this moment: life's a beach

A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week a couple of weeks ago. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

inspired by amanda soule

this moment: mischief

A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week a couple of weeks ago. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

 

inspired by amanda soule

in honour of love

grow

A lot of peeps in Blogland have been choosing a 'word of the year' for themselves. I've enjoyed and been inspired by reading about these words and the reasons behind the choices. One blogger even asked her readers what their word would be. That got me thinking.

And thinking.

And thinking.

We've put a couple of very intense years behind us. A new job. A new baby (very recently preceded by two other new babies). Two international moves with these three babies. Two new schools and two children starting school. Another new job. And finally, a new home.

I did at first think my word should be something like 'settle' or 'calm'. Because those are two things I'd certainly like to see embodied in my life this year. But I've never been one to sit quietly.

Looking out the window across our lovely little (but biggest by far) new garden towards the fields beyond, it came to me.

Grow.

Now that we are in a position to put down roots again we can begin to think about the act of growing:

• our children growing out of the baby stage and into still little but bigger people
• growing food and flowers in our garden
• personal growth, particularly in the areas of patience, gratitude and intentional living
• growing confidence and skill in hobbies such as woodworking and camping
• growing and cultivating friendships with our new neighbours
• hopefully watching our savings account sprout again, and with any luck grow past the single digits!

I am looking forward to reaching towards the sun this year. Expanding upwards and at the same time, strengthening our root system.

The children in Eva's and Imogen's kindergarten are distinguished into three groups according to their stage of development - the seeds (the youngest), the leaves (the middlings) and the buds (the eldest). Right now, as a family, we are probably still seeds, in the earliest stage of developing. I am truly excited to see where we grow as a family in the coming year.

handmade christmas roundup (finally!)

I've had new-year-procrastinitis. Every day that passes makes it harder to get back on the blogging wagon. And...we had a sad month. Our big family Christmas gift was a Labrador puppy. One that we've known since he was in his mum's tum, who we've visited since he was two weeks old. We brought him home the second week of January, and three days later found out he was very sick with a congenital heart defect. We made the awful decision to return him to his breeder for further investigation, but sadly, he died two days later. It has been a heartbreaking experience, and we don't feel ready to look for another puppy.

The rest of our holiday was joyful, though, and full of handmade goodness.

Lacy baktus for my mom (details on Ravelry)

peppermint bark (using the recipe shared by Soule Mama)

Christmas cookies - we made what seemed like hundreds and gave little parcels of cookies to friends and neighbours in lieu of Christmas cards

Christmas Eve pj bottoms - using Folksy Flannel and Burda 9747

mama-made flopsy doll made with hand-dyed organic bamboo velour

beeswaxed play blocks Daddy made from sawn douglas fir and birch branches

sailboat made by Daddy

rockerboard made by a man from a Waldorf community in New York (thank you Waldorf Mama for sharing his details last Christmas)

playstand made by my friend's incredibly talented 15-year-old son - perfect for building dens