It seems winter has arrived. Up here in the mountains we have snow that seems to be staying. Down in the valley is comes and goes. The boys are thrilled. They could live out there in the white stuff, at least in November they could. They must have slid down the tiny hill behind our house a thousand times over the last week. Little northern boys.

 We've been out walking in the woods in the snow and it is lovely. Willa loves to gaze up at the trees and take it all in. The boys play long elaborate games in the woods. One day they were tigers. Today Ari was an arctic explorer and Dori was a pet monkey who liked to carry a giant (heavy) magic snowball around with him. We've been visiting our little creek, loving its beautiful burbling voice under the thin skin of ice. The littlest boy feels very brave to step over the rocks and cross it on his own.

 and inside, there has been lots of good stuff too-
art making,

 book reading (and Movember- oh my!)

  sweet sweet sweetness-

 learning,

 knitting!

 and creating. I'm in love with this homemade laptop (there are 9 other screen/ keyboard combos in his journal including a page of Mama, Papa and Willa on Skype!) This is e-mail. I love how kids that don't actually use the computers on their own yet, still pick up so much. Both boys spent so much time making and then playing with their computers.

 a finished quilt,

 
 and a really cute model,

 who took me totally surprise when I placed her on the quilt on her back facing the other direction and then turned around to make myself a cup of tea and put some dishes away and turned back around to find her here! Things are really going to have to change around here fast! Note the scissors and small bits of chokey paper everywhere. Not pictured- marbles in every corner, playmobile bits scattered hither and thither, glass jars on low shelves, crayons and pebble collections and treasured projects in every corner of the house. But look at her. Isn't she awesome?

 For Ari's grade two homeschool we have started a new Sage/trickster humanities unit and cultural block and are loving it. We are working with Harriet Tubman's story, and cultural studies around it- listening to African American music and learning dances in circle time, making a shadow puppet plays of the Brer rabbit stories, and really sinking into the story of Harriet's life over a few weeks. This has been both wonderful and difficult for me- her story is so heavy, but so inspiring, and it is not easy for me to bring the reality of such injustice as slavery to my little boy. Yet, I can feel it really touching him on a deep level and I trust the wisdom of the Enki philosophy. This is a good thing. Just for the joy of watching my boy make connections for himself- that verse we started in circle is actually about Harriet herself, and that song we heard Mavis Staples sing on our Cd is the same one Harriet herself sang, and she too ate food like we are cooking, and heard the same Brer Rabbit tales we heard- he is just thrilled to tie it all together. Walking this journey together is such a gift.

 

And Dori joins us for the parts that work for a 5 year old- the dances, the crafts- and I read the stories to Ari when Dori is listening to his quiet time story. He has his kindy stories that we read together that he loves. And Willa- she loves the dances most of all. We put her in the highchair and bop around the living room and she waves her arms and grins at us. Fun for all.

A peek into our week:

Drawing, drawing drawing. So much drawing from these little boys.

Many experiments, potions and attempts at alchemy. We are still big Sparkle Stories fans around here, and this week Martin and Sylvia- the homeschooling brother-sister pair from these stories- did some reading about alchemy and tried their hand at it. Ari was very much inspired and has been sneaking away to try various experiments with household items. I found this scene above on his bedroom floor at the end of quiet time. He wanted to write down his recipes in his journal in case he really did make gold. Also a recipe for a (rather messy!) crushed blueberry drink he made for his brother and himself. 

A trip with their papa to visit a wonderful local farm and their goats, including the new baby goat. 

Play. Pirates. Playmobile (does that stuff multiply in the night? I swear we had just a few pieces and suddenly there are little plastic helmets and swords everywhere. They love it though, and play with it creatively so I am trying to be okay with the plastic-ness of it. It is kind of cute in its own way.) 

Peanut butter cookies. They instantly transport me to my grandmother's kitchen, and though these ones are made using this recipe- with almond flour and honey- which I'm sure the ones from my childhood were not- they taste just like Grandma's. 

