Wordless Wednesday

Another Rainbow

I'm falling in love with the Waldorf Pedagogy. Our upcoming new year changes will include a nature table in our home. In my daydreaming about our nature table I imagine all sorts of beautiful wooden creatures interspersed with candles and twigs and leaves from our garden. I have long admired Grimm's Spiel Und Holz products, so simple and beautiful. My nephew has their set of nesting elements and I love their ability to be a decoration and an open-ended toy, a fun toy at that! They are made of wood and have non-toxic coloring on them that is beautiful and bright. I want the whole set on my coffee table. I bought the rainbow set above as a Christmas present for Q, all the milestone books tell me my child should be nesting and stacking things, and really they were just so pretty I wanted them myself.

Inspired by Grimm's Spiel Und Holz stuff I set out to find some nesting toys for our house. Looking at gorgeous handmade sets in a number of shops on etsy I stumbled across the shop Clickity Clack. They have a variety of nesting toys that are unfinished and are at a really great price.

I got a few sets of the nesting items for our family and I also got some of their other beautiful unfinished wood items.


How cool is that castle? It could be painted in so many different ways. And it would be especially fun with some dragons


I love this stuff because it's a perfect combination of making your own toys and buying them. I plan on painting ours with some watercolors which are great for painting wood safely and beautifully.

I promise I'll come back and update with pictures once we sand and paint ours but I just had to share now because I just got them in the mail. I'm thinking warm weather would be a nice time to sit outside and sand these down to be nice and soft for a toddler.

Whimsy

During these crazy last few weeks (months really) I find myself craving some relief/release. I indulged that craving yesterday with this bit of whimsy. A rainbow cake! inspired by this post I tried it out myself. I followed a recipe for white cake, even omitting the egg for egg-replacer so I didn't add the yellow of the yolk. I separated the batter into equal pieces and mixed in the food coloring

I just started pouring the batter on top of each other in rainbow order

It was so fun to see how it had baked once I pulled it out

I iced it with a very simple white frosting - butter, confectioners sugar and a little milk.

It's so much fun to cut the cake and find the rainbow inside


It wasn't particularly interested tasting, but really, everything tastes better when it's pretty like this!

and I don't think I've ever had such pretty dishes to wash

Obituary

My grandfather passed away yesterday morning. Death has been on my mind these last few months already, mostly my absolute fear of it/my LOVE of life. My grandfathers death and the weeks leading up to it have changed so many of my thoughts and have made me more willing to explore my feelings. These last few weeks watching my grandfather pass, he has looked more and more like a little boy to me and I've thought often of his mother and how she watched his first crawls, steps, first words the way I'm watching my own little boy. It comforts me in many ways to think that my greatest hope for Q is that he leaves this world the way my grandfather has - old, peaceful, painless, of old age and with his children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren around him.
I'm not sure what to do with myself now that he's gone. How do you mourn a non-traumatic and in many ways a non-sad death? I don't know, but I'm wading my way through it right now.

My father wrote a beautiful obituary of his father, my grandfather and namesake Charles Shoneman

Charles Shoneman, 92, made his transition Saturday December 26 after a brief stay at UNC Hospital and Carol Woods Health Center. Born in Cincinnati, Ohio he grew up in Woodmere, Long Island where he became a life long Yankees fan and developed a fondness for a good cigar. He later moved to Elkins Park, suburban Philadelphia and eventually retired to Chapel Hill, North Carolina with his wife Anne who pre-deceased him. He was recognized as being an extraordinary storyteller and jokester. He was also widely renown as the godfather of youth baseball. One of the last of a vanishing generation of heroic men and women, undeterred by Depression and War, he saw his enlistment as not only service to his country but to all mankind. Fiercely independent, Charles sought neither rank nor reward, yet it was the quiet richness of his life that was his greatest virtue and will remain his legacy. He led a life of purposeful simplicity and humility always eager to reach out and offer the spirit of his kindness, generosity and humor. He held tightly to those things most precious in his life and when it was time to let go he let go.

He leaves to cherish his memory son Chuck and wife Merle of Maryland, son John and wife Jill of Hillsborough, N.C. five grandchildren Seth, Dov, Charlotte, Lindsay and Jamie. Three great grandchildren Mateo, Sophia and Qais, devoted former daughter in law Mickey Jo Sorrell of Chapel Hill and his loving companion of twenty years Frances Fuller of South Carolina. To all of those whose lives he surely touched he will be warmly remembered and sadly missed. In this world he made a difference.

In lieu of a funeral a remembrance in his honor will be held at a future date. Condolence messages may be sent to johnshoneman@gmail.com

Birth, Death and TTC

11 days I've been away from my blog and so much has happened and is still happening. I'm swamped, literally swamped in a house full of stuff and emotionally swamped with everything the title of this blog post implies.

Birth - I have a new niece or nephew on the way and my heart swells with the idea of this child and the place it will hold in our hearts. I also have an honorary niece on the way and I can't wait to hold a little one again.

Death - My 92yo Grandpa had a stroke on Thursday morning and has been in the hospital since then. His days are numbered and the family is gathered by his bedside spending precious moments in his presence. I feel so many things about his impending passing that I don't even know how to start expressing my emotions. I love him so very much and I miss him.

TTC - that'd be me.

Yet Another Toy For The Boy

The little one has been obsessed with strings, straps, power cords, thread, yarn, and all things long and skinny and easy to grab. Tired of having my computer unplugged I whipped up a little toy for him.

A little shooting star.

It's just two pieces of felt, dark blue and light blue, zig-zag stitched closed with some sewn up strings from scraps I had around. I stuffed it with cut up pieces of plastic shopping bags to give it a little crinkle. It was a hit for the first 15 minutes, then ignored for a few days but whenever he spots one of those strings he has to pull on it and see what he can do with them

Wordless Wednesday - Don't Wipe My Nose!

Come Again Another Day

We're in the midst of moving. I'm really excited about this move except for one thing...
I have to pack up all my craft supplies! and right in the middle of some fun projects too.


Of course, as I pack up my fabric I get inspired to make all sorts of fun things. I also get overhwhelmed with the amount of projects I haven't finished and the list of fun holiday crafts that I want to do.


Look at all these fun prints just asking to be made into fun things. Christmas ornaments anyone? a tree skirt? a superman cape? a birthday crown? oh wait, for that I need my felt....


Goodbye beautiful felt, I'll try to unpack you soon