{This Moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. Inspired by Soulemama

{This Moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. Inspired by Soulemama

Toddlerhood

Toddlerhood has been kicking my butt these past few weeks so I thought I would share this quote that lives on my bulletin board. I put it up there when Q was just a few months old and I was consumed with making all sorts of decisions about sleep training, breastfeeding, vaccines, etc.. but it really has helped me now as well when I am struggling with diet, discipline and routine.


Peaceful Problem Solving

There are no absolute rules about raising children and no guarantees for any parenting techniques. Raise your children how you choose to raise them and in ways that are right for you. Within the range of your comfort zone, modify your approach for each of your children based on their needs, personality, and temperament.

Address only those problems that are true problems to you, and don't create or imagine problems because someone else things you have them, no matter if that person is family, friend, or expert.

Keep your problems in perspective and take ample time to plot the best course of action. Solve your problems by analyzing possible solutions and choosing those solutions that are right for you and your family. Know tat there is rarely one right answer, and often it will take multiple routes before getting to the best destination.

React, listen, and learn constantly, but always sift what you learn through the strainer of your own personal beliefs and parenting philosophy.

- Elizabeth Pantley

Somewhere between a WIP and a FO

It's Thursday. I was going to post some pictures of all my Works In Progress yesterday, and then all my Finished Objects tomorrow but since yesterday didn't happen (like so any of the blog posts I've been writing in my head lately) I thought I would pop in today.

We've been busy gearing up for Christmas, for more cold weather, and for time with friends and family over the next month. I think it's the cold weather most of all that has infected me with knitting bug. There's nothing like knitting needles clicking away with a pile of wool yarn on your lap to keep you warm during the cold. So here are a few of my recent projects - knitting and otherwise.

First, my first pair of socks! not as hard as I expected thank goodness. The yarn is a beautiful handpainted merino fingerling yarn spun up by a friend of mine. These will probably be in Q's stocking.

speaking of stockings. I had planned on knitting everyone a pair of socks for Christmas and having one of those be their stockings but that didn't happen.... So then I thought that I would buy us each a pair of nice wool socks and those would be our stockings.... but then that didn't happen either. So in the end I just got frustrated with my knitting one night, set it aside and whipped these up with some fabric scraps I had

another Christmas knit for the little boy is this wizard hat

doesn't look like much now but it's a HUGE hat that will then be felted down and some decoration added and it will be a wizard hat! trust me ;)

And one more felted knit project and another first for me - mittens!

the one that's finished I have felted some already and tried it on Q, for some reason the thumb is freakishly long so I'm not sure what I'm going to do about that yet, this one is sort of hibernating while I figure that out

and last but very much not least on my knitting needles this week is my first sweater! Sweaters have always daunted me but no more! super easy!! This was also #20 on my list.

This photo was actually taken a few days ago and the sweater is much more completed now, just waiting for one last sleeve to be sewn on and I can show you some pictures of it all finished up! Unfortunately I think I'll have to make some adjustments once it's done because it seems a little bit short for Q.

I also finished this pumpkin hat a few weeks ago, it was a super quick and easy knit and something I've been wanting to make for a while now. I made it a bit longer than called for so that it could roll down over Q's ears but I still wish I'd added another inch to it because it's so damn cold outside. I can't wait to use this pattern again in the spring to make a strawberry hat :)

That's most of the knitting I've been doing lately, and it's all for Q! I did find time to make myself one little thing, very practical but very handy as well (pun intended!)

Fleece-y fingerless gloves!

Can you tell how incredibly easy these are to make? yup, it's just a tube of fleece with a slit on the side for my thumb. Fleece is so easy to work with since it doesn't unravel at all, I love no hemming! I need to do more decoration to these but I've been using them a lot as is - especially when I get in the car first thing in the morning and the steering wheel is so cold.... fleecy mitts to the rescue!

I actually have a few more finished things to show but I need to find them and snap some pictures of them, between the cold weather, the crud going around and a toddler it may be a while though :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope everyone out there has had a wonderful day today, we certainly have! So much to be thankful for this year, I am a very lucky girl!

We spent the day in our favorite ways - lazing around the house, cooking, crafting, visiting family, eating and then going to bed early :)

Sunday

We've had a rare weekend at home, no big plans or expectations. It was great.

