Monday, October 15, 2012
Our humble harvest
Last Fall we saved a lot of seeds from our pumpkins and squash in hopes to use them in the spring. Not wanting large plants to overtake our small garden, we decided to plant them in some flower beds in the backyard. I don't think they got enough sun (or maybe we neglected them a little bit), so this was all that became of them. But I'll be honest, I was excited to see anything growing at all. They may be too small to eat, but at least they can give me something nice to look at while I wash the dishes.
Sunday, October 14, 2012
Slow mornings and playdough
Time seems to be going faster than ever lately. Many days I wake up, get the kids breakfast, get John and Dan off to school, keep the other two alive and somewhat happy, try to keep up with dishes, laundry, bills, welcome the kids home from school, help John practice piano, fix dinner, wrestle (sometimes literally) everyone into bed, try to catch up with everything that was left undone during the day, take a deep breath and go to bed. Some days go smoothly and are full of laughter and fun, and other days I'm in survival mode from the minute I wake up. It's all part of motherhood I suppose.
We had fun experimenting with colors and smells this time around. Dan wanted to make blue playdough with a lemon smell, Joe went with green peppermint, and Dan thought John would like red lavender. I failed to take pictures of the rest, but we then divided up the balls and tried mixing in a few more drops of food coloring to see what colors we would get (blue+red made purple, red+yellow made orange, etc.) It was fun to just sit down with these two cuties during a quiet moment in the morning. Then before I knew it a cry from upstairs beckoned me to get back on my feet.
Last week we had a rare morning where we didn't have to go anywhere or do anything (except for getting John off to school). I crave those mornings and welcome them with open arms. So as soon as Will was down for his nap, Dan and Joe and I got to work making some playdough.
You can find the recipe I use here.
You can find the recipe I use here.
We had fun experimenting with colors and smells this time around. Dan wanted to make blue playdough with a lemon smell, Joe went with green peppermint, and Dan thought John would like red lavender. I failed to take pictures of the rest, but we then divided up the balls and tried mixing in a few more drops of food coloring to see what colors we would get (blue+red made purple, red+yellow made orange, etc.) It was fun to just sit down with these two cuties during a quiet moment in the morning. Then before I knew it a cry from upstairs beckoned me to get back on my feet.
Saturday, October 6, 2012
Fall Nature Wreath
A few days ago the kids helped me make our Fall nature wreath. I love decorating with things that can either be eaten or returned to nature (that way I don't have to store anything), and it's especially easy to do that in the Fall. We always decorate with squash and grass, last year we made the twig spider web, and this year we added the wreath.
I had big plans to go for a fun hike one afternoon and collect things for it. But Pete had some things he had to do and it ended up getting late, so I sent the kids out back to collect whatever they could find.
I think Dan would have fun doing anything if it involved me letting him use the clippers.
Then we came inside, laid everything out on the table and got to work. We used a grapevine wreath for the base. And by this point Will and Joe were both in bed, so it ended up being a very enjoyable evening :) (Not that I don't love the little ones... it's just hard to sit down and work on things for a long period of time with them around sometimes.)
I was secretly intending to shift a few things around after the kids were done to make the wreath balanced and how I wanted it, but I ended up not touching it. They did a better job than I could have!
I had big plans to go for a fun hike one afternoon and collect things for it. But Pete had some things he had to do and it ended up getting late, so I sent the kids out back to collect whatever they could find.
I think Dan would have fun doing anything if it involved me letting him use the clippers.
Then we came inside, laid everything out on the table and got to work. We used a grapevine wreath for the base. And by this point Will and Joe were both in bed, so it ended up being a very enjoyable evening :) (Not that I don't love the little ones... it's just hard to sit down and work on things for a long period of time with them around sometimes.)
I was secretly intending to shift a few things around after the kids were done to make the wreath balanced and how I wanted it, but I ended up not touching it. They did a better job than I could have!
