handmade holidays wrap up, part II

sienna's canvases. age 6 and 3/4.

butterfly for bakka (my mom) on stretched canvas. she painted this one, outlined it in marker, and then stitched around the butterfly.

sunflowers for grandma debbie. watercolor pencils on stretched canvas.

drawing of st lucia. colored pencils on her most requested art material...*white paper*. ;)

here she is hard at work on daddy's gift.

daddy's painting is of an owl family. there are white baby owls tucked under each wing of the mother and father.

this one is for uncle scottie. a boy and girl dancing to some record tunes.

this one is poppa hum's. the christmas tree farm, complete with blow up snowman, strands of lights, and a girl driving her tree home on top of her truck.

found art

pumpkin carving happened on halloween afternoon this year. it was so sunny and warm matt and the children worked on their pumpkin together on the back porch. matt laid cardboard down to contain the mess and they used a marker to draw the face on.when i went out later to clean the mess up, i found this sweet fairy on the cardboard. when i came upon this scene in the playroom i was taken aback. she must have worked on this for an hour. every little thing is placed exactly so. the most played with *toys* in our playroom are seen here. they are: 1) our treasures from nature. these include buckeyes, acorn caps, sweet gum balls, beechnut hulls, etc. 2) silks. this is one that i had from long ago. 3) little people of all sorts, mostly wooden or felt.
there are so many little figures here! many that she made hersekf, at least one that i have made, a fisher price guy from my childhood, a couple of playmobile figures, several random wooden figures from different games or other toys, an alkelda doll, her wild child, a corn husk doll, a mamakopp gnome, princess nimble thimble mermaids, a very old baby doll that our old neighbor george gifted to her many years ago, and so many more!

i love where her richly developed imagination takes her. i sat alone in front of this scene just taking it all in. there was surely a story and a progression as to how they each ended up in those specific spots. today she set up a whole scene and told us a story. it was so inspiring! perhaps i will share a little of that tomorrow.

thank you to all that have signed up for the handmade exchange! i am excited at the talented group that is forming and can not wait to see what you all come up with. there is still time to sign up if you want to join us!

found art

little pieces of beauty found in random places. both made by my ever creative daughter.
while taking pictures of my jack-o-lantern on the back porch yesterday, i spotted these crayon drawings on the floor. love the way they resisted the rain. the rest of the wood is wet, hence the darker color.
this beauty was found in the playroom (pretty darn close to actual color here) . we have these large cedar blocks (some of them stump size) that the children use for all sorts of big building. the surface of this one is at least 9" x 12". this gorgeous work was discovered behind the easel which had been set up with chalk recently. we use these (we have sidewalk chalk for outside). pricey but amazing. we have had the same set of chalk for at least 3 years. sure, they are in pieces now, but they still work beautifully. i keep them put away unless they are in use. they took to the wood so amazingly. we are definitely going to revisit that idea!

she chose me!

today for spirit week, it was dress as your favorite hero day. last week she told me it was her. she was her hero. ;) i liked that answer.

then, yesterday afternoon she tells me she wants to dress as a firefighter. um, really? we have nothing even close to a firefighter's uniform and i had zero time to gather supplies.
-hmmm....do you have any other heroes honey?
-yes, mom....you!

of course i asked her why. she said because i protect her and keep her safe. it is only fair to note that she did then declare both dad and jasper as her heroes, too, but she still wanted to dress up like me. ;)
i wasn't really sure where to go with this one either, but this is what we came up with. we twisted her hair up last night and attempted curls. we got mostly frizz which probably hits closer to the mark! she wore one of my aprons and a sweater. though she wanted to go for out of the classroom mom, teacher mom was a little easier to mimic clothing wise.

what she doesn't know is that she is my hero, too. i love this bright little star so very, very much!

staying put

for those of you who may be wondering, we have decided to keep sienna in first grade. honestly, for a while there it seemed as though this was one of those parenting decisions that has no clear answer. we have to make a difficult choice based on intuition and hope for the best.

then one of my colleagues asked me which class seemed like her karmic group of peers. good question! i had not thought of it this way before.
i have to say how incredibly blessed i feel to be able to sit down with a teacher and talk about my child's karmic group of peers! that would not happen in many schools. both the kindergarten and the first grade teachers were open to my coming to get a feel for each group.
though the kindergarten was a lovely bunch and i truly enjoyed being part of circle time with ms joy again (an added bonus!), when i joined the first grade class i knew right away that she is already where she belongs.

each class votes on a name for themselves and her class chose the wolves this year. this little wolf pack just fits together so nicely and sienna seems to be comfortable amongst her peers.

