:: this moment ::

Birthed by Soulemama. One or a few photos using no words to sum up the spirit of your week.

This is week 2 of my 52 weeks of black and white photos of each of my children. 

Feel free to join me! 

:: this moment ::

Birthed by Soulemama 

Share your favorite photo from your week, using few to no words.

I have decided this year that each week I am going to take a black and white photo of each of my children. I want to see their growth week by week, so feel free to join with me! 

A Happy Thought

A Happy Thought

The world is so full

of a number of things, 

I'm sure we should all

be happy as kings.

-Robert Louis Stevenson from "A Child's Garden of Verses"

I have taken a bit of a respite from this place. Honestly, not for any reason in particular! I have just been so busy and alternatively our lives have been changing so much. We have been trying to figure out a new family rhythm. 

With Deirdre now in school, our days look different. Now with my return to work soon, as well as having a temporary job on the weekends, it has been a bit up and down. However, we still have been making the most of it and figuring out all of these changes together. Us four, we're a little team to be sure. It has amazed me how well they all have been doing through this. It is a blessing for sure. All of them are growing in news ways. And it has reminded me of what an honor and privilege it is to be their mother. 

Mostly, I find myself filled with divine gratitude. Gratitude for having my children in my life. Gratitude for my family, who has loved us so well through this. Gratitude for my friends, whom are also my family and who I get to raise my children alongside with. Gratitude for my education, which at times I have taken for granted. And gratitude for Waldorf, because that lynchpin in our lives has helped keep me steady- and my mothering steady- which in turn has helped me love my children well. It almost seems like a buffer of sorts, a sense of stability in my home. I can't quite name it. But it is there. 

I also continue to be in awe of the beauty that surrounds us. Maybe I appreciate it more now or maybe I see it more clearly, but I feel like someone has turned up the saturation in my eyes. Life is just brighter. 

My children have not been the only ones who have been growing. I have too. For once, in a long time, I have had time for myself. I have been doing things for just me. Beautiful yet simple things. And that feels good. My soul feels refreshed and I have a renewed sense of purpose, that I thought I died to a long time ago. It feels good to be alive again in that way. Which all brings me back to gratitude for the people the universe has conspired to put in my life and help me rekindle that. 

So I will leave you all now with a bit of 'catch up' for what we've been up to. We've celebrated 2 birthdays, MANY festivals, taken trips, and had lots of beach and crafting fun. Enjoy my sweet friends. And I will be back soon. 

Brynna is getting so so big! She loves to play at the Yorktown battlefields. 

Secret Places

Jonas turned 4! 

Brynna turned 2! 

Worm trap made by Jonas. 

Yorktown Pirate Day

Easter Eggs :) 

The start of  our garden! 

Yorktown Beach! 

Our trip to Richmond to visit Link and her family as well as the VMFA

Shrove Tuesday

Imbolc pots! 

Green for Spring! 

Day trip to Surry to their Farm Museum. 

One of our last days homeschooling. 

PS: Linking up for the lovely Nicole at Frontier Dreams for KCCO! 

Love and Light,

Guest Post at The Magic Onions :: Cultivating a Waldorf Home

Hello Dear Friends! 

Yesterday I had the great honor of sharing an article with Donni's readers on her blog The Magic Onions. It's titled "Cultivating a Waldorf Home" and is essentially about the steps I took after discovering Waldorf  four years ago to make our home reflect the change in our lives and hearts. It was a tough change and mean't parting with a lot of possessions as well as ruffling a few feathers in our families, but obviously it was worth it. 

Please visit her blog here to see. Oh and visit her blog period. It's lovely and enchanting yet real and practical. Her blog was one of the first ones I found after I discovered Waldorf and knew nothing. I read her entire 'Discovering Waldorf' series. So for me it is VERY surreal to now be contributing to it! In a way it is my way of giving back and seeking to help others along their journey- as Donni did for me.

I love how life comes full circle in that way. 

Oh and also if you are starting out our your Waldorf journey, feel free to email me. I'd love to talk with you if you're feeling lost. If you're never crafted before, like me (I had no idea what needle felting was or that it even existed), Donni has lots of lovely how to guides for needle felting as well as a Magic Craft box service that delivers all the crafting materials and how to- right to your doorstep seasonally. I wish her craft box was around when I first began!

Blessings, 
Nicole

Crafting our Home

Our window nook

Hello Dear Friends!

First off welcome again to all the new followers here from my current Nova Natural Giveaway  on facebook, pinterest, and google +. I find it immensely amusing just how connected I am now. I tend to be pretty regular on FB and pinterest (which is where I do the bulk of our home school planning). However Google + is growing on me. 

I do however take frequent black out computer breaks for media fasting and meditative purposes. Trust me, it's good for the soul :)

I thought I'd share a little bit more of our new home with you all. We moved to Willows Oaks back in mid-December from our house on Blount Point. We're renters and have been for the past 6 years. I have a hard time making a new place a home, especially since I feel like I just have to pack it up and leave every few years. But more and more as I have been in this new place, I have tried to make it ours. To breathe life into it. I find if I don't do this, then I begin to dislike my surroundings a bit. And that just won't do if your surroundings are where you work, teach, and spend most of your time. 

Rainbow heart mobile I made for our window nook

There has also been a neat series that my church has been doing on work, not just career work, but all work (including that of a homemaker). And more specifically that our work, regardless of what it is, should be an act of worship done in love for your creator (or if you don't believe in a higher power I think doing it out of love for your family and yourself is also very appropriate). 