Thursday, October 4, 2012
Chasing the Caterpillar
I've been wanting to write down a few things I've had on my mind lately and thought I might as well write them down here. My mom gave me the book "Bringing Up Boys," by James Dobson after I had Joe, our third boy. Fitting, I know. I'm reading through it for the second time right now. This book is very well written, I highly recommend it to anyone with boys. It goes over the difference between girls and boys, what to expect with boys, the importance of fathers, a mother's role, the best way to educate boys, advice for single parents, how to discipline boys, what we should be doing to shape the next generation of men and much more. It also touched on something that has been on my mind a lot lately: the effect this busy, hurried world is having on us and on our kids. I really like this analogy Dr. Dobson used in his book:
"The great French naturalist Jean-Henri Fabre once conducted a fascinating experiment with processionary caterpillars, so called because they tend to march in unison. He lined them around the inner edge of a flowerpot and then monitored them carefully as they marched in a circle. At the end of the third day, he placed some pine needles, which is the favorite food of caterpillars, in the center of the pot. They continued walking for four more days without breaking rank. Finally, one at a time, they rolled over and died of starvation, just inches from their ideal food source.
"These furry little creatures reminded me in some ways of today's moms. Most of them are trudging around in circles from morning to night, exhausted and harried, wondering how in the world they can get everything done. Many are employed full-time while also taking care of families, chauffeuring kids, fixing meals, cleaning the house, and trying desperately to maintain their marriages, friendships, family relationships, and spiritual commitments. It is a backbreaking load. Sadly, this overcommitted and breathless way of life, which I call "routine panic," characterizes the vast majority of people in Western nations.
"Are you one of these harried women running in endless circles? Have you found yourself too busy to read a good book or take a long walk with your spouse or hold your three-year-old child on your lap while telling him or her a story? Have you taken time to study God's Word—to commune with Him and listen to His gentle voice? Have you eliminated almost every meaningful activity in order to deal with the tyranny of a never-ending "to do" list? Have you ever asked yourself why in the world you have chosen to live like this? Perhaps so, but it it not an easy problem to solve. We live our lives as if we're on freight trains that are rumbling through town. We don't control the speed—or at least we think we don't—so our only option is to get off. Stepping from the train and taking life more slowly is very difficult. Old patterns die very hard indeed."
There's a woman I visited a week or two ago who has 9 children. They are all grown now, and I commented on how it takes an amazing woman to raise that many kids. She kind of brushed off my compliment and went on to say that times are a lot different now. In today's world she thinks she'd be able to handle about 3. And that got me thinking. Parents don't just wake up and send the kids off to school, then spend the remainder of the afternoon and evening letting the kids play, visiting with friends and family, eating dinner and relaxing like they used to (not that life was easy... it just seems people didn't have to be moving so fast). Now there are sports, music lessons, swimming lessons, gyms, preschools, clubs... not to mention our immersion into the digital age: e-mail, facebook, twitter, blogs, pinterest... all sorts of things that can make us busier than ever. And none of these things are bad in and of themselves necessarily. But how do we keep from becoming so busy that we lose sight of what's really important?
At the beginning of the summer I read "Hamlet's BlackBerry," by William Powers. Also a great book. Powers starts off the book by introducing his friend Marie:
"...When I first met her in the mid-1990s, Marie was a recent immigrant to the United States and still learning the fine points of English. Back then, whenever I saw her and asked how she was doing, she would flash a big happy smile and say, 'Busy, very busy!'
"This was strange, partly because she said it so consistently and partly because her expression and upbeat tone didn't match her words. She seemed pleased, indeed ecstatic, to be reporting that she was so busy.
"After a while, I figured out what was going on. Marie was copying what she'd heard Americans saying to one another over and over. Everyone talked so much about how busy they were, she thought it was a pleasantry, something that a person with good manners automatically said when a friend asked how they were doing. Instead of 'Fine, thank you,' you were supposed to say you were busy.
"She was wrong, of course, as she eventually realized. But in another way she was absolutely right. 'Busy, very busy" is exactly what we are most of the time. It's staggering how many balls we keep in the air each day and how few we drop. We're so busy, sometimes it seems as though busyness itself is the point."
