For love of my oceans

It's been so long!

2011-06-16T15:50:00.000-04:00

So I have been away for quite some time, as you may have noticed. A lot has happened since my silly halloween fun videos. Most important is the work I have been doing on our new addition to the family. I am due to have another baby in October! It's a girl too :)

That is a relatively old photo now. We have another ultrasound tomorrow so I am hoping to get a few new ones to add in. I am 24 weeks along as of right now. We are all super super excited!!

So aside for that big news, I have been very busy raising the boys, making specialty cakes and trying to keep a bit of sanity in the process! It's not always easy butI have been venting on facebook. It's so addicting but not nearly as inspiring as reading all the blogs that I follow here. Everyone seems to be constantly complaning, it's a bit contageous as well. So I am not promising a daily post but I would like to be more active on my blog, and I have many fun adventures we have had in the meantime to share. So I just wanted to drop in and say to all you lovely ladies, I haven't forgot about you!! Especially with school comming to a close I will need you more than ever to inspire me for my summer waldorfing with the boys! Hope you have all been well. I have missed you!

Looking forward to my return to the blogosphere!

(ps if anyone wants to be friends on facebook just leave me a comment and I can email you my info so you can find me!

I promise this is the last corny video!

2010-10-03T23:06:00.000-04:00

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

Getting into the "spirit" of things

2010-10-03T22:23:00.001-04:00

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

An award for some of my favorite mamas!

2010-09-28T23:21:00.000-04:00

I recently was gifted with this award from my friend Tree over at The Enchanted Tree.

What a sweety! I have found that her and I have a lot in common: stay at home mothers, glass blowing husbands, etc. Now if I only had a facebook I would be able to be a bit more connected to her (and the rest of the world) but untill my husband lifts his "ban" on the social networks and realizes it is no longer 1950 this will have to do. Here's my attempt to reach out to some other lovely blogging mamas and let you all know how much I appreciate your contributions to the blog-i-sphere. I have noticed your efforts and want to say thank you for everything you bring to the table. Your lovely!

Journey to a better me

Celebrating the Rhythm of Life with Children

Cypress Space

Cypress sun

Dineke's Diary

You Know How We're an Art Family

Two Little Seeds

Congrats Ladies, you deserve it! Here's what you do next:

Instructions for winners:

1.Accept the award. Post it on your blog with the name of the person who has granted the award and his or her blog link.

2.Pay it forward to 15 other bloggers that you have newly discovered.

3.Contact those blog owners and let them know they’ve been chosen.

Blessings,
Kat

A Beautiful Wedding

2010-09-27T16:09:00.000-04:00

My Step dad got married, Yay! OK so that's an odd statement unless he was marring my mom which (thank god) he's not. So let's start this story with a bit of background. I have never met my father. My mother had 4 children all with different fathers. When I was 5 I met Jamie, whom I called dad as did both my younger sisters (Daryll and Dylan) although it was only true for the youngest. When I was about 9 my mother started dating Dave. They were together for 13 years and shared a son, Konner, whom is my youngest sibling. Jamie got the father title first so it kinda stuck (till I grew up and realized how incredibly undeserving he was of it). Dave and my mother never actually married but were engaged for a really long time and step dad is a much easier title than my little brother's dad or my mom's ex-boyfriend. Through everything Dave and I have remained very close and he has always played a father type role. I don't know where I would be without him. He and my mother's relationship was pretty rocky and he got hurt badly. He deserved much better than he got and I am very happy to see him settled with someone who loves and respects him. So, now that first sentence probably makes a bit more sense (and you got a glimpse into my bizarre family relationships, yikes)

So on Saturday Dave and Sandy were married on the front porch of their home. It was an intimate ceremony. It was the third marriage for both of them (which was news to me). Hey don't they say third times a charm?!? It was a beautiful event. Open bar!!!! Two of Dave's 3 brothers were there, from California and somewhere else far away (yeah I didn't catch the location) but I had never met them before so that was cool. Paul was really nice and encouraged me to go into the cupcake business (he advises CEOs in LA) and I didn't talk to the other brother much. One of the brothers didn't show because he was golfing, which I thought was a really crappy thing for a brother to choose golf over family, but it was probably better without him if he picked that sort of thing anyway. But everything went well. We stayed for about 4 hours. I took lots of pictures but missed some important things like cutting the cake. They skipped the whole dancing thing, no gifts, very simple all around which fit them. They were attended by her sister and his best friend Bob. So here's some of the people and highlights of the day....

The wedding party

First Kiss

The happy couple, Mr. and Mrs. Walker

Daddy and Cy

Up close and personal with the groom

Sandy and her new grandson, Cy

Dylan and I with Sandy

Adding in Dave and Konner completes the set.

I really wish my brother would act a little less his age here

Here are Dave's brothers with their wives. Paul and Bonnie on the left (the ones from Cali) and Craig and ?Laurie? on the right. They all decided to wear sunglasses since Paul and Bonnie are from Hollywood, what nerds!

Cypress and mama with one little tear on his cheek, aww!

Dave being a goof ball, with Bob...

And again with Dylan

One of the nice guests got down on the ground and took a shot of Cy enjoying himself since I was in a dress and she could see I was struggling with staying "appropriate"

Here's trouble incarnate. Konner, Free and Hunter.

My sister was so impressed they had a harp, how fancy!

Here's Dylan's new boyfriend Ty. He's younger than her amongst some other things that aren't going in his favor from a big sister's standpoint. No job, no license, lives with mommy, no degree, etc. My sister is a very ambitious, materialistic work-a-holic so I really don't see him bringing much to the party. However he makes her happy so I genuinely want to like him. Not sure where my feeling for him are going just yet but I don't love him or hate him. He was careful not to do anything to upset me but didn't kiss my ass so I guess that's a good sign. If he was going out of his way to impress me I would have known it was fake or he was hiding something. He was willing to answer all my questions and probably thinks I am a major nut/jerk, but oh well! I wish them the best of luck, but if he hurts her I have people who will help me hide the body :)

And just one cute pic of Dylan, I know how she loves to see herself so maybe this will get her to come read the blog (hi hunny bunny, luv u!)

All in all it was a wonderful time had by all and I am so happy for them.

Best of luck Dave and Sandy, CONGRATS!

Love you!

Blessings,

Kat

Dessert in the park

2010-09-24T22:46:00.000-04:00

Tonight Freedom and I attended our first PTO organized event with the school. It was called dessert in the park. It's fairly self explanatory. It was mainly just a social even for the parents and children from the school to mingle and get to know each other. I made cupcakes of course. They took me all day. I did three flavors and kept them simple as well as the designs. I did strawberry with raspberry vanilla frosting and pink sugar rim, chocolate with banana frosting and a brown sprinkle rim, and white cake with a vanilla frosting and white sugar crystal rim. I topped each with a conversation bubble shaped piece of fondant and wrote on each one. They said hello, how are you, nice to meet you, and what's your name. I took 30 to the gathering.

