“Children are our most precious natural resource. Through a child’s eyes war, hunger, and all other horrors of mankind cease to exist; if only for a short while. It does not matter how much your net worth is, or when the next bills are due. To a child all that matters are the stolen moments filled with love, and maybe a little imagination.”
Appleshoe
I'm a little late in posting this, but last week was the week of love and people, completing our Advent garden. We added a small wooden nativity and lit the last candle. Panda made his first few donations to charity and the week was spent with beautiful family and friends. There was a lot of love and light to be shared with my wonderful in laws. It was a beautiful Christmas and I would love to post more, but Bear is currently holding a miserable little Panda in horrible teething pain crying out for his mum. So that being said, I wish you all a beautiful new year. Hopefully once these teeth pop through I will be able to get back and visit you all (that is why I have been MIA), but for now we are in full fledged teething mode. Wish us luck. Be well and have a blessed New Year.
I'm a little late, but here is our Advent garden for this week. This is the week of Joy. " Behold I bring you glad tidings of great Joy which shall be to all people." This is also the week of animals. We added a hedgehog, a fox, a wolf, a trumpeter swan, a chickadee, a cardinal, and a blue jay to our advent garden.
Then we set out to Swan Park. This park is the home to approximately 1500 trumpeter swans ever year between November and March. The sight and the noise can only be described as incredible!
Then it was off to the Feed Store from my youth to pick up some corn for the ducks. This feed store has oh so many varieties of chickens (oh how I wish we could have chickens).
The ducks flock by the thousands to the Mississippi and Rum every winter because they rarely freeze over. It is an annual tradition of ours to go and feed them every winter, but this year we had to hunt for them because BOTH rivers FROZE OVER! We found them near the waterfall (dam) and were able to feed them down below from an observation deck. Not quite the same as having them mill around your feet, but as close as we could get.
I think Panda has really been enjoying this week. All children are incredibly attuned to the animal kingdom. We've put out several treats for the rabbits, deer, squirrels, and birds, and a few trips to the dog park are in order, but this quiet slower way to celebrate seems to be just our speed. Have a blessed day wherever you are and whatever season you are in, be well.
P.S. Don't forget my giveaway. You Have till New Years Eve to enter for a chance to adopt these three birds. Click on the picture for more details.
This week is the week of Joy and a time to celebrate the light of animals. For our Advent garden this week I wanted to make some birds and during a particularly bad Ehlers flair up this past weekend resulting in a sleepless night... I made some. Not to shabby for a sleepless night. Hopefully this will be a reminder for someone that you can always turn something bad into something good (or in this case, felt) if you just open yourself up to the possibilities..They are stuffed with wool and the details are done with a mixture of really bad embroidery and paint after giving up on said embroidery (lol).
A cardinal, a chickadee, and a blue jay, three of the more common winter birds of Minnesota that I would like to give away. A tiny bit of my home to you. You don't have to start following me or spread the word on your blog (but it would be nice if you did). Just leave a comment and I will put your name errr number in a random number generator on the first of the new year. The winner will be posted on the first of 2014 and will have one week to contact me (I'll do my best to notify you, but sometimes Email addresses are hidden). I just thought it would be neat to have something quiet and fun to look forward to after the holidays. Good luck, and Be well. Update: This giveaway is now closed. Thank you everyone who left comments. Congratulations #2, Mrs. Bartos!
This week we lit the candle of Peace in our Advent garden. I told Panda in a hushed voice, "The Prince is coming to bring us Peace". We also added pine clippings, red dogwood twigs, birch logs, and pinecones to celebrate the plant kingdom.With it so cold and blustery outside I was not sure at first what to do to celebrate the Plant Kingdom with Panda this week. Then....
I thought of the Como Conservatory! Outside it might be frigid in our wintery Minnesotan way..
But inside it is lush and warm.
At this time of year there are many beautiful poinsettias set up for Christmas.
I had to put this picture of Panda and his Grandpapa in.
And Many, Oh so many varieties of beautiful flowers.
Panda's first Saint Nicholas Day was magical. I finished his stocking (a tradition started by my Great grandmother) and his first ornament on time.
We crept down stairs early in the morning. The tree was already lit. Panda was in awe of the sparkles of the sequins on his stocking. He received a wood rattle made of cherry and walnut wood and an apple and pear; they were later purred up for him to eat. Yummy. (the apple and pear, not the rattle ;)
Here is Panda's first ornament. I made it to match ones I made for Bear and I a few years ago.