It's almost funny how many people really do answer with the word "busy" when asked how they're doing. I didn't even notice it until after I read this. And I'll confess, I have found myself answering this same way at times. Life with 4 boys 6 and under... what do you expect. But I've been thinking a lot lately... Am I making my life busier than it needs to be? Are there things I can cut out or get rid of to simplify my life a little bit? Do I need to stress over writing a post on my blog every day to keep my readers? (obviously the answer to that question for me is no... as you can tell from this blog) Do I need to spend 2 hours making homemade pizza dough and sauce on a day when the kids are needing a little more attention from me? Do I need to stay up into the wee hours of the morning getting the house perfectly clean only to be exhausted and on edge the entire next day? Do I need to reply to a text right this second while my kids are trying to show me something they made?
I think a certain amount of work and busyness is a good thing. Sometimes I just have to remind myself that I can't do it all. And that I don't need to do it all. Especially if it's at the expense of my kids. I don't think I'm ever going to look back and wish I had added a few more things to my schedule. If anything, I think it will be the opposite. I don't think it's necessary to remove all extracurricular activities, sports, music lessons and digital media from my life or the lives of my kids. But hopefully I can be wise enough to look up in this frenzy of caterpillars, dare to take another path at times, and keep my eyes on what really matters.
"The great French naturalist Jean-Henri Fabre once conducted a fascinating experiment with processionary caterpillars, so called because they tend to march in unison. He lined them around the inner edge of a flowerpot and then monitored them carefully as they marched in a circle. At the end of the third day, he placed some pine needles, which is the favorite food of caterpillars, in the center of the pot. They continued walking for four more days without breaking rank. Finally, one at a time, they rolled over and died of starvation, just inches from their ideal food source.
"These furry little creatures reminded me in some ways of today's moms. Most of them are trudging around in circles from morning to night, exhausted and harried, wondering how in the world they can get everything done. Many are employed full-time while also taking care of families, chauffeuring kids, fixing meals, cleaning the house, and trying desperately to maintain their marriages, friendships, family relationships, and spiritual commitments. It is a backbreaking load. Sadly, this overcommitted and breathless way of life, which I call "routine panic," characterizes the vast majority of people in Western nations.
"Are you one of these harried women running in endless circles? Have you found yourself too busy to read a good book or take a long walk with your spouse or hold your three-year-old child on your lap while telling him or her a story? Have you taken time to study God's Word—to commune with Him and listen to His gentle voice? Have you eliminated almost every meaningful activity in order to deal with the tyranny of a never-ending "to do" list? Have you ever asked yourself why in the world you have chosen to live like this? Perhaps so, but it it not an easy problem to solve. We live our lives as if we're on freight trains that are rumbling through town. We don't control the speed—or at least we think we don't—so our only option is to get off. Stepping from the train and taking life more slowly is very difficult. Old patterns die very hard indeed."
There's a woman I visited a week or two ago who has 9 children. They are all grown now, and I commented on how it takes an amazing woman to raise that many kids. She kind of brushed off my compliment and went on to say that times are a lot different now. In today's world she thinks she'd be able to handle about 3. And that got me thinking. Parents don't just wake up and send the kids off to school, then spend the remainder of the afternoon and evening letting the kids play, visiting with friends and family, eating dinner and relaxing like they used to (not that life was easy... it just seems people didn't have to be moving so fast). Now there are sports, music lessons, swimming lessons, gyms, preschools, clubs... not to mention our immersion into the digital age: e-mail, facebook, twitter, blogs, pinterest... all sorts of things that can make us busier than ever. And none of these things are bad in and of themselves necessarily. But how do we keep from becoming so busy that we lose sight of what's really important?
At the beginning of the summer I read "Hamlet's BlackBerry," by William Powers. Also a great book. Powers starts off the book by introducing his friend Marie:
"...When I first met her in the mid-1990s, Marie was a recent immigrant to the United States and still learning the fine points of English. Back then, whenever I saw her and asked how she was doing, she would flash a big happy smile and say, 'Busy, very busy!'
