a blanket of love

several months ago, i joined with many women to make an ornament for kelly via the wellness tree. sadly, cancer has claimed kelly and she has left behind her husband, matt, and her young son, ari. there is not much i can say here, as honestly this is still difficult for me to process. i just never believed that she wouldn't recover. i can not imagine the pain and loss her family has been left with.
i knit this square to be a part of a very special blanket for sweet ari. tonya, of plain and joyful living, has graciously taken on the task of stitching together squared from mamas all over the globe to create a blanket of love for kelly's son. thank you tonya for taking up this mission and creating a way for us to all put our creative energies to use in the wake of this tragedy. thank you, nicole, for sharing kelly and her story with us. it has touched a part of me that will never be the same. thank you to kelly's family for so allowing us into your lives and to send our love to you.

summer solstice celebration

we celebrate each turn of the season in our home. the night before the solstice or equinox i change out our seasonal table. our children awake to a couple of gifts to enhance their seasonal play wrapped and waiting at the breakfast table. typically, they get a seasonal book and a handmade toy (either made by me or an etsy artist).

we incorporate activities to celebrate the changing season into our daily rhythm and prepare for our celebratory dinner throughout the day. today the children chose burgers on the grill and corn on the cob, both summer favorites, for our special meal. i made another pavlova and did my best to capture the essence of the sun in this scrumptious dessert.
seasonal celebrations, or any festival for that matter, need not need be elaborate. simply laying the table with a fresh cloth and adorning it with fresh flowers helps to set the mood for a special meal. including children in the preparations is just as important as the celebration itself! we sing songs and often i tell a special story to mark the occasion. today, we found ourselves singing about our friends the bees all day.

festive drinks are a favorite treat. here a glass of sparkling apple cider sits with a jar of clover picked enthusiastically by sienna for our table.

we intended to end our evening with a backyard fire and some firefly chasing. however, during dinner there came a sudden and intense thunderstorm that poured down solid sheets of rain. this mama loves a good thunderstorm so i was not complaining! the children were disappointed though so we scheduled a rain date with the fireflies.
hope you all enjoyed your day, however you celebrated and even if you didn't! happy summer to you all!

father's day

we enjoyed a lovely father's day together. daddy got to sleep in while we made him french toast topped with fresh raspberries and blueberries. the kids gifted him the branch necklaces they made for him and handmade cards. we lunched at a downtown indian restaurant followed by a walk around town. he had an evening soccer game so we joined him at the field and picnicked together afterward. lots of daddy love!

my own father stopped speaking to me just over a year ago so this day holds its challenges for me personally. it is helpful that matt is such a wonderful father and i can just focus on helping the children enjoy their daddy time.

happy solstice to you all!! summer is officially here. off to set up the summer nature table.....

nature art camp

this week we had nature art camp at dandelion hill. we made so many beautiful crafts!
we pounded flowers and leaves with hammers to make these gorgeous banners. i forgot to take my camera to class that day, so this is a picture of the one i made hanging on our classroom door.
we made these beautiful works by taking a piece of paper out to one of our beloved walnut trees and doing bark rubbings. we then did a watercolor wash over them. i LOVE how they turned out! jean and i are thinking on the same wave length this week!
some of the children also did rubbings of leaves and flowers we had collected.
i was so excited that we were having camp the week before father's day and would have an opportunity to make a gift for dad. i was inspired by this post. we sanded the tree slices smooth, hand stamped them, and rubbed them with beeswax polish. hope the daddy's enjoy them!
it was such a joy to have both of my children in camp with me. these days are limited with sienna headed off to first grade next year.....

joyful preserves

yesterday we had a play date at ms joy's house. since our days are numbered with our sweet mulberries and there were plenty on the ground, we collected a bucket full before we headed over. little did i know that she had scored some organic cherries for $1.99/lb at our local discount grocer and was wanting to make preserves!

