MommyCoddle

porch stories

We had our first frost this morning. It made for a beautiful, clear morning and left a thin layer of glittery frost on our  white railings.

I got a haircut. It had been a very long time. Amazing what a good cut can do for a girl. I probably got three inches cut off my hair. I can actually see my neck. (excuse the bedhead in this picture, though)

This guy landed on our porch one rainy afternoon. I think he might be a local pigeon-man's homing pigeon. He's slightly off course, I guess. He hung around for awhile until our big, clumsy yellow dog came busting out the door and scared him away for good.

I am absolutely happy with my five year journal from RareDevice. I had it on my Christmas list, but started to get the "what if they all sell out" panic. It's the only good-looking five year journal I could find, without gold gilded edges and a red leather cover. I write a short snippet each night--the weather, a highlight of the day, a thought, what time I'm going to bed. Thought it would be interesting to see how my bedtime changes over five years. It's my personal almanac of sorts.

At bedtime this weekend Emma told me: I love you. I love your nose. I love your armpits. I love under your fingernails. She also told me that she didn't want me to call her 'sweetie' anymore. Ouch. That broke my heart a little bit.

is that all it takes?

Although my family is blessed to live on a big, beautiful farm--our actual living space is pretty small for a family of five. Sometimes I get a little nutty and have to change things up, or put a bunch of things away to simplify the spaces I'm always looking at. But as my husband says, "it's good practice". It's good to learn to live with less--less space, less stuff. And although I sometimes miss that "house of my own" feeling, I love being here and I love the things we're all learning from living together in our tight-knit quarters.

So this morning started out with making beds and picking up yesterday's messes,  and quickly grew into a quick rearrange. A simple rearrange. Our living room is an open space that we've turned into two spaces by separating it with a sofa. So today, I simply made a switch. I moved the rug behind the sofa, in front of the sofa, and vice versa.

And I took two minutes to have a conversation with Emma about our toys:
Which do you really want to play with these days--the doll house or the barn? the barn.
Why haven't you been playing with the basket of blocks and train tracks? the basket is too heavy for me to get out from under the table.
Would you rather I moved the blocks to an open space? yes, please.
Can we put this basket of toys away for a few weeks and get some other things out? yes, I like that idea.

Well, you'd think it was Christmas morning around this place. Everyone is completely engrossed in play. Emma surrounded by wooden fences and horses, Mary setting up a jungle of animals, and Elizabeth scootching around between the two and causing trouble.

Who knew moving two rugs and two minute conversation could encourage such hard-working play in our home?

thank you erin.

and one for elizabeth of course, too.

thank you, thank you erin. and don't worry about adding fuel to the fire.
We're embracing it.

happy weekend.

hello friends

oh, it's good to be back in this space this afternoon. It's like coming home from your first overnight at a friend's house...you had a good time, but you're tired and ready to get back to what's comfortable.

I'm still finding my voice over there on the babycenter website. My dad said to me at lunch yesterday--"after reading your posts over there, I just wanted to tell you to relax, molly. be yourself." I'm trying. It's a bit like starting over again, with those fumbling first posts I wrote more than two years ago.

In the meantime, I'm finding brain turn-off time when I'm in front of my knitting. I'm working on a quick, easy pair of booties for Elizabeth, who can't keep a pair of socks on to save her life. It doesn't help that she has a three year old big sister who enjoys pulling them off her feet as well--especially in stores, then dropping on the ground, whichever aisle we might be in, and silently walking away.

The pattern is from Last-Minute Knitted Gifts. Seems like every book in this collection of 'last-minute gifts' is really good.

There's more to say, but a baby is crying and needs her mother. My agenda for tonight goes like this:

Make Dinner
Eat
Girls--Bath
             Finish Charlotte's Web (knit!)
             Bed
Me--Shower
Me--Knit
Me--Bed

Sounds good, doesn't it?

PS. Thanks for all the comment love over there on the new blog. It really helps a girl's heart.

**I almost forgot: Lori, over at the Camp Creek blog is dreaming up a kids mail-order club. Go check it out. I think a lot of you would LOVE it!**

rock, paper, scissors

over here, today....