And the temperature has dropped again- it isn't really that cold, just barely below zero, but the wind is blowing the snow is coming down, and it is feeling like winter will be with us for awhile. So the best thing to do is get a pot of soup on the stove, a kettle boiling for some tea, pile up some books by the fire and pull up the rocking chair for a bit. This is where I'll be if you need me.

Happy cozy weekend to you all!

This week it is feeling so springy around here. We've been getting our seedlings started in the big house. We've got cauliflower, cabbage, brussels sprouts, broccoli, a couple different lettuces, celeric, chamomile, sunflowers, nasturtiums, calendula, lupines, milk thistle, snapdragons, and onions going, with more to start soon. The lettuce is just starting to peek up, and we'll keep our fingers crossed on the rest!

When the kids get tired of helping they go off and play. There has been an ongoing game of "sailors" being played on the back porch with the coffee table being hauled back and forth for a boat and lots of climbing up and down the fire escape ladder. Seeing how engaged they are when they are able to play outside like this makes me excited for all the fun they are going to have this summer with more room to enact their elaborate plots and explore around the property.

The nature table has made its change with the seasons- birds, sheep, pussy willows, root children.

And the spring books are out and being enjoyed.

There have also been several marble runs built;

pies made and eaten,

 friends to play with,

and plenty of arts and crafts made (above is Ari's easter bunny, and below is a very wet watercolour by Dorian.)

A lovely week all round. Happy Friday, friends!

A busy time inside and out this week. We've been bowling,

baking,

crafting,

building,

setting up the pig pen- this time in the livingroom,

(There are classes for new pig owners being offered by farmer Ari in the upstairs bedroom if anyone is interested. He has a lot of knowledge to share.)
-and a lot else that didn't get photographed- biking and visiting with friends and tree pruning and snow shoveling and mud stomping and book reading and soaking up the spring sunshine. We have a busy long weekend ahead too- have a great one, friends! 

love and all

a bunch of random photos from the past while, and some things I've been loving :

:: the creativity of my kiddos, how their days are spent building, singing, drawing, painting, inventing, creating, dreaming. It is such a joy to witness.

:: our garden. Though I had such high hopes and we are not getting all the food I had hoped for, still, we can go out and gather the ingredients for a meal, and oh, it tastes so good! And my kids can spear a cooked carrot on their plate and say "I picked this one!"

:: Knitting. Oh how I love it. I regularly proclaim it to my family- "I love knitting!" or "knitting makes me happy!" they hardly even notice anymore. I am working on a seamless stripey sweater for Dorian's birthday and having so much fun.

:: the wheat-less, dairy-free, egg-free, naturally sweetened, purple-iced (with natural food dye,) carob cupcake I made my boy for a birthday we attended. They were actually good and he didn't complain at all about having one that looked a little different. He did wish he could have had some smarties though, poor chap.

:: the full jars starting to gather on the pantry shelves. Pickles, jam, peaches, apricots, tomatoes. Apple sauce is next on the list. The boys want me to make a lot. Like 328 jars or so.

::  my dear friends. Feeling so blessed with the kindred spirits that I have the incredible good fortune to know and share this crazy life with. I'm just so lucky.

:: how my boys call each other "friend" when they are playing. I'm not sure where this has come from, but I smile to myself all day long listening to them talk to each other- "come on friend, let's built a road." or "friend lion? are you hungry?" Of course the friends don't always get along, but that is to be expected I suppose.

:: also loving the knock knock jokes they are telling. Usually something like- "knock? Hey- I said knock- you say who's there." "who's there" "orange orange" "orange orange who?" "orange orange banana!" and they kill themselves laughing. There is also a version with a snowman smelling carrots that they think is very funny.

:: that I am not sending my 5 year-old off to school tomorrow. I really can't imagine being without him 5 full days a week, or him being ready for such a thing. Tomorrow we will sleep in if we like, and have a slow morning together and a day full of playing and making and stories and songs. Oh, this really is just right for us.

:: that the house is quiet and relatively clean and I have a few minutes to pick that knitting back up before hitting the bed myself. Goodnight friends.