We spent Saturday around town, seeing friends, at the children's museum and walking around downtown. Today was great, a cold clear day with time to be productive around the house. This is my idea of a good Sunday morning - tea, crafts, catching up on stuff online.

I was able to finish up a few fall crafts like this needle felted pumpkin

and make progress on some handmade holiday presents like these socks

(I've actually gotten all the way to the heel since this picture was taken)

This afternoon we went to Hope Gardens, a local community garden for an open house. What a great organization - you can pick and pay for produce, you can lease a plot, and you can go on any Saturday for a work day. It was great to look around and let the little one run through the garden making friends with everyone.

Since last night was our first frost we spent some time outside rearranging in the garden and making our last batch of pesto - yum!

What a great weekend at home!

{This Moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. Inspired by Soulemama.

that's me and Q by the way

Fall Felting

I've been feeling the felt crafts lately and I'll try to share a few of them on here over the next week or so. First, felt acorns!

Aren't they just adorable?

I love them. I've been seeing them on etsy but they just looked too simple to make to justify buying any.

Super simple to make, I wet felted up some small felt beads (although I know you can buy bags of these as well)

and then just hot glue gunned (although I'm sure you could super glue/tacky glue them) into the acorn tops. Voila! Adorable felt acorns!

Happy Halloween

Double, double, toil and trouble;

Fire burn, and cauldron bubble.

Fillet of a fenny snake

In the cauldron boil and bake;

Eye of newt, and toe of frog,

Wool of bat, and tongue of dog,

Adder's fork, and blind-worm's sting,

Lizard's leg and owlet's wing,

For a charm of powerful trouble,

Like a hell-broth, boil and bubble.

Double, double, toil and trouble;

Fire burn, and cauldron bubble.

- William Shakespeare

The Last of the Apples

Using up the last our apples this week. Last year, you may remember, I baked lots and lots of apple treats which I shared here. This year we're not enjoying as many baked goods so we have to come up with other ways to enjoy our apples, and preserve them for the rest of the year.

We've put away many quarts of apple sauce

and have over a gallon of dried apples ready to be used in recipes or just snacked on

but I do have one super easy baked apple treat to share with you. I made this last year, and I made it again this past weekend when we had a bunch of family over for brunch. Both times it was a hit, and it's sooo easy! It can be served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, just just by themselves as a breakfast pastry.

Recipe: thinly slice ~6 apples, put them in a bowl with a cup of brown sugar and toss to cover the apples. Defrost a box of puff pastry and lay the sheets of pastry out on a baking sheet. You can divide the puff pastry into 2 or 3 sections. lay the apples in the middle of the pastry and bake at 375 degrees for ~20 minutes or until the pastry is puffed up and golden. Top with confectioners sugar.

{This Moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. Inspired by Soulemama.

Autumn Nature Table

I love fall. I love just about everything about it. I think I'm just so grateful for a break from the summer heat, but I also love all the other things that mean fall - the smells of cider, pumpkin, apples. The crisp air and the crinkly leaves under my feet are other favorites of course :)

We are in the process of welcoming fall into our house, bringing out the nutmeg smelling candles and the wool slippers that were in the back of the closet, layering up in fleece and wool and making soup and fresh bread for dinner. As a representation of the changing seasons we revamped our small nature table to reflect Autumn. Let me show you.

and here are a few of my favorite things on the table right now

A little picture to remind us of our apple picking. Card by Ruth Elsaesser.

I love having a few of our seasonal books up on the table too. Plus our fall tree that I watercolored.

and a nest to remind us of home and warmth. It also smells like sweet beeswax (the polish) and I just can't get enough of it.

How are you welcoming Autumn?

Wordless Wednesday - Judah Charles

WIP WIP

Such a WIP-y Wednesday here. The fall air has filled me with motivation (or maybe it was the dark chocolate...) either way - my house smells like applesauce (again) and my kitchen table is full of various projects. I like it this way, full of projects :)

Here's a peak around the house

mmmmmm. applesauce

the first knitting project I've started in ages. Cozy socks for my little toddler

and a pumpkin hat for halloween that should be a quick project

The beginning of a new sewing project. My niece who visited this past weekend requested a purse like the one I made for myself, of course hers will be pink with monkeys :)

and I checked out Amanda Soule's Handmade Home from the library this week and found this pattern for a bath mat that is perfect for some terry cloth I had laying around.