"This was strange, partly because she said it so consistently and partly because her expression and upbeat tone didn't match her words. She seemed pleased, indeed ecstatic, to be reporting that she was so busy.
"After a while, I figured out what was going on. Marie was copying what she'd heard Americans saying to one another over and over. Everyone talked so much about how busy they were, she thought it was a pleasantry, something that a person with good manners automatically said when a friend asked how they were doing. Instead of 'Fine, thank you,' you were supposed to say you were busy.
"She was wrong, of course, as she eventually realized. But in another way she was absolutely right. 'Busy, very busy" is exactly what we are most of the time. It's staggering how many balls we keep in the air each day and how few we drop. We're so busy, sometimes it seems as though busyness itself is the point."
It's almost funny how many people really do answer with the word "busy" when asked how they're doing. I didn't even notice it until after I read this. And I'll confess, I have found myself answering this same way at times. Life with 4 boys 6 and under... what do you expect. But I've been thinking a lot lately... Am I making my life busier than it needs to be? Are there things I can cut out or get rid of to simplify my life a little bit? Do I need to stress over writing a post on my blog every day to keep my readers? (obviously the answer to that question for me is no... as you can tell from this blog) Do I need to spend 2 hours making homemade pizza dough and sauce on a day when the kids are needing a little more attention from me? Do I need to stay up into the wee hours of the morning getting the house perfectly clean only to be exhausted and on edge the entire next day? Do I need to reply to a text right this second while my kids are trying to show me something they made?
I think a certain amount of work and busyness is a good thing. Sometimes I just have to remind myself that I can't do it all. And that I don't need to do it all. Especially if it's at the expense of my kids. I don't think I'm ever going to look back and wish I had added a few more things to my schedule. If anything, I think it will be the opposite. I don't think it's necessary to remove all extracurricular activities, sports, music lessons and digital media from my life or the lives of my kids. But hopefully I can be wise enough to look up in this frenzy of caterpillars, dare to take another path at times, and keep my eyes on what really matters.
Friday, August 31, 2012
Reconnecting: bows & arrows
We just returned from a 3 week trip to Utah. It was wonderful to be with friends and family, but I must say, it's good to be home. It was a busy 3 weeks as we attempted to see everyone and do everything that we had missed out on over this past year. Hiking, swimming, family reunions, Park City, Bear Lake, sailing, games, shopping, biking, visiting, running, eating out, play dates, over nighters, birthdays... we somehow managed to pack it all in! I don't know if anyone else does this, but by the end I felt like I had reconnected with everyone... except my own kids. And this became obvious by the end when the kids were behaving worse than I had ever seen them. Lack of structure, lack of sleep, an overdose of family of friends and an underdose of their own mother left them fighting, talking back, whining and disobeying more than ever.
So a few days ago we all finally reconnected by working on one of my favorite projects I've done with them: making bows and arrows. I've realized that doing crafts, projects or games with my kids is how I connect with them best. And these have definitely been lacking over the last few weeks. It was so nice to finally sit down with the older three and work on something that we were all excited about again.
I found the tutorial for these bows and arrows on the blog You Craft Me Up. It was surprisingly very simple and we were able to put 4 bows and 8 arrows together in one afternoon. Even with the breaks I had to take to feed Will, keep him happy and get the kids a snack. And the best part? All of the supplies only cost me $16! That's $4 per bow and 2 arrows. I made one each for John, Dan and Joe, and then one set for John's friend who is having a birthday party next week. A pretty sweet deal, if you ask me.
We made one change to the tutorial we followed: I didn't dare let the kids shoot the sticks around with nothing on the end. Knowing kids, one of the arrows would find itself in someone's eye. So I taped a piece of the foam to the end. It could still hurt if it was shot at someone at close range, but at least it won't cause permanent damage. I would recommend having a rule to not shoot at people, either way.
On Daniel's bow we taped a piece of PVC pipe to it to rest the arrow on when he shoots. He was having a hard time aiming the arrow, but this made it very easy.