So the event started out just as I suspected. Freedom took off like a bat out of hell and I was left with the soccer moms, who all knew each other and chatted freely amongst themselves. It was like a rerun of high school all over again! I hate being shy. But before long my cupcakes broke the ice for me, just as I had hoped. They were one of the few homemade desserts there. Several people commented on them and one actually asked me if I did cupcakes professionally. OK so that was overkill but I'm not complaining :)

I spoke to the principal who knew my son by name *yikes* but swore that she just knew all the kids and nothing to worry about since he was behaving pretty well. I actually made some friends, well sort of. I met two women who live right near me and one has a daughter in Free's class and we may get them together to play. So it was not a total bust. I feel good about it. Plus the women who live near me and made friends with me are in the PTO, yay! and one is going to be the president next year. My plan to take over the school is coming together, mwah hahah! ;) Just kidding but at least now I won't feel like a total outcast! Well I'm off to enjoy another fun family nest we are watching some Tarzan movie (looks kinda lame but not really the point)

I received an award and will be bestowing it upon some lovely ladies very soon. Be on the lookout, it could be you!

Blessings,
Kat

I swear I'm not dead!

2010-09-23T23:48:00.000-04:00

Yes I know I have been on blogging hiatus for quite some time. I really felt it was important to spend the last bit of summer with my family and not plugged into the net. So I did. In my absence a lot has happened. Our biggest adjustment came when Free started school. He loves it. His teacher says he is well behaved and a joy t have in class. I can't say I am not totally stunned but great for her. Now if I could only get him to be more like that at home.... I'm still not sure I'm crazy about the school though. I attended the first PTO meeting to try and be more involved but just ended up feeling more like an outsider in a room full of soccer moms and rich chicks. That doesn't mean I'm giving up I just need to stop being such a wimp and speak up once in a while. I am incredibly shy. I did meet one of the mothers from the meeting again at a juggling show I took the boys to. She had a big chest tattoo and her daughter was bundled in a leopard print blanket. N ow that's a bit more my style of mama. Believe it or not she actually spoke to me and we hit it off pretty well. At least now I have an in for the PTO (or maybe just someone to sit next to?) I miss Freedom's old school and the teachers there. I definitely liked that I got a little summary of his day every time I came to pick him up. Now that he rides the bus I don't even really know the teacher. I have met her twice and she definitely doesn't care for my husband. Freedom told me today he had to go the school nurse because someone beat him up?!? I will admit he had many different stories about what happened but he says he has had to go to the school nurse twice. No one has mentioned it to me from the school yet so I am writing a letter to his teacher and hopefully she can give me a heads up. Tomorrow is something cupcakes, of course.

Another huge milestone in the house is that Cypress is walking! He's all over the place and even runs. He started earlier this month. It's soo cute to see him waddling all over and he's so tiny that it kinda looks funny. He is speaking too. Says mama Dada and shakes his head no. I am so amazed just watching his little personality develop every day and it make me so curious as to who he will be and what his future holds.

Our little kitty is doing just wonderfully. She fits right into the mix here in all this craziness. she still kisses Free goodnight and is very sweet. Couldn't ask for a better pet. Free did win some goldfish the other day at the fall festival. 3 goldfish which he named Rocky, Colt, and Tum Tum. Two are dead already which is such a bummer. He was so great about feeding them every day and paying attention to them. He took it like a champ though! What a strong little boy.

In other news my sister went away to school at Delhi, and just celebrated her 21st birthday. I feel so old now! I still get to see her pretty often since she got a new Boyfriend and has been making the trip home on weekends to visit him. My step dad is getting married this weekend which is pretty exciting. OK well he's not technically my step dad since he and my mother never officially tied the knot but he was the only dad I had for 13 years so step dad is just easier to say especially since they split up like 5 years ago. I am getting ready for my big vacation to Myrtle Beach next month. We are staying oceanfront at dunes for Free's birthday. I cannot wait! My friend Jamie is going too and bringing her family. By the way she just started her own blog, it's pretty neat but just starting out. Stop in and say hello if you'd like just click here. You all remember what it's like those first few weeks of blogging where it feels like no one is reading what you have to say. It can be a bit discouraging that's for sure. I am in a wedding next month too and I can't wait. I didn't think I would ever get a chance to dress up again in my life! Yay for Falon and Cameron!!!!

Any ways, I have been cleaning and organizing my house a bit and trying to get my shit together. I have been doing some soul searching and trying to figure out where I go from here. I honestly think I am going to start seeing a councilor to help me with a few things. It can't hurt right? I just need to get some objective feedback to help my grow and develop as a person into the woman I know I should be. It's a work in progress, but it desperately needs to get done so I am gonna get on that one asap. That's part of the reason for my absence of blogging too. I have just been really busy, physically and mentally. Hopefully I can make more time for this though I think it's pretty therapeutic. We will see what happens...

Oh one more thing, I got my camera back!!!!! I am so incredibly happy, you have no idea. I will have it for my vacation and Frees birthday and everything else from her on out. I was going crazy with those crappy pictures I have been posting. I just need to get back into the groove with it now and I will finally be able to post decent photos! I cannot wait!

Here are a few I have gotten since she returned to me... enjoy!

Our newest addition

2010-08-21T23:08:00.001-04:00

Again it has been forever since I posted last. I have been so busy trying to squeeze the life out of summer before it's over I just haven't had time. I am having a bit of trouble grasping the fact that there is so little of it left. There are still so many things I haven't even done yet! And on top of all that I have been trying very hard to master the Waldorf inspired rhythm. All of this has left me running like a chicken with my head cut off for weeks and it has sucked all the life out of me! I am exhausted and most days by them time I get any time to myself I don't even have the energy for writing a simple post, all I can do is sleep.

Honestly, I have NO IDEA how your ladies do this!! I am assuming it gets easier in the winter months as it's not so tempting to be out side, but we will see.

So back to the point of all this rambling, our new addition. So here's our story....

Last Friday my family and I loaded up the car for our usual "Field trip Friday". We had decided on this particular trip to go berry picking at our favorite spot in the woods in the middle of nowhere. We all got out and headed down the trail. Before we even got to the first berry bush my husband stopped and shushed us all....

"What are you doing we are in the middle of nowhere?!?" was my reply. I was ready for blackberries, but I quickly grew silent and that's exactly what I got...

"MEOW" is what I heard. I couldn't believe my ears or eyes. Right there in the middle of nowhere a little black kitten came happily bounding out of the woods to welcome us. She was adorable! She immediately fell in love with everyone, rubbing, purring meowing the whole nine. My step son was with us as well and he is a huge animal fanatic. He was ecstatic. The boys fell hook line and sinker in moments, of course. I knew it was coming and before long they started the usual chorus of "can we keep her, please?" Now I don't hate animals, but we have had our share and they always end up to be all my responsibility. Once I had kids I refused animals because I didn't have time to take care of me let alone a pet, come on now. But this was an exception, and I knew this immediately. She was lovable and super cute and she really needed a home. So I said that we could keep her if she wanted us to, but it had to be her choice. Needless to say the boys were not much help picking berries as they were so enamored with the feline. But we did manage to get a few before we gave up and headed home, kitty in tow.

We decided to name her black berries, berries for short. However once we got her home and realized she was a girl, John thought a more girly name was in order. She officially became Esmeralda Berries. I still call her bears for short. She is the best cat ever! She did have a few issues when she got home from being in the woods like fleas and worms but we've got here all fixed up now and she has made herself quite at home.

She has taken quite a liking to me which I am liking as well. She's a super snuggler. She kisses freedom goodnight and loves chasing him through the house. I can't even tell you how many hours have already been filled with rolling belly laughter thanks to her. She is so well tempered for a kitten. When Cypress attempts to pet her (which is code for slap and pull her hair and ears) she doesn't even flinch or raise a paw. She sleeps with me at night and you should. see her nap, she sleeps all stretched out on her back, it's hilarious! She also loves her belly rubbed. She has just been the prefect addition to our family and we couldn't be happier. I can't imagine why anyone would ever get rid of such loving adorable cat but our guess was someone had a litter and couldn't get rid of all the kittens. Whatever the reason we couldn't be happier they did.

