It's almost....

the beginning of berry season, and if you couldn't tell by this post we are excited! We plan on going strawberry picking the end of this month and I am dreaming up some special dresses for the girls already (I do think it's time to get that sewing machine of mine back out from under the dust bunnies), as well as sweet sugar free yummies to make with said strawberries, of course.



But blackberries, oh blackberries - those are our sweet treasures. We only discovered the free wild blackberries at the end of the season last summer (a big thank you to Kyrie!)which was enough time to harvest a few baskets. This year, however, we have been making our plan of action much in advance and searching weekly for all the wild blackberry bushes around us. I am thinking of making a map with information on how many bushes we found in each area... would that be too much?






Those sweet stained fingers from harvesting...



and cute messy faces from enjoying their harvest.



Anyone else as excited as us, or are we the only berry crazy family? Oh and yes, to clear up any confusion, these pics are from last summer, so no weird early blackberry season here.

I almost forgot - Happy May Day (Sunday)! We have our school celebration next weekend and you can be sure pictures will follow here.

Have a great weekend everyone!

It's almost....

Glimpses

Current works in progress, around the home







...and our parent/child class at school



(hopefully these wet felted slippers will fit C when I am done)



What are you working on?

Happy creating!

Glimpses

The Last Installment

Here we are with the final installment of my pregnancy knitting aka - baby knits.
I hope I haven't been boring too many of you with all of this knitting. I just couldn't stop, eh, I still can't stop!





This little romper and bonnet were last minute knits that I suddenly felt the urgency to knit about a week before L was born. I am so glad that I did. He lived in these until I just couldn't squeeze him in them anymore. These pictures were taken on his last day wearing it, so it is a bit tight on him.



I pretty much picked out the yarn solely on the importance of going with those absolutely adorable toadstool buttons. The colors along with the buttons on the finished knits remind me of a sweet little baby forest gnome.







I plan on getting the next size up on my needles as quickly as possible. Romper Rav notes here, bonnet Rav notes here. The pattern is Small Things by Carina Spencer.



Another project inspired by beautiful yarn is this 'coming home' outfit. The yarn is from Inspired Mama MAKES in the Lucaburra colorway with coordinating aqua.
Just in case an of you were keeping tabs on my color choices with knitting - YES, turquoise/aqua is L's official color. It just seems so perfect for him, well, that and I don't think I can get away with dressing him in all peachy-pink knits, ahem. Anyways, back to the knits...







Truth be told, yarns by Inspired Mama Makes are one of my favorites to knit with. Erika's color choices are so much fun and always just perfect for what I am looking for. I swear it is as if she is reading my mind, sometimes!







It is a bit of a challenge to photograph a tiny baby in a cardigan/jacket since they are unable to sit up. Instead it looks all puffy and lumpy on them as they lay on their backs. *sigh* Oh well, I hope you can envision in your mind just how sweet it is on him. This coming home outfit was a bit big on him as a newborn but fits him perfectly now. Rav notes for longies here (picky pants pattern, always the picky pants pattern), and Rav notes for the jacket are here.







A warm wool pilot cap is a MUST in our house so this little hat was a priority to me. This turquoise yarn was calling out to me for this winter baby project, I am so glad I listened to it. I altered the newborn size of the pattern a tiny bit to have it fit him around a month old and it worked out perfectly. It's still going strong at 2 months and I plan on knitting some more of them out of cotton and silk for the warmer months coming up...at least I hope they are coming soon!
Rav notes here, pattern available here. Thank you Cadi for such a great knit!


Well, that's it! Thanks for sticking with me as I blabbed on and on about those little baby projects. I hope you are all having a bright start to your week!

The Last Installment

Made by my Little Ones

K has been busy on her craft days at school making Spring/Easter treasures to bring home.



She first came home with some sweet eggs she painted cuddled in a little basket.



A few days later she brought this wet on wet watercolor painting home along with...



