Category Archives: celebrations and festivals
Licorice the Lamb and Other Spring Tales
Over the course of two weeks we graduated from wee, petite, miniature bouquets nestled in spice jars and extract bottles, to full blow bounty of blossoms. The pulmonaria (which sounds so much prettier than “Lungwort”) has done amazingly well this year. I want to divide it up and put a little everywhere.
It’s only May and already the garden has gotten the better of me. I can’t keep up. Also I have a certain little someone who really wants nothing more then to be permitted to stand right in the middle of my garden beds. She climbs in, and stands perfectly still, dead center, looking over her shoulder, waiting for someone to notice and frantically come running over to scoop her up and out…lettuce seedlings trampled under foot, radishes flattened. Today she discovered the joys of picking all the flowers off the strawberry plants. How could I have forgotten what a challenge this could be? I’m trying to channel my inner Farmer Dan. Years ago, we were members of a wonderful CSA and one day the head farmer stood causally by, watching as three children ran right through a freshly planted field. Their mother was mortified. He just smiled and shrugged and explained that it was factored in. That they planted in a way that assumed kids at play and the occasional dog digging something up. He really seemed sincere, but I have to wonder if inside it wasn’t eating at him just a little? All that work!
We have a lamb now. Right. So, uhm, that happened. Though I’m still not really clear on how. We were visiting a friend and the new baby lambs and there was this day old one being rather violently rejected by her mother. She was crying so pitifully that it was making my milk let down. The scale was tipping and she was rapidly running out of the reserve she needed to survive. Our friend had to leave for work. I offered a to help out if she ever needed a hand, thinking that you know, we could come down and take a feeding shift from time to time and before I knew what was happening, Iain had a little black lamb in his arms and Elijah had a jar of sheep colostrum and they were headed back to our place. She’s 2.5 weeks old now and what with middle of the night feedings, and milking sheep and all, it’s been a bit intense at times.
Steve was a rather perturbed (“Wait a minute, so I don’t even get consulted before we move barnyard animals into the house?“). This is a very valid gripe. In my defense, what was happening hadn’t totally dawned on me and I was still rather befuddled by the what, how and why when he got home.
She’s just fostering here. She’ll go back to live with the flock once she’s weaned, but it’s been agreed that she will remain the children’s sheep. They have been working very hard to care for her.
Her name is Licorice. Seraphina calls her “Bah-bah”. They follow each other around. I really couldn’t quite say who is following whom. Bah-bah will bend down and nibble something Fina will nibble next to her. Bah-bah will run up to me bleating to be petted on the head. Sera will follow a few steps behind, looking up with an expectant “Bah?” and then run away happily once she’s been petted as well.
She’s still a lap-lamb. Though she’ll be too big for that before long.
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Mother’s Day 2015
First Birthday: a Lengthy Belated Post
Licking the icing off the beaters on the eve of her birthday. She cried when we tried to take it back to wash it!
In the spot where we first laid her out almost exactly a year before to examine all her wonderful, sweet, precious, newness.
Galen’s gift to her was Peter and the Wolf performed as a puppet show.
I’ve been planning birthday dresses for her since the day she was born, even before actually. In my mind this year’s was to be a smocked bishop dress in colors to coordinate with her birthday sweater. Does it go without saying that the birthday sweater was planned ages ago? While I was still pregnant I had one pattern picked out for a boy baby and one for a girl baby.
Only I’m trying really hard not to spend money whenever possible and a bishop dress requires three yards of high quality fabric, which doesn’t come cheap. I challenged myself to make her something from supplies I already had. Which was actually really frustrating for me. I tend to get caught up with a certain vision of what a project should be and it’s hard to shift gears. I tried all sorts fabric and pattern combination and nothing seemed right. Finally I struck on this pairing of an antique lace collar with a spring green cotton-silk blend.
With a violet for her hair. My darling little harbinger of spring. What to say of the joy that is a baby girl due on the equinox? Our Sweet Wild Violet. Dear Seraphina Violet Juliette.
We were planning a little party but everyone had been sick the week before and we were still kind of worn out. Steve and I decided that we really just wanted to spend a quiet day playing with our baby and her siblings, not running around cooking and cleaning and worrying about whether she will be sleeping when people arrive or not?
A glass sippy cup. The only gift we purchased. It’s very well loved. You need these lids to convert it from a bottle to a sippy. My sister bought her the lids thinking it was the whole cup at Christmas time and we finally got the glass bottle part to pair them with. I like it much better than the metal ones we used with the older kids.
After cake and presents she spent hours of the afternoon just swinging away, taking sips of tea and cuddling her baby.
