A Tale of Two Kings

So different, yet so much the same. Just years between them.

Both are Ostheimer and they are both are simply called 'King'. In April 2006 Ostheimer replaced the king you see with the dark red robe with the other one (with the lighter red almost pink robe).
I honestly can't decide which one I find more appealing. There are aspects of both that make them uniquely beautiful. I am more drawn to the older 'vintage' Ostheimers in general (especially when it comes to the knights, I'll post more about them later). I just find it interesting to see which figures they choose to change each year (if any) and what they do differently to them.

K likes to pretend the older king is the daddy king and that the newer one is his son.

When you look at the differences, take into consideration the fact that the older king has been played with longer so shows more love aka: wear.

Top of their heads (crowns):



Back:


Front:



Side:



Side:


Faces:



Oh, how our house loves Ostheimer :) Everyone from my husband on down to our cats loves these wooden toys. I don't think any of us can ever get enough of these works of art. I thought I'd share some of our love with all of you.

A Tale of Two Kings

Sweet Slumber

Here it is finally some pics of K's new bed! I know K's Nana has been waiting for these photos!

For everyone else that doesn't know they story behind this:
A couple weeks ago we finally got a much needed bed for K. She has been needing her own bed for quite some time but we knew we wanted an organic one for her and couldn't afford one. Plus it made us a little nervous b/c organic beds seem to only be online and you can't test them out. Then after research we found out we have a local organic bed store that has huge sales and clearances. We stopped in, tried them out and fell in love. K's mattress is the most comfortable in the house. It's locally made,and 100% organic made out of organic wool (from loved and happy sheep) and natural tree rubber. Even her bed itself is made in the USA from sustainably harvested trees. This was a purchase we could 100%feel great about! Ok well minus the fact that we used a credit card so will be paying it off for about a year! tee hee.

There are now wooden drawers under her bed, we didn't have them finished when I took the pic.
The bedding and everything else in her room doesn't really go with her room right now but we bought them for our next house. We are going to lazure her walls in the traditional peach blossom color. I picked this lavender color (in her current room)when I was pregnant with K and it seemed nice at the time. Now it just feels cold to me. Also we are slowly adding furniture in our home so K doesn't have much in her room but her bed. We hope to get a nightstand soon and some other things in there.


K and her beloved Fiona bear:


Rotating picture next to her bed above her doll cradle so she can reach it. from waldorf-toys


Pics hanging above her bed. Photos didn't come out the best b/c of the glass.

cows by Ruth Elasser

mama and baby by Ruth Elasser

K's zodiac sign,forgot the artist...


Doll cradle that was mine growing up now in K's room holding Sita,the doll C gave K when she was born. Super cute gnome quilt made by Ram in the Thicket on Etsy


K and K baby,her favorite doll.

Fairy hanging over her head when she sleeps:

Here's a pic that shows her drawers

These are the first few pics we took. I'll post more later on :)

Sweet Slumber

Valentine's Day Fun

We started out the day making some yummy smoked tofu scrambler and french toast.
The picture of the french toast makes it look not so appetizing but I swear it was really good!



French Toast:
1c vanilla rice drink
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tbsp nutritional yeast
1 tsp honey (or 1 tbsp sugar,it comes out a better consistency with sugar in the raw)
2 tbsp whole wheat flour
4 slices of whole wheat bread (we use our homemade bread)
Whisk together first 5 ingredients in a bowl and set aside. heat up cast iron griddle, dip bread slices in mixture coating both sides and place on skillet. flip when browned. serve with maple syrup.


Afterwards we made an early start to Williamsburg for the special holiday farmer's market. The farmer's market is closed all winter but they open it up for Valentine's day. It was in the low 50s so it was a nice cool,brisk day. Perfect for being outdoors. We brought both dogs with us,too.q I apologize for the pictures, I didn't have my camera and used Kevin's point and shoot.



Kevin with Nara and Paw Paw, K is in the Beco carrier on his back.


This dog is there ever time the farmer's market is open, he 'works' the soup stand.


Paw Paw waiting patiently for us.


I just had to get a pic of the fences they had there. We are hoping to make fences like this once we have our farm.


K got a special handmade lollipop while we were there (one of her few times we let her have sugar like that) and loved every minute of it.

C had more fun with a bag.


Hope everyone had a great day! <3

Valentine's Day Fun

Feeling the love

I am back on track with my sheep yoke neck cardigan YAY! So now hopefully I will still get it done (along with the booties and dress) in time for C's 1st birthday.

Starting some Valentine's day preparations around the house.
some V-day themed window stars:


a heart mobile K made at Kinderhaus.


