weekends in a row with no real plans, it's been such a relief. Or has it? I'm having a conundrum I'm hoping you all can help me with.

My conundrum is this - when I see that we have a weekend that has no real plans - do I make some? My inclination is to see what my friends are up to, is there stuff going on around town, is this our chance to go check out that cool park, see if we can squeeze in a date night or make a day trip to the beach or some other local attraction. Generally, I like to do. Especially right now, there is sooo much cool stuff happening in our area. But I know that having a weekend where we stay home and piddle around the house, cook meals and eat them together, go for walks around the block and generally do nothing has a lot of value as well. B would prefer more of the stay home and piddle weekends I'm sure, but he enjoys the stuff going on around town as well. So what do I do? How do I find some balance? If I don't stay home and piddle when I get the chance, those weekends will be long gone and I'll want them back. But when I see and hear about stuff going on that I want to do, it's hard to give it up to stay home and do 'nothing'. Isn't the 'nothing' unstructured time where some sweet family memories are made though?

Does anyone else struggle with this?

Sweetness

2010-07-11T07:26:00.008-04:00

I never mean to stay away this long, but it seems to happen every time my calendar reaches a critical mass. Needless to say, we've been keeping busy. This past week started with a long holiday weekend and welcoming a new nephew to the world.

during the week I practiced taking care of an infant and my toddler. The infant handled it better than the toddler by a long shot. I couldn't have done it at all without babywearing.

This weekend that's already almost over has been filled with fun. Blueberry picking, playing with friends, time in the garden and some new baby snuggles.

{This Moment}

2010-07-02T13:26:00.004-04:00

Jumping on the Soulemama bandwagon to start a new Friday ritual - {this moment}. I love checking blogs on Friday and seeing all of these and so I wanted to join in.

{this moment} - A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

The Zoo

2010-07-01T21:18:00.004-04:00

We're having a break in the hot weather this week and we took advantage of it today with a trip to the zoo. We woke up bright and early, grabbed our picnic and water bottles and spent most of the day walking around looking at animals.

Q is so into animals lately, a good 90% of his words right now are animals. He says fish, squirrel, bird, dog, kitty, bunny... He has no fear of animals and loves to watch them anytime he gets. His favorite books are the ones with pictures of real animals in them, we'll go back and forth over certain pages all day while he points and learns their names. I just knew he would love the zoo.

and he did.

Besides one startling incident with the chimpanzees we had a great time. We walked the whole zoo, took lots of pictures, got down and ran, visited our favorites (sea lions, bears) multiple times and ended the day with running around in a kids play area that gave us lots of inspiration for our yard.

A great way to spend a cool summer day.

Boiling Hot

2010-06-25T10:24:00.004-04:00

What do you do when it's too hot to play outside and you have an energetic toddler?

We're still trying to figure that out and so far it means we have to change activities about eleventy billion times a day. Here are a few of our favorite activities for being stuck inside. These are just a few of the more creative activities, we also spent about an hour yesterday banging two sticks together.

various pans, cereal, play food, measuring cups and some big spoons to make lots of noise

cornstarch and water were lots of fun and lots of mess

chairs and playsilks make a fort, or some very good peeka boo

Picture Frame

2010-06-24T13:00:00.004-04:00

I have some gift giving to do this summer and I came cross this cool picture frame idea on The Magic Onion. I love that waldorf-y wet on wet watercoloring effect and I think it looks gorgeous on the wood frame, which cost all of $1.29 at A.C. Moore and I think it came out really well.

I soaked the frame in water for about ten minutes, painted the frame, let it sit for a few minutes and used a towel to wipe it off and let it dry. Once it was really dry I finished it with some beeswax polish and went ahead and put a picture of my adorable niece in it.

I'll definitely be making more of these!

Wordless Wednesday - Summertime

2010-06-23T20:36:00.004-04:00

Wordless Wednesday

Meal Plan Monday

2010-06-21T14:19:00.005-04:00

Just another regular week. I'm starting to be more and more grateful when we realize on Sunday night that we have no plans for a week, just being at home with my guys is my favorite way to spend my time. Although a pedicure would be a nice way to spend my time too :)

Monday - summer veggie basil pasta

Tuesday - rice & chicken stir fry

Wednesday - black bean burgers & sweet potato fries

Thursday - balsamic-y chicken w/spinach salad

Friday - tuna melts or grill out?

My Kitchen Table

2010-06-18T12:03:00.012-04:00

is full of projects...