I've also started up a new flickr pool. Please join in and share some inspiration.

my new gig

Starting today, you'll be able to find me in a new spot. I'll be writing for the babycenter website as part of their group of blogs called, Momformation. I'll be there pretty often, (five times a week! yikes!) writing about topics of inspiring creativity in our children. 

But I promise I won't neglect this space either. I've described this new transition as having another baby. In the beginning you think, "how am I EVER going to do this? How am I going to get all these things done? I'll never have the time." But eventually, you find your rhythm again and life finds its new routine and pattern. So for now, bear with me as I get through those first few weeks with this 'new born' project.

I'm really excited about it. Nervous. Feeling completely inadequate for the task, but excited nonetheless. And it would really help me out if you'd stop by to say hello every now and then. The momformation readers are pretty shy about comments it seems. But I know most of you aren't.

My first 'get to know me' post is here. When you get the chance, I'd love it if you'd stop by and check it out.

And one more thing. I'll really be looking to you all for help. Soon, I'll have a button on my sidebar so you can get in touch with me if you have any ideas that you'd like to share with me. I'm writing about the activities and projects we do with our children that bring creativity into our lives and theirs--music, art, nature, science, literature, etc. If you have something you'd like to share. I'd love to see it. And it might just be a perfect fit to share on their site. Eventually, I'll create another flickr group, similar to creative summer so you can share photos there as well. And I'll link to that on the new blog as well.

Phew. It feels good to tell you. Kind of like having a big secret but not being able to tell your best friend. I'm glad to share this with all of you. Thanks for being part of the reason I'm even here in the first place.

two mornings

The mornings have been beautiful in the valley the last week. Some new projects have caused me to need to get up a little earlier these days. I need that extra hour of quiet to get a few things done. But looking out my window and seeing things like this, make it all worth it.
I'll be back early this week, hopefully Monday, with some some exciting news.

The Horse Report

We brainstormed and it went really well....She had a fantastic, diverse list going, not all easy to 'study' mind you, but a great list nonetheless:

• insects
• how to grow flowers
• how to sing
• fish
• swans
• how to make a clay teapot
• how to sew a cushion
• Jesus
• how my heart works
• puppets
• how to take a good nap (that's my girl!)
• crocodiles
• how to make birds out of wood

Then I had her circle five (I said three, but she had to stretch it to five) that she was really excited about and wanted to know more about and eventually, she narrowed it down to two. Ironically, it was between Jesus and horses. That age old struggle....
And when the rubber hit the road, we found ourselves back to horses. And today, I'm totally fine with that. I loved the comments that you left yesterday, they seemed so right on--about encouraging her, supporting her, seeing her through this love of horses wherever it may take us. Good advice, people. Very good.  Thank you.

So we got out a big roll of paper and started making a list--all the things that she wanted to know about horses and what we needed to do to figure out the answers. Here are a few:

• how to be a good rider
• do they roll in grass or mud
• how to keep their teeth white
• do their babies get right up when they are born
• what kinds of ponies do I fit on
• how to give them lots of love
• should you cut up their apples
• the bones of a horse
• how to sew a saddle pad
• what kinds of flowers are safe to give them
• how much is five feet for a horse (hmm...that one's my favorite)

And ask me what I was doing while writing this post? Lacing up riding boots. In 30 minutes we're headed out the door for her lesson. And we've got some questions for her instructor today--a long list of questions. I'm hoping the first one will be, "How much is five feet for a horse?"

dealing with {her} obsession

What does this look like to you? An owl, right? Or maybe even a cat or dog...But not if you're five and obsessed with horses. If that's the case all you see when you look at this is a horse. Horse. Horse. Horse. And good, bad (or ugly) you're going to give it nostrils and a pair of reins.

Emma has fantastic qualities that I love about her. She's strong. Confident. Determined. Focused. These are amazing qualities for a little girl to have. But these same qualities are also hard at work when it comes to her obsession with horses.

And I'm struggling with it.

I have a hard time getting her to expand her curiosities, her artwork, her reading selections, her discussions in the car, her answer to "what should we do today?" ; and to show interest in other things.

