October 2009

Moving Through It

October 28, 2009

I am not really sure if I should be writing this post, and I already know that the words will not come out well.

I had so hoped to share with you in a few weeks that we were expecting our third child. But yesterday we found out that I had lost the baby. I know that it was early, and that I should know better to not have gotten my hopes up as high as I did. I have had two miscarriages before each of my other children, so I knew the risks, but we had convinced ourselves that this was the one.

I am having a harder time than I thought that I would moving through this, so I am going to take a few days to allow myself to just be sad, and then I will get back up and remember how blessed I already am.

As my son said “It is life mom, it happens.”

Since Wednesdays are for WIP, this is mine. A boat neck baby sweater that I was making for the little one, that I will finish, and that someday a little one of mine will wear.

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The Fairy of Dreams

October 26, 2009

The land of dreams is a beautiful and magical place that only children are allowed to visit. Once your eyes have closed for the night, and you drift into sleep, the dream fairy arrives to take you to the lands of magical dreams. The two of you take a long walk through the fields of the Rainbow King, where you play for long hours in the sunshine and flowers. There you meet many other children who are filled with laughter and joy, and who invite you to stay and play for as long as you can.

From there you walk through the lands of the Gnomes and Knights, where you witness some of the bravest souls you could ever meet. Their gallant spirit towards others is courageous and compassionate, and they invite you to come and help those in need for as long as you can.

From there you walk to the land of color and joy, where everything you see and touch is so vibrant and pure that you can do nothing else but stare in wonder at it’s beauty. The artists greet you, and invite you to create a beautiful world with them for long as you can.

Finally, you walk to the land of family and love, and there you see all those who have loved you, and always will. You see your mother and your father and your brother, and your grammie and your papa, and you softly turn to the magical dream fairy, ready to awaken and return.

Softly your eyes open, you turn to the sun, and greet the day.

So go now my love, enjoy and play the night away in the magical land of dreams.

My oldest son has struggled for some time now with trouble sleeping and nervous tension. We think that it might have something to do with the severity of his celiac disease, and how young he was when it developed. Whatever the reason, it has been an issue that we have been slowly working through.

A few weeks back, hours after we had put him to sleep, he was still tossing and turning. I asked him if I could make him some tea, and we sat in bed for a bit and talked. I realized that it was not the dark that scared him, nor the shadows, it was the unknown of where he went once his eyes closed .

Jacob loves stories, especially of magic and fairies and elves. So once the bath has been taken, and the snack eaten, and the teeth brushed, we settle into bed and tell the story of the Magical Land of Dreams. We have been working on storytelling for a while now, and I tried to create a story that used words to encourage him to stay in his dreams (sleeping), for as long as possible. The story varies from time to time, but they seem to love the idea that their dreams are there for them to enjoy, to capture and to savor.

Nicole from Garden Mama had a beautiful post last week on the joys of creating Dream Pillows. It has been the perfect fit into our story telling time, and as the lights go off, the boys inhale the sweet scents of lavender, chamomile and pure wool. The perfect offering to the Fairy of Dreams.

Many of you have asked how I transferred my blog to a custom domain while still keeping my analytics. I followed this wonderful post, and it worked perfectly. I will now be attempting to transfer the blog to WordPress on Friday. Fingers crossed. I will let you know how it goes.
Have a great beginning of your week

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Frazzled

October 23, 2009

So, to say that right now I am feeling overwhelmed, well that would be an understatement. am loving working on the magazine, and I can not wait to show it to all of you. I am excited about my new blog, which I have been wanting to do for almost a year now, but have been too scared. I am planning to move to WordPress, mainly because I dislike not being able to respond to each of you when you leave a comment. This blog will be down tonight, and then will be back up either tomorrow or Sunday. I will not be moving to WordPress until sometime next week, but this weekend begins the process.

With everything going on, I need a bit of help from all of you. I want to make and freeze a few yummy meals for my family this weekend, but I am in need of some new recipes. I would love for you to leave a comment with your favorite freezable meal, and for every recipe that you leave, I will enter you to win an Off Hand Design clutch bag. I adore the stripes in this bag, and it is perfect for the knitter or sewer who wants to carry their project tools.