The kids couldn't wait to show the neighbor kids their new weapons... sometimes I wonder what I would be making if I had a girl... a doll? a skirt?... But I'm pretty happy making bows and arrows for the time being :)
So a few days ago we all finally reconnected by working on one of my favorite projects I've done with them: making bows and arrows. I've realized that doing crafts, projects or games with my kids is how I connect with them best. And these have definitely been lacking over the last few weeks. It was so nice to finally sit down with the older three and work on something that we were all excited about again.
I found the tutorial for these bows and arrows on the blog You Craft Me Up. It was surprisingly very simple and we were able to put 4 bows and 8 arrows together in one afternoon. Even with the breaks I had to take to feed Will, keep him happy and get the kids a snack. And the best part? All of the supplies only cost me $16! That's $4 per bow and 2 arrows. I made one each for John, Dan and Joe, and then one set for John's friend who is having a birthday party next week. A pretty sweet deal, if you ask me.
We made one change to the tutorial we followed: I didn't dare let the kids shoot the sticks around with nothing on the end. Knowing kids, one of the arrows would find itself in someone's eye. So I taped a piece of the foam to the end. It could still hurt if it was shot at someone at close range, but at least it won't cause permanent damage. I would recommend having a rule to not shoot at people, either way.
On Daniel's bow we taped a piece of PVC pipe to it to rest the arrow on when he shoots. He was having a hard time aiming the arrow, but this made it very easy.
The kids couldn't wait to show the neighbor kids their new weapons... sometimes I wonder what I would be making if I had a girl... a doll? a skirt?... But I'm pretty happy making bows and arrows for the time being :)
Thursday, July 5, 2012
Beach robes and summer vacation
I first saw these beach robes on my friend Jessica's blog, Mumbo Designs, almost a year ago and knew at once I had to make them. I bought the pattern online from MADE and picked up some large, colorful towels from Ikea the next time I was there... and then they sat on my project shelf for almost a year! Well, today I bring you the finished product at last. When the weather turned warm and we became frequent visitors of the beach (and the kids continued tripping all over their towels on the way back to the car) these robes moved to the top of the project list. Now the kids can dry off, warm up and continue playing without skipping a beat.
And as for our summer vacation... you may have noticed I am kind of taking a summer vacation from this blog. Back in May our family went on a "digital diet" for a week... a break from all screens (movies/TV, computer, phones... except for my allotted 1/2 hour after the kids were in bed... unfortunately some e-mails do need to be answered and bills paid). And what a wonderful week it was! I guess it was a little too wonderful, because I haven't fully gone back. Instead, we have been swimming, playing at parks, going to the beach, hiking, jumping on the tramp, reading, tending to our garden, riding bikes, and soaking up the summer sun. That combined with feeding and taking care of the baby just doesn't leave much time left in my day. BUT... I love getting new ideas from other people's blogs and created this blog as a way to share my ideas. I just might not share them quite as frequently as I once did for the time being.
Let's hear it for summer!
And as for our summer vacation... you may have noticed I am kind of taking a summer vacation from this blog. Back in May our family went on a "digital diet" for a week... a break from all screens (movies/TV, computer, phones... except for my allotted 1/2 hour after the kids were in bed... unfortunately some e-mails do need to be answered and bills paid). And what a wonderful week it was! I guess it was a little too wonderful, because I haven't fully gone back. Instead, we have been swimming, playing at parks, going to the beach, hiking, jumping on the tramp, reading, tending to our garden, riding bikes, and soaking up the summer sun. That combined with feeding and taking care of the baby just doesn't leave much time left in my day. BUT... I love getting new ideas from other people's blogs and created this blog as a way to share my ideas. I just might not share them quite as frequently as I once did for the time being.
Let's hear it for summer!
Thursday, June 7, 2012
Family pajamas
When you have no use for hand-me-down sheets, turn them into pajamas! My sister-in-law recently gave me a set of twin bed sheets that her son had grown out of. We ended up not needing them so I decided they would make some great summer pajamas for the kids. And there was even enough fabric to make some for Pete.
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