Childhood is...

Childhood means a lot of different things around here.  It means painting, creating, and inventing new games to play.  It means being outside and going on adventures together.  It means reading new books inside blanket forts in the living room and under shade trees in the yard.  It means being free to just play and be little for as long as possible.

But for one little girl it also means running inside declaring "a snake fell out of a tree and I have to go investigate but I need the rest of my safety gear first" and rushing out again.  Just as it should be, childhood means imagination. 

I know these moments won't last forever so we're enjoying them while we can and looking forward to the next adventure to come.

Dresses for dolls

Everyone needs a new wardrobe for Spring and around here the dolls are no exception.  Kinsley has requested that Patti and Lailey get an entirely new wardrobe this year.  They need dresses, shirts, t-pants, town clothes and a swim suit.  I tried to explain that they really aren't the dolls to take swimming but I'm not sure she believes me. 

We started with a couple new dresses and then I kept right on going and made a few for the shop as well.

 

 

I still have a couple waiting for me to finish the hem but then I think I'll be ready to move on to something new. Maybe some matching jammies for the two of them? How can I resist when they look this cute snuggled up together?

 

Wooden boats

We were sitting around this morning trying to think of what we'd do with our day when this link came up on the Rhythm of the Home facebook page.  Make our own little boats to sail?  Perfect!  Any activity including water is sure to be a hit with our littles. 

We gathered up the sticks and tree bark that we could find around the yard to construct our boats with.

Drilled holes in the center to insert the mast. 

And made our sails.  We used a leaf from the garden for this smaller boat.

But decided to try a fabric sail for this larger boat.  "Just like a pirate ship!"

The girls were so excited to finish their very own boats and were a little reluctant to let them sail away.  Kinsley is already making plans to create more, smaller boats, to keep in our watertable. 

It didn't take long for Kaitlyn to set her boat free and the sailing began. 

We spent the rest of the morning splashing around in one of our favorite places, enjoying the feel of the nearly ice cold water running across our feet.  These are the memories I hope they carry with them and remember when they think back on their childhood.  Simple pleasures indeed.

this moment

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{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. Inspired by Soulemama.  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.

 

 

Spring Reading Giveaway!

It seems as though Spring is slipping away into Summer and we haven't even settled into a good Spring rhythm yet.  We haven't quite figured out the flow of our days, the nature table hasn't been set up yet and we haven't even finished planting the garden.  Yet, here we are the first days into May and facing temperatures that are much more likt Summer than Spring.  Already we are having to plan our outside work (and play) for the mornings before the day gets too warm to enjoy and we are forced back inside during the heat of the afternoon.  This morning was no exception as we gathered our quilt, books, and snacks and headed out to enjoy the cooler morning air. 









Even mama got to bring a few books out to enjoy, a couple old favorites to revisit and a new addition that we are loving.  My copy of Naturally Fun Parties for kids arrived just a couple weeks ago and already I can tell it will be a favorite that we will refer to often. 

Kinsley immediately grabbed it today to look everything over once again.  With each turn of the page declaring a new idea for her upcoming birthday or a "oooh mama can we make this" at most of the incredible looking foods inside. 







I think that is what I love best about this book, that it truly is a book for the entire family.  Even the littlest among us enjoys looking at all the beautiful pictures the book holds.  The themes for the parties are seasonal and incredible.  With every party giving you all the details you need to host a beautiful party of your own, everything from crafts right down to the foods.  The really great thing is that it breaks down all the details so that you can easily pick and choose which details speak to you and make each idea your own.  It even gives you a timeline to help planning go smoothly and keep you from running around frantically at the last minute like I always seem to do.

Kinsley has decided a fairy party is a must, but this Gratitude Birthday Party is my absolute favorite in the book.  Something about the simplistic beauty just makes me happy.  And I'm thinking we need a banner like that just to have hanging in the house every day.




Now to the good part, the giveaway!  Since I was lucky enough to win my copy of the book from a giveaway over at Rhythm of the Home I thought I would share the good fortune and give away a copy myself.  Right now we are full swing into party planning mode so it seemed like the perfect time.

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All you have to do to be entered to win is a leave a comment on this post telling me about your favorite birthday party. 

See how easy that was?  And I'll even give you a couple more chances to win.  See how nice I am today? ;)
1.  Follow me here on the blog and leave a comment saying you did so.

2.  "Like" me on facebook and leave a comment saying you did so. 

I will leave comments open until 10am CST on Sunday and will announce the winner (chosen by Random Number Generator) shortly after.  Good luck!!



Comments Closed:

And the winner is Kim who said:  "My favorite birthday party was my son Owen's First Birthday. I really want that book. :-) "

Congratulations Kim, send me your address so I can get your book in the mail to you! 

coloring on the go

I've spent a lot of time sitting in front of my sewing machine this past week. It feels good to be creating again and Kinsley is already making a list of the things she "really needs" made for her and her dolls. I'm trying to squeeze in as much sewing time as I can right now while I'm feeling the urge without burning myself out. I made a couple tote bags and crayon rolls for a couple sweet little girls I know (that aren't mine).

Ignore the super tall grass, with all the rain we've had it has just been too wet to mow. But aren't these bags fun? I just love simple little tote bags like these, we always have several hanging around the house. They are great to grab on the way out the door and perfect for the kids to load up and haul around. In fact, I think I'll whip us up a couple more specifically for library bags. Our current library bag isn't quite wide enough and now Kait is big enough to want her own to carry.

I adore this patchwork fabric and have been waiting for a good project for it. It jumped out at me when I was starting these bags. I think it was a good match. I made the crayon rolls out of matching fabric so there would be no questioning which roll went with which bag, and which girl.

I love love love making crayon rolls. They are such a quick and fun project and every kid always seems to like them. There are a ton of great tutorials out there to make your own. Prudent Baby has a great tutorial which is just like how I made these only I make them just a bit smaller to hold 12 crayons. I've found that gives the girls plenty of different colors to use without having to worry about a ton of crayons while we're out of the house.

earth day

Have you hugged the Earth lately?  We talk a great deal about being kind to the Earth and taking care of our surroundings.  Kinsley likes to tell us that when she grows up she is going to be an "Earth destroyer watcher" so she can find all the people that are doing bad things and make them clean up.  An admirable idea for sure and her conservation desires have inspired us all to start making some changes towards a more eco friendly lifestyle.  We've moved away from disposable products, removing toxins in our cleaning supplies and really taking a hard look at where our food is coming from and where our money is going to name a few.  With each new change we've made I've felt a sense of peace and found surprising hidden benefits that we weren't expecting.  We still have a lot more that we can do but we're headed in the right direction at least. 

The girls were excited to check out the local Earth Day festival this weekend.  We weren't sure what we'd find when we arrived but they had a great deal of interactive activities for the kids.  It was also a great opportunity to connect with some great people and gain some insight into what the local community has to offer.  We met lots of like-minded families and I can't wait to get to know some of them better. 

















And Hooping!  Have you ever seen these girls in action?  Ever since I discovered Sara at Walk Slowly Live Wildly I've been mildly obsessed with the idea of hooping and now Kinsley has the hooping bug as well.  Check out all her hooping goodness over at The Happy Hoop so you can see what we're talking about.  I definitely see some hoops in our future!