MommyCoddle

a pinecone, a feather, an oak leaf, pine needles

My children haven't been getting outside enough lately to just run around and play. The cold weather and not enough prodding by me to get them out there, I guess. Oh, the bundling required. But nevertheless, they need the fresh air and the exercise. When they aren't getting enough outside time I really notice a difference in their behavior and general crankiness. Aren't we all a little like that?

So this morning, I printed a few stock photos off the computer, stapled them together and sent them outside for a miniature scavenger hunt. I thought I'd keep it to a few things so they wouldn't lose interest. They were back in five minutes. BUT, they went right back outside.

I finally finished this scarf for Emma that was supposed to be a Christmas present...then a birthday present...and now turns out to be a Happy Thursday!! present. I let her pick a jumbo button out of my stash. She picked one of the first buttons I ever made. I think it suits her perfectly. And it helps the scarf stay on. Now I have one more to finish up for Mary in the same style, and I think all my Christmas presents will be finished! Oh, that's pathetic.

a new baby

First of all. Wow. Thank you for all the ideas on my breakfast post. You guys always pull through with the good advice. This weekend, I'm going to sit down with pencil and paper, go through the comments and make my grocery list. There's new ideas, forgotten ideas and recipes I want to try. If you haven't checked back with the comments, it is definitely worth a second look. It will give all the healthy, hearty breakfast motivation one could need. I'll go through the names this weekend and pick out a bumper sticker winner.

And secondly, I feel like I need to say hello and thank you to all those new readers that showed up in the last post. My inbox was full of new names. It was wonderful. Thank you so much for stopping by and for saying hello. It warms a girl's heart.

So the 'new baby'....you'll have to go over here for the details. And I have a feeling there will be a book (or two) you'll want to add to your home library...or at the very least, pick up at your library this weekend.

Dan and I will be finishing up series five of BallyKissAngel and hunkering down with the kiddos for some cold weather on the way.

Happy Weekend, friends.

illustration from "the book"

a box of treasures

I've been meaning to share one of my favorite Christmas gifts that we gave to Mary this year. I was starting to think that you'd all be bored with a holiday recap, but this one could really be given at any time of the year. And it was such a success, I had to share. (And if you haven't read Courtney's post about her holiday giving this year, it is worth the look.)

Before Christmas, I began asking my children what kinds of things they were hoping to receive under the tree. Time and time again, Mary said things like, "A new refrigerator for you. A drill for Daddy. A broom for the kitchen floor." No matter how much I probed, or shoved catalogs in her face, I couldn't get her to give me anything to work with, (though I did appreciate her simple, generous spirit). Finally, one day she settled on "a box of marbles". And that was the present idea that she stuck with for the rest of the holiday pre-season.

So I decided to take the idea and expand on it a bit. Of course, I couldn't think of anything worse or more dangerous to have rolling around the floors of my house. With a newborn scooting all over the place trying out anything from mud to dryer lint in her little mouth, it sounded like potential disaster. I figured I better review my choking baby techniques!

I decided to improvise and make a few additions to her request. Dan built her a large wood box with a lid that slides off easily. The handle is fashioned from one of the mushrooms I ordered and one of these days I'll add some detail to it. He made the box deep enough that nothing is in danger of spilling out and she can really rifle through it without risking anything flying out of the box.

I knew I wanted to fill the box with marbles and treasures--things to sort and count, arrange and examine. I opted for the flat-sided glass marbles in the florist section of the craft store because I knew they wouldn't roll away and get lost as easily as round marbles. I also knew how much she loved shells and since we sadly, don't have a local source for collecting, I settled on a $2 bag of them at the craft store.

I also knew I wanted little wooden objects, too, so I  filled it with all kinds of things from this online source. And of course, Amanda's post about her acorns added some inspiration to include those as well. I added wooden items like robin's eggs, buttons, tree shapes, mushrooms, bowls, ladybugs and egg carriers. I also got a small flat tray with compartments for her to sort some of her "treasures".

It turned out to be a really nice collection of things and one of the most inexpensive gifts under the Christmas tree. It is such a good feeling, seeing that it still gets attention every day. Mary and Emma sit over it and sort and share and 'shop' with the various treasures inside.

