This is what we woke up to this morning, the view from my back door....
The mountains behind the house were clouded in mist, and as the sun started to come up....
There was a light dusting of white under the mist....
Snow in the mountians, the seasons are changing.
I purchased this on line at "Sew Mama Sew" and when it came it was packaged with this pretty little fabric bow. I love little touches like this.
Bestill my ever lovin’ pink heart.
I couldn't help but fall in love with the rosebud pattern, and the stripes won my heart too.
I love pink (good thing I have 5 daughters) and I love shabby chic.
So when I saw this pink shabby chic cotton print fabric on sale I had to purchase.
It is destine to become a baby quilt, with a soft pink minky back.
"My colors are blush and bashful"...."Her colors are pink, and pink!" (Can you name the movie?)
I think it will look lovely in the white on white nursery….
I am not the best homework Mom out there. I had a terrible time when I was a kid doing my homework and studying in general and it hasn’t gotten that much easier now that I am a Mom. I do make sure my children do what they need to do and we do all the reading and such, but I really just want them to get in, get it done and get out! So when a child is struggling with my sit down, hush up and get it done quickly attitude, I am not always the most patient person.
A full page of simple addition can last a whole afternoon when the student isn't willing.
My second grader is a little math wiz, she really gets the concepts quickly and easily, but she sure hates to sit down and do a full page of math. I can’t blame her, honestly there are other things that are much more fun to do after school than sit down and do more work! She spends so much time fussing at me about doing her work that she wastes all her play time.
Counting all the dots in the sugar to find the answer to her math problem.
So the other day, in a rare blast of brilliance I came up with a solution. We have practiced spelling before using a plate of sugar to write the words in, but I had never thought of using it for simple addition. I got out the sugar and plate and she loved it! The best part for her, was that after she got her work done I let her make little pictures in the sugar, and of coarse, lick her fingers clean.
Bad blurry picture, but I promised that I would post it. 🙂
I haven’t blogged for almost 6 weeks, I wonder if anyone even reads this blog anymore! I usually give up on a blog when the writer goes this long without updating. While the blog has been long neglected it hasn’t been forgotten, always in the back of my mind, and as I went through my days I was always thinking and snapping pictures to blog about, however, other bigger circumstances were in the way. I have been hit right between the eyes with post-partum depression/anxiety. It really blind sighted me, never having suffered with it before. I am being treated by a wonderful holistic practitioner, who is caring for my physical body and by a therapist, who is more like a mentor, and he is taking care of my mind helping me to become stronger and not afraid. For the last couple weeks I have been feeling better than I have in a long, long time, years really. I think my depression and anxieties have been quietly festering below the surface for a while now, and the post-partum cocktail of hormones and lack of sleep brought everything sharply to the surface. I am thankful for that. Everything I had experienced during this last pregnancy and birth made it easier to identify the problem and so I was able to seek help quickly. I would like to write more about this later, maybe, mental illness is hard to share, it is so very personal and so very painful, it is hard to put oneself “out there”. Anyway, during all those blurry and fearful days, there were things going on, life as usual (and I am very good at going along as if life is as usual) children and babies to love (an oh how I love them), my dear husband who takes over where I fall short (and I have fallen so very short lately) along with a home and garden to care for. I thought I would share some snap shots of the last six week. I am also planning on getting back blogging, Dadzoo says I have important things to say and that I need to say them (although I don’t know if I agree with that). I feel anxious about this, but I won’t be afraid, I love blogging and I won’t let my fears keep me away from the things I love anymore.
Birdhouse gourds, this is about half of what we harvested.
Broccoli, there is nothing as wonderful as fresh broccoli from the garden.
Green cabbage, ready for harvest.
Purple Cabbage, this was harvested a couple weeks after the picture was taken.
Washing tomatoes from the garden.
Getting ready to make an can tomato sauce.
Fresh beets from the garden, they are going to be sliced and cooked up for dinner.
Carrots, sweet and fresh from the garden, there are many more waiting for harvest.
Chili sauce, our secrect family recipe and a favorite on eggs in the morning.
Purple Cabbage, sliced and ready for dinner, I love how this looks, the purple and white.
Making a big pot of chicken stock. It takes me 48 hours to make this and I store it in the freezer for quick soups in the wintertime.
Like I had said before , cloth diapering is very simple and very different from what our grandmothers use to do. While I am no where near an expert when it comes to cloth diapering, having only done it for the last 6 weeks (and loving it) I thought I would share how I cloth diaper and the type of diaper I use.
I use what is called a contour diaper. It is a cotton flannel diaper with a separate diaper cover that is used for several diaperings. The picture above is the diaper cover, it is lined with plastic to keep the wet in and everything else dry. I have found that these covers hold in the wet just as well, if not better than disposable diapers. The only big blow outs I have had, so far, with the baby where when I had her in disposable diapers while out and about.
The cloth diaper is laying inside the diaper cover, ready for baby.
The big wings just wrap around the baby,
and the diaper cover snaps over the cloth diaper, no need for diaper pins.
This is my wet bag, it is lined with plastic, the diapers are stored in there (the top zips shut) until they are washed.
Baby, all nice and clean in her soft cloth diapers.
Love these thing!
This is where I purchased my diapers:
http://www.thanksmama.com/
They have just about every style and system of diaper out there.
I also got my Moby Wrap there,
more on that wonderful piece of baby gear later!