A little spring basket! The teachers helped her make the basket out of one of her paintings and then they sprouted wheat grass in it. They felted a little chick on a clothespin, cut and sewed an egg out of wool felt and voila, a chick puppet.



We have been busy creating at home, too. I love spring crafting, it's so colorful and full of life. Here are a couple of our endeavors:

Sprouting wheat grass in egg shells.
Such a fun and easy way to bring spring indoors. We have these as the centerpiece the girls' table and also on our nature table.

Using the pattern from All Year Round (Lifeways)and one of C's paintings (in bright and cheery yellow, a color I am beginning to like more and more) we made a decoration for our dining room.



We folded her painting in half and traced the pattern twice, then cut them out. I found that an exacto knife worked the best for those small detailed areas inside the decoration.



Then I sewed the two cut outs together in the middle, starting from the bottom so that we had thread to hang it from on top. Would you believe that is the most sewing I have done in months?! I need to get back to my sewing machine, pronto!!



All done!



We then hung it over our table and admire it as we eat. Every meal, we light a candle and the heat from the flame makes our decoration twirl and dance. Magic!

Wishing you all have a beautiful weekend.

Made by my Little Ones

Reasons to Celebrate

Two glorious reasons to celebrate in no particular order (because they are both equally beautiful).

C is now three!


Birthday table
On Monday we honored C's third birthday with a nice, quiet family celebration.
She choose the meals and the plans. Such a simple, perfect day!




Birthday morning in her pjs
She chose to open her presents right after her birthday muffins (Oatmeal-carrot muffins from the Waldorf Kindergarten Snack Book). We have decided to help out the earth, save money and to make things even simpler we would start 'wrapping' our presents in the girls' play silks. They look so pretty wrapped this way and C has a much easier time opening them.


Mopsy (rav notes here)
This year I knit her a bunny out of some super soft mohair (can I just say how hard it is to photograph white mohair?! This shot was the best I could do). She became obsessed with bunnies after meeting out neighbors angora bunny named Mopsy a week before L was born. We are very lucky to have one of our school's grade teachers as our neighbors (he may end up being K's 1-8 teacher, too!)... but I'll go more into this amazing family in another post. For her birthday sweater, I knit her the Tiny Tea Leaves cardigan (rav notes here). She wore it all day Monday (as you'll see in the rest of these pictures) and Tuesday, so I think she likes it.


A new view!
Since she turned 3 and her long legs were starting to get a bit too scrunched, we turned her car seat from rear facing to forward facing (It's just a personal choice of ours to keep our little ones rear facing as long as possible). She rode in it this way for the first time after she opened her presents. We took a short drive to K's teacher's house to pick up some goodies.



We incorporated her birthday into our Monday/Baking day rhythm by making her birthday cake when we got back home. She decided on the honey cake (recipe, again, from the Waldorf Kindergarten Snack Book). We chose to top it with fresh strawberries as well as strawberries between the layers.


The only pic I got of her in her crown



Yum!
After our cake, she wanted to go for a family walk, although to her a family walk means Daddy walks and she rides on his back...



That is until we get to the duck pond, then she wants down to feed the ducks.






Getting those silly rocks out of her boot

Yipeee!!


After that it was time for dinner. C requested homemade broccoli soup with rosemary baguette (a new fav recipe from the Bob's Red Mill Baking Book). We made dinner and told her rainbow bridge story while lighting her birthday ring candles. Such a peaceful and loving way to end her special day.



Phew what a fun day!

Ok, I am really making this a long post but...

L's MRI results came back


All partied out

The doctor called us and of course I didn't get to the phone in time, in my typical fashion, but thankfully he left the results on my voicemail. L's MRI was NORMAL!! So no tumor!!! But now that that's ruled out as a cause, we still need to figure it all out. I am not sure if more testing is involved or not. I am hoping to get in touch with the doctor this week to see where we go from here. Thank you all for your prayers!!

Ok, I'll end this lengthy post now, but as you can see we had so much to be joyous for. Sending you all our love and warm wishes!

Reasons to Celebrate