And a little girl who wanted to do something special for everyone else this Christmas, received something very special for herself.

december 6

Goodness! Where have I been? Actually, I wrote a post this week, but it stayed in the draft stages of my blog. It was one of those unloading posts, one of those, "I think I need a small break from blogging posts"...but I've fully recovered. I need to remind myself not to write posts when the laundry pile is taller than my oldest child, the breakfast dishes are being washed with the lunch dishes and both of my girls are roller skating in the kitchen! phew.

Anyway this week we welcomed our first day of snow. A beautiful, fluffy, all-day snow. "The whole WORLD is white!" was what I heard over and over. Mary barely made it over the threshold of the front door before assuming the angel position. Winter is finally here. Bring it on.

I've updated my sidebar with a direct link to all my posts at the babycenter blog. I couldn't keep up with the daily updates, so I just made a generic link to the posts by me. I just reviewed a book over there, which I think many of you would really love--because I know so many of us share a passion for teaching our children about good food, eating locally, and our food sources.

I also have a few thank-you's that are long overdue.

• First of all, thank you to Erin for sending Elizabeth a pair of these. She wears them every day except the day they're in the laundry!  You're a dear friend.

• Thank you to Tiffany, my local blogging buddy who gave the girls a cute handmade bag full of her limber letters. The girls play with them all the time. All the time. You can find them in her etsy shop with a whole load of other cute things.

• And another big thank you to Michelle, who quickly jumped on board to make my bare-headed baby a winter cap. I love it. And the extra goodies in the bag were snatched up and carried away quickly, too--let's just say they involved horses and crowns. Good stuff.

on her own

"I'm going outside to rest in a tree."

apples and bananas

waving to the "flying banana" as he's known in our family. even my grandmother called up, "are your girls outside? the flying banana is here!"  He flies this thing around with what looks like a glorified box fan strapped to his back. I'm not sure how he does it....but he does put on quite a show.

I know this is nothing new, but I've never done it before and man, was it fun. The girls and I made apple prints yesterday on some scraps of linen. They went crazy when they lifted up that apple to see the first print underneath. (I kinda did, too.) We couldn't stop ourselves. There are scraps of apple-stamped fabric hanging around all over the house.

We also made some applesauce yesterday, too. It's hard to make the picture look as good as it tasted. Yum.
Can you tell we just finished up our short vowel sounds? a-a-apple?

something scary, something sweet

"E" is for....not afraid of bugs anymore. (although suddenly extremely afraid of a toad that shows his face on my grandmother's stoop each evening. I will admit he's a little unnerving.)

a (forced) study in cicadas....since little hands have scattered and forgotten them all over my house. I had to remove one from my laptop before I could open it. icky.

escape route:

Now for the sweet.
Have you experienced the unequaled sweetness of a white peach? They are in their prime here. I cannot get enough.
They do enjoy sunning themselves in a kitchen window sill. Preferably one with a nice view.

swallows in the sky {interrupted}

Wow. I certainly didn't mean to disappear from this blog for the whole week. Life has just been pleasantly full.

The swallow mobile for Elizabeth's room is now finished, but still hanging in front of a family room window, getting lots of attention from the wind. It's been hanging with a single swallow on it for over two weeks so it feels good to have it done.

***This is now the fourth time today that I've tried to sit down at my desk to write, but each time I'm interrupted. Case and point, I'm being interrupted right now by a frustrated five year-old who's trying to make a mobile of her own. She has me tracing an intricate drawing of a horse and cutting it out for her mobile. And she keeps "messing up the coloring"....which means more intricate tracing and cutting for me.  Ahhhh...but we press on.

Hope you all have a pleasantly full weekend as well. I'll be back in the new week with more. Tomorrow my mom and I are heading to Baltimore for pre-birthday lunch and shopping. Can't wait.

living 4 :: no humidity

last week. a temperature drop and no humidity. perfect for being outside.

::heading down to the garden for a little lettuce harvest::

::happy baby on a blanket under the tree::

mary's love for elizabeth is pretty intense at times.
I often have to say:"mary, give elizabeth a little space."

::good boy::

::little climber::

morning and evening

morning: stream-wading and minnows in a jar

evening: a riding lesson and a piggy-back ride:

more of my favorites from the day...