Saint Nicholas Day Recap

Happy Saint Nicholas day. I hope your day was filled with  love, joy, and wonder.

It was a misty and magical morning. We started our day with a warm fire, a lit tree of twinkling lights, wonder, and handmade goodness.

Panda received a set of peg people vikings and a dragon boat made out of a shampoo bottle I scavenged liberated from the recycling bin.

 And Badger received his ornament to add to our family set on the tree.

The boys also received matching pairs of happy Jingling ankle bells

After a yummy breakfast of sticky cinnamon rolls and pancakes it was off for our annual visit to a local historical farm.

There was a sweet goat that really wanted Panda to feed him.

There were also chickens, sheep, and a bashful cow, but it was the goat that followed us everywhere.

 

Last of all we ended our visit with our version of a "Mall Santa photo" with Saint Nicholas. It was a full beautiful day. I know my boys wont remember these days, but this early year work sets the tone for the future, and I do hope their futures will be filled with wonder, joy, and light.

Good night, and Shine on!

Toddler Tuesday: Autumn Happy

 Happy December Everyone! We made it and are back to finding our new normal. For the past two weeks we've been trying to restart our weekly themed "School". This is the sensory bin we've been using. It is filled with bird seed, three bears, paper and silk leaves, a rake, some pumpkins, a spoon, and a small cup. Panda was Very happy to have a sensory tray again. They have been missed.

This is the book we based our activities and tray off of.. Its about a little bear and the things that make him happy.

 I've been saving this puzzle that a friend gave to us when Panda was born. The puzzle is a bit  frustrating for Panda still.  The bear heads look like they should all fit in any head space, but they don't so we put the puzzle away....

 And used just the heads instead.  I would put down a "happy" face and then ask Panda if he could find the other two. It was a great talk about emotions and learning to recognize other people's feelings.

In the book the baby bear kicks leaves through a tunnel of trees with his Poppy; so I made a tunnel of trees with things I had around the house and we kicked and rolled a ball through the "tunnel".

Panda's rake was lost, but this cinnamon broom worked nicely for this activity. I scattered a basket full of silk leaves in the living room and had him "rake" them up. The broom scented the room nicely, and it was a good energy using activity that made him use his whole body. He really loved sweeping and throwing the leaves around. The hands above are part of his therapy. When he gets stuck on something or is getting to overworked we have him go hit the hands and then redirect him to something else. It works pretty well.  

And last of all (even though it's not in the book), we've brought baking day back. Panda gets to help with stirring and pouring, but his favorite part is putting the cupcake liners into the trays.

I'll try and do another post later about Badger and Panda and our new normal. I will also try to visit some of you, but right now I hear two littles calling and it's time to start our day. Till my next stolen moment...

Be well and shine on!

Special Delivery

Hello and sorry for the delay. Badger has arrived. He joined us October 22 at 7:10 am. He was 9lbs 4 oz and 21" long.  I've rewritten this post so many times. The truth is his birth was riddled with scary moments. He was floppy, blue, and lifeless. It took six lifetimes before I heard his first cry; and it's a bit hard to talk about...

 So instead I'm going to talk about the little things that mean so much. Like his tiny hand in mine.

Two tiny feet beginning their adventure in this world

two tiny ears, already listening to everything we say,

 

And one sweet tiny face, that still fits in my hand.

Welcome my sweet Badger.

Shine on.

~Love Mum~

Happy Michaelmas

Happy Michaelmas day!This post is a bit long and scattered, but I wanted to share how we spent the day. The lovely helmet and breastplate in the picture were a gift from my sister and her family for Panda today. The puppets we have been playing with this week and slowly talking about Michaelmas. I also made Panda a flame hand-kite with jingle bells for this special day. As time goes on we will add more meaning into our activities, but for now we are meeting Panda where he is at and just making today be a special day.

This year Panda and I spent the day at my sister's house. I was in a lot of pain and am very grateful that they not only took us in but filled the day with so many special activities and treats. Thank you Mouse Family. This picture was hanging on my sister's wall today. It's not the traditional Michaelmas verse, but I like it.  

We made leaf rubbings with beeswax block crayons, and had soooo much yummy food. Possibly a bit to much. There was special apple cheese, dragon bread, apple chicken sausages, onion soup, chocolate zucchini cake, and more apples sliced to show their hidden stars. I'm not sure if my belly is more full of food or baby at this point. Oye! Be warned, my sister and her family like to over feed pregnant women!!

 A grapevine wreath  was hung outside for pool noodle javelins to be tossed through....

 They also picked up foam swords for a full blown melee. We also read the story book "NightSong" By Ari Berk. Again, not your traditional Michaelmas story, but it resonated more with where I believe Panda is at this point in his life. It's about a little bat who goes out into the big wide world for the very first time and needs to find his own song to find his way in the deep deep dark. Wonderful book.

 This was my sister's display today.  I love the big headed angel with a cowlick. I added the tiny bouquet of white Michaelmas daisies that I found growing in my yard as a small "Thank you" and surprise . It really was a wonderful day. 

 In other news, Autumn has been slowly rolling in. The last of our yard's harvest came in when Panda was FINALLY allowed to pick the only three apples that managed to make it to maturity on our tree this year. He was thrilled to pieces and they tasted so divine!

And last of all... Badger is going to make an appearance any day now. I feel that time is short. Luckily I finally finished the sweater and bonnet I started last Autumn before Badger even joined us. Soon, very soon our three will be four. I don't know if I will be able to post again for a while, but till then,

Shine On.