Right now, I'm torn on how to handle the situation.  And since I'm homeschooling, this issue comes up a lot for me. Do I just jump in with both feet and say, "okay, we LOOOVE horses!" We're counting and adding horses in math, horse stories for reading, horse drawings for art, horse body parts for science, horse breeds for social studies!!

Do I delicately try to move her in another direction?

Or do I enforce some 'no horses' rules?

Many people would say--This will pass. All girls are obsessed with horses. But with Emma, I'm not so sure. When she latches on to something, she latches on tight until her knuckles are white.

For now, I'm starting with a small step. Tomorrow we're getting out our sketch pads and colored pencils and answering this question: "what are you curious about?" And I intend on sitting right beside her and filling up my sketch pad with my own drawings and words, too.  (Frankly, there are too many things I'd like to learn about) but maybe I can get her thinking and breathe a little fresh air into that horse brain of hers. After that....well, I'm not really sure. But I'll be sure to sneak you a little peak at her notebook when we're done....

*****just for you know*****I've changed my words a little bit in this post this morning. I wrote it late last night-- tired, exhausted--you all know how that is. So this morning I'm reading it and feeling less concerned or something....or maybe just hearing the advice rolling in makes me realize that I should just embrace it, encourage it and take it seriously. Something tells me that if I don't give her "passion", (thanks Mindy) its due attention, I'll be breaking a little heart.  Other curiosities will come along, too.*****

she's goin' easy on me

7:30 am. me and E. snuggling in bed. everyone else is still asleep. 

I don't know if she felt like she owed me something, after such a tough pregnancy, or if she's just determined to be the sweetest, easiest little baby. But yesterday, I stuck my finger in her mouth only to get it chomped on by a sharp little baby tooth, shoved up all the way through those drooly pink gums. No fussing, no sleepless nights, no ear infection, no runny nose--just a tooth.
Now we did have slobber. Lots of it. The kind where every smile emits a little niagra falls pouring out of the mouth. Shirt-fronts soaked from the belly button up, neck rolls always stinky and damp, big puddles of wetness all over the crib sheets after a nap. You know, all that good stuff.
But she has a tooth! I can't stop saying it because I'm so shocked.
Alright, I'm moving on. You know, there are people out there who make fun of "mom blogs". This is probably the exact kind of post that adds fuel to their fire.

Crafting News: none. My sewing machine is broken. (but my knitting needles aren't!)

Yesterday Dan and I celebrated seven years. The night before, we both handed each other green Barnes and Noble bags with something special inside.  For him, this and a handy, fold-up guide for local birds. And for me, this. I'm already reading it.

It has been a good seven years. We've been through some testing fires and come out on the other side-- still holding on to each other and even more in love. I can't imagine anyone more perfect for me.

5:27p.m.

what I'm doing:

what she's doing:

and "just for you know"(as my children would say)--
it was SO her idea.

Mini Boden Inspiration

My goal this morning was to sit down at my desk/computer, wade through the piles and eventually, share some boden-love. But when I walked over to my desk with a very hot, very full cup of coffee in hand, I realized there wasn't even a flat surface to set it down on. But I've made some progress--I moved several of the piles on to my bed--so now there's room.

I save my old mini-boden catalogs all the way until a new one arrives. I hate to be without one in the house because I often check them out for applique and sewing inspiration. Do I always follow through? No. But at least they are there when I need a fix. The new one came yesterday. Behold a new season of inspiration:

always good, simple applique ideas:

and these make me want to start searching for an old sweater vest pattern to knit up for the girls:

and the skirts. I always LOVE the skirts. Looks like Henry does, too--notice the paws and whiskers in this shot?:

And Boden also has a new baby section, too. I can't take it.

And on a totally different note--for the record, can I just say that my 3 year-old is a total 'card'--as my grandmother said yesterday. Each morning when Elizabeth wakes up from her nap, Mary goes in, flips on the light and climbs into Elizabeth's crib to play with her. It's become sort of a routine around here and she really anticipates those first coos coming through the monitor. But this morning, she came out Elizabeth's room in this get-up--the pants that Elizabeth was wearing. Really, it's never dull around here.