Rhythm of the Home is Live! (and our Lenten Garden is in it!)

***Update: 1/2015***

Rhythm of the Home magazine is intermittently not working. Here is the link on my blog to the full article I did for them on Lenten Gardens! 

http://dotingondeirdre.blogspot.com/2012/02/lenten-garden-journey.html

***********

Hello friends!

I hope this finds you well. Here in Virginia our weather has been a mixed bag. I am happy o write that as I am typing here the sun is streaming through my window after many days of cold drizzly weather. We're working on our garden at the new house and things are coming along well. 

I thought I'd pop in and share with you the article I wrote for Rhythm of the Home's Spring edition on our Lenten Garden. I have come to look forward to writing a piece to share with ROTh readers every season or so. ROTH was one of the first resources I stumbled across on my Waldorf journey and it's sorta surreal to me now to think I have the privilege of writing for them.  

So enjoy the artier and all the other lovely pieces over there. I hope you all  get to have some Spring weather soon. I am all but too ready for it!

Cheers, 

Nicole

A gnome door- Deirdre is sure of it!

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. 

Letting Go

For a very long time I was a stressed person. Through most of high school I considered myself carefree and free spirited. I did well in school and I had a lot going on but I was never wound tight. If I did get stressed, I would go surfing or kick the soccer ball around and then things just seemed to work themselves out. 


And then my senior came along, bad things went down at home, I moved out and life became more burdensome. If you've read my past blogs, then you know my parents have dealt with substance abuse issues. So that is about as much as I will go into tonight on why I moved out. Seven years later and I still think its one of the best decisions I have ever made. 


After moving out and into early college I became wound pretty tight. I was in defense mode and just trying to get by. Getting by for me meant closing myself off and pushing through. Life had lost a bit of its luster for me. This is not to demean any of my life experiences from then until now, because truly I have lived great life, become closer to my creator, seen a good chunk of the world, and loved deeply and learned to lover deeper in the past seven years. However I was still wound pretty tight. 


I think it was this past winter when I started learning more about Waldorf that I reflected on where I lost myself. I found some old surfing photos and I wanted to get back to that carefree state more in my current daily life. Since then I think I have been making some great strides towards that end. One of those strides has been just going with the flow more. One of the things I love about Waldorf education is their emphasis on daily rhythms versus a schedule. Days have themes and a loose order but no arbitrary time slots and rigidness. If cooking with the kids takes longer, because well you all are having fun, then thats ok and the day will just run a little later. 


My children are creatures of habit, as all little ones tend to be. They need rhythm and having them gives them a sense of security in the universe-without the stress of a schedule. Hurrying all the time is detrimental to creativity  Trust me I know! 


So here is a prime example tonight. As we were tending to the animals after dinner and before bath, The kids got into the water and had a blast! The old Nicole would have gotten upset because now their clothes are wet and they're going to mess the floors up. Instead we had a hose bath tonight and stayed out for an hour.


Rich full memories were made tonight. I got to enjoy them and be engaged. No worrying here. Just going with the flow. 

Daily Verse or Quote: He was going down the street near her corner, walking along in the direction of her house at twilight, as the day was fading, as the dark of night set in. – Proverbs 7:8-9 (NIV)

Blueberries for Sal

Today we went on our much missed family outing. Since Craig has been working crazy hours, we have not be able to go on our weekly family outings, much to Deirdre's chagrin. However today was the perfect day to do one. We've been in our new home for a week now and we are settled - so now let's go on an adventure! An adventure inspired by her favorite book, "Blueberries for Sal."

And off we went to the Pungo Blueberry Farms in Virginia Beach! It was a lovely family friendly place (restrooms, sheltered picnic areas, cold water, and wagons to help you carry the little ones around). The farm was also family owned and the really cared about their farm and its patrons. They even had a cute play blueberry figure! I will so come again next year!

The kids were in heaven, despite the heat. Deirdre actually picked some while singing a song about a blueberry gnome named bill whom was protecting her from the blueberry troll name grimace.

Jonas just ran from bush to bush stuffing his face. He was wild and having so much fun. We did not care how many berries he ate or how far he tarried, he was loving life and will surely remember this experience for years to come. Family fun.  

Bonne Nuit, Mes Amies