saint nicholas day!!!!

we woke up shouting!

its here.

Ira opened the last & final box of her playmobile advent- revealing santa claus.... such a lovely oppurtunity to learn about saint nicholas and his beautiful generosity.

We discussed how saint nicholas would walk through the town, and that children would leave their boots outside with some hay for his horse.... in hopes of him leaving a coin, or golden walnut, or chocolate or some other bit behind.

We also talked about how the current practice of pretending santa is real came about from this saint... and that the real reason for honoring saint nicholas (or santa) should be about his unselfish love & spirit of giving & taking care of those that needed when in the position to do so.... and so very much NOT about prettending that their is a happy jolly man leaving loads of plastic melamine laden piles of presents in their living room because they were "good".

great lesson for children & adults alike, no doubt.

given the recent atrocities of this past black friday.... our convictions in this home to stay very far from anything christmas/consumer are stronger than ever.

on a very special saint nicholas day, i hope these words find everyone, safe, warm & full of love!

playmobile makes me smile!

if it does the same for you- enjoy-

more botanical garden pics!

how sweet it is...

to walk past the bathroom and find ira.... and a sink full of baby toys.

"whatcha doing?"


"cleaning toys for baby liv"

"oh, why?"

"because i found them under the couch & i think they might be dirty....she puts them in her mouth mama.... "

yes, its confirmed.... i birthed the sweetest & most considerate 3 year old ever.

;)

how much...

DO YOU LOVE THIS DIAPER??????????????????????????

made by the lovely sewing GODDESS julia....
out of all recycled material... including my old fleece sweater....







and yes, that IS an OLIVE on the bum!!!!!


ahhhhhhhhhhh

I never want to take it off her.

I almost woke her from a nap to put it on yesterday!

Im in love.

day of mini harvests

yesterday we cut fresh rosemary for our roasted potatoes, picked lemons for our lavendar lemonage & this morning went out & picked grapefruits for breakfast. mmmmmmmmmmmmm.

check out ira's "insy binsy" straw the she claimed was going to be perfect for "drinking oranges" :)

Limbo

What does a bathrobe tie, ten minutes and an imaginative 3 year old yield?

Limbo!

Library Picks

its been quite a while since Ive updated any books we have been reading from the library.

I thought of updating a little yesterday at the library, because a volunteer read like 3 books to ira and I had one of the "overflow of positive emotion" moments about our libraries here.


So- maybe Ill be able to post more about what books we are into.... hopefully.... Im hopeful at least ;)

so the first one we have been looking at buying for a while now, but we ust keep renewing [bag over head]

whole world [with CD]


miss spider's sunny patch kids

the story of peter rabbit

and the cutest- ira picked this one to "help baby liv to nap"

so adorable.

all asleep

we checked out 20 books yesterdAy, but this is what we have gotten through this morning.....

pure love

Our Day-

was full.

we made cranberry sauce, OJ from local organic oranges- with just hands & a wooden spoon- no juicer.

then we roasted beets- traditional & golden (those are not potatoes).... so yum on fresh tortilla.... and a small spoonful of sour cream.

Pagan Preschool

*click here*

last little bits of fall....

....around the home.

Ira is a HUGE fan of fake flowers. i am not.

but- as goes my life- she is boss and demanded i buy these from the clearance bin at joanns.


I also harvested acorns from the target parking lot!

its true!

jared said, "look at all those acorns! in the desert!"

so i started scooping them into bags. i looked insane for sure.

no pic of that....

but check my lobster cracker being used- not on lobster- ever- poor lobsters... but on fresh pecans from right here in the az!

Check it Out!

crystal at loin cloth strikes again!

more adorable stuff!

I also received a GORGEOUS felted headband!

Cute-n-ness

otherwise known as liv.

ira has taken to calling liv "cute-n-ness"


i think it is the cutest thing in the world.

craft swap love

the amazingly talented mamas over at frunchymama.com let me join in their craft swap!


the top two pictures are of the gnome & felt leaves, apples & acorns i made for the amazing trinity & her little girl! I sent them off in a knitted bag.

The bottom pic is of my swap present! Amy literally stained, painted, and used power tools to make the box AND knitted leaves to a wreath she made.

Its beautiful & we are officially calling it our "seasonal box". every solstice we are going to change what hangs inside! So exciting!

wow

this week has been CRAZY!

jared's fantastic week off ended with ira puking allllllllll day yesterday, oh and his own face swelled up three times its natural state.....dental abcess.

so- basically i ean around with a baby on my back tending to sicklies.