I've got a wood nesting wave that I'm going to sand, paint and polish, some letters I'm writing to friends in Vermont, a felt crown for my nephews upcoming birthday and I've also got some wood discs and a wood burner to decorate and make a memory game and some random toys. There's also a father's day present that needs to get wrapped and a couch full of laundry to be folded. It's going to be a busy and fun weekend.

Oh and the avocado with the sticker on it? I don't know what that's about to tell you the truth, probably the work of my little troublemaker :)

#19

2010-06-17T04:05:00.003-04:00

Remember the quilt I was working on a few weeks ago? Well I finished it!

I actually finished it a while ago and it's been getting lots of love and cuddles these last few weeks.

I love watching my house fill up with handmade items, and watching my son love them - it makes my heart all warm and fuzzy :)

#66

2010-06-16T11:36:00.013-04:00

On my list of 101 things to do in 1001 days was to start a baby book for Q. I'm obviously extremely overdue on this but I still wanted to do it.

On my trip to Vermont I came across this book by Nikki McClure. Nikki McClure's work amazes me, it's all cut out of paper with an x-acto knife! This certainly meets all my needs and I've already been filling it with memories and information.

I'm been digging through photos, facebook, various notes on the calendar, this blog and my personal journal to find lots of info to put in here, here's a peak of what I've done so far.

Vermont!

2010-06-15T10:44:00.034-04:00

Was a blast!

Q and I flew up Friday morning and flew back late Sunday night for my high school reunion. My alma mater is so teeny tiny (I was one of the 9 in my graduating class) that there is a reunion every 4 years for any and all people who went to the school to attend. I knew very few people there this weekend but I had planned this trip with my two best girlfriends from high school and so it was mostly a reunion of the three of us, who hadn't seen each since August, and some of my favorite staff from the school. One of my favorite staff members has a son who is 6 days older than Q so they spent a lot of the weekend playing together.

The highlight of the trip for me was catching up with a good friend and former staff member who is now staying home with her two boys and running an in home daycare. Not only was it great to catch up with my friend but to let Q play at her house, full of natural toys and a great backyard where the boys ran naked in the sun playing in the water and dirt. Total boy time!

The most important reunion was with Vermont though - Burlington VT is absolutely gorgeous and has so many cool things going on in it. We spent quite a bit of time downtown, we found a great farmers market full of beautiful produce and locally made items. We got to spend some time at the waterfront looking at Lake Champlain but it was never enough, I'm ready to move to Vermont!

Reentry

2010-06-14T12:40:00.005-04:00

We got home late last night from our awesome trip to Vermont. I struggle with reentry on every trip I return from, so today is all about recovery, lots of sleep, lots of laundry and lots of lounging around the house doing nothing.

Gone Again

2010-06-11T09:27:00.000-04:00

Leaving today for my high school reunion in Vermont. I haven't been there in at least five years and I can't wait to visit some of my very favorite places and people and introduce my little boy to all of them.

Photo from Travelpod

Summer Days

2010-06-10T21:05:00.010-04:00

Are here.... It's been hot and we've been busy. Finally got some time these last few days to spend in the garden, watching the garden grow, contemplating life and playing in the dirt

our morning glories are big and bright and on our front steps

our herb garden is filling our kitchen with good smells

and look at our apple tree, they're getting big

and one of many basil plants that have provided me with enough pesto to fill a big tupperware in the fridge. Mmmmm

I love these bright sunny days. So does the little one, especially when I pull out some popsicles we made with leftover breakfast smoothies

Meal Plan Monday

2010-06-07T11:41:00.003-04:00

Another crazy week. Leaving Friday for my high school reunion in Vermont.

Monday - leftover lentil soup and challah bread
Tuesday - grilled corn & tacos
Wednesday - spinach ravioli with pesto & spinach salad
Thursday - chicken casserole or lasagna - something with leftovers to leave for the husband
Friday - departing.

Wordless Wednesday - Reading A Book

2010-06-02T08:16:00.001-04:00

Meal Plan Monday

2010-05-24T14:37:00.005-04:00

Monday - burritos

Tuesday - grilled chicken balsamic salad. caprese salad

Wednesday - green beany pilaf & tofu

Thursday - rice, veggies, lentils

Friday - Pizza/Last Friday

Friday Fun

2010-05-21T23:59:00.022-04:00

There is always something fun going on at the fairgrounds but what's happening this weekend was cooler than I expected. It was the 'Got To Be NC Ag Fest' which also hosted the Carolina Fiber Festival. We're leaving town again this weekend so I didn't think I would be able to make it but I happened to find out at the last minute that it was all going to start Friday so we got to go!