Besides what would you expect me to do with a black cat that found me in the middle of nowhere on Friday the 13th? Sometimes when the universe speaks you just have to listen!

Welcome home Bears!! We love you!

Blessings,

Kat

Dying for a break!

2010-08-07T20:22:00.002-04:00

So I have been a bit absent lately and I do apologize . But I have been pretty productive on my vacation from blogging. Just wanted to show you what I have been up to...

We decided to make tie dyes to try and sell at the flea market. We had considered this before but we didn't want to take business from some friends we made there who were selling tie dyes themselves. They moved away for school so the cats out of the bag...

Or first batch was sort of a disaster...

It's not the worst dye job in the world but where are the colors? Way too much tieing not enough dying. See what happened here was a classic mistake. I listened to my husband. He's more the "hardcore hippie" one and he insisted he knew all about tie dying and he would teach me...

These are OK... but let's see who got schooled here...

See the bold heart in the front? one of the only ones I DID by myself. And though they are hard to see there are other hearts and peace signs and a few decent spirals that I did for the most part. Needless to say I took over this mission.

The best part about it was I got to tell John "hey if you want this done your going to have to do it MY WAY. You will do what I say when I say and question nothing. I will have complete authority.....understood?!?"

This is pure bliss to my little Capricorn heart...

Bonnie claimed this one already...

And here she is. Proof she DOES leave the house sometimes!

This is my rainbow series..

I did a few more hearts..

Some circles...

and circles all over the place...

Spirals,

Freedom actually did this one!

Some lines,

A peace sign,

A sad attempt at a grateful dead steally

(yes I know the lightening bolt is missing, I tried really)

And what is this curious creation among my works....?

"You don't need this one mom I can do it instead!"

Thanks buddy, that was my best shot at an alien!

Some of these I found directions for online,

some I just made up myself (rainbows, alien, steally)

A vast improvement from the first batch wouldn't you say?

My project for the next flea market is going to be fish, mushrooms and flowers.

Any suggested shapes? I can do most anything symmetrical.

If anyone wants detailed instructions I will be more than happy to provide them.

By the way, does anyone know how to make a star?????

(or anything else cool)

Blessings,

Kat

P.S. Keep an eye out for my giveaway coming soon. I finally got enough followers to have one I just have to decided what I make that I think is worth giving away, ha ha.

Exploring our home town and cherishing our homestead

2010-08-03T22:15:00.000-04:00

Wednesday has been named our art project day. We made acordian books. Freedom and I made our ownand worked together on one for Cypress. Freedom's was about volcanoes and nature. The inside reads:

The winds blows things away,

The volcano washes people super clean,

The water helps people float,

The earth helps people live.

I was so impressed at the underlying theme of the four elements without any suggestions from me as to what could be written about. What a doll!

He even wrote the final credits by hand. he has gotten very into writing things by himself. It makes me really excited when he comes bounding out of his room after some free time to show me the list he has written for me of my chores. Thanks for the reminder buddy!

Freedom chose to make Cy's a bit more personal. It is titled

"Cypress like to..."

and it reads a bit more simply

Crawl

~~Do Cartwheels~~

Cry

Climb

How cute it that? All things that start with the same letter as his name. When I cut out the "C" for the front cover Free decided to glue it to a scrap paper we had ...

He brought it to me and says look mom it's Cypress. See his two little teeth it the front and two eyes? He even has a little hair too, just like real Cypress!"

After quiet time we headed to our home town to explore.

We have been living in Horseheads for about 2 years, yet we have never really explored the down town area. We learned how we got our name. Neat story actually.

We took a walk around Hanover square. We visited the library, saw the fire station and stopped into "Dog Eat Dog" for a milkshake. It was simple and really fun!

After dinner we collected some black walnuts (or so I have been told these are) from our back yard. Does anyone know what can be done with them? Then we started our new outdoor stories tradition, got washed off and then off to bed.

Another pleasing end to another pleasing day. Not every second was pure bliss, don't get me wrong. We still had some melt downs, that's life. But Rome wasn't built in a day right?

I have to say I am really suprised. I have simply playing and creating for a few days now. Not trying to teach anything at all. Yet, somehow he is learning in leaps and bounds! I can't believe what's been happening right before my eyes. It's like he doesn't need me or anyone else to instruct him. I am starting to see what the whole idea behind Waldorf is, or so I think.

Blessings,

Kat

Tuesday is Daddy's day and a delicious popsicle

2010-08-01T22:36:00.000-04:00

So I know it's been a while between posts. This revolution at my house has taken a lot of time and energy to make it work. But it is going very well so far. We have been so busy and learned so much.

Tuesday has been deemed Daddy's day with the boys to do something interesting. Freedom asked to go fishing.

The boys got their hooks baited with corn

Freedom even had a go at it himself! He was pretty proud of that.

Dad cast his line...

Freedom followed suit. Pretty well I might add.

I took a ride to the grocery store nearby minus one kiddo and then met back up with the boys for snack.

Next the boys had some fun at the park.

I always love to see them doing a bit of team work. Wish this shot was a video so you could hear all the giggling!

On to a bit of rock climbing.

Free as a bird way up in the sky. Remember when four feet felt like four stories? I miss that feeling!

And here I thought Freedom had forgotten all he had seen me do at work. It's been a long time since I was posing kids and snapping smiles, but he nailed this position exactly with no direction. I guess that's the price we pay for using him as the guinea pig for all my new employees to practice on during training.

Later after dinner we made some blueberry pomegranate Popsicles. Here's how we did it, they were delicious!

Juice the pomegranate...

Clean some blueberries

Blend these in a food processor

Put some plain or vanilla yogurt in a bowl and add the berry mix

Mix it all together and put it into Popsicle makers

We put ours in the freezer overnight and ate them for breakfast.

Go ahead, they are good for you!!

Later that night we visited some friends. Then made some chicken and dumplings, followed by baths, stories and finally bed!

It was a pretty good day, I think everyone had a really good time. Dad is looking forward to fishing with him again this Tuesday, but I am trying to convince them to do tie dye. I'm DYING for it, ha ha!! OK sorry for the corny jokes I guess I am just trying to make up for lost time cracking needless jokes in the blog world since I have been pretty much MIA for the last week. Sorry for that but this takes an immense amount of time. So very worth it though!

Blessings,

Kat

Testing the Waters on a Waldorf Rhythm

2010-07-27T01:09:00.002-04:00

I have been playing with the idea of homeschooling my sons for quite some time now. I haven't entirely made up my mind yet. This is a huge decision, obviously, and it's not one I am entirely ready to make. However, I am trying out some things to help me determine what is going to work best for our family. I have decided to try creating a rhythm similar to what I have seen done in other Waldorf inspired homeschooling homes. I don't exactly know any of these families personally so I mostly just followed Ariella's example, as always, from CHILDHOOD MAGIC. Here is how my first day went.

Cypress and I got up at 7 am, made coffee, prepared for the day. I got some mango ready for breakfast but Cy could barely wait, clearly!

Once mangoes were peeled and oatmeal was prepared I crept into Free's room, and woke the sleeping dragon at 8 am...

