Little Detectives

I love my children's imaginations.  It's so fun to watch them get into character.  Of course if they include me I play along right with them.  The other day we watched Ace Wonder and Jabari thought it was the coolest show ever.  So of course when I went to a church that was giving away free clothes and found these cute little hats and sweaters it was time for he and Aki to go and catch the bad guys.

Later in the day they were calling each other Holmes and Watson.  I didn't even know that they knew about those two.  I'm glad they were having fun without needing a new toy or needing to go some place.  It was really sweet to watch them.  They played for hours it seemed.

 

And yes they are wearing sweaters in July.

 

I love being a mama.  As tired as it makes me sometimes and as challenging as it may be.  I truly do enjoy this task of mine.

 

Love,

 

Stephanie

Lovely Day at the Beach

On Friday we went to the beach with friends.  It was such a nice beach.  There was water as far as the eye could see, but where the beach was it wasn't very deep.  I really like this because I thought I brought the little ones life jackets, but it appears that I left them in Michigan.

 

Yes this is a picture of MY dress........... on a blanket ............ not on my body..............at the beach.  My birthday is in a few days and if this doesn't prove that life begins at 40.....  No seriously.  I was shocked at myself.  I wasn't going to take a swim suit, but the girls kept asking me if I had one.  I put it on because at first I just wanted to make them happy, but then I thought about some of the things that I've written about in previous posts about hiding in summer.  Well I decided that this would be my first chance to forget everything else and just label this as "I'm going to have an awesome time and enjoy my children at the beach."  The rest is me ACTUALLY having an awesome time at the beach with my children!  I whipped off my dress, grabbed some little hands, and charged into ICE COLD water with on lookers watching.  Another thing that was very shocking to me and was such an "UnStephanie" thing to do (or maybe this is the new Stephanie).  I had the thought that, "Yep.  This is my 40 year old body.  It looks the way that it looks because I've shared a body with 7 wonderful human beings that now bring joy, happiness, and laughter to my life and I'm darn proud of it."  And that was that.  I had an amazing, fulfilling time at the beach like I've never had in my life.  Not even my 20's.  For the first time in my life.......STEPHANIE DIDN'T FEEL INSECURE!!  That actually brings tears to my eyes.  Yeah for me!!

 



 

 



 

We had such a fun time making this sand castle.  It was so awesome to hear Hadashie saying over and over with excitement, "Go and get more water Mommy!"

 

 

This photo is missing Mekhi because when he heard that there was also an area to fish he disappeared with his friend and a fishing pole.  The other photo I have of him he isn't allowing me to post it. 

 

 

And there were sand eaters.........face planting sand eaters.  Hilarious.

 

 

And there was tons and tons of just plain adorableness that I never can get enough of.

 

It was indeed an amazing day in more ways than one.

 

I hope you are having a great start to your week.

 

Love,

Stephanie



Because

Because handmade clothes are my favorite clothes and I have plans for many, many more of them.

Because easy science experiments are fun.  The bouncy egg experiment can be found in one of Steve Spanglers books.

Because I love finding wildflowers that grow outside and decorating the inside of our home.

Because one of these books has been on my "to read" list for too long and it's time I stop wondering what all of these bees are doing and actually find out.

Because.....Laaaaavender......ohmmmmmmmmm.

Because I'm am going to get a handle on ALL of this laundry once and for all.  Yes, yes I am.

Because there are beautiful people in the world.  You know who you are.  Thank you so much again!

Because these ever changing windows sills in my kitchen are just a delight.

Because I don't like buying certain things, throwing them away, and then buying them again.

Because babes in handmades are better than apple pie. (and there isn't much that's better than apple pie.)

Thanks for stopping by.  If you've found beauty in your life and want to tell the world just "Because" leave a comment and link.

Have a wonderful Thursday.