I was eager to go to the Fiber Festival since I had a few friends who I knew would be there. The Fiber Fest part was just amazing, there were so many beautiful and inspiring yarns, fleece, batting, and finished objects galore. It was very inspiring.

The whole festival was great the for the little dude too, lots of animals, farm equipment galore and lots of general people and commotion that he loves to watch. We took our time making the round of the food and wine expo - seeing all the food that comes from North Carolina was so heartwarming - I saw quite a few of my favorite people there and have a number of new favorite products to check out.

Here are some photos from our day

So many tractors

these were much more Q's speed however

and Fiber Fest....

so many gorgeous fibers

and will someone please buy me this drum carder please? I've been looking for a good deal on one

ok, ok, how about this?

or this?

please. pretty pretty please.

We ended the festival with some of our favorite things, live music (at the bluegrass stage), honey sticks and the highlight of Q's day - a balloon!

Think Green

2010-05-21T09:06:00.000-04:00

Smoothies!

One of the only reliable ways to get leafy greens into my little boy is in a smoothie.

Our favorite right now is - orange juice, frozen rasberries (and/or peaches), spinach, and a spoonful of plain greek yogurt.

Smoothies make my boy happy. and messy.

I Didn't Forget

2010-05-20T08:39:00.000-04:00

my list. my goals. my 101 in 1001. See, I've been checking stuff off. I don't know if I'm making enough progress but I'm still doing it.

I think #49 was my favorite so far. And why didn't anyone point out that I can't do #21 and #101 at the same time. Oy.

WIP Wednesday

2010-05-19T08:00:00.001-04:00

My kitchen table has been transformed into a sewing table this week while I work on a rag quilt for Q. It's made of various flannel fabric I had and some old receiving blankets and it's very patchwork-y.

It's also taking over the living room floor and I am going to try my hardest to have this done before the weekend.

Inspiration

2010-05-18T09:43:00.007-04:00

For mother's day I bought myself a subscription to Living Crafts magazine. I have bought a few issues before each time I've continued to flip through it for weeks because there are so many projects and photos that inspire me.

I know that being crafty is really important to me, especially being a stay at home mom I need an activity to do something besides run around and clean up after my kid. So in support of craftiness and inspiration I made myself an inspiration board this week.

It has little bits of fabric on it that I love and want to do something with, it has magazine clippings of projects that inspire me. It has a picture of my Q - the best thing I ever created. It's still pretty empty but I think that's good, I don't want to add too much at once.

I'm trying to clean up my craft stuff and get it all organized and as I do that I'm sure I'll add more to the board, and take some more pictures of it.

Home Education Starting Early

2010-05-17T09:57:00.019-04:00

We have talked about homeschooling, public school and various private schools in our area and they all have so many pros and cons it's overwhelming every time we talk about it. Thank goodness we still have years before we need to make a decision. For now, I find myself wanting to incorporate more education activities into our stay at home routine. I can see how much Q is learning at story time at the library and in classes we've taken and I want to encourage that learning as much as I can. I'm going to try to start sharing some of the things we're doing and if you have ideas for us of educational activities for a one year old that are appropriate and fun please share!

Here's one of our recent activities that was a big hit. Muffin tins + puffs. For counting, sorting, throwing, eating, making noise, dumping over and lots more.

I put two muffin tins side by side and only put puffs in one, he started putting a couple in the other pan but mostly ignored it, my plan had been to find another item to put in the other pan and let him sort them out and explore. I also put puffs in a small pile on the floor so he could be the one to put them in the pans, that was a big hit too.

Q was entertained for a long time considering a one year olds attention span.

Note To Self

2010-05-12T10:02:00.013-04:00

Don't forget this. Q is changing so much these days and I don't want to forget.

He loves water - dog bowls, bathtub, the sink, pool, it doesn't matter.

He says Mama, Dada, Greta ('Deta'), and answers 'yeah'. It's so cute when you ask him if he wants to go outside and he says 'yeah' and goes over to the door all ready to go. He signs 'dog' and 'fan' more than anything else but can also sign 'work' 'more' 'cookie' 'milk'

He loves balloons and ceiling fans almost as much as he loves water. Getting the balloon at the grocery store is one of his favorite things. Turning the ceiling fans on and off can always cure a bad mood.

