A simple life

Not long ago my husband and I were on the top of our careers. He was jet setting to Paris and Milan, going to fashion shows, sitting in the Armani show room. He was bringing home fancy little presents and I was one lucky and happy lady. I was on the top of my wedding career. Clients galore, designing, creating, implementing.. I was dining at private events, sipping bubbly amongst the top wedding planners. My business and weddings were in magazines from San Francisco to Manhattan.

Armani Showroom

 

Wedding

We were consumed with things and feelings of self worth by the caliber of fabulousness we were achieving. We held the burdens of always wanting and needing more and working to death to achieve those things.

Then one day...

We became pregnant. Our lives started to shift. It was a gradual shift and we tried to keep our lives as similar as they were. My wedding business was the first to go. I knew that I didn't want or need that type of stress while pregnant and I didn't want to dedicate my life to my clients when I should be dedicating it to my baby. It was a sad day. I remember walking off the steps of San Francisco City Hall. Just completing a Peruvian wedding that was one of the highlights of my career. I had my Carrie Bradshaw moment where I walked away with one little last glance back of a life I was leaving and hearing my own words of "there comes a time in life when it's best to just walk away."

Life shifted for us even more when my husband's job moved to Hong Kong. We were offered to move there and they were offering us the world. Amazing salary, housing, a live in nanny, schools, flights home 2 times a year, you name it, they were offering it. My husband said "why don't we do it for 3 years, make boat loads of money, and then move to Ashland." At this time I was pregnant with my second child. As I thought of my kids,  I thought to myself that I just can't do this. Some days I look back and think that we were so foolish to walk away from that money, but then I look at what we have gained in the 3 years that we would have been there.  It was here that I started to realize that money is not the root of all happiness.

Hong Kong visit

 

Our move to Ashland has brought us to our deepest root of simplicity. It is a lifestyle choice for us. We have chosen for me not to work while the kids are young. I haven't worked in 6 years. There are days that I panic and think that I have to get a job. But instead of losing that time with my young children, we shift. We shift from coffee out every day. We shift from taking vacations. We shift from money. We see their youngest years as a crucial point of their development. That they know that mom is always here. We know that one day I will work and for now it is about forming these bonds and strengthen our family relationships.

Gardening with kids

 

Simplicity for us was birthed from our first child. First it was the type of toys we had, then to getting rid of our television and mostly it stems from keeping our head on straight about newness. Our society is full of such glitz and glimmer. So many things come in white boxes that we think we must have. Just the other day I was at my mother in laws house and she was using her iPad for a recipe in the kitchen. I thought "god, I could really use an iPad. Wouldn't that be so great to  be able to do this and that and this and that......" As I kept thinking about how great it would be to have this device, I stepped back and thought about all negatives. How much time I would probably spend on it. How many times I would tell my kids "just a second." and then how much another device would creep its way into my every day life. So many devices are consuming our time and energy.

I recently read a facebook post about someone that wants to simplify. She posted a photo of the amount of remote controls she has to control all her devices and compared it to a simple remote that was used for her old TV. She was commenting on wanting to simplify. Many of her friends offered solutions on how to buy a universal remote control or the app for the iPad that would sync all her remotes together.. altogether missing the bigger picture. Maybe the solution is to just do away with all the things that require so many remotes.

I wrote: "...Living with young kids in this day and age we have really evaluated our own lives and what it means to be happy and if those "things" really do us any good.  We sold our TV a couple of years ago and it has been the best thing ever. It was a hard adjustment for about a month because we realized how much time we wasted watching television.  Also with watching TV we were innundated with ads that told us all the other "things" we "needed" and that would bring us happiness.  I see the world always connected and losing touch with what is going in our present lives.  There is such beauty that surrounds simplicity. We have downsized our lives beyond belief byt when we see our lives now vs pre children, we see our relationships with others and ourselves become fuller and more genuine.  To think we traveled down this road of simplicity to better our children and the way they were raised, we have in turn made our own lives better and more enriching.  I believe all these devices and all this stuff just seems to leave us wanting more and being more unhappy.. and always looking for the remote."