We had our breakfast and I got the kitchen ready for our daily project. We have decided to make Monday into cooking day. He was very excited to hear that! Freedom loves to spend time in the kitchen.

He took a bit of time to himself after breakfast since project started at 9. He decided to take this time to exercise. Starting with running around the living room...

Followed by jumping jacks, what an odd but healthy choice of ways to spend your morning.

Then he decided to make something to help me fly, or direct a marching band, whichever I prefer. How thoughtful : )

And then completely out of nowhere a big giant hug. It was the most fun I have had before breakfast in a long time

Cypress and I got ready. This is the only way I could get something like this done, and the reason you will not see Cypress for a bit. (this is wrap I made the other day similar to the Mayan wrap or the sleepy baby wrap, super easy!!)

And 9 am we started our baking project: sourdough bread

Mixing and kneading was fun..

But not half as fun as the mess he got to make with the flour!

We had to let the dough rise for and hour so I gave Free a break to do whatever his little heart desired. He was so excited about our new rhythm he wanted to draw it himself. It really touched my heart to see how much he loved what I was doing.

Cypress had fallen asleep thanks to the wrap, I love it!

So I got the chance to help Free with the puzzle he chose for this break.

Then Cypress woke up just in time to help us break it down

We had a snack next. Freedom asked for celery and peanut butter.

A few pokes at the dough

And waiting for another 45 minutes. Freedom asked me to show him how I finger knit...

This is a VERY new skill for me as I just started yesterday but here's my first attempt at double finger knitting...

This is where it all came together. Freedom plays the wii. I know I know, just hear me out. I give him 4 tokens on Monday and they are each good for 30 minutes. He can't use more than one a day and it has to be an active, non-violent game. No sitting on his butt, beating up bad guys. He loved this new way of approaching our day so much he handed me a token...

My immediate response was "no way Free we are busy, sorry, not today". He says "wait mom I know but these aren't for video games any more, they are for CRAFTS!!!!!!"

Mission accomplished! We started to make some felt crowns to sew onto the strip of double finger knitting I did. I cut out a white crown shaped piece. I let Free cut out some shapes to glue on. He cut out a little green piece and informed me that it was a crown for the mouse king in case he came and forgot his own.

I was so impressed to see the way his imagination took off. He has always been a creative boy but today was just so magical. Our crown was mostly finished today but we will have to put it together tomorrow.

We threw the bread in the oven for a little bit. Freedom was dying to show me how he could write his name...

And then for the first finished project. Doesn't this look great?

By this time it was 11:30 time to get ready for lunch. This was where we had our first melt down. Free was hungry, Cy was tired and I was dying for a shower after having the oven running all day. No pictures of this but we had lunch at noon and then quite time till about 1:30. I really was surprised at the turnout of quite time. Cy fell asleep and Free was actually pretty quiet for an hour!

Anyway, when Cy woke up we decided to go to the park down the road and walk around the pond and play. I tied Cy on and away we went.

I am not exactly sure about the significance of the colors in Waldorf education, but I believe Monday is red. So we decided to see how many red things we could find on our walk...

Once around the pond and then for a snack under a shady tree.

Telling stories

And enjoying a chance to refuel

Free even had a roll down the hill..

This was the perfect time to relax in the grass and reflect on what we had been through during our first rhythmic day...

Of course it is too early to say what I have decided. As it stands I am going to give Kindergarten a shot, but I have already explained to Free it's not a guarantee. If I don't feel that they are meeting his needs, that they are soulful and mindful with him, I am pulling him out. Period.

I felt so good at the end of today. Freedom LOVED it. Cypress went with it pretty well. All and all it just kind of fit in. There are a few areas that need some tweaking, but all in all it was fabulous. I can't overhaul my whole life in a day, but we can turn over a new leaf. I cannot wait for tomorrow. Tuesday is dad's day to do something special with Freedom. They are going to fishing as the 9 o'clock project of the day. Orange is the color, wonder how we can work that in?

Well here's to luck with day two. I will keep you guys posted. If any of you have any suggestions, I am all ears. I'm sure it will be great. I cannot wait!

Wish me luck,

Kat

By the way, there is a giveaway of some toys and a dream catcher made by Karen over at Bare Feet and a Free Spirit

Check her out and enter the giveaway, they are super cute!

Making Baby Snacks

2010-07-25T10:02:00.001-04:00

I have been making my own baby food as long as I have had babies. However, I always bought the teething biscuits, mum mums Zwieback toast etc. When it came to that type of baby food I was clueless. Until now. I found this lovely site. They offer so many great recipes for little ones. I decided to try these oat and naner drops. Here's the recipe.

1 c quick oats

1 c ground oats (grind oats and make a coarse oat flour)

1/4 t salt

1/4 t cinnamon or ginger or cardamom (we'd try it with all 4 spices.)

1/4 t nutmeg

1 t baking powder

1 c (~2) overripe bananas, mashed

1 t vanilla extract

3 T oil of choice (I used sesame oil)

Here's what you need to do:

First: preheat the oven to 350. Grind your oats to make the flour (mentioned above). The you should mix all your dry ingredients together in one bowl - oats, flour, baking powder, salt, nutmeg and spice of your choice (I just used cinnamon).

Next: mash your bananas well. Mix together all your wet ingredients in a separate bowl - bananas, vanilla, oil (I used sesame oil and this worked really well)

Then: mix your ingredients together

Now: place some parchment or wax paper on a cookie sheet so you can avoid adding unnecessary grease. I chose to form these into more of a bar shape than the drop shape suggested in the original recipe so they're easier for little fingers.

Next: pop these bad boys into the oven and wait about 12 - 15 minutes

I actually ended up waiting about 15 minutes but when they are done they don't look any different than they did to start so don't wait for these to brown before you take them out or you've just burnt them.

Here's our finished product:

Next, take them to the experts for a taste test......

He's putting a lot of thought into this one, testing consistency, flavor, durability...

He likes it!!!!

Mama likes them too! The sesame oil added a really neat flavor that went well with the bananas (and sounded better than olive oil, which was the only other option, yikes) They also weren't very messy. My kids have had biscuits that cover all their face and clothes in some bizarre goop or crumbled instantly into a million pieces. These are less mess and less work for mom. So my take on these is that they are Eco-friendly baby snacks since I don't have to wash 7 baby shirts a day or vacuum the floor after every single snack session. They contain no wheat or eggs and my version is vegan friendly thanks to the sesame oil.

They get two enthusiastic thumbs up from me, and Cypress!

What are your favorite baby friendly recipes? We can never have too much variety for this little chow hound! I'd love to hear any tried and true recipes you have.

Making A Musical Tree

2010-07-21T23:18:00.000-04:00

Once upon a time I read a little story in a magazine about what "cool parents" do. I can't remember the exact publication now or even when it was released since it was a hand me down. They suggested lots of outlandish things like creating a huge outdoor obstacle course so your children never had to touch the ground!? Not exactly for me but I did come across the idea of the musical tree, so we decided to do it. I just happened to have a huge broken wind chime that was left here when we moved in. It must be fate!

I dismantled it and hung it's chimes throughout the tree with a few pieces of hemp. If you haven't been blessed with such a treasure, don't panic. You can hang anything that will make a noise when it is hit. Metal pots, bars, pans, plates, bowls, silverware... Get creative ladies like I know you can! This tree is not very big so I tried my best to make sure the chimes were far enough apart that it can be enjoyed by more than one child without incurring a concussion :)

Next there comes the question of what you will use to make the chimes produce a sound. I knew right away I had to have wood as I have neighbors on either side of me and that keeps the noise a bit more muted than, say, metal. We started with a few sticks but always lost them when we were done in the grass and had to find new ones each time. So I took a gander in the wood pile and an old chair was there, all broken to bits. I Immediately removed the legs and any nails on them.