He points at things all the time and then he will take his hands and turn your face where he wants you to look. Having a 14 month old take your face in his hands and turn it and then point for you to show you something is the sweetest thing ever.

He loves to be in the garden with his bucket and shovel on his dirt pile.

He loves to watch the big kids on the playground or on playdates. He loves dolls, puppets or anything with a face - it always makes him laugh.

He's walking everywhere now and is so cute stomping around with his arms up at his sides, he gets more and more stable everyday but Greta still knocks him over a lot.

He is such a pro at stacking blocks lately, last night he got 6 blocks stacked up carefully before knocking them over. He enjoys the building much more than the knocking them over.

Besides Mama Milk his favorite food is still yogurt, but other recent favorites are oranges, crackers and cheese and eggs and toast. Eating solids are still pretty hit and miss, some days he eats three big meals and some days, nothing but milk.

The biggest heart-melting thing he's doing right now is giving kisses. Mostly to his Mama but he'll sometimes give them to others and sometimes even to his dolls or puppets

Kitchen Maintenance Pt. 1 - Wood

2010-05-10T09:57:00.001-04:00

Taking care of the wood items in around the house (and particularly in the kitchen) is something I've been meaning to do for a long long while and I finally got around to it this past week. I gathered as much of my thirsty wood items up from around the house, but of course after I did this I found so many more things to polish that I'm sure I'll be doing this again soon.

I decided to do a little experimenting with different methods for taking care of unfinished wood and used 3 different finishes.

1. plain mineral oil

2. a wood polish that came with a wooden bowl (ingredients are beeswax and natural oils but it doesn't say which ones)

3. I made my own polish. I wanted to try this because not only do I have some lovely beeswax sitting around smelling good and just asking for something to be made with, but also because I want to use something very simple (and preferably homemade) on Q's wooden toys. I also would like to make some wooden toys for him at some point in the future and would love to have a good quantity of wood polish on hand to finish the toys.

After doing some reading online here is how I made my polish

in a wide mouth jar I melted my beeswax on the stovetop.

Added oil (mineral oil is what I had on hand but walnut oil, jojoba oil and/or coconut oil would all be great and what I plan to use next time).

I used a 4 (parts oil) to 1 (part beeswax) ratio and that worked out really well. You could also add some essential oil for scent but I didn't because my beeswax smelled so yummy.

I was impatient for it to cool once it was all mixed together so I used some of the semi-melted polish on these spoons. I also used it on some of Q's wooden cars but once he saw me playing with them he snatched them away from me.

All of the wood looks so beautiful now that it's all polished up - I have to make sure I do this more often. I think I'll stick to the beeswax polishes only next time, the mineral oil by itself seemed to soak right in and not offer much protection.

Qais-Cakes

2010-05-05T08:41:00.009-04:00

So simple, healthy, super duper easy to make and most importantly - popular with the kid (and his parents).

Qais Cakes (Pancakes)

1/2 cup oatmeal

1/2 cup cottage cheese (don't worry, you won't taste it, I HATE cottage cheese)

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

put everything in the blender and blend it up until the oats are broken up and everything is mixed together. fry them up in the pan - add fruit or your favorite toppings.

Friday Night

2010-04-30T20:49:00.004-04:00

Sorry for the absence, it's nice to check out of your computer life for a little while. I've been making a little more effort to spend less time online and more time in the dirt, in play and in our bookshelf.

I made plans for tonight - a little street festival held on the last friday of the month each month. I also made plans for tomorrow - a sheep shearing party and a milk-in. All these plans are quickly slipping away because I just want to stay home with my family. The nice weather pulls me in so many directions these days, there is just too much cool stuff happening around me. I can feel myself getting sucked into it all but sometimes, like tonight, I have to step back and remind myself that the coolest thing that's happening is at my house - my life.

Tonight I'm enjoying life with a glass of wine, crusty sourdough with goat cheese and a good (albeit fluffy) book.

Wordless Wednesday - Picnic In The Park

2010-04-21T09:05:00.002-04:00

Easy Peasy Homemade Hooded Towels

2010-04-18T21:31:00.001-04:00

Q is getting to be a wild man these days and his curiosity and endless energy means a lot more baths, hence the need for more towels. I found a towel at the thrift store a while back that had a washcloth sewn coming off the side in the center, it was sewn down to create a pocket and it got me thinking about how I could make one that would work for Q. I came up with 2 variations and so far we're liking them both. These are super easy to sew hooded towels

I got some cheap-o bath towels and coordinating hand towels at wal-mart, they actually had a bunch of colors on clearance when I went, score!

so first I folded and cut the hand towels in half vertically. Then I found the center of the bath towel and pinned and sewed them together.

