Just Write: Let’s Play

February 25, 2014 by Summer

My toddler is starting to play. Just the other day I noticed her take one of her little Ostheimer animals and move it up the little treehouse play-stand I have set up on her table. Then she took the other animals and set them on top of one of her playsilks, all of them lying down as if they were sleeping. She moved several more animals up and down the ladder of the play-stand and made a little sing-song as she worked, dadadaa-dadadaa. She was actually playing. It was a neat thing to watch. My baby was turning into a playful child right before my eyes. Of course she has been “playing” for quite some time,wrapping her Pink Baby in blankets, pushing her stroller around, moving stuffed animals from place to place; but it’s never truly looked like “imaginary play” before this week. I get a little giddy thinking about play. I’ve spent so many of my adult years studying play in young children and watching many children play in many different early childhood settings. I love what play, especially what imaginary play can bring to a child. The joy, the excitement, the drama, the understanding of the world around them. I can vividly remember playing myself, as a child. reenacting stories I read about early settlers or Native Americans. Pretending to be sea lions or dogs or Mothers or witches or horses. Nothing was off-limits and my play would continue on and on throughout the days and evenings.

The importance of play has stuck with me after my own experiences as a child, my experiences as a preschool teacher and my graduate studies in early education. I want Ellie to have a rich childhood full of imaginary play. I want her to have a passion for life and learning and I really think that staying playful and allowing her the chance to really play will keep her excited about learning and the world around her. Seeing the small glimpses of real “play” makes me excited for the fairy tales we will read and the puppet shows we may have, the hundreds of songs that she may make up for her imaginary scenarios and the stories she may tell me when she’s deeply invested in her own playful worlds. I hear Plato’s words ringing in my ears, “Life must be lived as PLAY”. My daughter has just begun her playful journey reminding me to play more in everyday life too.

– Joining Heather for Just Write: an exercise in free writing your ordinary and extraordinary moments.

(and a little side thank you to Jenn at baby by the sea for inspiring me to write a little bit about the joys of play.

Making + Listening: Valentine’s Edition

February 13, 2014 by Summer

MAKING: There has been lots of making and listening around these parts. Now that Ellie is feeling better we’ve had some painting sessions…

And some afternoon walks where we collected sticks for another Simple Things Notebook inspired nature craft. Ellie did the stick collecting, I did the hot glueing.

And the big project I’m working on is putting together something special for the blogger swap. After spending an evening visiting all of the blogs involved in the swap, I can tell you I am a little worried my contribution won’t match up. These bloggers are AMAZING at what they do! I started working on a set of hand-sewn coasters to begin with. I’m excited about the fabrics. A couple of them are from the Downton Abbey collection which I find just lovely. I hope my blogger swap partner will find them lovely too.

LISTENING: Little Bird has been on repeat for many days now, but we have also managed to have some classical playing in the evenings with dinner. I had picked up a lovely french classical c.d. on my honeymoon in Paris. It used to reside in my classroom and was played often in the early mornings upon the children’s arrival. Now it’s come full circle. Playing in my own home for my own daughter to enjoy.

-joining Dawn for Making + Listening!

Making + Listening

January 23, 2014 by Summer

There has been lots of MAKING that I haven’t had the chance to document yet, so I thought I would recap what I finished these past couple weeks and what I’m still working on.

A little stuffed mountain for a friend close to the Rockies. A little reminder for her that she has a whole group of women rooting for her through some tough times.

This is Edith. She’ll be the first “softie- doll” to go in my shop. Made from scrappy fabric, wool felt and regular felt and completely hand sewn.

And this is an old t-shirt I jazzed up for Ellie just the other night. She’s been talking about panda’s these days (reading Panda Bear, Panda bear) and the other night she was telling me something very important and serious about a Panda (in her toddler gibberish that for the life of me I could not decipher). All I could gather was that a panda was involved and was very important in her realm of thought at that moment. So I thought I’d make her a panda sleep shirt, so she could hopefully dream of her furry friends. She LOVED it and wore it all day today too! I have no idea how felt washes, so I may be re-sewing this little guy back onto the shirt after tomorrow.

As for LISTENING: Ellie has developed quite the taste for very specific music. Daily, we listen to Raffi’s “Pick A Bale O’ Cotton”, “Frere Jacques” and the “popcorn song”. And in the evening we listen to Steve Martin’s “Pretty Flowers” (you can guess whose influence Steve Martin’s banjo music was) or Dan Zanes’ “Basement song”. Don’t dare try to put on anything different than those five songs, or you will get a scolding by an angry 17 month old!

I’m still working on finishing up Ellie’s felt board characters for the Taro Gomi book and after Cory posted a link on her blog and I decided I wanted in, I know there will be lots of making in the weeks to come. Check out this blogger swap, I’m very excited about it!

– joining Dawn for Making and Listening!

New Pieces for the Felt Board

January 17, 2014 by Summer

I realized the other day when Ellie brought me a felt Christmas tree off her felt board that it was time to make some new felt characters. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to make for the New Year until she continually brought Jeff and I the book Mommy! Mommy! by Taro Gomi, to read to her. I thought it would be so much fun to make her, her very own “Mommy” and “chickies” to play out the story on her board. So this week I went to work and last night I finished the “Mommy” and one of the “chickies”. They were super easy to make and turned out completely adorable. Ellie has been putting them on the felt board and taking them off all day. I’m still working on the grumpy dog critter and would like to make the barn, the sun and some rocks for the “Mommy” to hide behind. If you don’t have this board book, you have to check it out. It’s quite adorable. And obviously a favorite around here.