This delightful illustration was a gift from our friend and neighbor. Earlier this year she made the children a story book featuring her charming little elves and fairies roving about our neighborhood!
In lieu of an official party we had a few people over for ice cream the following week. Elijah makes the most amazing dairy free ice cream. The guest of honor had plain coconut cream with banana slices.
The bunch of daffodils were hands down her favorite gift. I pressed one for her baby book.
Last year’s blessing egg, hung with this years.
While we dyed pysanky eggs she painted eggs and whatever else was handy with vegetable juices.
We are so blessed.
pretending it’s spring
At Halloween we have the jack ‘o lantern helmet, at Easter it’s the raffia hair.
I know the calendar says it’s April, but we’re still living the March life here…muddy paths that crunch in the mornings and late afternoon, snow all around, still deep into sugaring time. It was actively snowing during our egg hunt. My tiny, sleepy, sweet wild violet huddled in our coat with me. I made a joke out of the fact that we were dressed much the same for Christmas tree shopping as we were for Easter egg hunting, which might be funnier if it wasn’t 100% true. This has been the winter that just won’t end. The kids refused to dress appropriately. They must have been so cold! I figured it was the principal of the thing and decided not to fight it.
We thought it best for the little one to have her own private egg hunt, inside, where no snowsuits were required.
Our natural egg dying went much better this year with deep chocolate tones from coffee, chamomile colored chartreuse eggs, rusty tones from onion skins and pale lilac from red cabbage. I’m partial to the robin’s egg blue ones, also dyed with red cabbage. You can get an amazing numbed of hues, depending on technique and dye time. Directions for the botanical eggs can be found here.
I made Galen a shirt. Often I make the girls dresses for special occasions, simply because I like making dresses. Also, they are little and I can usually find bits of fabric that will cover them. Lately I’ve been wondering if Galen doesn’t feel a bit left out sometimes. So I made a surprise shirt for him a priority. I used an old work shirt of Steve’s that was in wonderful shape, but met an untimely end when a sleeve got snagged on something sharp. Since he was wearing a “Daddy shirt” he thought it wise to borrow some daddy accessories. I’m not sure it’s possible for him to look more like his daddy. Who do you think is taller?
Speaking of taller, I made Iain stand next to me so that we could see our reflections in the mirror. I know what he looks like from my perspective, but I had no idea what we looked like together. He dwarfs me. It’s incredible.
Back to the sewing- I didn’t want Mairi to be disappointed, so I whipped her up a quick skirt. Seraphina wore the little bunny pinafore that I made Mairi Rose for her second Easter.
Picture taking on Easter is really a ridiculous practice. In almost every picture they look like chipmunks with their cheeks full of treats!
nine
A sweet and thrifty gift from Mairi Rose. Ever since his jade died he’s been wanting a new plant for his room. We asked Iain and Elijah if we could take cuttings from each of their Christmas cacti to try to propagate them and she decorated a little pot to plant them in.
The makings of a very happy Galen birthday….a new mama-made outfit*, a flint and steel fire, dear friends visiting throughout the day, a bit of sledding, creating works of art, a new ukelele, gingerbread (always!), and a right of passage movie night.
It’s been over a year since I did a “Week in the Life” series. I’ve been working on photo albums for the children as gifts, they each received one for their birthday this year, and I can honestly say that some of my very favorite photos come from that project. I would really love to do it again this year. But at the moment I’m struggling to post more then twice a week (sometimes even once is a strain!). Case in point: it’s taken me over a week and a half to post these birthday pictures for the grandparents to see. I can’t even fathom how I would manage to post seven whole days in a row.
*all fabrics and notions from my stash, so a “free” gift, yay!
together
Galen crafted matching headbands for all the girls, Mairi Rose rolled candles, together they created a mess of glitter that extended the entire first floor and beyond.
A couple of years ago I started the tradition of taking photos of Steve and I together on Valentine’s Day, not because I’m ridiculously sentimental about the holiday or anything like that, because I’m really not at all (though we also have a tradition of making cinnamon rolls and that I am attached to). It’s just that having a specific day means it’s more likely to happen and this is as good a day as any other to serve as a friendly reminder.
It’s such a simple idea, but looking back I’m amazed at how revealing it is; the photos captured are so very specific to each point in time. Two years ago we were planning our vow renewal. Our youngest child was reaching a more independent age, leaving us with a bit of time for the first time in 13 years (!), to be frivolous, silly, flirty. I had just gotten over being really ill and we were both just so ready to focus on enjoying each other and life again. Last year was moving slow, big bellied, full of excitement, but more of a quiet and comfortable expectancy. She was essentially our honeymoon baby. In many ways it felt like starting all over again, only this time we were able to enjoy it in a way that we weren’t capable of with our first child, while we were so busy trying to learn how to live together and be a family.
