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."  SouleMama. 

Easy Knit Pouch

Where do you put your wallet, keys, and nature treasures when you don't have pockets? We use a baby wrap, purses just fall right off, and most of my clothes don't have pockets. This belt pouch has been a wonderful solution, and its simple to make. 

 First knit a rectangle about 7"X11" using a simple garter stitch.

 Fold the rectangle as shown and sew the sides of the pouch. At this point you can add a zipper, button, snap, or any other enclosure. If you want to use this as a purse add a strap and you are done. or...

I made two straps of felt  so I could attach my pouch to a belt. I reinforced the sides by sewing a stitch down the edges. 

 Then I sewed them to the back of the pouch. Once the straps were finished my pouch was complete. I love this little bag and hope you will to. Be well and have fun.

Once in a Blue Moon...

Necklace by Judy Kline

August 20'th a very special Blue Moon rose in the night sky..  Blue Moons are special just as they are but this one happened to also be the second one this season. We needed to do something fun to celebrate this special occasion.  So Panda and I struck out for adventure...

Now where do you go to start an adventure if not your local library? This awesome Plexiglas dragon greeted us as we walked in. Our library is filled with interactive and educational 'kiosks' for children to play, interact, explore, and learn from. Panda fell in love with a string of modular, rainbow colored, wooden balls; but I would not let him eat them. After grabbing a few moon themed bedtime books we headed outdoors to continue our adventure..

This Music Plaza is outside our library. They are all permanent structures for the public to enjoy. Panda LOVES all the different sounds. He especially loved the tall pipes that made a deep bell like sound and the drums which he happily kicked away on.

The walkway is strewn with personalized bricks and quotes, but this was by far my favorite.

Then we headed to the local Natural Foods store for our special dinner. We had taco salad with BLUE corn chips and water chestnuts (because they looked like little moons) and for dessert we had chai tea and BLUEberries. This Chai was wonderful and gluten and dairy free.. It did contain soy but I figured it would be safe to have once in a... Blue Moon (wink)... Oh come on... You knew I had to throw that in somewhere.

By then Panda was beat so it was time to head home and enjoy the evening and all the good books we had picked up at the library. Goodnight moon, and Goodnight Panda. Be well and have fun.

Trash to Treasure

All summer I have been on the prowl looking for a dresser for Panda's nursery. I wanted a solid wood dresser that could be painted over and over again as he grows and his tastes change.We found this beauty needing some TLC, but for free. With a little elbow grease, new knobs and a paint job this is what we came up with. The color did not photograph well, but it is actually a very pale green. And those adorable mushrooms I made using directions from C is for Crafty. 

What treasures have you made recently?

Be well and Have Fun!

This "Mirrored" 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."  SouleMama. 

Our Gardens

 I have yard envy. I look at so many beautiful farm blogs and the envy hits. So I try to take photos of my yard and hide the fact that I'm just a small suburb blogger with a yard to small to even own chickens (frown)  But no more. Here I am proudly posting photos of my gardens WITH the fence showing! This is our wild flower garden, it is a raised bed that runs along one side of our fence and ends at our waterless pond.

 This is our waterless pond. We had to get rid of our pond and waterfall because of state regulations and our daycare. There are painted fish on some of the rocks and there will also be lily pads, I will post when it's finished.  Next to the pond is a stepping stone path that leads to the gazebo, which is nice to have lunch and nap in.

 Along the back of our fence runs our lily garden with log stepping stones for the children to play on. There is also a bistro table set up along here for morning tea.

 Our beautiful lilies!

Panda and I are standing on the path so you can see how tall and dense our forest is.

In another corner is our Milkweed forest! So far the tallest one is over 6 feet! We leave this to grow wild for the Monarch butterflies. There is a stepping stone path that runs down the middle that leads to a secret clearing....

 In the clearing rests this child sized log table. I posted a story about how it came to be not to long ago here. 

Next year we will have our veggie garden back and a bean tepee. We were not able to put one in this year because of everything surrounding the birth of our son. After posting this I realized that I do have yard envy still... but it's of my own yard. Our yard may be small, but it is beautiful and full of love. I hope you had fun walking through our garden. Be well!

Nursing Necklace

 I love nursing necklaces but could not find one with amber so I made this one. That lovely chunk of Amber with it's lovely piney sent came from Nancy's Etsy shop EponaJewels

Amber is a natural analgesic when worn on the skin. Oils are said to be released that help sooth babies and young children. I don't know if that's true or not, but I love amber. Panda has his own teething necklace to wear but I thought it would be nice to incorporate some amber into a nursing necklace. He seems mesmerized by the light shining through it and loves its smaller size, smell, texture, and taste. And the best part yet... For the past few days he has not pulled my hair once!

Be well and have fun!

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". SouleMama. 

The Importance of Rhythm

The importance of rhythm in our lives has been heavy on my mind lately. Finding rhythm for an almost 4 month old seemed like an impossible task at first but through recording our daily activities I'm beginning to map out the ebb and flow of our rhythms. Doing this Panda knows what to expect and I know that there is a moment of down time coming where I can take a breather. Panda is less frustrated and quite frankly so am I. With two pending surgeries looming on the horizon, finding the rhythm in our lives now is so important. Things can get crazy fast. Knowing his cues and following them helps to keep the peace. Our day looks something like this...

4:20am sleep feeding and diaper change

5:00am feeding, diaper change (yes, it's usually wet again by now), breakfast, see Poppy off to work and back to sleep.

7:00am wake up for the day. Story, song, feeding and diaper change

7:30am Morning tea in the back yard, and park or a walk time (basically outside time)

9:00am Panda sleeps in Mumsey's arms while Mum steals some net time ( that's what we are doing now!)

 11:00am  Feeding and a diaper change.

11:30am Tummy time and outside time

1:00pm  Nap time

3:00pm Feeding, diaper change

3:30pm House clean up, story, and then some outside time

4:00pm Poppy home! Outside time (if I'm lucky they go for a walk while I shower and/or prepare dinner). Then it's family time, dinner, and a diaper up until about...

7:00pm Feeding,diaper change and Nap time.

8:00pm Feeding, bath, and fresh diaper.

8:30- 9:00pm Story, song, and Bed time.

Just listening to Panda and watching his cues tells me how and when to change something. It always amazes me that children actually tell us what they need and when they need it (even at this early stage) if only we have the heart and mind to listen. Be well and Have fun!

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. 

If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see. Inspired by SouleMama.