Always shine!

Talk Like A Pirate Day 2015

Ahoy me hearties! It's that time of year again. Today Panda celebrated his third National Talk Like a Pirate Day (here is the link for last year's celebration).  For those that don't know, this is one of my all time favorite holidays and bed rest or no, I was going to find a way to make today happen for Panda.

The day started counting our gold doubloon pillows.. and then tossing them around like any good scurvy sea dog would. To calm things down we drew treasure maps and practiced placing stickers on them.

 When we were cleaning up we found an "authentic" nature treasure map and decided to follow it to see what could be seen. We needed to find a leaf, a rock, a stick, a duck, and an acorn.

 Our adventure took us along the river (don't worry, I spent the day in the wheelchair to conserve energy) where we found our stick and leaf right away. Panda had fun chasing the ducks (don't worry, they were well compensated with treats afterwards). 

Panda loved calming down on the rocks and listening to the sound of rushing water and wind in the trees... We never did find our acorn, but we did find several helicopter seeds, pinecones, flowers, and a feather or two.. I thought that was good enough and happily gave Panda his treasure.

 This year's treasure was a tiny felt boat with peg pirates. Panda has been itching all week to play with them. He has been barely able to contain himself while watching me make them for him. The parrot has disappeared more than a few times to be admired with wonder in tiny hands.

Then it was off to our favorite cafe' for juice boxes and some yummy safe cookies.

 We had plans to go too a splash pad, but with temperatures in the 60's all day we opted for a boat turned ball pit sensory bin in the back yard. I don't think Panda noticed the shift in plans. He loved tossing and digging and flinging all these balls around.

I am exhausted and won't move for the next few days, but I'm so happy we made today happen for my little scallywag. It was a good day.

a very good day..

Shine on..

Arrrrr!

Mother duck went out one day...

A year ago my mother unexpectedly left us. We wanted to honor her today. My sister, her family, Panda, and I decided to launch 66 rubber ducks into the mighty Mississippi River in honor of each year of her life (you can find her more eloquently written post about today HERE).  My other sister sadly lives out of state and could not join us.  

Mum loved the story about a cargo ship of rubber ducks that had tipped in the ocean several years ago. A huge flock of rubber ducks escaped and scientists have been using them track ocean currents ever since. Mum would gleefully report every sighting of them. We brought every sort of duck imaginable to the river today, and ended up having a few extra. There were big ones, small ones, pirate ones, angel ones, leprechauns.. You name it.. Mum always loved extras, so we threw them in as well. We didn't do a final count, but it was over 70 ducks. She would have loved this.

At first we gently placed them in the water, but they didn't want to leave the shore, so then we started lobbing them out into the middle where two great rivers meet. A spot sacred to the Dakota and Ojibwa tribes who once lived here. A sacred place of Peace. Mum loved this park. There was joy and sorrow, tears and laughter. Half the ducks decided to go up stream and the other half headed south towards the ocean.. Yes, she would have even loved that.

As they floated away, to join the sea or to be found and brighten the day of some stranger further down the river, we silently sipped her favorite beverage....

  and toasted our mother duck who has gone over the hills and faraway.

I love you Mum.

Faraway, but never forgotten.

Shine on...

Always shine.

Garden update

I thought a garden update was long over due. Remember this lovely picture of our raised beds??.....

 Well, lets just say months of bed-rest have done their damage and the toll is high.. Sigh.. Since this was taken I've snuck out and managed to tame it somewhat despite doctors orders, but my late master gardener mother would not approve. Of course she would also be out there weeding and threatening me within an inch of my life to get back into bed if  I knew what was good for me.. ;)

On a plus side we have SEVEN cantaloupes ripening in our tiny patch. Any day now we will be able to harvest these yummy garden gems.

Four of our five acorn squashes made it. I was going to rip out the vines, but I saw that one still had blossoms on it so I left it with fingers crossed we might get a few more squashes before the frost comes.

I had to ask for help, but Panda, Bear and I harvested a little over 3 lbs of sweet snap peas that I froze for this winter. 

And then there are the tomatoes.... Such a sad tale of woe and misery.  

My seedlings all rotted so my sister gave me some of the seedlings she was experimenting with this year (check her small pace container garden out. Its amazing!!). The seeds were not strong and both her and my tomatoes blighted this year. Oh well. Next year is a new year. I will return to my faithful Roma tomatoes and my sister will return to her prolific bumblebee tomatoes. We had several salads from our lettuce bed, but I think next year I will plant a smaller batch of lettuce. We harvested countless strawberries this year, and three of our 17 apples are making it to maturity.  Not a lot, but there are only three of us right now, so it might be just right. As the tree matures it will be able to handle more apples. 

Oh! Basil, how could I forget my basil bed?! I'm having Bear harvest my basil in small batches right now for processing. I plan on turning it all into pesto. Next year I will attempt to can our pesto, but this year I'm sticking with my tried and true freezer method. We will have at least 10 cups of pesto by my guesstimation when I am done to enjoy through the long dark winter months ahead.

As for me.... Still on bed-rest but finally have some answers and might be getting better soon. I might have to stay on bed-rest because my hips keep sublexing (popping in and out of their sockets due to my Ehlers Danlos Syndrome). The replacement castor came for my wheelchair finally so I might have a chance to get out and enjoy the end of the season a tiny bit if my health improves. Fingers crossed. There are still a lot of unknowns, but we are nearing the end and I can finally see the light at the end of this journey. Till next week. Shine on.