Our kitty lovebirds (pic taken by Kevin)

They didn't have them at the time but Geisha and Midnight now have collars on them. Midnight has a tiger stripe one and Geisha a cute pink polka dot one. They look so sweet in them. My old kitty hardly ever wore a collar unless we were taking her on a walk..yes she wore a leash and collar and went for walks! but these 2 like to sneak outside on us sometimes so we figure it's better to be safe than sorry.

My baby love in her hat knit by Shelley. Geisha has since eaten one of the ties on this hat,darn kitty but thankfully Shelley is going to knit another tie so I can add it back on.


and lastly best friend love. Pic of K and Fiona taken back in the beginning of January.


Speaking of feeling the love. I received 2 more lemonade awards <3 <3 You mamas are all so sweet and amazing <3 <3 I'm very honored and humbled. Thank you Marina and Dawn <3

Feeling the love

moving forwards...and yet backwards

I decided that C needed a sheep yoke neck cardigan to wear for her 1st birthday (along with a matching knitted dress and sheep booties). To me this is slightly insane b/c I have never done stranded work or followed a chart. I started a couple days ago and after a lot of help from the wonderful ladies at ravelry I am well on my way. I am really excited to be conquering a new knitting skill and can't wait to make my own charts to add designs into everything. So here I am expanding my skills and moving forward but yet today I realized I need to go backwards a bit. I goofed up the flower pattern in the cardigan by not reading the fine print on the next page after the chart so I have to rip out what I have done up to the top of the flowers and start over. That slightly stresses me out but at the same time it's not that bad because I understand what I am doing now so it will be a fast re-do. Woo hoo!! Sorry,that was all kind of boring huh?

I knitted up some baby legwarmers for C a few days ago and they came out cute. I wanted to make them a bit taller but that was all the yarn I had in that colorway but they are perfect for her. They are long enough for her now and will work great for the next baby. The woman that designed the pattern asked my permission to use this pic on her pattern page <3
chubba chubba


K fell asleep on the couch with her Fiona bear the other night.

moving forwards...and yet backwards

Best Friends

I just had to share some of the pics from K and her best friend Fiona's photo shoot last week. Fiona moved to Florida last Sunday. We miss them terribly all ready.

















Lastly they both got matching bears with their pics in them (yes i know what you're thinking and yes its all polyester but i'm completely overlooking that! ):


They both have not put these bears down since they got them,sleeping with them at night and everything.
ok i'm not gonna cry...i'm not gonna cry...

I have more pics of the 2 of them to post but they willbe later on.

Best Friends

Candlemas

Today is Candlemas, also known as The Festival of Light.
It celebrates the beginning of the lengthening of the days, and in some traditions is considered the beginning of spring. This day is also halfway between Winter Solstice and Spring Equinox.

This festival began in pre-Christian times as a Celebration of Lights and of the Celtic goddess Brigit (February 1st). Candlemas takes its name from the blessing of the candles on this day for use in the church throughout the coming year. This is also a time where we look to the hibernating animals to come out and see if it is winter and whether or not we will have an early Spring,as well as a traditional time of preparation of the fields for later planting.

Some ways that Waldorf families celebrate Candlemas:

Think of goals and things you would like to see happen in this New Year together, in this time of new beginnings, as the earth becomes Spring again and do something to celebrate that.

Candle-making in some form – rolling candles, candle dipping, making earth candles outside in the ground and lighting them. Some families have their candles blessed on this day.

Till a garden plot for March planting.


We normally celebrate this the Saturday before with our dear friend Tiffeni at Kinderhaus. She has a lovely festival where we roll beeswax candles,light one and make a wish and she tells us a story. Unfortunately she had to cancel this year. K was excited to make a candle and celebrate Candlemas on that Saturday so I just went ahead and celebrated it that day instead of Feb. 2nd.

We followed Candlemas traditions all day. We had pancakes for breakfast (pancakes are a traditional Candlemas food. They are a symbol for the sun). I did a tiny bit out in the garden and started our Spring cleaning ritual. I also did some pretty heavy nesting and re-organizing of our kitchen and K's room over the weekend. The thing that symbolizes Candlemas the most for K is the making of candles. We didn't have any sheets of beeswax to roll so we instead melted some blocks of it and poured it into a heart shaped holder (figured I may as well make this for Valentines day as well).

Liquid beeswax setting:


Finished candle:


This was our special Candlemas candle for this year. We lit our special candle at dinnertime and made a wish for Springtime. We will continue to use this candle every meal until it is all gone,then we'll go back to using which ever candles we have around (we light candles for every meal in our house).


Candlelight lifting the darkness of winter and creating a new setting for spring!

Hope everyone has a wonderful Candlemas!!

Candlemas