 

Love,

Stephanie

Turtles and Moccasins

So I'm still knitting away on my Dottie.  Please forgive me, by the way, my ravelry page hasn't been updated in forever.  It's on my list.  Really it is.  I decided after I finished three projects that I had been working on all at the same time that it would be more enjoyable to work on one project at a time.  That way I won't feel like I'm taking forever to finish a project and I just have a theory that I probably will be able to make more things if I do this.  I'm not sure if that's true or not, but it's much more enjoyable this way and I get the satisfaction of a finished project much faster.

Yes that's my Sweetie on top of a roof.  Gasp!  The children and I were going to a thrift store that is literally in a house around the corner.  We were approaching a car and noticed it was daddy's car.  I was looking around trying to see which house he was working on and when I looked up he was waving from a roof.  Good Lord!  I know that's part of his job, but to see him up there (with stitches in his ear from falling 8 feet through a deck last week) I just about panicked.  I immediately started praying.  Tassia, our 3 year old, said "I can't look." and turned her head the other way with a real sober look on her face.  I thought it was cute and oh so true at the same time.

If you look closely there is a painted turtle in the corner of this box.  The box was handmade by Mekhi.  I'm so proud of him.  I also tell my children that it's good to know how to work with your own hands.  Especially if it's a special interest of theirs.  We were driving on our way home today and we saw it on the side of the road.  Of course I turned the van around, stopped in the middle of the road, turned on my hazard lights, and Mekhi jumped out and picked it up.  Yes.  That's the type of family we are.  I just love it.  He had actually built this box for frogs that he and Jabari had planned to catch, but found that it made the perfect turtle paradise.

I do love moccasins and I've found the cutest pair for Sebastian at the flee market by our house.  They were only $5.  They had several pair in all sizes from small infant to adult.  He said he would only charge me $10 for the adult pairs, but I couldn't afford them.  These are definitely real leather.  The woodland fabric that I bought for him will be just darling with these.  I have to hurry and sew the overalls I want to make him.

More mud pies.  The outdoor kitchen that I had for them, which was just a wooden table, got completed ruined by the rain.  I'm waiting for my husband to bring large bricks to place wooden planks on.  Hopefully this works.  I must say that waiting for a new kitchen has not slowed the mud dinners in anyway.  I love the imagination of these children of mine. 

Oh I just love when one sister doesn't feel so well the other one takes it upon herself to take care of her.  Tassia is reading Hadashie a story.  Of course all she can read is the Hop on Pop part and she makes the rest up, but my heart just melts when I see this.  It makes me forget about all the fights they do have. Smile.


Have a great day!

Love,
Stephanie

Nature, Giving, and Other Stuff

 

 





 

 

 





 



 

 

 

 



 

There has been lots of lovely nature blooming outside.  By the water where Mekhi likes to go fishing is a veterans memorial park.  They've planted the nicest flowers there.  Our back yard and the house that's empty and for sale next door has a very strangely shaped back yard.  There's stuff growing  everywhere.  I really like the idea of different types of flowers and plants growing every where to identify and look at.  Today, due to the rain as of late I assume, there were gorgeous mushrooms in the back that we hadn't seen before.  The younger ones and I ran out to get a closer look.  The girls were so happy to pick a few buttercups for me.

 

I also finally started to make little woodland furniture for a bookshelf turned doll house that we have in the living room.  I like most of the toys to stay upstairs in bedrooms, but I also like there to be downstairs toys in the living area also.  I've always wanted one of those woodland doll houses that I see online, but can't afford.  I decided I could make it for them and I'm happy that JoAnne Fabric had glue guns on sale this week.

 

I'm also happy that I have a few plants for the children and I to plant.  I usually kill everything so I just got a few herbs and two tomato plants.  The basil began to droop in the kitchen window so I put them outside.  I figured letting them thrive in nature even before they are planted would probably be a better idea.  Marquice is going to make a garden box with wood.

 

I finished another pair of Rye socks.  I really like this pattern it is so easy follow.  It is definitely my go to sock pattern.  As I said before I want to start giving more so these are waiting to be given to my niece when she arrives this weekend.  I do hope she likes them.