Saturday we visited a local historical homesteading farm that was decked out for a Norwegian Christmas. There Panda met a Saint Nicholas actor. I'm not quite sure what Panda thought about him but I was so excited I nearly burst. I grew up with Saint Nicholas instead of Santa so seeing someone dressed as him was quite a treat. He looked just like the picture we have in our kitchen!
Sunday we decided to take Panda on his first "Sleigh ride". We even picked up some bells to hang from our belts to make a jingly sound for him. He was so excited that he laughed and shrieked till it was time to come in. We took Panda to the lake to see the ice and sun warmed rocks. I let him play with various crystals, rocks, and seashells.There was also a lot of water play. I even gave him a big bowl of snow to play with inside (that was a huge hit).
(this is a close up of our mantel. I love it this year!) It was a wonderful weekend. I hope you had a wonderful weekend as well. Please leave a comment and let me know how your weekend was.I love hearing from you. Be Well.
Week 4. I'm posting this a little late, but things have been kind of crazy. Panda has been extra clingy and I have not been able to get a chance to blog lately. The color of my hair is off in this picture but I think the orange of our wood was playing tricks with my camera. Oh well. You can, however, see that my hair is still a little greasy but the itchiness is gone. I wash my hair about every two days with my honey mixture. I take a shower everyday and just wash it through with water on days I don't use my honey. I think my hair is still adjusting. I have heard that it can take some people longer than one month to adjust. The braid in the picture is not my real hair. It is an extension that I had matched to my real hair color from a wonderful Etsy store called Puppycatmeow. I love them. Till my hair regrows from my tragic hacking this will do. The beautiful barrette was a gift from a 13 year old neighbor of mine. I love it, it's beautiful and I know how hard she worked on it. It might just be my new favorite hair toy. One moth of no shampoo. I think we will stick with it, but this next month I think I will try some of those apple cider vinegar rinses. Be well.
Saint Nicholas Day is Friday and I have a tradition of giving small stockings to some children in my neighborhood every year. This year I decided to make paper stockings (mostly because I had all the supplies on hand) but this would make a fun lacing craft for younger children.
First trace a stocking shape out on red construction paper or card stock ( I free handed this stocking, but there are several templates on google). Then cut out two stockings (this way when you are done you will have a pocket.. Next cut a small rectangle of white paper to make a cuff at the top of your stocking and glue it down.
Take a hole punch and punch holes along the outside edge. Using a tapestry/plastic canvas needle and some white yarn sew through the holes. Tie off and decorate with whatever you like. I happened to have some snowflake stickers on hand. The white cuff makes a great place to write names. I might just file this away for when Panda is a little older. I can just imagine him sewing them all together and then making a garland to go over our fireplace. I can also see him making ornaments using the same supplies and different templates. I hope this was inspiring. Have a blessed day and be well.
This is the first day of Advent. In Waldorf circles this week is the week to celebrate the light of stones. In the Christian advent this week's candle represents 'Hope'. This year our Advent garden will be a mishmash of the two. Since Panda is so young we are keeping things very simple. He is starting to show interest in the Advent garden (replacing our nature table for this month); so every day I try to set aside a time when he can touch everything on the table supervised and I chat at him about the different items. This week I pulled out various crystals, rocks, a salt lamp (for the candle), and our Hope ornament. Then we went for a drive around the lakes to see the sun sparkling off the ice and warming the rocks along the shore. It seemed an age appropriate way to introduce minerals to a 7 month old.
Panda's first Advent was also his first time in a church. I have been searching for a new church for quite some time.. This being the week of Hope is not a time to look back on what I left, but forward to this wonderful church which we found. Everyone is truly welcome and children were met with smiles and laughter everywhere I turned. Two children lit the Advent Wreath and every week the pastor calls the children forward for a special "Children's Time" before the sermon. Children were welcome anywhere in the church and not once did I see a disapproving ' control your child" look on any one's face. Panda became fussy and so we left the sanctuary. Three people came to find me at separate intervals (one of those people being the Pastor's wife) to tell me that they did not mind fussy children and that we were welcome to bring him back in... Wow! Just Wow. How very different than what I grew up with. We may have found a new place to fit in. A place where Panda can continue to be raised in a community of love, warmth, and light. So it is with Hope for a great many things that we start this season of love. Be well.
.jpg)
