birthday ring

One of the fabulous things that I love about Waldorf education is the emphasis on tradition and rythmn. One of the wonderful Waldorf traditions that we have adopted in our home is the 'birthday ring'.

Twelve days before a birthday (or other looked-forward-to event) the ring is pulled out and set up. Each day a small gnome is pulled from the bag and fitted into one of the slots on the ring.
On the final day, a small candle is placed in the last empty hole and lit. The kids love the build up of anticipation to their day....and it seems to make it all the more special.

I got ours off of Etsy (of course) from a seller called Mamaroots. There are various types of rings available when you start to look around. Some have all candles, some have small wooden figurines, some have both....

Today, ours looks like this as we wait for Briar's fourth birthday to arrive.....

s'more....

I've added a few dresses to my shop! I have some more on the sewing table ready to be put together. I am LOVING the bright colours and patterns of some of the fabrics I've found hidden in my stash...I'm trying to prevent myself from buying anymore fabric until I've used up a sizeable portion of my fabric horde.
Next up, will be some short-sleeved Spring dresses....

new dresses and nightgowns!!

The kids stayed at my mom's last night and again tonight. I've managed to paint Briar's room, stack a load of firewood (with Todd doing the chopping), mow the lawn and list SEVEN dresses and nightgowns!!!
This week, I've been trying to focus on all the things around here that have been left undone and are dangling there annoying me. I am so hopeful that as soon as I have some of these things behind me, I can just fixate on the stuff that comes up....not the stuff that happened a year, four months and nine days ago. I'm sick of dealing with all the paperwork that goes along with a death. There are mountains of it! You'd think that the government would be able to have some program that would announce the death of one of their citizens to ALL their agencies once a death certificate had been issued. Anyhow....Enough of that rant......

too cute

I've just finished making a matching set of dresses for two sisters. The picture is rather impromtu (and the larger dress needs to be ironed) but I think they turned out so sweet!!

I've got a couple of other dresses on the go for custom orders too. I'm thinking of adding another few styles in awhile and possibly a couple of adult peasant tops...maybe.

It's so wonderful to feel that I can do something to put food on our plates and clothes on our backs by my hands. I feel useful and self-sufficient.

I've made a few dresses for the shop but my poor little model is sick now and I'll have to wait until she's up to snuff to post them in my shop.

behind the scenes

I've just listed two more dresses on Etsy.
As I was scrolling through the photos of each dress, surveying which photo should be included in the listing, I was laughing at some of the photos that were taken. Liv always allows me to take a batch of 'good pictures' and then hams it up for the 'silly ones'. Sometimes these 'silly ones' become some of my favourite photos of my kiddos. Spontaneous and so full of their little personalities, their whole being shines through! Liv and her larger than life personality. Briar and his sauntering silliness.

What you see in the listings is this...

What you miss is this....


What you see....

What you miss....

I will never be a baker...

I thought I'd try the bread thing again, but this time with buns! Evidentally, I'm a crappy baker. The buns looked pretty....but they were little pebbles and were practically GLUED inside the baking trays. I tried prying them out with a knife and ended up having to soak them (with the rock buns inside) for a day and a half before I could scrape them out. Argh. Try, try again, right?

I've made a few of these eggs with removable ducklings from wool in the last couple of days. I'm hoping to post them on Etsy later today.

walk and talk

I went for a LOVELY Spring-like walk today with our friends, Krista and Michele while Liv was at farmhands. I so enjoyed our walk and our talk. It is fabulous to be able to talk to these other homeschool mommies (and our littler ones) about our successes and failures with lots of laughter along the way. I really relish these times and thoroughly look forward to hanging out again.

When I got home from our walk, I noticed a clipping that I always have on the fridge and it made me think of our conversation:

10 Ways We Misunderstand Children

1. We expect children to be able to do things before they are ready.

2. We become angry when a child fails to meet our needs.

3. We mistrust the child's motives.

4. We don't allow children to be children.

5. We get it backwards (instead of accepting our parental role to meet the child's needs, we expect the child to care for our needs.)

6. We blame and criticize when a child makes a mistake.

7. We forget how deeply blame and criticism can hurt a child.

8. We forget how healing loving actions can be.

9. We forget that our behaviour provides the most potent lessons to the child.

10. We see only the outward behaviour, not the love and good intentions inside the child.

(From the Natural Child: Parenting from the Heart by Jan Hunt)

There is not much giggling in this clipping but the feelings were the same, I think.

I love how human and flawed we can be together. I cherish the insights and forgotten comforts that other mommies have to share with eachother. And even though in 'blog-land', we can all pick and choose what the world sees through our 'open curtains' (thanks Michele!) we ALL have moments that we wouldn't want to be recorded.

The point was made that although we try our best to make our children's childhoods the BEST that they can be, we also must parent in the way that gives us joy as well. I had never thought of that and it warms me inside that my children and I can enjoy this journey of learning together.

Anyhow, I am not sure if this sounds like one cohesive post or like a bit of aimless rambling, but it's what I thought about today and wanted to share.... :)

P.S. I just listed these little bunnies on Etsy ! I am hoping to get a few more things on there in the next little bit...