Wow. that's a lot of projects going on for me. Considering the real WIP (Q) doesn't give me too much downtime these days. And now for the last WIP of the night.

Anyone want to come and fold my laundry for me?

Happy Tuesday!

Well those book reports didn't happen. yet. Oops. But really, it's been crazy around here. We had an unexpected weekend long visit from some family. Always a wonderful thing really. Especially with the fall weather (!!!) and when there are cousins for Q to play with

and then yesterday I got my practice in for being a stay at home to a toddler and an infant while watching a friend's kid for the day. I had quite a few moments of "I can totally do this" followed closely with "omg, how will I ever be able to handle this?!". Let's just say I was happy that it only took 45 minutes to get both kids out of the house, between feedings, diapers, naps, clothes, loads back and forth to the car, it was a pretty busy day for not really doing much.

Between the cousins, and the day yesterday we've been going going going, so today (and tomorrow) we're going to lay as low as possible. We have plans as usual but they don't extend further than our neighborhood park. I'm canning the last of our apples tonight (and making an apple pie - below), and tomorrow I'm going to attempt to bake challah bread (wish me luck!), I also have a incredibly huge stack of library books all about education (I'm on another schooling kick right now), and I pulled out my box of yarn and have been pouring over my ravelry queu. So yeah, even staying home we'll keep busy. Not to mention our yard - I'll tell you all about that very soon!

Book Reports

I've really been wanting to start a series of reviews of books I'm reading or have read. I want to do this partially for any readers of my blog to hear about these books and the ideas in them, but mainly I want to write up a little report so that I don't forget these books and what I got from them. I am specifically talking about parenting and education books. I am writing this post now to motivate me to actually do it :) So I'm going to commit to writing about the last three books I read this week. I'm going to write about them this week that is, I didn't read three books this week! Far from it! It probably takes me three weeks to read a book these days. Unless you want to talk about how many times I read 'Go, Dog. Go' this week, in which case that would 8,476 times :) I love having a book loving kid. Anyhow, I digress.

The three books I want to talk about this week are My Child Won't Eat, You Are Your Child's First Teacher, and Good Nights. Each of these books made a strong impression on me and I can't wait to share with them with you this week!

Apple Picking

Last weekend Q and I went to the mountains for our annual apple picking trip. The friends we usually go with weren't available so we picked a lot less than usual. I think we brought home fourteen bushels last year and this year just six. Six bushels is still a lot mind you. It was hard to restrain ourselves to six bushels too, apples are so easy to pick and the orchard we went to had so many great varieties in season right now.

I have lots of apple plans for the next few weeks, but this year baking won't be the main focus since I've given up sugar. boohoo :( I have so many favorite sweet apple recipes I will only be able to make for other people.

I love knowing where my food came from and picking it myself too. It was really a wonderful weekend filled with friends and family, we love going up to the mountains.

Q totally got in on the apple action too, he ate soooo many!

luckily if my plans go accordingly he'll be able to enjoy these apples for the rest of the year!

{This Moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. Inspired by Soulemama.

Snack Bags

I'm finally going to post some of my recent projects. First and one of the simplest - snack bags! I loosely followed this tutorial

and I think they were a hit. Qais can't decide if he would rather carry them around to look at the 'ment mem' aka cement mixer, or if he wants the 'gookies' aka - cookies (which is any snack) that are inside.

{This Moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. Inspired by Soulemama.

A Walk In The Woods

We are loving this cooler weather, it makes us want to spend so much more time outside!

We have a new favorite hiking spot near our house and most mornings this week we've skipped our usual YMCA routine in favor of fresh air and trees (that are starting to turn!).

I love watching Qais explore the forest, he's so curious and content.

I also love that when we're in the woods he is free to roam - a free range kid - he can wack a stick around all he wants, he can make piles and stomp on them, he can pick up rocks (and leaves, and sticks and anything else) and throw them and he can run off the trail and go anywhere he wants.

Not only does he have a blast but he totally wears himself out (love those good naps). We still have to make sure we're home by about noon or it gets too hot for us but soon we'll be able to stay out longer and I foresee some daytrips to state parks.

So grateful for the cooler weather making this possible, bring on fall!