Thrifted

 Melissa & Doug brand new stickers, Beatrix Potter treasury, awesome wooden puzzle to put away for when I have a toddler again (it's huge!) $5.00

Thomas book with 12 miniature manipulatives, Snail's Pace board game, two usborne books, a pack of Hot Wheels early readers and ballet slippers.  $6.00

Schooling

 

I can't pretend it's all sunshine and rainbows because there have definitely been days with the holiday hustle bustle that have been less than peaceful. But, when there are those moments when the homeschool sugarplum fairies dance in my head, I just want to capture them and keep them in my memory forever and ever.

Mama Made: His Christmas Vest

Another project done.  This one cost $1.00 in wool and the pattern was a quarter.  All set for their Christmas concert, early this year. Last year I was stitching his cow bow tie by car light in the passenger seat of our vehicle on the way to the concert.  Feels good to be ahead for a change.

Mama Made Christmas #1: Her Skirt

A little wool skirt with wooden buttons.  I sort of like the relaxed pleats so it's a bit of a twirl skirt instead of the fussy pressed pleats.  An Oliver & S pattern.  The fabric cost $.50.  One mama made Christmas item down, more to go!

Mama Made: Goats

Skipping Black Friday shopping in favor of some stitching. 

Mama made goats. 

Just need to make them some clothes and we'll be set for Christmas.

Stay safe all you black Friday shoppers out there!

First Snow

Snow, squealing kids, smart wool socks, boots, coats (unzipped of course, we're tough!), toasty warm fire, homemade mittens drying next to it, pot on for hot cocoa and snuggles with all who want to get warm. Just a dusting here, but a promise of what's to come.  Ahhh....seasons, I love you so.

Mama Made: Doll Wardrobe

The doll that I made for Audra's 4th birthday she calls Grace.  I made Grade some more outfits. Actually these match dresses I made for Audra.  Now I just need my dad to make a little armoire for her outfits, right?  Good plan, I say!

My free ranging girl

Outside on the swings, pajamas and apron and boots.

 While I did catch her licking the frost of the van (gross), most of the time when she is outside, she is swinging, exploring, talking and interacting with the animals.  It's a good, good childhood.

Her Presentation!

It's presentation day Friday!  This little girl wasted no time in choosing topic, making poster or practicing.  If she does it as well as she has been doing here, it will be well heard!  Love her spunk!  I still need to get a picture of his, which of course is more time consuming and intricate, his choice.

The other bonus about her presentation is it provides hours of entertainment after the fact.

Good luck to all the kids presenting today!

Baby #3, Boy or Girl? It's a...

 Drumroll.....it's a.....!!!!!   And can you tell who isn't thrilled?! 3/4 of us are thrilled, so that's good odds!

Those goats

Here today we have another episode of the helper and the narrator....this time with dad leading the way. Those goats better not get out now!

Thirfted

 Farmer Almanac for kids, pack of light bulbs, brand new Nalgene, five brand new magnifying glasses, 2 yards of this fab vintage print.  $5.00

Build your own journal kit, pool floaty bubble, two fido jars (I did get the labels off) and three yards of the blue courdory.  $6.00

A November Garden to Table

Armed with a pair of kitchen shears, Miss Audra picked some herbs from the garden.  Some thyme, chives and parsley.  I told her we would use whatever she picked for dinner.

 We made some potatoes with the chives.

 And some focaccia with the thyme.  And she just ate the parsley as a snack, as usual. Quite the snack!

And here it is out of the oven.



My little Audra is my 'wild child', but is so relaxed and focused when making something.  Plus, she says "Take my picture" and poses.  One of the very best part of being able to keep them home is being able to dive into their interests.  Cooking and baking is definitely one of hers right now. The rest of us reap the benefits!

 

Wood.

I really needed to get some more wood in our woodshed and I made time to do some of that today.  I'm so thankful to always have my sidekick doing SO much work...and my narrator who makes sure I'm not lonely.  Truth be told, my pregnant body is exhausted, but we got a bunch in this afternoon.  And then I was so tired that dinner was a smidge of leftover soup, cheese and crackers, clementines and cucumber slices...and my kids thanked me for the awesome dinner.  Go figure. Glad I grabbed my camera, for these are the times I like to remember.  Just an ordinary day, just doing what we do, which I classify as the best of times.

His New Shirt

The story behind this shirt is one I want to remember.  We were at a festival a couple of months ago and the Audubon Society had this fun booth with some interactive games. There was this one scene you were supposed to place magnetic birds to where their habitat was.  Adrian was immediately drawn to this activity.  The nice women there were trying to give him hints until I gently told them that Adrian probably could do it all on his own.  They didn't look like they believed me, but Adrian put every single bird in the right habitat.  And then he totally knocked their socks off and identified all but one of the birds by name.  They were so shocked and gave Adrian this patch (which they don't give to everyone) so he can be an honorary Audubon member. It was so funny when they were praising him, he just shrugged and said "I'm just into birds."  Which is totally true, he's even wrote some 'books' on the subject (how I love the 'books' he writes!). They loaded him up with all these color sheets to bring home and he knocked my socks off by coloring all these black and white images true to their actual markings...by memory.  Glad I finally stitched this patch onto a shirt. It makes me smile when I see him wearing it.

Puppies, Rainbows and Babies.

There's so much negativity out there that I am trying to block it out and think happy thoughts.

So, I am thinking about puppies...Holly when she was little, specifically.


Rainbows....over our home sweet home.

And babies.
Adrian hours old

Audra hours old

And baby #3 we hope to know if it's a boy or girl in 6 more days.  Squee!!! Guesses?! 

Puppies, rainbows and babies.  Much better than my current facebook feed.

Thrifted

 Lampshade, transferware with top, four fab books. $8.

Eddie Bauer sheet set for our guest bed, vintage book, brand new journal for me and those notions, including the wooden ones. $4.50.

Free Ranging Freedom

We have free ranging goats, free ranging chickens, free ranging dogs, free ranging cats and free ranging kids.  Let freedom ring, exercise your freedom and vote!