::Right Now & Homeschool Planning::

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! 

Right now I am...

...wishing we were still phone and internet free on vacation in Hatteras. While I love this place and our home, it was divine to be so untethered for a week. Also on our first day home, I broke my right pinky toe in 2 places and now have to wear a boot for 8 weeks. OUCH!
...planning our home school year. I am almost done and there is still more to be done along the way but I feel good about where I am right now. I finished our home school year calender- pictured above. It's a nice visual reminder of our overall yearly rhythm using watercolor paper and folding it into the 12 months.
...digging up my summer garden and getting a late start on my Autumn garden. I hope I still do have time to get it right! Bring on the broccoli, spinach, and potatoes!
...pondering our school room this year. I just finished reading "Playful Learning" by Mariah Bruehl and am loving her Reggio Emilia 'atelier' station.
...trying to not buy more school supplies than I really need. It's hard. The good thing is that most of the supplies I need are art ones and the ones I bought last year- Stockmar crayons, paints, and Lyra colored pencils- have all held up super well and I don't need to get new ones!
...learning to finger knit. I can knit fine but I've never finger knitted. And I need to teach Deirdre this year, so here I go!
...drinking lots of coffee. I feel as if I have lots to do. I know I don't. But it feels like a mountain. Coffee for me is like giving me a rope to help me climb that mountain!
...thanking the Lord for our lovely family time together. Sometimes I get all tangled up in the 'stuff' I need to do instead of looking back on our vacation and just praising him for our sweet moments together.

Thank You. 

Until next time,

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!! 

Farm Girl Sewing and Garden Updates

This week went by in flash. These three kids keep me on my toes for sure, but I don't mind. I am loving this new busy full life of ours. 

I did however get to steal away a few hours in my sewing room during nap time. I was determined to sew something for Deirdre since as I was sorting out seasonal clothes and I saw that she grew out of two of the dresses I've made for her- which really saddens me. 

But thankfully Mommy can sew more and I had some very cute fabric on hand to sew something for my farm girl. I especially love this fabric because we own a Dominique hen, who is black with white polka dots. The result was the above dress. I used Oliver and S's free pop-over sundress pattern. You can find the link to the pattern here.

I think I can now say that I am past being a beginner sewer. However this dress was easy. It took me two hours from cutting to finish. I highly recommend it as a beginner project. It is even easier than a pillowcase dress. I even sewed in some ribbon to the dress yoke for some added flare. 

Above you can also see our new family rhythm watercolor chart. The kids helped me paint it. So far it is working wonderfully for us. I was inspired by Becca's chart here on her blog, Chocolate Eyes. 

I hope you all had a great week too. Below is an update on our fairy garden. It is coming along nicely. Now all we have to do is keep the deer out! 

Cheers, 

Nicole 

PS: Does anyone know of any good summer craft swaps going on? I'd love to join one. 

The Beginning of Our Fairy and Gnome Garden

The Fairy Side

My Herb Garden

The Gnome Side

This week has been happily filled with lots of outdoors time. I finally felt peppy enough to get to work on my herb and summer gardens. That also meant Deirdre and Jonas got to work on their part of the gardens too- for the gnomes and fairies of course!

The gnome and fairy part of the garden are works in progress right now, but so far we're off to a great start. Deirdre and Jonas helped paint and seal the wood gnome cabin and fairy house. Deirdre chose the flowers and plants too. 

I wanted their gardens to be incorporated into my gardens as well. First, I did it this way so that we could do our gardening alongside one another. Second, I wanted their play gardens to not only be fun but also productive. So Deirdre chose to grow cucumbers, strawberries, and white squash in her gnome and fairy garden (Jonas was only interested in the pretty orange marigolds and gazania)! 

