Family Time :: The Norfolk Botanical Gardens

My husband works interesting hours and days since he is in the restaurant business. It is how it has always been since we've been married, so I am used to it now. It also is one of the bigger reasons why we home school. A normal shift for him goes from about 2 pm from anywhere to 11 pm or 2 am (depending on the season). His days off usually are Mondays and Tuesdays but this summer we've been blessed enough to also get him most of Wednesdays too. If the kids we're in school or even pre-school, they not get to see him very much since he works night shifts and isn't off evenings. But I digress! 

It's made for an interesting social life for us but we make it work. Our other couple friends have more 9-5 jobs. But the one happy benefit is that we get lots of time together. He also is able to be a part of the kid's home schooling. We try to devote one day each week to going out somewhere with the kids. Then once a month we try to go somewhere extra special, like cherry picking. 

This past week we all packed up and headed to the Norfolk Botanical Gardens. My Grandmother's house- and my mother's and father's childhood homes- are super close to the gardens. I went there a few times as a child but was wholly unimpressed. But a few years back we went again with Craig's family and man had it changed! It is seriously is a Waldorf homeschoolers dream land. They have a dirt factory, sand mountain, water play area, edible garden, Tee-pee village, desert village, farm play area, butterfly house, and enchanted forest. I am sure there is more and that those names aren't the correct ones, but you get my drift!! 

Our monthly theme is berry picking and we were able to pick and eat a few blackberries while we were there in their edible garden as well as plant some seeds, among many other things! 

What did you all get to do this week? How do you work in family time together? I'd love to know!

Love and light,
Nicole

PS: Don't forget to enter my $75 Nova Natural giveaway. I am extending the entry deadline until Sunday at midnight! A few working Mamas emailed me and asked about an extension since they don't get to use the computer much during the week. I am happy to do so! 

Eating lunch next to the worms in the compost bin!! 

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! 

And the winner is....

Thank you everyone who entered! It was a small, but fun giveaway! Thank you Emily for making these sweet little sets!

The winner is:
True Random Number GeneratorMin: Max: Result:1#Powered by RANDOM.ORG
#1: Andrea G"A lovely set!  Would be great for the kiddo's to play with. . ."
Congrats Andrea! Please send me an email at nicoleandcraigkleemann@gmail.com and I will get your set out to you this week! 
Come back later today to check out my next giveaway for this week :) It's from one of my favorite places, Nova Natural!

{this moment}

{this moment}

A Friday ritual birthed by Soulemama. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

. . . . . . . . . .

Also Our $75 Nova Natural giveaway is still going on until 7/19!

Don't forget to enter!

http://dotingondeirdre.blogspot.com/2013/07/my-favorite-things-75-nova-natural-gift.html

Blueberries for Sal :: July Circle Time

I hope you all had a lovely weekend. We sure did! The kids and I headed down to Virginia Beach, my hometown, to spend some time with my mother and brother at the beach. We all had a great time and came home happy and tired! I however got too much sun, but that's old news. I'm casper and my kids well they're well bronzed year round. Oy! 

 I digress though... (the sun must have gotten to me). Today we started back up with circle time after a week long break while Craig's grandparents were in town for the 4th. Like I mentioned in my last post, our monthly theme is berry picking and our main book is Peter in Blueberryland. Last month's theme was oceans and Curious Fish was our main book. However I also like to add in a few related stories. Sometimes I read them, other times I act them out with puppets of dolls. For this story I blended in Sal, form the book Blueberries for Sal, with the blueberry and blackberry gnomes we have. 

Our Sal was the little blue peg person. 

When Sal first got to the berry patch all but one bush was hidden. The berry gnomes had hidden it with their magic to see if she would gently pick the bush gently and be kind to it. After the gnomes saw that Sal was a kind hearted girl, all the other bushes magically appeared! Sal was able to pick as many berries as her basket would hold.

After we finished that little play I then read 'Blueberries for Sal'. I think my favorite part was when we got to the end and Sal and her mother were canning, Jonas cried out "WE DO THAT MOMMY". Yes Jonas, yes we do. 

Ah I love our little lives, even on the tired grumpy days. This is why I blog. This is why I keep this place positive. Because my dear friends today was overall not the best of our days. But thinking back to our sweet circle time. To Brynna's first painting. To Jonas' sweet and excited outburst. Well it really puts everything into perspective. It affirms why we do this. It keeps me focused on the larger work at hand rather than the rough patches on the way. 

Well dear friends, I hope your Mondays were lovely!! I will be back tomorrow with a giveaway. 

What are you up to this month? Do you have any favorite berry books? how do you do circle time? Also why do you blog, if you do?

Love and light,

Nicole

Also Our $75 Nova Natural giveaway is still going on until 7/19!

Don't forget to enter!

http://dotingondeirdre.blogspot.com/2013/07/my-favorite-things-75-nova-natural-gift.html

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! 

Weekending :: Yorktown Beach

I am really enjoying my new camera!

We're off to Virginia Beach this weekend to visiting my mother and brother. I am so excited to see them and to work in some beach and hopefully surfing time. 

I wanted to leave you with some photos of our recent weekend adventure to Yorktown beach. We try to spend lots of time outdoors when we're all together. That night was one of those nights that I just didn't want to end. It was idyllic and beautiful. It is in those moment I try to slow down and remembering how fleeting this ages is and our kids. 

Craig and I will, God willing, spend the rest of our lives together and for most of those years the kids will not be young and in our home as they are now. I find myself on hard days slipping into the 'I want this stage to be over' but I have to quickly remind myself that the hard moments are just that 'moments'. I will not remember them when they're grown. I know myself well enough to know that I will miss them. So being in the present and enjoying all of it has been a new tenant of mine as of late. 

If you have any moments like this, please share! How do you draw yourself out of them? How do you spend family time together? I'm truly interested! 

Until next time, 
Nicole

Also Our $75 Nova Natural giveaway is still going on until 7/19!

Don't forget to enter!

http://dotingondeirdre.blogspot.com/2013/07/my-favorite-things-75-nova-natural-gift.html

Deirdre lost her first tooth!

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! 

And the winner is...

True Random Number GeneratorMin: Max: Result:68Powered by RANDOM.ORG

The Winner Is: #68 :: Anonymous 
I'm a new follower! I've been a lurker for awhile. Thanks for the chance. I love your sharks. 

mollysmith221@yahoo.com
~~~

Thank you everyone who entered!! Please email me mollysmith221@yahoo.com in 48 hours so I can get your figures out to you! If not, I will pass it along to someone else to be fair!

Next week I will announce another one of my favorite things giveaway. This tiem it will be from Nova Natural! If you're interested in sponsoring a giveaway on my blog please email me at nicoleandcraigkleemann at gmail dot com. 

Love and Light,

Nicole

Don't forget to enter our fairy garden giveaway going on until 7/14!