I chose to sew them on top of each other instead of a turned seam because these were both finished edges and I didn't want the turned seam edge against Q's neck.

For version 1 (which is sort of like what I found at the thrift store) I folded the hand dowel down and sewed 2 seams at a diagnal, closing the hood but also creating 'ears' on either side of the hood that would not only be cute, but keep the hood snug on his head.

I love the way this one came out, I want to make another one in more puppy dog colors for my little dog lover

For version 2 I sewed the top section of the hand towel together width wise

which created a classic hood

Planting Dandelions

2010-04-15T08:10:00.007-04:00

spreading their seeds is such an important job. Thank goodness I have such a good helper.

Fourteen months is such a fun age, so curious, so active, so loud and into everything. I just love him with all my everything.

Cookies

2010-04-14T21:16:00.003-04:00

A warm pick-me-up to combat a fussy baby.

I have tried so many good chocolate chip cookie recipes and when I need the classic, easy peasy, 'just give me some damn cookies' chocolate chip cookies, I use the classic nestle tollhouse recipe. mmmmm. yum.

Gardening Snafu

2010-04-13T19:51:00.007-04:00

I love spending time outside my little guy, but I have to be watch him closer and closer each day as he gets more and more curious and mischevious.

Taking pictures of our new snapdragon kept my hands distracted for just moments, but that's all it took for a little hand to creep sweetly into the shot and turn this

into this

Homecoming (& an FO)

2010-04-11T22:01:00.008-04:00

Remember this past WIP (Work In Progress) Wednesday? Well it was finished in the wee hours of Thursday morning and went home with the sweet baby girl it was made for when she left the hospital Friday.

It's a very simple little hat but it really meant a lot to me to make it, finishing rows in between mom's contractions. Binding it off when mom reached 8cm dilated and admiring it during those last few hours when I thought of the little head that it was about to fit on and how soon we would be meeting her.

Attack Of The Pollen

2010-04-09T07:07:00.000-04:00

yellow pine pollen has taken over our world lately. we've all been sneezing and rubbing our eyes and amazed at how much and how quickly it has taken over. EVERYthing is yellow. It looks foggy driving down my street and it looks like dust is kicking up behind you when you drive. Damn pollen.

New Baby

2010-04-08T19:20:00.004-04:00

I was honored to attend a friends birth today. It was incredible. Seriously. Awesome.

A Very WIP-y Wednesday

2010-04-07T11:39:00.007-04:00

I'm spending this hot and sunny Wednesday in the hospital with a friend who is in labor with a little girl - Lorelei. I'm sure I'll have many hours to kill so I'm taking along a little project. A little newborn hat for little Lorelei.

The color was chosen in honor of the wisteria that is blooming all over town right now

Meal Plan Monday

2010-04-05T10:49:00.003-04:00

It's been a long while since I've done this but it really helps me to write it out and so here we go

Monday - homemade chicken noodle soup

Tuesday - noodles, beef, veggies - my made up version of hamburger helper

Wednesday - rice and beans

Thursday - leftovers in tortillas with sauce - enchiladas a la leftovers

Friday - pizza night or grill night depending on weather

Happy Easter!

2010-04-04T17:50:00.005-04:00

I hope it was a wonderful day for you!

We spent the day at the always amazing Sarah P. Duke Gardens. It was gorgeous and we were lucky enough to have both of Q's grandmas with us. No shortage of loving on the little one. The tulips that fill one of the main sections of the garden were absolutely perfect today so here is my favorite easter snapshot for you

Easter Eggs! Pt. 2

2010-04-03T20:22:00.006-04:00

...and now for the pretty eggs.

I always forget how quickly egg dying goes and wish that I was dying 6 dozen eggs since there are just so many possibilities for colors and combos and designs. After they are dyed you get so many more ideas and want to do it over again!

There were so many amazing posts out there in the blogosphere this year about natural dyes or making your own dyes, but you know what? when it came down to it, I was in the grocery store thinking about the mountain of laundry and tasks that were waiting at home for me, staring down at the Paas easter egg dying kit that was half off and went with it. I had grandiose ideas about making my own beet and blueberry dyes.... oh well. Maybe next year.