So over the past few months and weeks I have been thinking more about this work of homemaking. Most of the little touches I add to our home are crafted (another act of worship and a reflection of creation that my Creator has endowed in me IMO). And so as I walked around today and snapped photos of our home, my work, my worship- well it was a very sweet reflective time. 

Rahima Baldwin Dancy talks about how the work of a homemaker and caretaker (female or male) is devalued in today's society. I feel that this sentiment is pretty prevalent as well. Real work = money, and well last time I checked I didn't receive a paycheck last month for staying at home. I also don't think many take into consideration mothers and fathers who do work and then come home to work a second shift taking care of the children, cooking, cleaning after a long day away. Not to mention those who do this alone without helpmates... you're angels in disguise.

I applaud all of you who do this work, at home or away. If you haven't heard in awhile that the work you do for your children and your home is vitally important, well it truly is. The work of keeping a home and raising little ones who will thrive in their environment and unfold there is immensely important and beautiful. 

I hope this post finds you all well! Do you have bits of your home to share? I'd love to see them. Do you feel your work around the home is an act or worship? 

Until next time,

Love and Light-

Nicole

I love this one too much to take it down- it's in our dining room! 

Our last remaining preserves from last year (apple butter, peach, and blueberry!! 

A favorite quote

Another little nook in our living room with a sweet photo and quilt for the kids

My all time favorite photos from my summer in Morocco and Europe! 

A watercolor that Jonas did that I love

Our weekly planner

In our kitchen

Linking up this week with Frontier Dreams, Magic Onions, Natural Suburbia, and Crafty Moms Share and a few others! Please check out my 'where I party' page! 

Pure Play and Our Knitted Farm Mat

The Sun with loving light
Makes bright for me each day,
The soul with spirit power
Gives strength unto my limbs,
In sunlight shining clear
I revere, Oh God,
The strength of humankind,
Which Thou so graciously
Has planted in my soul,
That I with all my might,
May love to work and learn.
From Thee stream light and strength
To Thee rise love and thanks.
~ A Waldorf Morning Verse~

We've been busy here since our last post. Homeschooling is quite consuming, in a good way. Interesting I feel as if our days flow more easily now that we have a stronger rhythm. Even on days when I have no special crafts or stories to do, the children still crave our school rhythm. We also have gone totally TV free at home for the past 3 weeks. It has been a long time coming here. A gradual wean of sorts. While we've never been big on TV here, I have come to realize that we really have no need or place for it when it comes to the children. Apart from the occasional family movie night, they haven't watched a drop. A say this not as a combination for anyone who is not there yet or doesn't want to be there, rather as an encouragement to those whom want to reduce. It is possible. 

On that note however it means that we all have had more time. With that time I have used it to simplify our play space a bit and rework it. Since they kids are playing much more, it made sense. I also have been reading a lot more on how children learn and play- which inspired a few changes of my own. 

I reworked our playroom so that there was more open space to play in. We moved out our black play bench, play kitchen, and cleaning set. We set the kitchen and leaning supplies up in the dining room- near our own kitchen- so that they could be playing kitchen while I was cooking. They also can then easily clean up after their meals. I was worried at first that if I moved it out of the play stand, which they use primarily as their house, then it might hamper their house play. Rather, they just moved it. Now their house is under the table. We also set up our nature table in the dining room again after having it up high in the playroom. It did not work out well there since it was not as interactive. 

In place to the kitchen in the play stand, Craig and I made a play bookshelf. I have to say it was a super fun project- one of my first wood working ones. I have been admiring the palumba simple bookshelf for age. However the price was a bit high for me. Instead of $169, all it cost us was $40 in wood, stains, and brushes. It looks nice, right? On the book shelf we set up of gnomes house and all their furniture. 

In the now free corner we put the children's school table there. They kids love it so much more there. It is not as cramped. It's light and clear near the window. 

I moved the sling book case to where the table used to be and added our old rug. It's a nice little reading homeshcool corner. Many many times I have come in there now and have seen the kids laying down there skimming our books. 

In the far corner of the room we now have our baby doll corner, castle, and our new farm! We are farm people at heart. I have been skimping and saving up for the farm for years now. We also added a baby doll changing table. What really tipped the scale sin being able to add these treasures to our playroom was EBAY. I went through all our toys and purged. And then purged some more. And then went through the garage and even their old clothes. Not only were we able to get these goodies but we also were able to make a bunch more which went to other things (like bills!). 

With it I finally sat down and finished our knitted farm mat. Back almost a year ago I participated in a knitted farm swap hosted by Carrie over at Crafty Moms Share. Those lovely squares sat and sat. I just did not know who to bring them all together. Some of the sizes ended up not being 12x12, while others were. So after playing young with it in my mind for a bit I decided I would just sew it together like a quilt. That's right, I used my machine. I joined up each row and then stitched them all together. Then I basted, backed, and binded them! I used the sweetest vintage flower fabric for the backing that make sit look like a field of flowers. I am so pleased with the finished product. (By the way I knitted the dark green cable fields- you can even tuck veggies and chicks into the cables!)

So that's our new playroom, dining room, and farm mat. It is really just the tip of the what we've been doing. More fluff and fun that substance. However I have been reading more Steiner and some other great books and my love of Waldorf has been deepening. If you haven't dug into Steiner yet but are intimidated. Please don't be! I promise to be back soon to share some of what I am learning.

Blessings and Light, 

Nicole