We also set up a garden journal to track our gardens's development and any wee folk activity. I am going to have to help our local gnomes and fairies stage some interesting garden scenes for DD and Jonas to record (as you can tell I am having lots of fun with this project too!) I can't wait to show you how the garden evolves over the next few weeks. The kids have got big plans I tell you! They're drawing their inspiration from my fairy pinterest board. Once we're done, I will enter the contest going on over at the Magic Onions with Donni. Her blog and work is so inspiring. I just love her! 

We also managed to lose a tree in a thunderstorm this week. But fear not, my husband took to the tree like a giddy school boy with a chainsaw. As a result we not have lots of firewood and the kids got some new log chairs for their mini-wood playground! Also my wonderful husband made from shipping palates some garden boxes, a compost heap, and planters for us. Oh how I love him!

So I hope this post finds you well. We are all well, especially Miss Brynna. I cannot believe that she will be a month old in two days. Ah the passage of time- what a blessing and a curse. 

Until next time!

Cheers, Nicole 

Busy busy boys

Today was a glorious at home busy day. I am finding that all my animals (5 chickens, 3 rabbits, 2 ducks, and 2 geese) are taking up a large chunk of my free time as well as my big garden and compost. Who knew, right?

When Craig was working less, he helped and primarily took care of the compost and garden, but now that is all on me. Today I timed it all and I spend 2 hours and 15 minutes outside just working on the above mentioned things. Phew. Really I do not mind, but having two kids in tow behind me makes things creep a little slower. So now I do the heavy animal stuff before the kids wake up and during nap time. When they're awake I take them out and we all do the garden and compost together. Even though this is 'work' I am happy to be outside and we are just starting to reap some rewards (lots of raspberries, blueberries, and tomatoes from the garden!)

These are some of our yellow cherry tomatoes that I used in tonight's tomato sauce! 

But on to the topic I really wanted to share about, my busy busy boy. Jonas, my baby, is growing up- much to my chagrin!! He is full into toddler mode, talking-signing-walking-running-rough housing and all! He is a very busy boy too. 

Deirdre was a busy toddler, but in a different way. Jonas has to be inspecting everything. His curiosity is endless and is something that I encourage. His favorite things are to be held by Ma-ma, to look at books but preferably to be read to by Ma-ma, to play in the recycling, to help Ma-ma doing whatever she is doing, and to be outside close to Ma-ma. See the trend?

When I am not around, he is happy to use Deirdre as a Ma-ma substitute for awhile. Recently though, he has begun venturing off on his own in the yard to play in our playhouse while I water the garden. Jonas is spunky too. He knows exactly where the watering can is and once we get outside he immediately bee-lines for it and then heads for the faucet with the can-that is about as tall as him! It really is a funny sight to see. Another favorite is the compost pile where he picks up the scoop and tries to reach in and turn it over like Da-da does. Seriously his modeling and mimicking is phenomenal. I just love him and find his milestones endlessly interesting and entertaining. 

Jonas also loves to help me cook. Deirdre too, and she can actually help me now. She could win first prize for cracking eggs perfectly. Jonas now can stand on the stool which gives him more access to whatever I am cooking. He knows that Mommy pokes the pan with the spoon, so when I pull him up, he grabs the spoon and pokes the pan too- without my prompting. Then he glares up at me, grins and claps his hands. Precious. 

It was this weekend 2 years ago that we first told our family and friends that we were pregnant with Emil Jonas. I remember it because the day was Father's Day, and we told my father-in-law by putting an ultrasound photo in his card. Jonas is also about the age Deirdre was when I got pregnant with him (16 months). So today has been a busy day, with a busy sweet boy, reflecting on my blessed life and future. Have a great weekend, and I will be back tomorrow! 

The Jonas tornado 

On the prowl for recycling- I just cleared it out- so he is upset. 

Success! 

All done and off to check on Deirdre

Ok I am back Ma-ma, pick me "up"

Daily verse or quote:

Philippians 2:14-16

Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.” Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky as you hold firmly to the word of life. And then I will be able to boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor in vain.