Here's what we came up with

I think this one on the end is my favorite

Easter Eggs! Pt. 1

2010-04-03T20:12:00.009-04:00

My easter egg blowing and dying supplies have been sitting on the kitchen table this week, and in true procrastinator style I didn't do them until the last days before Easter.

First, here's a little guide to our egg blowing process. I have this great tool that we got when I was a kid for blowing easter eggs. It made it so easy to blow the eggs!

first you drill a little hole in the bottom

and then you insert the blower tool

pumping air into the egg makes the guts squish out

once they are all out you add water to the egg, swish it around and empty it to clean it out.

and now we have our eggs ready for dying... and unlike hard boiled eggs, we can keep these as long as we want. Maybe until next year...

Worldess Wednesday

2010-03-31T07:27:00.002-04:00

A Weekend At Home

2010-03-29T13:47:00.017-04:00

is a beautiful thing!

We had a visitor for the weekend, my two and a half year old niece. She certainly gave little Q a run for his money and vice versa

It was such a treat to have little hands in the garden as we started working on the driveway full of compost that came on Friday. We worked on carving out little spaces for summer barbecues and toddler safe summer fun. In the process we made big messes, small discoveries, leaf soup and mud pies. We watered plants, watered each other, broke out the bike trailer and the wheelbarrow and shovel.

Spring Garden

2010-03-27T19:05:00.000-04:00

Spring is soooooo here and it feels good! Here's a look at everything popping up in our garden right now. I took these pictures first thing in the morning, just after the sun came up and the dew was still on everything, by the end of the day everything was already different. It changes so quickly just as new life often does.

FO Friday

2010-03-26T12:05:00.000-04:00

FO= Finished Object and this week mine is a little knit hat I made for Q.

This yarn is a merino wool and cotton blend and it's breezy, super soft, and cuddly. I think it'll be perfect for spring and that's pretty much as long as it will fit him for - the next couple months. Good thing I have a nephew coming this summer who will be ready for this hat by the fall.

Breakfast Of Champion Yogurt-Eaters

2010-03-26T07:30:00.004-04:00

Yogurt is one of the only things, rather the only thing I can count on little Q eating which is why I'm so pleased to have made some ourselves instead of buying it all the time.

So here's some breakfast of fresh yogurt for you.

blueberries picked by Gma Jo last summer

maple syrup made by the students at my alma mater Rock Point School

Yum. That's a smile of approval

Yogurt!

2010-03-25T12:46:00.017-04:00

Another product of visiting our local dairy Maple View Farms this past weekend was fresh fresh milk. There's nothing like buying milk when you can see the cows the milk came from playing in the field next to where you are.

I didn't manage to capture any cows in this photo but here's a picture of the farm.

I've seen a variety of homemade yogurt posts around the web and decided I would give them a try with this milk. I am amazed at how easy yogurt making is! I used a variety of sites as guides but went with this basic premise - heat the milk up (180degrees), cool it down (110 degrees), mix in some plain yogurt to start the culture and then keep the whole thing at 110 degrees for ~6 hours, put in the fridge and enjoy! The way you achieve these results can vary, you can use a cooler, a crockpot, a yogurt maker and I'm sure there are lots of other ways. Here is how I did it

I heated a half gallon of whole milk up on the stove until my cooking thermometer read 180 degrees

Then I pulled the pan off the stove and let it sit and cool until it was 110 degrees. Once it was cooled I stirred in 1/2 cup of plain greek yogurt - a starter for the yogurt culture.

I poured the mix into a variety of jars I had and submerged them in the crock pot full of warm water which was on the 'keep warm' setting. I was concerned that this wouldn't keep everything at the right temperature but it was perfect.

The crockpot did a wonderful job! Me on the other hand, I could have done a much better job. I timed it so that I had to set my alarm and get up at 3am to put everything in the fridge. Oh well, it worked! I made yogurt!

Stay tuned for a breakfast post tomorrow

Homemade Butter

2010-03-24T14:47:00.000-04:00

I have seen lots of bloggers showing how they make butter by shaking heavy cream in a jar or even some that put it inside a ball and play kick until it's ready. It sounds like a fun thing to do with a lot of people but not something you'd do very frequently and honestly I still think of butter being a long process that people do in a churn. But last week I came across an even easier method than jar shaking - make butter in the kitchen-aid! I knew I had to try it!

All you need is heavy cream, the fresher the better (and not ultra-pasteurized). This past weekend we went to local dairy Maple View Farms and got wonderfully fresh heavy cream (and milk and ice cream, mmmmmmm).