TA DA noise makers!

But of course I had to make them pretty! And what do you think you would find inside the holes from it's original assembly.....?

This is so tiny and it was pretty hard to get in there but I just couldnt' stand the thought of leaving this little nook unloved! Isn't she cute?

This tree has many uses actually we also ripped up an old shirt and made it into tiny strips to tie onto her branches for blessings, wishes, making statements etc. So if this is something you're interested in adding on you can first cut some little divots in the fabric at even spaces. I did about 2 inches.

And then let the little one tear them apart for you. It's a nice project for small hands. My son loves anything that involves destruction. What's a mama to do?

When we have something we need, or a prayer to "solidify" to the earth herself, or someone we need to send our thoughts to, whatever we feel like basically, we tie one on her branches.

Tying is a new skill for him and takes a bit of concentration.

Though it takes a long time, it's so worth it when you see how proud it makes him. He just wished for a trampoline. That's what he ALWAYS wishes for. Who can blame him they are super fun! One day we will have to break down and buy him one.

Then you just let them go wild!

Banging and clanging to their hearts content.

It's a beautiful sound and it's so cool to watch them go!

Even the baby likes it.

He may not be able to create a tune , but he's just the right height for grass eating. Yeah I know it's not exactly the best for the digestive system but if I truly tried to stop him every time there's no way I could do anything else during my time outside. So, he's building immunities ladies, relax!

And the paint makes these a million times easier to find in the grass when crazy kids discard them anywhere in the yard they please. See it's not just frilly, it's functional.

So ladies I am open to suggestions for things I can hang to create more noise. There are only so many broken wind chimes in storage around here. Though I do have the frame for an old metal chair I am going to drill holes into and add but how about something that adds a bit more "personality"? Also I would love to keep my fabric strips on the tree somehow, any ideas? You are the crafty girls to ask for such things...

If any of you decide to give this a try please let me know, I am excited to see what you come up with!

Blessings,

Kat

I'm getting real, SQUEEMISH BEWARE!!

2010-07-21T00:20:00.000-04:00

So I was over at Twig and Toadstool and I noticed a post titled "Let's Get Real". Intrigued I decided to check it out. I found a beautiful goddess-like mama, Maureen, bearing her true self to all the blog community. I thought how brave, how bold, how daring, how liberating.... I knew I was going to have to give it a go. She was so much better at being kind to herself than I am but I will to my best to be a very real KRISTIN NICOLE LUTZ (this is my full birth name, despite the marriage and the alias of Kat) while keeping the negativity to a minimum. So here goes a glimpse of me and my very real, not all fun, morning...

Here's the REAL mess in my dinning room. Oil soaked watercolor paper for later, grumpy baby, impatient kiddo waiting on me to play batman uno, and my savior: coffee!

Some of what makes me who I am today: the ashes of my little sister and giant papa, my grandmother's musical statue (i could hum that tune in my sleep!), great grandmother's tea pot I use for my tea leaf reading set, my coffee, my messy room..

and here I am, not the worst picture I have ever taken, it show the necklace (i can't get off) that free made just because he loves me, aww

Making faces

Including this one that you will NEVER see again. This is the "Disney princess smile". A look I have loathed being captured for most of my life! But this is what I look like when I REALLY smile. It's a rarity!

This is what happens whenever I go to do anything: child induced interruptions...

Free is such an attention hog!

And Cy was teething today (bye bye vampire fangs) so any time I set him down this is what happened. It's enough to drive any mom to this...

This is apparently what I look like after 5 hours of skirt pulling. I was going to my "happy place" for a second. Can't show you the shots of me skirt less, this is a G rated blog. However I eventually had enough and just dropped the skirt next to our dining table in the hopes that maybe the swishy fabric was attracting him. No such luck!

This is what I look like chastising Free for playing with the camera, but since we are getting real, this is the real lecture face.

and this is the real working/concentrating face. I decided to try to do something better, fix my deeply embedded self esteem issues, return to my roots...

I decided to put a reminder for myself whenever I am looking in the mirror,

full of doubt and self loathing...

To see beyond the reflection to the woman who is not just making due but is doing the best she can. The woman who is raising 2 kids, caring for one man/big kid, tending house, "going green", and still trying to remember who she was 7 years ago. That free spirit, go anywhere, do anything, love everyone, begrudge nothing girl is still deep inside this woman, no matter how many stretch marks she has, pounds she gains/loses or "laugh lines" she sees in the mirror.

This is the culmination of who I am.

A girl in a woman's body trying to see the best but ever apprehensive at the reflection.

Beautiful Blogger award

2010-07-19T08:15:00.000-04:00

I have recieved my first award ever!! I am so excited. I recieved the Beautiful Blogger award from Suzy over at Scraps of Starlight. I feel super special and loved. I am so very glad that I have stumbled into this little land of blogging. The people I have encountered are so friendly, inspirational and heartwarming. I don't know what I would do without all you beautiful mamas! So now I get the opportunity to spread the love to ten other Beautiful Bloggers....

The rules for recieving this award are...
*Add a link and note of thanks to the blogger presenting the award to you
*Share this with 10 other Beautiful Bloggers

So here are my ten (wish I coulld give out more!)

1) CHILDHOOD MAGIC
2)Diary of an Indy Grrrl
3)A Journey to a Simple Happy Life
4)Cypress Space
5)Bare Feet and a Free Spirit
6)Moment to Moment
7)Earthboys
8)Worms Eye View
9)Twig and Toadstool
10)Loopity Lou

Congrats ladies. I chose each of you carefully because you deserve it. I owe something special to each of you and I suppose this is my humble way of saying thank you.

Blessings,
Kat

Krafty Kiddos!!

2010-07-17T22:13:00.001-04:00

We had our first ever gathering of the Krafty Kiddos and their mamas today. It was fabulous! Everything went pretty well. We made batik tee shirts and bird seed cakes. I'm not even going to pretend this was all my idea. I stole the birdseed cakes from here and I got the idea for the shirts from CHILDHOOD MAGIC but the full instructions are at That Artist Woman. So here's how it went...

We started by letting the kids pick pictures from a coloring book since I can't draw anything freehand and it let the kids pick something without making the possibilities endless.

Next we tore out the pages and put in inside of the shirt. We had our mama's in charge of the gluing

process.

We figured it was a more precise job, better suited for the adults, but feel free to let the kids do it themselves if you'd like.

Once the whole thing is outlined your ready to let them dry.

I live in a wind tunnel of sorts so this was a bit easier said then done. The best way we found to accomplish this without them blowing over in the wind and smearing all our glue was to weigh it down with rocks...

While we let them dry we mixed up our birdseed and got that project started.

The kids had a blast getting handfuls of birdseed mix and packing it into their cookie cutters.

We didn't have molds so we made the mix a bit thicker than the original recipe. We covered a cookie sheet with wax paper and just put the mix into cookie cutters.

I added a loop of yarn to each one for hanging and put them in the freezer to speed up the process. And then on to painting our shirts...

All the kids really liked this part.

We mixed acrylic paint with some water. We put each color in Tupperware and let the kids loose.