interestingly enough, when it came time for them to sit down with their writing journals i suddenly felt very anxious. i thought to myself *this is what she can't do!*. i wasn't sure if i should tell her the letters to spell the word she wanted to write or correct her as she sounded it out or just let her figure it out. as i relaxed and observed the other children around me, i was so relieved at what i saw.

some were taking their time sounding out each letter, some just started writing using their *inventive spelling* (which looked foreign to me!), and some didn't even know what they wanted to write. this is first grade!! they may be *reading* but they are all still figuring out this whole language arts thing. i believe sienna fits right in with where these children are and will do just fine.

i'm not worried about the reading either. it will come in time. i am of the opinion that writing before reading is the most beneficial anyways, though there are many different methods out there. i am bringing her the alphabet the beautiful waldorf way on my own at home. i am telling her a story of the letters. we introduce a new one and then *sleep on it*. the next day we draw, paint, color and write the letter as well as recite alliteration poems. she is loving doing this work with me.
today she wanted to show her little brother her classroom. of all the beautiful things to see, she took him right to her notebooks to show him the math, writing, and drawing work she has done. she is so proud!!
though her classroom is small, ms rachel has done a lovely job creating a warm and inviting space. there are silks and beautiful wooden figures that sienna is used to being surrounded by and they have opportunities to use these props and others to tell stories to each other. an area she excels in!

it feels wonderful to have settled back in to first grade. we both love ms rachel and we are all glad that she is still part of the wolf pack! she has so much to offer the group and it will be wonderful to see how they learn to work together. as a small class, they won't have a choice in the matter!completely unrelated, but i had to share. this is her latest creation. i love her!! she has been making little dolls like this for some time. i am loving how they have evolved. she creates them pretty much independently now and always has a clear vision of how she wants to go about it.

here's to settling in,
rae

handmade gifts

it warms my heart that when birthday parties for friends come around, sienna now thinks about what she can make them rather than what she would like to buy them.
she made this prince and princess for maia. she did almost all of this herself. she just asked me to cut out the crowns for her. she used bits from my felt scrap basket. she used the hot glue gun for most things and stitched their royal robes on.
she wanted them to have a playmat too and decided to gift the first one she ever wet felted (she has quite a few now!).
this princess' pink cashmere robe is my favorite. she is so glamorous!

i wish i had taken pictures of the card as it was hilarious! she is drawing many pictures a day again and her pictures are so interesting and detailed these days. i have loved watching my avid artist's drawings progress over the years.

first day of first

sienna started school last wednesday. first grade. she was with me in my program last year and this is the first time that she has gone *away* to school. the first time for this full time schedule. we are adjusting. honestly, she was over the top giddy to go to school. it was mom who had the anxiety (imagine that).

her first day!

in an ideal world, i would either be homeschooling her or she would be in a waldorf school. since i am engrossed with my own early childhood program at the moment and their is no waldorf school here (yet), we made the best choice that we could. i never thought we could really afford private school, but we received a bit of a scholarship and are committed to some lifestyle changes to make this work.

her homework for the first day was to bring a nature treasure that fit into the palm of her hand. she carried this dried flower so delicately all morning long as she waited for me to be ready to drive her to school.

i have raised her in the waldorf way, meaning that imagination and creativity have been the priorities, not academics. her new school uses experiential learning and does not do testing or textbooks. her teacher uses stories to teach and has the kids in nature for many of their lessons.

i shared with her teacher my concern about sienna's lack of academic knowledge and she reassured me many times that she was not worried, she had no expectations, and that she would work with the children wherever they were at. however, on the third day of school she asked me to stay and talk with her. it seems all the other children in her class (there are 9 total) are already reading. there is a significant gap in what sienna has been exposed to and where the other children are. the concern seems to be around her potentially developing social anxiety as she realizes she is not where her peers are. specifically, they have reading time for a small block each day. during this time she looks at books while the other kids around her are reading.

it seemed so appropriate to me that i ended up parked next to this graffiti just hours after i dropped her off for her first day. fortunately it is more a statement on my personal sentiments rather than hers! ;)

now i face some big decisions. move her to the kindy where she will be the oldest in her class again (she had this experience already in my program and it was wonderful, but as a born *leader* i was pleased that she would be joining her own peer group this year)? try to accelerate her learning of the lower case letters and letter sounds at home using waldorf methods whilst still allowing time for letting the lessons resonate inside her? allow her teacher to tutor her after school in a more traditional way?