And this year- a day late*, rather frazzled, somewhat haggard, kid made accessories, clingy-cranky baby way over-due for a nap, but still crazy in love (perhaps with extra emphasis on the crazy…see below). I had thought I would take some time to really make an effort and do my hair nicely and put on make-up. I must have been completely delusional. I think I managed to scrape together five minutes, total, including dressing. I was mostly just happy that I managed to brush my teeth.
I started making my dress, oh, about a year ago now. And then I had a baby… and it sat and sat and… sat…. It’s the Sis Boom “Jamie Dress”, with modifications to make it a nursing dress (tutorial here. I substituted ribbon for old bra straps). Since we are trying to save money I thought I could finish this up and it would be a little something to make things special. Instead of an act of love, I think it may have come across more as making myself crazy while trying to sew a dress on Valentine’s morning, because my earlier attempts were thwarted time and time again, while subjecting everyone else to my crazy self. Which wasn’t quite what I intended. Sometimes the big picture is a little lost on me. At that point I just wanted it to be finished and wearable for the future.**
* It’s possible that on Valentine’s Day proper I was a bit on edge and that by the time dinner was on the table I was ready to be completely done with everything in the world and everyone within a certain age bracket. As an undeniable signal of my total and absolute defeat I had already changed into my pajama pants. Throughout the day as I was metaphorically ripping out my hair, usually while the baby was literally ripping it out, my husband would occasionally look at me with maniacal gleam in his eye and exclaim, ” Day of L-O-ove!”.
** There is a rumor circulating that in these pictures the nursing opening is being held up with safety pins. I refuse to confirm or deny said rumor.
now we are 6….and also 15!
Iain’s birthday sweater; Mairi’s birthday sweater; tutu pattern; Rosebud’s hat
She grew 2 1/2″ in the last year, he grew 3. No one warned me how strange it would be to be looking at my child and speaking to my child and to have him all of the sudden answer me back in an entirely new voice.
She made the candles for her cake. The cake itself was a surprise. This lovely confection was the inspiration, like a Beatrix Potter tea party. When we go for walks she likes to leap and skip ahead. I call her my little prancing deer. “Look at me Mama! What am I?” You are my darling, my sweetheart, my love, my little prancing deer.
The day itself was mostly about her. We went skating, which made them both happy. He had a father/son movie double date a few days before and a sledding party coming up this week, more elaborate celebrations that somehow feel more private.
Her hat was actually a Christmas gift. I made it on a whim a while back. We accidentally got a newer edition of Milly-Molly-Mandy from the library, which I had never seen before. In it Milly-Molly-Mandy wore a pale pink beret, just like the one I had made. Only hers had a pom-pom. Mairi said it was the pom-pom that made it cute. And that is how her simple hat got a last minute, pre-gifting make over.
Christmas Cowls
Mairi kept sewing up little packets of herbs and spices; orange peel, cinnamon sticks, cloves, allspice, star anise, what ever seemed Christmas-y and pleasing to her. There was a lot of wood block card and wrapping paper making and pretty little wood slice ornaments. I made three cowls. Apparently this was the year of the cowl. This crimson one was for my mother-in-law. The blue one peaking out now belongs to my sister. I don’t have any other pictures of it yet. She’s still here visiting, so perhaps I’ll get a chance yet.
holly jolly
My dad read T’was the Night Before Christmas via Skype this year. Very exciting. Iain bought Seraphina her own little sled and Elijah carved her a set of wooden spoons. She’s not sure what all this fuss is about, but she sure enjoyed herself. The big boys have been putting on a little show the last couple of years, helping the littler ones to get all of the dolls in the house dressed in festive clothing and such. It’s really very sweet. This year they turned the attic into Christmas town and the four of them slept up there on Christmas Eve. They were so pleased with this arrangement that they went up quite early to do holiday Mad Libs, play games and read books. It worked out beautifully for us. We had a leisurely time setting everything up and then my love and I got watch a movie while eating Christmas cookies! On Christmas Eve! Amazing.
This year’s pajama patterns:
all of the pants were self drafted
Iain’s shirt is Kwik Sew 2530, view A minus the collar
Elijah and Galen’s shirts are Kwik Sew 3366 (now out of print I believe?)
the girl’s nightgowns are the Sally Dress pattern
I modified this pattern for Seraphina’s bonnet