 

I purchased milk from a new store this week.  The bottles are glass and they come in a little carrier.  After the milk is all gone you return them to the store and you get $.50 towards a new bottle.  I really like this idea because with all the milk we go through I just hated throwing away all of those milk jugs.  I would find use for some of them, but storing all of the jugs we used for later just wasn't practical.

 

Mekhi found the most amazing snail shell on the way home from the farmers market last week.  Things like that are so special because you don't come across them very often. 

 

I am making slow, but progress at weaning Sebastian.  It started off pretty rough. He wasn't so miserable during the day that I decided to do it gradually instead of all at once.  It's always hard on me as well because oh do I love to nurse a baby.  It's just the sweetest bond ever between mama and baby.  I always have to fight feelings of sadness and tears every time.  Then I think stuff like, "This could be my last baby.  Maybe I shouldn't do it."  I had a little break between Tassia and Sebastian and I kept thinking to myself that she probably was the last one and I should have kept nursing her.  I was wrong, but yet I'm struggling with the same thoughts.  I'm just not ready to be finished nursing babies.  Oh he's just so darned cute!

 

I hope you're having a good week.

 

Love,

Stephanie

 

 







I love being a mama

Okay so I think I'm comfortable enough to use names on my space now.  If they disappear after this post then that means I panicked again. 

The weather has been nice so Mekhi has been able to do what he loves so much....fish!!

Marquice had me take him to the store today so that he could purchase himself a beginning set of carpenter tools.  He's interested in building things and creating with wood.  He was so proud of himself.  Mama was too!

There's is a craft bin at the my local thrift store and I've been coming across some really nice yarn.  The first one is obviously acrylic, but it's really nice. The second one is a blend of acrylic, wool, and mohair.  I'm not generally a fan of mohair.  I don't really like my yarn to be fury, but this was really pretty and there was 5 skeins of it.  All of the yarn in the bin is $.99 or less.  I just soaked it in lukewarm water with a little gentle soap, rug the water out, and let it dry on a towel on the kitchen counter.  I usually don't like to buy yarn when I don't have a specific project, but when I never know when I'll have free money and there's pretty yarn staring at me for $.99 each it would be sort of silly not to get it.  It just takes a little more work to find a project for it.

We made rock candy.  Does anyone have any idea how to make it on a stick?  That would be much better for the actual eating part.

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It appears that Jabari's bird interest is spreading to a few others in the family.  There are tons of birds that flock in our backyard at a certain time of day.  It was pretty loud there the other day and tons of robins were everywhere.  Jabari knew that something was happening so he crept quietly outside with Aki to listen and observe.  The next day Aki and Hadashie found robins egg shells on the ground beneath the tree.  It appears that the entire family had been invited to the hatching of the new little family members.  How sweet.

Mekhi grew tired of Butterscotch, the hamster, and Tassia and Hadashie couldn't bare to see her be given away or returned to the pet store so.........they are now the proud owners of a hamster INSIDE of their very own bedroom.  So far it has gone quite well and Hadashie seems to tolerate her well even when touching her.  I thought it was so cute that they wanted her for their own.  I haven't agreed yet to let them close the door and let her run around their room.  I just don't see that turning out very well.

Here us Hadashie's chosen yarn and a cardigan that she drew for me.  She's very specific about how she wants the fit, closure, sleeves, and neck.  I better get started.  That girl of mine.  I thought this was so nice because that lets me know she likes mama made items.

Oh this makes my heart melt.  Brothers eating Popsicles and talking on the back steps.  They never knew I was there.  Love.

When the bigger ones go to activity clubs on Wednesday nights I get to spend special time with this little tiger lily and her baby brother.  I like that because it seems she going through a phase right now where she needs special mama attention.  I love this little girl.

These two have each other wrapped around each others finger.  "Let brotherly love continue."

I hope you're having a wonderful week.

Love,

Stephanie