Gratitude Sunday

Nola in her little bonnet.

Thoughtful...

Silly

• Snow fluttering down from the still, white sky this morning. Lot's of squeals of delight and jumping on  beds.
• A lovely fat stack of new library books!
• Seraphina calling her new shoes "clippy clops"
• The first snowdrops, peeping through the ground.
• Boo's excitement at dissecting owl pellets! "Wow, look, bones!"
• Lovely comments from our annual home school inspection. More than the comments about the girls work, which I was nervous didn't amount to enough "evidence". I was most touched when she said how warm and loving the atmosphere of our home felt. That is everything to me.
• Watching a fun old movie together curled up on the sofa.
• Going on a date to see a late showing of The Hobbit and feeling a bit teenagerish :)
• Starting a really interesting read. And hoping to see the film soon too!

Joining Taryn at Wooly Moss Roots for Gratitude Sunday

Nola

Baby Speak

Random Nola vocabulary... just because I have to remember these small but oh so significant details:)...They go by so fast!

ewaawa = The song "Zousan the Elephant" by Elizabeth Mitchell. Nola requests elephant whenever she is sad or sick or just wants a cuddle. It's been her favourite song since really little, never failing to calm and soothe her.

gop = stop - multipurpose
wahwah = milk
gom = gone
geegee = jesus
wuvoo = love you
gagoo mama = thank you mama
ooop = soup
oo - ooos,  baa baaas and meeowws = monkeys, sheep and cats  (she identifies animals by the sounds they make)

Her favourite animal are owls like Fina's was at the same age. She loves their  "big wownd aeyees".

She tries to do ballet practice with her sisters now, I can't actually describe how cute this is.
She loves to roly-poly.

She loves to draw constantly, or paint, or just plunge her hand into the water jar or dip her fingers in the watercolors.

She very much dislikes bedtimes. And sleeping in general. There is just too much fun stuff to do when you're awake right?

Today she woke after nap time and ran up to Fina shouting Beena, Beena, wuvoo, wuvoo, kissumee now (see above for translation)

She loves to drop her animals and blankets out of her cot while innocently saying Dwopt it and obviously expecting it to be picked up in a timely manner.

 She loves the i-pad (which she is not really allowed to use)  because it has "picters". She calls the i-pad a Bubabee.

When Tani gently tells her for the 19th time in a row that she can't play with the Bubabee she tilts her head and in a very super cute, optimistically high pitched voice says, clear as day i-pad?

She does not take to meals but loves to snack on crunchy foods such as veggie sticks, fruit, bread sticks, cereals, rice crackers and prawn crackers.

She knows that the girls will do anything for her and is a wee bit of a princess (in the nicest possible way)

She loves wool roving and often tries to steal a piece and run off with it saying softie, softie. She loves to rub soft things on her cheek and nose.

She has a favourite blankie which is super soft.

If she grabs something she is not meant to have she will run with it and throw it as soon as you catch up with her.

Today, she did her first wee wee in her potty!!! We are all very proud.

But this Mama is a little silly and sad too knowing that she is just growing up too fast already.

 Here is the beginnings of a little vest for Nola.

 I'm using some lush Rowan Savannah DK cotton /silk yarn in turquoise.

New Year Dreaming...

 

A friend gave us this beautiful Christmas candle decoration! (above) What a gift, the children found it magical and stared at it in wonder in the candle light of many an evening. It reminded me of all my German grandmother's wooden Christmas ornaments! It will be treasured for years to come!

 

 

 

 

(note the pictures below are from our new Year Day walk in our favourite spot.

 

Boo had a really quiet birthday. 

Her big present was a beautiful wooden xylophone.

She is such a sweet and gentle spirit. 

Although it was such a quiet day, she said it was the "very best birthday ever"

 

 

Faith, kitchening, gardening, keeping the home tidy and comfortable. Friends, crafting, creating and learning about things that are relevant to us and deeply interest us. 

These are the essentials. 

Anything extraneous that causes stress to any of the most important things must be put aside.

These are the quiet and simple resolutions that I am making this coming year.

 

  

 

 

 

Matilda has lost 4 teeth along the top of her mouth and two along the bottom over the last few months. 

With these physical changes have come great leaps in maturity and independence. 

I find myself missing her babyhood while being inspired by the funny, creative, quirky character she is becoming. 

In February she will turn seven. 

A very important transitional age in the Steiner philosophy.

It is the age where a child will truly descend into their body and begin to move from purely their will into their heart.