Heavy cream into the kitchen-aid, kitchen-aid on medium/high speed and first we make whipped cream.

It was very tempting to just add a little maple syrup at this point and put this lovely whipped cream on everything in site, or just a spoon and gobble it up. But we kept on with the medium high... and it got weird. It separated into butter and buttermilk.

I let it go on for a minute or two to expel as much buttermilk as possible and then scraped it all into a bowl that was in the sink.

Running cold water over it, kneading the butter so the rest of the buttermilk could come out and I poured it all off into another container to be used elsewhere.

I decided to get creative and add some herbs to my butter, sage, oregano, garlic powder, some kosher salt and thyme.

I'm sure I'll never get that combo the same again but it was a major win. Major win, and so so easy. I highly recommend giving it a try

Spices

2010-03-23T16:29:00.012-04:00

I have a number of things I've been wanting to blog about lately and I thought I'd start with a little series.. that I have no name for. But these next few days of posts will have a common theme. You'll see.

In my quest to simplify my life and my home in particular I've been paying close attention to the things I use a lot of or buy a lot of and rethink them - starting in the kitchen. I believe that buying in bulk and making things yourself usually saves you money and/or is more healthy. Also, ever since the little one was born my cooking has become much more simplified. Dinners are usually thrown together and my flavor combos are pretty regular - I noticed I was using a lot of the 2 spice mixes - mexican and italian. While I like those two flavors a lot I was/am sick of buying them. So I bought some spices in bulk at our health food store and made my own!

Supplies: mixing bowl, bulk spices, spoon, empty jars

obviously both mixes are highly customizable. For my italian seasoning I chose equal parts sage, rosemary, basil, thyme, oregano, marjoram

I threw a little crushed red pepper in on a whim. we like our pasta sauce with a little kick to it and that's where a lot of our italian seasoning goes.

for the mexican or taco seasoning I was a little more creative. I used this as a general guide and made ours with equal parts chili powder, cumin and paprika (~8Tbsp each) and equal parts of onion flakes (or powder) and garlic powder (~2Tbsp each) and a pinch or two of cayenne at the end

Now I have what for us is easily a 6 month supply of both seasonings and I can't wait to try them out!

Marshmallows

2010-03-19T16:37:00.009-04:00

Every since I threw my friend a rubbery ducky themed baby shower a few weeks ago and decorated the cupcakes with billions of peeps I've had marshmallows on the brain. I think I had had a peep one or two times in my life but when while decorating I ate one and wow, was that gross! I knew there had to be a better marshmallow and I remembered how amazing all the marshmallows that Tuesday's With Dorie did a while ago looked and so I decided to give them a try. And make them pink!

They were really quick and easy to make actually and everyone who had them was skeptical at first but after trying them said they were just like regular marshmallows. I guess that's a good thing! If I ever make them again I would definitely make them flavored in some way since they are so plain. Some melted dark chocolate stirred in would be wonderful, or maybe a little bit of strawberry puree....mmmmm

I wish I had let them sit longer before cutting them because I think I could have used cookie cutters and made some cute shapes, mine came out very 'rustic' (ie ugly) don't you think?

Here's the recipe if you'd like to give them a try

Marshmallows

Adapted From :Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan

1 cup cornstarch

¾ cup cold water

1 ¼ cups plus 1 tablespoon sugar

2 tablespoons light corn syrup

2 ¼-ounce packets unflavored gelatin

3 large egg whites, at room temperature

1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

Line a rimmed baking sheet – choose one with a rim that is 1 inch high – with parchment paper and dust the paper generously with potato starch or cornstarch. Have a candy thermometer at hand.

Put 1/3 cup of the water, 1 ¼ cups sugar and the corn syrup in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Once the sugar is dissolved, continue to cook the syrup – without stirring – until it reaches 265 degrees F on the candy thermometer, about 10 minutes.

While the syrup is cooking, work on the gelatin and egg whites. In a microwave-safe bowl, sprinkle the gelatin over the remaining cold water (a scant 7 tablespoons) and let it sit for about 5 minutes, until it is spongy, then heat the gelatin in a microwave oven for 20 to 30 seconds to liquify it. (Alternatively, you can dissolve the gelatin in a saucepan over low heat.)

Working in the clean, dry bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, or in another large bowl with a hand mixer, beat the egg whites on medium-high speed until firm but still glossy – don’t overbeat the and have them go dull.