I think the hardest part for me was getting Freedom to use a variety of colors. At one point the whole thing was almost orange.

All the kids were really good about sharing.

Even the adults got into the fun. Moments before this photo was taken he was painting her toe nails orange, awww!

It was really great for me to see so much creative fun in my own back yard. I love having everyone together, just beautiful!

Happy kids, happy mamas!

Ariana was the first one done...

The rest weren't far behind

Some of the mama's went through afterwards and filled in some of the white parts just to give it a more complete look. Then it was time to pop our little birdseed cakes out of their molds.

That was a witch, this one's a ghost. Can you guess which holiday is my favorite?

Aren't they cute? They set up pretty quickly too I was impressed. I could hardly wait to check out our shirts. Once they were all rinsed in warm water this is what we ended up with...

I think they turned out great.

All in all it was a great day. Lots of laughter and fun, getting old friends together and making new ones. Some of the other highlights were when all the mamas were pumping out peanut butter, jelly and banana sandwiches assembly line style. It was hilarious, classic teamwork. Oh and the fact that Kim and I were dressed almost identically. Green shirts, skirts, even the hair matched. And NO, before you ask, we did not plan this.

So many reasons to smile today I can't even count. I want to give a special thanks to all my mamas who made it today, and made it fabulous! I am looking forward to see all of you (and a few more) next week. I can hardly wait for next week when we make giant bubble wands and something else. Any suggestions?

This was my sunset today, just gorgeous! It made the whole area look pink. Just wanted to throw that in there.

Blessings,

Kat

How to make a three layer Grateful Dead cake with marzipan topping

2010-07-14T00:04:00.001-04:00

As part of our first handmade holiday we decided to make a special cake at home for my husband's 32nd birthday. I recently learned how to make marzipan which opened up a whole new world of baked goods to me as you can color and mold it into anything! So here's what I did...

First we made marzipan for the top, here's the recipe:

2 tubes of almond paste (don't use marzipan paste!)

1 egg white

2 tablespoons of pure almond extract (don't use immitation!)

2 cups of confectionary sugar

*mix this all together till you have a consistancy similar to play dough

I then seperated it into 3 equal parts and used the wilton's paste dyes to dye it

blue, red and left one part off white.

If you cover this it can sit for a while

we made it the night ahead and it was still great 2 days later!

**Thank you again Falon!! You saved the day!!**

I used two boxes of yellow butter cake mix (john picked it not me) mixed according to the box.

I split these into 3 round cake pans sized 7,8 and 11 inches.

Make sure you level off each cake so they will sit nicely on top of each other.

I used a plain white whipped cream frosting between the layers as well as to frost the whole cake.

I then added the tie dye affect to the cake by dropping liquid food coloring all over the cake and swirling with a toothpick.

Be careful not to swirl it too much, just enough or the colors get a bit murky

Then I added the marzipan steely. I found a picture online copied that.

I did it piece by piece, first the red and blue circle in the skull, then the lightening bolt, next i did the thin layer of white around this and connected it to face. I made this by using 3 different size white ovals and squishing them together with my fingers as I went so they looked like they were one. I next added the blue and red around the outside. I had marzipan left after this so I dyed a small ammount black and used that for the eyes and nose.

For the finishing touch I outlined the whole thing with black frosting and added teeth.

Lastly I wrote Happy Birthday!!

Here's the finished project, candles and all.

It was so much fun to make.

I cannot wait for Caleb's birthday next month.

Any ideas for a theme for an 11 year old boy's birthday??

Tie Dye Three Layer Grateful Dead Cake and Handmade Patchwork Shorts

2010-07-11T18:47:00.001-04:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY LOVE!!!!

This is a super quick post. Today Is John's birthday so I just wanted to pop in and give you a sneak peek into what I have been up to. In the last less than 24 hours I have made a 3 layer tie dye grateful dead marzipan cake and a pair of mens patchwork shorts. I will be expanding on this post tomorrow but I miss blogging so here's a tiny snippit....

Hope you love them as much as we do! I have been super busy girls and I have a party to tend too so I shall return in the am with tutorials!

Blessings!

Caleb makes a movie!!

2010-07-09T23:26:00.001-04:00

I have a wonderful stepson that I haven't blogged much about yet. We don't get to see him as much as we like, making it hard for us to share as many experiences as we would prefer.

But we certainly try to make the best of all the time we have. He is Freedom's best buddy and they spend A LOT of time playing together!! He's such a fabulous big brother, I count my blessings every time I see those two together. Freedom is a very lucky boy, I was a hellacious big sister I know how bad it could have been : )

Now he has done something that he is very proud of and we share his enthusiasm. He is involved in a summer program that centers around robotics and broadcast media. I am pretty impressed that he has chosen to fill his summer with classes and continue his education year round. It appears to be paying off. He showed his father and I a movie today that he made with a friend for a competition and he took third place!! I promised I would share it with you but I am having some trouble linking it to this post so I will keep working on it. In the mean time I just want to take this opportunity to mention his accomplishment and say how proud we are of his achievement!

WE LOVE YOU CALEB!!

Finally on the line... and other hot stories

2010-07-08T23:41:00.001-04:00

FINALLY I put up my clothes line. I have been swearing I was going to do this for weeks. I really enjoy hanging the clothes and gathering them up. It makes me feel good about my self for doing something in a more primitive way. I feel like I am connecting with my roots. What a fabulous experience I have had with it so far!

On another note It has been swealtering hot here lately and I have been doing my best to keep myself and the boys cool.

There is a lot of time spent in the pool...

Everyone gets into the action

The boys find all sort of interesting ways to keep busy while they are in there...

They especially make use of my laundry basket!

Even the big kids get into it, literally!

Then they both get into it?

Where did they go?

Cy used to despise getting wet but even he cannot resist the opportunity to cool off

And before long he is loving it

till big brother makes a killer splash

I wish I had half of his energy!! Oh the things I could do...

Freedom pointed out the smiley face in the cloud, see it?

We checked out the flowers in our overgrown lawn.

My kids very much enjoyed parading around the yard like a couple of nudies, it was way too hot for clothes, and who doesn't love a naked baby?

Even one with fangs...

We also got into the hose a bit while mom was soaking vines and watering the garden..

We even played a game of Hullabaloo

It was a beautiful few days, despite the heat, we had soo much fun!

I really wish I could figure out how to get the pictures off my phone so I could share all my photos of the waterfall trips with you and the rainbows within them. We went 3 times and had such a blast. I wish summer would never end. It is certainly my favorite time of year even when it's hot as hades!!

How do you and yours keep cool when the temperature rises?

pssst....if you get a moment and want to try your luck there are a few giveaways worth checking out right now in the blog world...

*There's an art book up for grabs over at That Artist Woman

*If your an Aussie by chance, there's a kids book and some art supplies over at

By Way Of the Moon

*If your quick there are some art supplies being offered by Ariella at CHILDHOOD MAGIC

(this giveaway ends today so hurry hurry)

*Amber is giving away play horse reins at Mamma moontime

Also there is a really cool pay it forward type giveaway somewhere but blogger is having some sort of issue and I can't access all the blogs I follow so I guess just keep your eyes peeled for that one!

and I will certainly let you know if I find it.

Good luck!

