Morning Walk

Painting Day

With the change in heart about me working this year, and being that I now have the opportunity to be home each day with Grace and Jackson, I decided I wanted to use the rhythm of the Waldorf kindergarten (that I learned so well last year) as a guide for our own days. 



So each week we begin our Monday morning (right after breakfast) with Painting Day.  While art (and painting) is usually a part of our week on many more occasions then just this.  I decided to dedicate this particular morning (just as they do in kindergarten) to the traditional Waldorf style painting of wet on wet watercolor.  Working in the kindergarten last year I learned to appreciate this style of painting so much, as well as the care, intention, and sense of importance that was put into this task each week.  By limiting the time spent painting (each child paints only one picture) but maximizing the quality of everything involved in it (the very best watercolor paints, paper, and brushes are used) "Painting Day" carried with it a big sense of excitement and appreciation.  And as a result, the children painted the most beautiful paintings. 

This week was the third week of Painting Day and I can already see how much they are loving it.  I often hear throughout the week "is it painting day today?" which I take as a good sign.  And I must say I am enjoying it myself as well.  I always sit down and paint with them (just as the teachers do at school) and it always gets my day off to the right start. 

More about the rest of our weekly rhythm soon...

Signs of Fall

Hats and coats (and a boy who tries to run away when I take his picture).


Before bedtime games by the fire.


Pumpkin pie.

For Her Friend

Grace had a birthday party this weekend for one of her friends from school.  I made this little doll for a gift for her to give.  It was kind of a match to the one I made Grace for her birthday a few years ago.  I thought when the two of them get together they would have fun playing with their matching dolls.



This was the first birthday party she went to where the parents weren't there as well.  I was a little nervous that she would be shy at first but she ran right in and started playing with all her friends.  She hasn't stopped talking about it all weekend.

More Harvesting

I think this might be my favorite time of year to live here on our little farm.  At the moment every corner of our kitchen is overflowing with delicious garden grown goodness. 

Farm News

We got our first egg!  It was so exciting (and early, I guess I wasn't expecting any quite yet), we were all jumping up and down cheering.  Can't wait to try them.



In other news, my bees are looking healthier then ever.  A few months ago I thought it might be over for this year (which isn't such a bad thing because it means you get to take the honey) as my queen was gone.  Either she swarmed, or she died, or possibly I killed her on accident.  But in any case they bred another one and the hive is going strong. 





And finally we did a trial of black beans this year.  They were so good as green beans that it was hard to leave any to dry but we managed to save some.  I finally picked them and peeled them and ta-da... black beans.  I can't wait until next year when we can plant a huge plot of them... we eat a lot of black beans around here.

First Day of School

Well it was nothing like last year... no nervousness or anxiety... just pure excitement.  I had to ask her for a hug goodbye.  It was so much fun to see her back with all her friends.  And she had a great day.



And Jackson and I got to begin our "just us" time today.  A bagel and juice to celebrate followed by some baking... I'm really looking forward to having some special one on one time with him every week.

Last Day of Summer

One last beach day at our river before the fall weather starts.
And tomorrow... Grace's first day of school!

Weekend Highlights...
~ A lot of cooking helpers
~ Grace and Jackson off to the parade with Grandma and Grandpa
~ Bookshelves IN and almost finished (that is Ryan underneath all those paint/dirt covered clothes... he worked so hard on them this weekend and I'm so grateful)
~ Books moved and ON shelves (finally off the floor in the hallway)
~ More sister cooking with Katie
~ Delicious jars of pasta sauce and pesto
~ Katie and Kris for dinner

Last Days of Summer...

One of Those Days (and Some Random Pictures)

As we were getting out of the car today after running some errands I noticed Grace's sweater was on the floor of the backseat and I asked her to pick it up.  As she picked it up I noticed it was dripping in white wet goo... oh no please don't be what I think it is.  But it was in fact paint- as in house paint.  I've been on a painting, room rearranging, reorganizing kick over the past few weeks and apparently, I didn't seal the lid on the paint tightly after using it last.  It must have tipped over on the way back from the store at some point (I needed to bring it with to get a color match) and now it was all over everything. 



Soooo I quickly started cleaning up what I could but in my hast I got the paint all over myself, and more importantly, on my only pair of maternity jeans.  I then dropped the cleaning effort to run inside and try and save the jeans.  As I was upstairs changing, the postman came by to deliver a package (unbeknownst to me) and turned his car off.  As I was coming downstairs I heard a car being started and freaked out thinking that somehow one of the kids had decided it would be fun to start my car (they would never do this but at the time it seemed like the only logical explanation).  I came running out of the house so fast that I ran through the screen door breaking the whole thing (we just got new storm doors this summer).  As soon as I came out (or fell out I should say) I realized that it was the postman... instead of waving or doing anything normal (though I'm not sure there's anything normal to do at this point) I just set the door aside and walked back in (no need to open the door anymore, just walk right through). 



About this time I was ready to call it a day (it was 1:00).  My kids actually were supportive of this.  "Oh that's fine mom, you can go back to bed, it's been a hard day, we'll be fine."   But I didn't.  Instead I called Ryan, which only helped when he pointed out how funny it must have seemed to the postman... he must have though I was really excited about getting that package.  I'm still laughing about that...

And now it's time for a bowl of ice cream.  Thankfully tomorrow is a new day.

A Good One

Some highlights from our weekend...
~ Beautiful, beautiful sunny cool days
~ 20 jars of plum jam (ran out of jars so had to feed some of our pickles- that turned out to be not so good- to the chickens in a mad dash for more jam jars)
~ The beginning of our potato harvest
~ Pumpkin muffins and pumpkin pie
~ Tomatoes... enough for a big soup batch this week
~ (finally) Stacking all the wood Ryan chopped in preparation for the months ahead
~ A double birthday celebration with family
~ Ryan's venison dinner

Cheers

To our watermelon that's ready!