And playing along with Dawn’s MAKE + LISTEN today, we’ve been listening to a lot of RAFFI, (specifically this one) and we have this playing while we clean up after dinner to put everyone in a relaxed mood before bed.

Balance in 2014

January 2, 2014 by Summer

I’ve chosen my word for the New Year. I loved the idea of having a guiding word and using it to help define what I wanted to work on and strive toward this year. I played around with “create”, I pondered using “patience” or “ease”, but nothing really stood out as the word. When discussing words with my husband, I realized one word kept creeping up in my vocabulary and as I bent down to put my shoes on for our morning walk, I lost my balance and almost fell flat on my face. That was what I needed, I needed more “balance”. A word holding multiple meanings. Balance of a physical nature, balance of being wife and mother, balance of being creative but still being present. Balance of mind. Balance of spirit. I held it in my palms and smiled at its meaning. I cradled it and I whispered to it. I’m excited to make it my mantra for 2014. I really have never had a word for the year before and the concept has me already excited for what it may bring.

Do you have a “guiding word”? Or any resolutions this year? Check out Mama Scout and Rebecca’s posts for inspiration.

Wishes for This New Year’s Eve

December 31, 2013 by Summer

Sending out wishes to you and yours for a New Year full of love, peace and goodness. From our family to yours. Happy New Year!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

Love, Summer, Jeff and Eloise

*Pictures from our wonderful session with a dear friend and incredible photographer, Summer Nicole Photography! She has given us some fantastic new prints to put on our walls for 2014! Thank you Summer!

Holiday Mail

December 13, 2013 by Summer

This week I received a lovely package from a dear friend. A dear friend whom I’ve never met. It’s amazing what online communities, like this here blog can provide. Four years ago, I had never even read a blog and here I am today and I’ve met so many amazing people through reading other blogs and being a part of online communities like Facebook. It certainly is a different social experience then I am used to, but it has definitely enriched and changed my life for the better. This week, a fellow blogger and friend knew I was coveting the knit snowflakes she had posted a pattern for (pattern? is that the right word?). Unfortunately, I don’t know how to knit and was very sad to not have anyway to bring these beautiful, cheerful things into my home. So, a couple of days ago I received a wonderful, little package filled with snowflake, knit goodness!!! What a lovely surprise! It’s such an incredible feeling getting to know all of these talented people out there in the world and then for them to share some of their talent with me… I feel very blessed. Thank you Isabel! These will be cherished for years to come!

{this moment}

October 18, 2013 by Summer

*I know I’ve been absent in this space lately. We’ve had a teething, uncomfortable, non-sleeping baby here for a few weeks and I’m trying to keep up. I’m hoping to be more present here in the coming weeks.

“A single photo. Capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor, remember.” – joining soulemama!

Weekending!

October 14, 2013 by Summer

We attended another festival this weekend. Jeff really wanted to check out the Seaside Highland Games and even though it didn’t sound like something I would be into, I decided to check it out anyway. It was a very fun morning and Ellie enjoyed all the animals (Highland cows and sheep herding dogs). And I have to admit, it was fun seeing all the men in skirts as well. Sunday morning we took a trip to the local pumpkin patch up the street and had a very fun day picking pumpkins, seeing more farm animals and letting Ellie explore, explore, explore.

How was your weekend?

– joining Amanda at The Habit!

Making + Listening

October 4, 2013 by Summer

MAKING: I just made another Zucchini loaf in a bundt pan this week. Boy are we enjoying this zucchini bread. We’ve had a few zucchini’s from our own garden and a plethora of zucchini from our CSA share rolling in every week. This is the only way I will eat zucchini and Jeff and Ellie don’t think it’s half bad either. I thought I’d share the recipe. It’s full of sugar, but I’ve cut the sugar in half and it’s still pretty sweet and I’m sure substituting honey or another sweetener of your liking would work just fine as well.

Zucchini Bread (or muffins)

adapted from Smitten Kitchen

yield: 2 loaves or 24 muffins

3 eggs

1 cup olive or vegetable oil (I have also substituted coconut oil)

1 3/4 cups sugar (you can swap the sugar out with any sweetener or reduce the amount of sugar by 3/4 and it’s still pretty sweet)

2 cups grated zucchini

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

3 cups all-purpose flour

3 teaspoons cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)

1 cup dried cranberries, raisins or chocolate chips or a combination thereof (optional)

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Grease and flour two 8×4 inch loaf pans, liberally or line 24 muffin cups with paper liners.

In a large bowl, beat the eggs with a whisk. Mix in oil and sugar, then zucchini and vanilla.

Combine flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, baking powder and salt, as well as nuts, chocolate chips and/or dried fruit, if using.

Stir this into the egg mixture. Divide the batter into prepared pans.

Bake loaves for 60 minutes, plus or minus ten, or until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Muffins will bake far more quickly, approximately 20 to 25 minutes.

I’ve also been working on some autumnal inspired coasters with some scraps that were begging me to do something with them. Almost done with number one and I’d like to make at least a set of four.

LISTENING: We’ve been listening to a whole slew of things lately. A lot of banjo. A lot of Raffi. And a little John Mayer, a little John Denver and a little classical to keep the moods steady.

-joining Dawn over at SImple Things Notebook.