Making a family Nest

2010-07-05T20:32:00.002-04:00

Important note:

**some days I'm a good housekeeper, some days I am a fun mom**

So once upon a time I was reading some parenting magazine or another and I came across an idea I simply loved, The Family Nest. I tried it once before with painful results. Unless you have a plethora of thick blankets, every single blanket in the house isn't enough to quell the possibility of waking up with a stiff neck and sore back. The idea is to make one night a week or month or whatever into the nest night. Gather up all the blankets in the house (or in our case, my mattress) and put it in the living room so everyone can sleep all snuggled up in your nest. This is how round two of the family nest went.....

First there was the jumping...

Then when I returned from making popcorn, this strange "lump" appeared. I heard a little voice coaxing me to "check on the lump mom!" But when I did....

RRAAAWWRR!!!

Cypress had fun too since he was finally tall enough to reach mama's computer.

A future blogger in the making??

We watched a movie and ate popcorn.

We said our good nights...

And went to sleep, finally!

Cypress woke up first,

All smiles as always!

Then he gave Free some sweet kisses to wake him up. Awww!

That's one of those moments that makes a mother's heart melt right there!!

Then Free showed dad how to get into the fun, how cute!

All in all we had a great time. When Free was little he co-slept with John and I but he's all grown up now and Cypress sleeps in his crib about half the night and spends the other half with me. It's nice though to give it a name and a designated day. It makes it a special family event we can all look forward to throughout the week. Thanks for taking the time to check it out.

Blessings!

By the way, if you have a minute stop over to CHILDHOOD MAGIC and check out her giveaway, it's awesome as always!

Our faerie ring

2010-07-03T23:55:00.000-04:00

We have a little faerie ring in our front yard. It was made naturally as we noticed one day that there were purple flowers growing in a perfect circle around an old stump. So I present a few pictures of my sons favorite outdoor spot, and the fun we have had with it.

And today as we were out trimming the madness that grows in and around it we met our ring's first

inhabitant....

See him peeking out through the grass?

My son insisted we share our friend. Even though he has no name yet...

Any suggestions?

Handmade Wind Chimes

2010-07-02T14:26:00.000-04:00

So I went to the flea market on Sunday and was terribly inspired. I came home and tried hard to think of something I could make to entertain myself and earn a little extra cash. I decided to make wind chimes. Each one is different as I just kinda make them however I feel like at that particular moment. So far I have made 3. I could really use some feedback. What do you like best, what sounds do you prefer, suggested groupings or color schemes? the possibilities are endless and it's always nice to have a fresh perspective when your creating something. I don't know about the rest of you but I am TERRIBLY critical of my own work, so posting it is a bit therapudic. I appreciate any constructive criticism or helpful advice. so without further ado here is my work thus far...

I used vines to make the top piece that the noisy stuff hangs from

Or sticks...

I wrapped pieces of glass with wire

and hung them with various ribbons...

I added bamboo or metal...

And here are the three finished works I have so far...

They are much harder to make then they look!

Each has a very unique sound, some are noisier than others. i am going to make some entirely of sea shells and one with wrapped glass suspended a bit haphazardly from a spiral vine. I will post pics of those too but in the mean time, please tell me what you think so far. Be honest!

Thanks for taking the time to check them out!

Blessings!

Our water trip with grammy

2010-06-27T00:22:00.003-04:00

We went to the lake last night to visit my grandmother aka Grammy. It was a special trip as it almost took the place of our much beloved yearly journey to the ocean to visit Grammy and giant papa. Missing that trip left a hole in us for many reasons but we just couldn't make it this year. It wouldn't be right without papa... That said this mini vacation took on a new importance to me and it was fitting that it be near a body of water. We had a blast! The trip for me had a different sort of feeling, surreal almost. The largest part of me felt like I stepped back in time to 1960's. I just could envision myself serving bacon and eggs lake side in a halter top and pig tail braids jamming out to Lynard Skynard while the little ones jump off the dock. Thanks to the magic of photo enhancement I was able to display my photos to you all in a way that almost captures what I was seeing in my minds eye. So without further ado I give you our trip to the lake.......

Freedom's first dip in a lake (that he will remember)

Before long he was swimming like a fish...

While Daddy kept a watchful eye

Uncle Konnor got into the action

Kept Free pretty entertained

But couldn't convince him to jump in

"Look Freedom I can jump sideways!!"

Eventually he was ready to get out,

but leave it to mom to stop and smell the flowers...

It became a very daisy themed trip, they have always been my favorite!

This picture was taken in the window of the cottage as we were crossing the street,

Free thought I was nuts when I said freeze, but the reflection was too cool to pass up!

So we went in to get some dry stuff on and get ready for a sunset walk.

We explored, and found some neat things on the way..

"How cool, what does it go to, mama?"

Someone popped out to say hello

Finally ready for the walk, just waiting for mama

We saw so many beautiful things!

Up the creek..

Down the creek..

My son found a daisy of his own

Just like his mama!

And daddy found a moment of bliss

Free decided to share the daisy with me

"Or you can put it in your hair mom!"

I saw a hopeful future for John and I...

And shadows of our present

Cypress saw a dog barking,

though Free jumped almost out of his skin,

Cypress thought it was hilarious!

By the end of the trip my friend the daisy had about had it...

I returned to find Grammy watching the last of the sunset enjoying cherries, yum!

Finally my friend gave up!

The boys spent some quality time together in the evening

And two sisters spent some quality time together in the morning

I hope Dylan and I share those moments some day, how beautiful!

Grammy and I enjoyed the morning coffee

And I set off to visit with the "keeper of fortunes"

She passed on this nugget of wisdom..

As well as this...

What a wise sage! Maybe she was responsible for this?

And as I was leaving I couldn't help but wonder...

Is this where the key belongs?

We had such a good time and I wish I had more. There were so many beautiful and interesting things there, both the obvious and the more abstract. I was happy to be away from home and reconnect with all the beauty of the season. I was happy to see all my boys smile and each discover treasures of their own. I hope this leaves them all lasting memories like it has me. Thank you Grammy from sharing this water trip with us.

Puddle Jumping

2010-06-24T19:37:00.000-04:00

At some point this afternoon we got the pleasure of a heavy down pour. Shortly after that I was reminded of my list of comforts I made this morning and I realized one that I forgot to add. So I interrupted my sons lunch and instructed him to put on his rain boots and meet me outside. He was a bit confused but I'm sure my excited tone made him too curious to refuse.

Rain boots, check!

I asked if he had any clue why he had been summoned to our front yard, which he did not. I did not hesitate to demonstrate, wish I had pictures of that!

It was beautiful montage of water and mud and laughter!

I am working hard on saying yes more often and creating more simple moments that he can carry to his children.

We explored the depths of the marsh...

We found treasures amidst the muck...

And shared them with each other!

All and all the entire experience filled my heart with laughter, which we also shared. We found happiness in simplicity, which was a former goal of mine I am currently revisiting. When i asked him how it made him feel hours later his response was "awesome, whaa hoo, the best, cannonball, splash!!"

Mission accomplished!

How do you find happiness in simplicity?

Something comforting

2010-06-24T12:26:00.000-04:00

So one of my new favorite hobbies is checking out the recent posts for all the blogs I follow and I found a few I would like to share with you:

First and foremost, I found a beautiful suggestion for writing a comfort list here. Imene posted hers and I was inspired to do the same. You can view my list in her comments. I found this so refreshing just taking the time to recognize the beauty in your life for what it is and appreciate it. Thanks Imene!

Also, I have to include a link to the fabulous bamboo sailboat made by Ariella and her brood over at CHILDHOOD MAGIC It is such a neat idea and I cannot wait to go get some bamboo and try it with my little ones. Always a pleasure to "borrow" your projects Ariella!