Simplicity.. such a simple word, but something that in our culture is being harder to achieve.

 

And it's moments like these that make living simply and "without" more rich than anything

**this was typed on my 2004 iBook G4. For years I have said that we need a laptop. Even when this one works just fine, with a little more rainbow scrolling ;)**

Creating

Oh there's been so much creating around here. To the point that I have officially burnt myself out. It's ok though, this always happens to me. I take a good two week break until I am back in business. I have orders that I am working on right now, but my personal items are taking a back burner....

With that, here are a few things that have made their way out the door.

Hudson's friend Evi celebrated her 6th birthday. I made her this sweet outfit.

 

Nolan's friend, Enzo, turned 3 and I thought a quilt would be nice. Boys are harder to make for... I am always up for making dresses, but the boys I can't ever seem to find the right thing in terms of clothing. I used a lot of my scrap fabric and came up with this..

Hudson's friend, Oliver, turned 6 and Hudson really wanted to make him a raft.. he said "a raft, where Oliver and I can drift around." I pulled out my handy dandy needle felting and started to poke away. I am not a huge fan of needled felting, only because I don't think I am very good at it, but these two little rafting boys turned out pretty cute. The blonde is Hudson and the red head is Oliver. Hudson painted the raft and assembled it. It was a great project for him. 

And this is what our guest bed typically looks like. It is only clear of crafting when someone says they are coming to stay. 

But this turned into this: a sweet dress for my friend's daughter, Brielle, who just turned 2. 

And here are some other things. I have really been into upcycling lately. 

Taking this: 

and making this:

Taking these:

 

 

And making this adorable outfit:

 

And just a few more things:

Seeing it all lined up, I can see why I am so burnt out. I am in the middle of a baby shower gift and can't wait to share. Do you find yourself getting burnt out on crafting? Breaks are a very good thing!

Home Schooling

 

I don't actually "home school" but I do my version of it. What does it entail? And why do I do this?

I am a stay at home mom for a 5 and 3 year old. My oldest son is in kindergarten 4 days a week until 12:45. During that time, I like to make certain that my younger son is getting good quality time with me. This isn't always the case, and recently I've been disappointed in my being engaged enough, but I am back on track!  My youngest son doesn't go to preschool and won't go to school until he is 4 1/2 (or so). I want to make certain that I am still enriching his life and offering him things that are happening at preschool.

How do I schedule the week?

Every Sunday night I write my "lesson plan." This gives me a calendar glimpse of what the week has in store for us. Then I distinguish our days. Some days stay the same every week.

For Example: 

Monday- Baking Day

Tuesday- Painting Day

Wednesday- Hiking Day

Thursday- Puppetry Day

Friday- Cleaning Day

Within those days, I will add additional things that I would like to focus on.

 For Example: the alphabet with my youngest son and numbers and math with my older son. I always have more baking and cooking time then just on Monday. I also do things like laundry that I have my youngest separate all the laundry into piles by person.  

I also write out my "circle time" plan for my youngest. After dropping my older child off at school, I head home and start our "school." We do about 20-30 minutes of circle. 

We start with this morning song:

Good Morning

Good Morning Dear Earth (hands as if holding earth on abdomen)
Good Morning Dear Sun (stretch arms above head in a circular arc)
Good Morning Dear Trees (stretch arms to side, like tree branches)
And the Flowers Everywhere (hands holding flowers on ground)
Good Morning Dear Beasts (hands as if petting a dog,etc..)
And the Birds in the Trees (hands “fly” away like birds flying away)
Good Morning Dear You and Good Morning Dear Me. (hands reaching to each other, then hands cross over our chest)

We then continue with a morning verse and a story. This week we are reading the Sun Egg. 

 

After our story we have a snack and start working on our baking day. I usually choose a bread to make so he is able to knead the bread. Some days I will do muffins or the like. 