I know that I have seriously lacked much in terms of creativity this week, and I appreciate you hanging in there with me. I am excited to get to all our Halloween posts next week, and I hope that you all have a great weekend.

Update: Congratulations to Vanessa, who was chosen through the random number generator.

I can not say thank you enough to all of you for your amazing recipes, and kind words. I am looking forward to a week of cooking.

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The Space for Art

October 22, 2009

~ Where there are children, there is art

Lately I have been thinking on how, as parents, we are so blessed to be able to see into the minds of our children through their art. When a child draws, they are letting us in. When a child paints, they are letting us in. When a child sings, they are letting us in. When a child dances, they are letting us in. When a child writes, they are letting us in. Experiencing life through art is what we are born with, it is what helps to guide us.

The above quote came to me last night as I was thinking of how much my children have influenced my creativity. The world that I see is so much more full of color and imagination than it was before they came into my life. How amazing that by allowing me into their creative world, they completely changed mine.

And here I was thinking that I was their teacher. Silly girl Heather, you should know better

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Just a Bit of Fun

October 21, 2009

I apologize for not posting the patterns of the knitted pieces that the boys were wearing in yesterdays post.

The vest that Elwood is wearing is the Basic Vest for Children from Knitting Pure and Simple, and The sweater that Jacob is wearing is the Children’s Neck Down Pullover from Knitting Pure and Simple. Both of the these pieces are knit in the round, and are pretty simple to construct.The hats are the Gnome Hats pattern from the magazine Living Crafts. I love these hats so much, and they only took about an hour to finish. The magazine is exceptional, by the way.

On Sunday, after a day spent in the leaves, we did a final cleaning of the garden to get ready for winter. We planted our onions and garlic, and cleaned out the last of the harvest.

We had two gorgeous Sunflowers that were finally ready to be cut, and when we looked closely, we realized that they both contained tons of sunflower seeds that had not yet dropped.

I had a great time getting all of those little seeds out (yes, that is sarcasm that you hear), but in the end it was wonderful to package up seeds to give to friends and family, as well as to roast for a wonderful snack. The last of our garden has now been eaten, and it is ready for a little rest. It always makes me a touch sad to put the garden to bed, but we are so thankful for all that it gave us this past year.

Yesterday the boys and I had a great time putting together some twig books from a tutorial that Lisa at Stitching Under Oaks created. I love Lisa’s blog, and she always provides amazing inspiration in her sewing, knitting and homeschooling. This project was a real treat for us, we had a great time piecing paper, and getting some new sketch books into our art box. I also made two for myself to hang on my fridge as for grocery and to-do lists (I always love a new way to pretty up something as mundane as a shopping list). Thanks Lisa for such a great idea

Adding to the joy that the blogging world can bring, I received a very special package yesterday that truly took my by surprise. A while back, Julia had shown a great find that she had gotten from a trip to an antique store with her sister Laura. Jules had found these amazing plates that I was just drooling over, and I commented on how gorgeous they were. Well, yesterday one of them showed up in my mailbox. I was floored. Just to know that someone I have never met, but who I have gotten to be such good friends with, would think of me, and send something so special. It is overwhelming. But here is the uncanny part. That same day, I had put together a box to send to her as well. I had seen something recently that had made me think of her, and I was so excited to get it out the door. Isn’t life so amazing sometimes? Circle of Stones indeed. Thank you my dear friend, this is something that I will always cherish.

On a funny note, yesterday I was doing a little facial treatment that I needed with all of this dry and cold weather. I put on a super hydrating mask, and I was sitting in my bedroom when the boys came in and almost fell over laughing at me. They touched my face, tried to figure out what I was doing, and when I said that I was “hydrating”, well they had to get in on that action.

So here we are, all three of us hydrating away. It was the silliest moment that we have had in a long time, and certainly a picture that will need a good frame.