As soon as the syrup reaches 265 degrees F, remove the pan from the heat and, with the mixer on medium speed, add the syrup, pouring it between the spinning beater(s) and the sides of the bowl.Add the gelatin and continue to beat for another 3 minutes, so that the syrup and the gelatin are fully incorporated. Beat in the vanilla.

Using a large rubber spatula, scrape the meringue mixture onto the baking sheet, laying it down close to a short end of the sheet. Then spread it into the corners and continue to spread it out, taking care to keep the height of the batter at 1 inch; you won’t fill the pan. Lift the excess parchment paper up to meet the edge of the batter, then rest something against the paper so that it stays in place (I use custard cups).

Dust the top of the marshmallows with potato starch or cornstarch and let the marshmallows set in a cool, dry place. They’ll need about 3 hours, but they can rest for 12 hours or more.

Once they are cool and set, cut the marshmallows with a pair of scissors or a long thin knife. Whatever you use, you’ll have to rinse and dry it frequently. Have a big bowl with the remaining potato starch or cornstarch at hand and cut the marshmallows as you’d like – into squares, rectangles or even strips (as they’re cut in France). As each piece is cut, drop it into the bowl. When you’ve got 4 or 5 marshmallows in the bowl, reach in with your fingers and turn the marshmallows to coat them with starch, then, one by one, toss the marshmallows from one hand to the other to shake off the excess starch; transfer them to a serving bowl. Cut and coat the rest of the batch.

and here are some variations that Dorie recommends:

Raspberry Marshmallows: Fruit purees are excellent for flavoring these candies. For raspberry marshmallows, you’ll need a generous 1/3 cup of puree; reduce the vanilla extract to ¼ teaspoon. After the batter is mixed, gently fold in the puree with a rubber spatula. You can use the same measurements and technique for other purees, such as strawberry, mango, and passion fruit.

Cappuccino Marshmallows: Sift ¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder, 2 tablespoons instant espresso powder, and ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon together into a small bowl. Stir in 1/3 cup boiling water and mix until smooth. Reduce the vanilla extract to ½ teaspoon, and add it to the espresso mix. After you add the sugar syrup and gelatin to the meringue, beat in the espresso mixture and continue.

Light Chocolate Marshmallows: Melt 3 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate and stir in 2 ½ tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder. Reduce the vanilla extract to ¼ teaspoon, and after the marshmallow batter is mixed, fold in the chocolate mixture with a large rubber spatula.

Pumpkin Spice Marshmallows: Whisk together ½ cup canned unsweetened pumpkin puree, 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, ½ teaspoon ground ginger, a pinch of freshly grated nutmeg and a pinch of ground allspice. After the marshmallow batter is mixed, fold in the spiced pumpkin with a large rubber spatula.

Welcome Spring!

2010-03-15T22:35:00.016-04:00

I cannot describe just how grateful I am to see the beginning of Spring. It has been a tumultuous winter - losing my Grandpa, moving, and lots of illness and travel in our family as well. Just typing that I want to take a sigh of relief.

There is just something about warm days, budding leaves and sweet daffodils poking through the ground that makes my heart so so happy. I don't remember much of this time last year. Well I do but my world was very very small and sacred and I don't remember doing anything besides looking into my newborns eyes and nursing and changing endless diapers. This year though, I am ready to celebrate spring!

I love all of the symbolism that spring has, new growth/fertility (inshallah!), rebirth and optimism. I'm trying to bring some of those symbols into my house along with the fresh air and sunshine so here's a peak at a few things around our house right now.

Flowers on the kitchen table

wet felted easter eggs (I'll show more of these later)

garden planning (more on this later as well)

and I gave our nature table a springtime makeover

Playsilks made by momma

sweet little bunnies by mamaroots

art by Ruth Elsasser

chick by zooloonaturals

momma and baby fairy by Rjabinnik

Playsilks

2010-03-11T07:47:00.000-05:00

We (tie) dyed some playsilks this week. Our nature table needed an overhaul and Q has shown more interest in his playsilks recently. This was my first time dying playsilks and it was SO much easier than dying cotton fabrics! Such an easy and gratifying activity.

Silks were from dharma trading company, I used food coloring to dye and these two tutorials as guides. Dying in jars was very convenient and having them on the stove made it go very quick.

I've got some more playsilks coming (including some BIG ones for canopies or fort building) and some jacquard silk paint so there will be more playsilk fun in the coming months.

Wordless Wednesday - Best Friends

2010-03-10T08:05:00.002-05:00