And I also stumbled across a little giveaway at New Zealand Handmade. These softhearth originals are adorable. They were needle felted which always makes me swoon. Someday I swear I am going to learn some form of felting as the projects that are produced are the most gorgeous things I have ever seen!

And just one more. I found this article about tantrums to be quite a revelation for me and it has changed the way I will forever view my children's behavior. Such a blessing to come across someone with such an insightful view on parenting, my son thanks you!

Just wanted to take a minute and share a few of my recent treasures I have uncovered. Be sure to check them out I promise you won't be disappointed.

Making Glitter Globes

2010-06-22T22:41:00.001-04:00

So we finally got around to making these glitter globes for the teacher's gifts. It took us all day thanks to the baby and dinner and baths etc. but we finished. I got the original idea for family fun's no snow globes, but these have been greatly adapted to meet our needs. So here's what we did...

First you have to get some empty jars and clean them out. I let Free dry them once I got all the paper and glue off.

I made each a little sign that said Mrs. Chalk's Desk and Mrs. Lamica's Desk on black paper and glued them to brown paper and cut them out to look like little chalk boards. On the back I had Free write his name and I wrote the year, just to add a bit of sentimental value.

Next I covered them with packing tape thoroughly so that they would not leak inside the globe. Laminating would be great too but wasn't an option for me so I went with the tape. I also affixed a wire to them so I had something to glue to the lid to keep them in place.

Next I hot glued this sign and some flowers and a butterfly to the inside.

Be sure to check the fit of the arrangement frequently so that you don't make it to big for jar.

Next fill the jar almost all the way to the top with water and add a bit of glitter (don't overdue it I learned this lesson the hard way) probably about a tablespoon. I also added a bit of shiny heart confetti made of plastic that added a bit of fun to our sea of glitter.

Make sure when you put in the flowers in there are no pieces sticking out when you try to close the lid or it will leak. Closing the lid may take a few tries. Make sure to shake it about a few times to check for any leaking water. Once your satisfied with the seal you can hot glue the seal to make sure no water escapes down the road.

Next thing we did was cut a piece of green fabric into a square large enough to cover the lid. Size will depend on the size of your jar. Then I covered the lid with hot glue and affixed the fabric to it.

Cut off the extra fabric as close as you can so you have a nice clean edge.

Next we glued some moss around the bottom to cover the cut off fabric and make it look super pretty.

And that's it. They were pretty fun to make and not to difficult. Freedom got to do some hot gluing, which he loved, as well as cut fabric and pick out flowers. All in all I think they came out pretty nice. Mrs. Chalk's actually came out a bit better but both teacher's loved them immensely. I think we succeeded in creating a gift the teachers will not be forgetting any time soon, just like the little boy who made them!

Feel free to leave feedback as this is a fledgling project and I am sure we could make it better, or if you have questions I would be more than happy to answer them for you.

Thanks for checking them out. Blessings!

Loving our Dad!

2010-06-18T22:31:00.004-04:00

So with the inpending father's day I would like to first take a moment to cherish my husband and father of our two little boys, as well as one of his own. John is a bit underappreciated these days to say the least. We have been married almost 6 years and one of the reasons I married him was because he was such a wonderful father to

Caleb, his first son. He takes incredible pride in all his boys and has made a recent resolution to spend more one on one time with each of them. He is a self employed glass blower who works very hard nine to five to support his family. I am very proud of him and all he does for us. We love him very dearly, and for father's day I have decided to frame a unique photo of him with each of his boys. So I am hoping that maybe I can get a bit of feedback on my choice of photos...... (He hates having his photo taken so I chose ones that he was shown very mimimully)

Here's dad and Cypress

Here's dad and Freedom

Here's Caleb and dad

They are all a completely different style. Not sure if this is going to make them look badly together, maybe I should make them all sepia or choose different photos, what do you think?

Good morning song

2010-06-18T07:26:00.003-04:00

This morning I woke up and looked into the eyes of my 6 month old and was suddenly reminded of my morning song. When Free was little I would greet him every morning this way. However once he got a bit older it was hard to have him hold still even long enough for this...

I would sing to the tune of Tomorrow from Annie...

Good Morning!

I love you,

Good morning

here's a kiss (smooch)

to start your day!

Looking into these beautiful blue eyes I made a firm resolution to bring this "oldie but goodie" back into rotation!

By the way, lets give credit where credit is due, this photo was taken by Freedom and shown in its original (perfect) form. Let's hope he follows is mama's footsteps!

Teacher Appreciation

2010-06-17T23:26:00.004-04:00

My son freedom has two teachers, Mrs. Lamica and Mrs. Chalk (what a name for a teacher). With the end of his first year comming up I have been racking my brain and my mousing finger trying to figure out some cute and thoughtful way to show these fabulous teachers that we appreciate everything and to help them keep my little guy in mind as we are sure to be doing on our end. I cannot say enough for these teachers and their wonderful job this year. My son is very spirited to say the least and they have been patient and nurturing with him throughout the year. So this year I think we are going to make a home made glitter globe to personalize their desks. We will be posting some step by step instructions soon and showing off our final results. If you've done anything similar or have any ideas feel free to leave some feedback

My son Free

2010-06-14T00:28:00.044-04:00

This is my four year old son Freedom Reef. He is such a spirited amazing little guy. He has such a unique personality, it amazes me everyday! He is very musical, loves to sing, dance and play music. He has an amazing vocabulary too, and is practicing reading and sounding out words which just astounds me. He is such big man he doesn't act his age at all. Sometimes I just forget that he is just a four year old little boy. He is ALL BOY too. It's so refreshing to see him in school with all his friends and hear the teachers and perents talk about how much of a free spirit he is and how so many kids only open up to him. He makes his mama proud every single day. I cannot express how blessed I feel to have him each moment is full of enchantment, laughter, creativity and growing wisdom. So here's a small tribute to my little man...

Freedom Reef Mama loves you soo much!

You're my wish come true..

Thank you baby!

Cypress's first parade

2010-06-12T23:22:00.002-04:00

Today was a bit busier than planned. We took our sons to the parade and carnival and were pleasantly suprised with the results. I was a very small community event and we didn't expect much from it but I happily delivered lots of smiles and not shortage of entertainment. I was broken hearted that my camera is not working right now there were soo many beautiful moments I was dying to share. I did get a few photos of the boys at the parade. I had to have something to show for Cypress's first parade.

My first post

2010-06-12T10:16:00.001-04:00

Hello, and welcome to For love of my oceans! I cannot say how happy I am that you have happened to stumble across my small corner of the internet universe. I am a novice at blogging so I hope this doesn't dissapoint. Ok so maybe your wondering what the heck I am refering to with this title. It really will have nothing to do with actual oceans. I chose this name because both of my sons have oceanic middle names.....Reef and Tyde. And everything I am, think, and do in my life these days seems to always be for the love of my oceans. It's tha largest part who I am so what better title for the rantings and daily goings on of my life.

The purpose of my blog is an ever evolving account of my life as a wife and mother of two. As I learn to use this medium of expression you will be able to check out some of my fun/art as a photographer as well as some (hopefully) helpful tips and tricks for living and raising children in a healthy and natural way. I am far from perfect but I have gained a bit of knowledge and wisdom thus far and relish the thought of sharing it with you.

Thank you for taking the time to visit and check out my thoughts here. Blessings!