It is the age where imagination begins to bud and blossom.

 

 

 

 

This year I hope to be strong in my vision, yet soft in my application of that vision, always ready to drop all for love whatever that love might look like or ask of me.

 

I have thought about what my word of the year should be and as usual many different words came to mind so I decided to write the ones that spoke most clearly to my soul and put them in a hat and leave it to fate.

The chosen word for the year ended up being "gentle"

I think it is nudging me toward an unforced,  natural, path and pace.

Reflecting the words, that I find, in my life, turn to time and time again. 

Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

Gentle, Rest, Peace.

 

 

Wonder

 Today has been one of those days... It was beautifully sunny and crisp this morning and after three squabbles and then a talk about squabbles which almost always leads to another squabble I decided we should get some healthy fresh air and take the dog to a favourite walk in a National Trust Park.

There has been so much bad weather lately, and it's been such a long winter I know we are all starting to feel a little hemmed in, so I try and get outside with the girls as much as possible. After the general chaos of getting hats, gloves, scarves, boots, coats, water bottles, poop bags, baby wipes, etc... ready for 6 people and a dog we finally make it to what has become, after the recent tumultuous rains a rather muddy and somewhat slippery park.

After a 10 minutes of healthy fresh air and lots of mud, Nola slips and slides into a rather large and dingy puddle. She looks somewhat triumphant until she realises just how cold the water actually feels.
Still, she cries more about having to go home than actually being covered in muddy, cold water. Poor lamby :(

I run with her to the car to get her clothes off and cover her in a blankie while Emmy brings the dog and Boo brings her younger sisters, who ran miles ahead on the way out but seem to be dawdling rather a lot on the way back.
We must look quite the bedraggled sight!

But as Rumi says "this is not a caravan of despair!"

And I've stopped noticing whether anyone's paying attention.

We stop at the shop for juice and animal food and I buy Sylvie a lovely piece of steak that is on offer.
The utility room quickly becomes a mud room as a bunch of wet soggy girls + one pup tumble in.

As I get Nola washed and dressed I notice that certain wee people have been putting dirty socks and tights and yes, even pants back into their drawers. Eeeek! So the offending, items of clothing are pulled out of their somewhat composting pile and are finally deposited in the washer.

Just as we sit down for lunch, Sylvie does a wee which runs from the french doors down to the kitchen in little rivulets between the tiles.

Grasping at slender straws, I wonder if there might be a home school lesson on irrigation there somewhere.

Sylvie gets put out in the garden. Sylvie tips over one of my pots and buries her face in the compost.I think about eating that steak myself.
We make another bottle of eco cleaning spray.

After lunch it seems like a rest would be the best option for everyone. Although not everyone initially agrees I soon have 3 little ones fast asleep in their beds. A miracle has occurred!

After the girls wake up we play some games that a kind friend brought over yesterday.  Boo makes Irish Soda Bread and things seem to settle down. By dinner time the front room is covered with puzzle pieces. The kitchen table is covered with paints and paper. The counters are covered in dough. The sink is full. But somehow, somehow everything is just right. Just as it is meant to be. And I can't help but smile at the wonder of that.

Edited to add: This looks like a great series "Teaching from a place of rest" from "Amongst Lovely Things" Blog.

Lonely 5 minute Friday

It is funny how we can be so isolated in such a busy world.
Fields are tarmacked
to make way for tennis courts
because kids can't play outside anymore.

I reach out with words; Fragile like tendrils.
Seeking a cane or a friendly fence on which to lean.
And talk about the day.

Five beings echo locate me early in the morning.
Brimming with the expectation of a new day...

Five facets, five perspectives, five ways of being and seeing.

Five little suns that need to deflect their light
through many different prisms, not only mine.

Light has a weight all it's own.

But who is there?

The streets outside seem strange and distant this morning.
People rush past in motion blur.

In the evening, I pull curtains over windows
Like cave darkened wing membranes of a sleeping bat.
I see others are camped around the warm glow
of their own screens too.

Panes of glass separated by panes of glass.

Silent, divided and contained.

Yearning for a common hearth,
A warm glow of earthy embers and friendship.

So we each reach out through ether
from the confines of our cells
to feel the life of a human touch

Beyond the screens and the tapping keys.

Origami Beautiful

Emmy has been 

fashioning these whimsical origami butterflies and Japanese cherry blossoms from vintage paper.

 

And sticking them to her journal covers.