{Yarn Along} ...messiness and the french lessons that never happen :)

Oh it's been so long since I last joined in with Yarn Along!
It is nice to be back :)
I have started knitting up some Autumn wool longins for Nola!
I love the greens in this lovely Crofter yarn. They remind me of moss, hillsides, meadows and pebbles.


I received my new book of poetry through the post this morning!!!
There is something a little bit magical about paper and ink even though I have grown to value the convenience of a kindle.



Here is snap of Nola looking a little pensive. She has quite the pensive look about her sometimes.
Earnest almost.

She loves her Emmy.

A friend crocheted and stitched the beautiful lilac hued frock for her. I'm hoping for lots of warm weather so that she can wear it every - single - day :)

Today I am quite "worn to a raveling" as the Tailor of Gloucester would say :)

This morning was a whirlwind, even though I really truly tried to stall it into some quiet French stories and songs in hope for a quiet lull in activity since our full weekend.

It quickly became apparent that many more exciting ideas were brewing.

Before long, the kitchen was littered with origami.
Both successful attempts and the jumble of crumpled paper that was not quite so successful.
 Then there was the brown paper, string, stamps, ink pads and homemade cards and envelopes all to be ready and wrapped for a friends birthday party this afternoon.

I stealthily managed to stew some lovely rhubarb stalks for pudding this evening. Before lunch and everything.

I was rather impressed with that accomplishment.

The final straw might have been the muddy footprints brought in by a random water hole digger, which is the new name for the small child made pond in the dip where the swing used to be.

Oh happy days!!!

I shall miss them one day shan't I.

When my carpets are fluffed up and my counter tops minimalistic and void of all but the odd quaintly placed wooden spoon and shiny, un-bitten fruit.

The thing with being odd and Unschooling is that you never know what kind you are going to have.

Still a balance must be sought between what each individual would like to do and how those things can be best facilitated in a communal context.

Like so much in life, it all comes down to give and take.

Sometimes it is my turn to give, sometimes it is theirs.

Sometimes we all need to give in a little for the sake of the whole.

Sometimes older ones must accept that the needs of younger ones must take precedence.

Sometimes littles must learn to respect the boundaries of the bigger ones.

Sometimes the group has to be divided so that individual needs can be met.

Tight rope walking would be good training for this job.

As the girls grow older and more independent, they often get carried away and forget to tidy up before moving on to the next thing.

I'm sure that much of this is just being young and exuberant.

Being in a bigger - than - your - average - family means the house can get messy quick.

I could easily get over stressed about mess as I am the kind of person that needs a measure of order, harmony visually to feel an inner sense of equilibrium.

I know that a certain level of homely mess is also something that is very healthy for me to embrace as I could become far to hung up on things like dusty skirting boards and fingerprinted windows.

However, it would take 24 hour surveillance with a soapy sponge to prevent fingerprinted windows in this house.

Mess VS sanity and mess wins.

But onto partyness.

Nola had such a happy time waving at the other babies at the party this afternoon.

She loves to wave at the moment.
 Wave and squint and wrinkle her nose a lot.

Matilda had a lovely time at the party too.
She is so quiet that people often wonder if she is okay. But she is very much like me. Often seemingly in her own world, yet actually quite engaged and content with her own quietness.

She did become impossibly overwhelmed however, before bed, when one of the little plastic toys in her party bag broke.
My girls get silly over plastic as it is a bit of a forbidden fruit in our house.
Sad though it was, when it breaks so easily ....well you know.

It's funny though because they never ask for plastic.

They never really ask for anything which is probably unusual.

They get most excited over streams and trees and pebbles and stones and mud and paper and ink stamps and string.

I have a lot to be thankful for.


And even though I'm bone tired at the end of the day.
 
Je suis tres content.

Maybe we'll do French tommorrow :)

Sharing this post with Ginny today for "Yarn Along"