ah, this has been an intense time of letting go for me. i have worked so hard to protect and honor my children's early childhood which included creating programs that i wanted to see them in as we went. as this year approached, i had sudden feelings of abandoning my ship and turning my focus toward first grade. however, i have invested a lot in bringing waldorf early childhood education to this community and it feels good to share that with others. my work is not done at dandelion hill. besides, jasper has three more years with me there! ;)

a sweet mama friend sent me a heart warming message the first day sienna went to school. it brought forth the tears that i was holding in all day. a release i so needed. i hope she doesn't mind that i share some of them here. they are words that will stay with me always.

as you send off your first born out into the school world...the pain and sadness and tears and nostalgia you feel... those emotions are all reflective of the consistent and deep ways you lived life to the full with sienna in her "preschool" years.........that depth makes today and this week hard, but be encouraged that you in no way diluted that experience to make today easier. the good road causes pain but what a good pain.

the same day, the beautiful post at wabi sabi wanderings echoed the sentiments in my deepest soul. such a delicate balance, holding them so close and letting them move so far away.

the upside (there are many others, i know) for me in this is that i get much more of this:
this sweet boy and i have never had consecutive mama/son time. he is usually off playing with his sister for much of the day. i find that with her out of the house so much, he is by my side all the time. i am loving nurturing this relationship with my dear boy!

and on that note.....he and i start school tomorrow ourselves! i must get back to work now!

black and white wednesday

having fun playing with this photo. i had to let her eyes shine through. ;)

see more black and white wednesday photos by visiting linda at natural suburbia.

wood day

yesterday was *wood day* at the folk art center up on the blue ridge parkway. this event is annual and free and there are many demonstrations of all sorts of woodworking going on. being the wood lovers that we are, we had to go check it out!
the first demonstration we saw was joe ruminski turning this natural edge bowl. sienna and jasper both enjoyed watching him at work with the lathe, but sienna was absolutely spellbound. she watched him finish one bowl and then stayed to watch the entire process again!
he gifted her the bowl he made for her incredible patience and focused interest. such a sweet gesture! his instructions were to let it sit overnight and then to sand, sand, sand and finish it. we have worked on that a bit today. i will post pics when it is finished.
we saw only one woman (and i failed to take her picture!). she is a carver. she was working on a gorgeous nativity scene. we engaged in a lovely conversation about the beauty of wooden toys, the imaginative play of children, and the barrage of plastic toys her grandchildren are surrounded by. i want to adopt her!

my children have played with wooden toys as long as they can remember so it was really incredible for them to see the different steps these figures progress through before they come to life.
this was my favorite sign! the best part was that the sign itself was the first thing that jasper picked up. this is the work of jim mc phail. his display was intriguing because he uses lots of exotic woods and had squares of them all and showed what they looked like before and after they were finished. he also stacks these woods to make these layered bowls and he had clever little displays to show this process....and you could touch it all. ;)
his lathe was much smaller as he works on a rather tiny scale. once again, sienna waited patiently for him to begin, stayed for the entire process, and asked poignant questions. and once again....he gifted her the bowl!! as you can see here, these tiny bowls are quite pricey! we won't talk about how that price tag is likely because some of the woods he uses are from endangered trees. no, i'll just let her enjoy her little bowl. it has gone off to live in that extravagant dollhouse. a shaving horse at work. this guy was cute and didn't quite know what to do with the kids. he gave them some curly-q shavings. ;)
and yes, it gets even better!! she got to turn her own pen! the carolina mountain woodturners were on hand to help folks make their own keepsakes. technically, children were to be 7, but they let her slide under the radar.
she started with a block of wood and worked with this fellow to carve the pen shape and make lines in it for her design. she wore this face shield and they held the carving tools together.
then she moved outside to work with this fellow and began sanding her piece. at this point, she was able to do most of the work by herself. here she began adding color. it was a fascinating process. using a sharpie marker, she held it at the bottom edge of the pen and the color went on quickly as the lathe continued to spin. after the color was on, she waxed it with a block of beeswax and polished it with a cloth.
here is her final work! she could not have been more proud.
her treasures from the day. they even gave her a certificate for completing an introductory woodturning lesson.
as we picnicked together afterward, this bowl became an impromptu nature display.this little guy was a real trooper. there was not much for the three year old crowd to do but look. once (a long time before we were finished actually) he said *me want to get out of this place*, but other than that he hung in there for three hours while his sister indulged herself! this is his pouty face afterward when he lamented *me no make anything*. i love his toddler lingo.

sienna lay with me last night, clutching her pen tightly, going on and on about all the things she wants to make on a lathe. she was particularly impressed that she got to do the same project as the grown ups that were there. she slept with her pen in her bed last night. ;)

today....i have strep throat. :( i'm going back to bed now. hope you all enjoyed a wonderful weekend!