 

 

We then will take a walk around our neighborhood for some sunshine and outside time. This week we plan on spending time at our creek. 

I tend to base my days on being outside. We enjoy nature walks and finding gems of places in our little town. Last week we were busy "fishing" in our pond (with a harmonica of course). 

 

The one thing I have found by keeping a consistent rhythm is that my children thrive off of a rhythm and I do also. It's great to see them contribute to our family life and to see them learn in ways that are through every day ways.  It's also nice to see them gain confidence in areas that I would some times just like to hurry through. It's a lesson in breathing for me! 

Here are the books that I am using this week. I have loved all three of these for being guides into our rhythm:

 

His Heart

This week is all about hearts and love! I don't even like Valentine's day, but I find myself a little too excited about hearts and stuff. Maybe it's all those Valentine's we've been making, but more than likely it's all those pins on Pinterest. 

Thinking of such wonderful hearts... my sweet boy has one of the biggest. Hudson has always been very open with his heart and his need and want to share his love with others. He thinks up wonderful gifts for his friends, he holds relationships very dear, and he has a great connection with his grandparents (and even great grandparents). My mother in law gave him this hat after her mother passed away. This was Great Grandma Betty's hat and my mother in law thought Hudson would like to have it. Hudson holds this hat as such a treasure and each morning he "gears up" for school and asks "Where's my grandma Betty hat?" I know that grandma Betty holds a special place in his heart and he feels her presence every day he puts this hat on.

 

This boy of mine is such a gem to be a parent of. He is both courageous and daring, yet loving and soft. He is strong and athletic, yet gentle and calm. He is your typical boy, yet not your typical boy. I love how he cares so much for other people. One example is that it's been a huge adjustment for him since I have cut out gluten. The other day, after we had been baking, he asked me to try what we were making. I told him that I couldn't try it because it had flour in it. I wasn't really thinking that would effect him and within seconds he had tears running down his face. He sobbed while telling me he was so sad that I wasn't able to have any of the treats we make. He told me that he would take care of me and that he and his daddy would make me gluten free cookies soon.  Those moments, I just cherish him.

Hug your little ones and love their hearts! They are such joys. 

Teaching through hands, heart, and head

I am a firm believer in teaching through life practices and using your hands, heart, and head.

Hudson decided he wanted to make a pillow for his Valentine. He made a very sweet embroidered heart shaped pillow for her. There was so much thought and feeling that went into each stitch he made. He was so very excited to make this for her and of course his brother then wanted to do the same thing.

I was reluctant at first to try embroidery with my three year old, but he loved it. With each stitch I would say "under" or "over" and it was great to see him get the concept of under and over. We did color selection and he learned how he couldn't just put the needle in anywhere he wanted. He also learned a great deal of patience when the thread would come off the needle. He was very excited to finish his project for his Valentine.
 
 
 

It's amazing when we take real life concepts and use those as methods for teaching. They both used their hands and put their hearts into their presents. They had such pride in their work and little did they know, they were learning concepts along the way.

Beautiful!

Valentine's Crafting: 90's style

Looking for a quick and satisfying Valentine's craft? I've just the thing.

Yesterday my boys decided they wanted to make "neon heart shirts!" They love neon! The brighter the better in their opinion. So, we rummaged around for some paints and bought a couple of shirts and got to work.

(my youngest son made a shirt, but he did it while in his underwear.. I am not so cool with kids in underwear pictures).

Here are the needed supplies:

Shirt

Fabric Paint

Sponge paint brush

Masking Tape

Cardboard for under the shirt

First you make lines with the masking tape. The kiddos will paint the shirt between the lines.

 

Next, grab your paints and let them paint away. Careful to make certain they don't paint over the sides and onto the table..

My kids wanted to alternate their colors

Once it dries, peel the tape back and see the cool lines

Now you can outline the heart and then paint inside the heart

My son outlined his in black and then decided it looked "too perfect" and decided to graffiti it a bit

 

Ready for Valentine's Day!!!