she has wholeheartedly taken on the nourishing traditions diet. it is impressive the amount of time and energy she spends in her kitchen. with our cherries and freshly picked mulberries, we made preserves from a recipe in the book that uses lacto-fermenting and best of all, no cooking! funny thing was we had exactly the same amount of cherries and mulberries. so we each got to keep a cherry pint and a mulberry pint. the preserves need sit for only two days and then we can enjoy the deliciousness!
what a lovely way to spend the day. the kids running around outside and us busy in the kitchen. i really like this idea. now that my kids are a little older, i would like to have more play dates like this. where the moms can be engaged in a project together while the children are entertaining each other. sure makes food prep more fun to have a friend by your side!
naturally, when we left her house we had to go get some of those very affordable organic cherries for ourselves!! mmm-mmmm!

here's to the season's bounty of fresh fruit and berries!

here we go 'round the mulberry.....tree?

i spent my whole life singing the refrain *here we go round the mulberry bush*. it wasn't until we moved into this house three years ago that i learned it is really a tree. we are very fortunate to have a very large one in our backyard. every june, it showers us with mulberries, so sweetly divine.
they don't keep well so you won't find them in the grocery. the berries on our tree are a gorgeous deep purple when they are ripe and quite lengthy. the harvest doesn't last for long so we try to spend as much time under that tree collecting her fruit as we can.
this year we have made mulberry cobbler (gluten-free and delicious!), many a mulberry smoothie, and today i am making my first batch of freezer jam. this morning, sienna grabbed the berry basket and went out first thing to harvest enough for our smoothies. mostly though, we gather under the tree and munch.
the berries fall when ripe so it is a good idea to keep the grass cut short during this time.....or lay sheets (that you don't mind getting stained) out across the grass. the berries are so tasty that we have taken various measures to shake the limbs, begging them to release their sweet fruit for our delight. in that way, the mulberry tree also provides great entertainment! i was watching a friend's daughter yesterday. when my friend came to pick up her daughter after getting off work, she tasted her first mulberry ever. the ground had already been picked pretty clean by the kids so she scaled right up that tree high above our heads.....in her beautiful dress and all! her daughter was very impressed and cheering for her the whole time. one fell right on jasper's head with a loud thump, staining his blond hair purple.

the berry stained lips, hands, and feet are so sweet, too! they do make the birds poop purple which some are not too keen on.

we love you mulberry tree!

***don't forget to enter the giveaway on the post below. my sweet friend, emily, has caught the giveaway fever, too. visit her here.***

MORE giveaway love!

i never did consider myself a lucky person. blessed? most certainly! awards for achievement? yes, i managed some of those. but pure, unadulterated luck? not so much. i don't remember winning anything of that nature.....until last year when i started entering the giveaways of my generous blog friends. for some reason, i seem to be good at striking gold in cyberspace!

it's not possible that i could remember them all, which is unfortunate because i would love to give credit to all the generous bloggers that have sent gifts my way. i have won handmade soaps, stationary, a petal garland, a handmade shopping bag, and other treasures. if you have sent me something and i did not list it here, it is not because i don't love it!

in the last couple of months i have won FIVE giveaways!! i can't believe it really.

this charming garland i won from camille creates. we have used it already and look forward to enjoying it during our upcoming summer solstice and birthday celebrations. thank you camille!

to my delight i next won this fairy play set by enchanted cupboard from a giveaway over at birchleaf designs. this sweet set arrived in our mailbox the very day that sienna broke out in chicken pox. it was the highlight of her play for the next six days. thanks for saving us gals! she promptly placed it in her fairy garden and then requested the garden be moved (it is heavy! must move to shallower dish.) to wherever she was playing and beside her bed when she was resting.
here it is in action today. this morning she wanted to wet felt a play mat for these fairies to play on. so cute!

since then, i was the lucky winner of some playsilks from heather at shivaya naturals. i also scored a free vistaprint photo book from mary anne at mamasmiles. i have yet to create this, but look forward to filling it with pics of the kids for a special grandparent. ;)

then, yesterday i get an e-mail from luz over at wee waldorf. she says that the first winner of the adorable forest friends cookie cutter set did not respond and the prize has been passed to me! hooray! i first saw this set on bake it pretty and wanted it soooo bad. i mean, there's a gnome cookie cutter in there! when i placed an order for the candy molds for my beeswax ornaments at christmas this set was all sold out. then i saw that luz was offering one on her blog (and carries them in her own adorable shop) and got excited. my condolences to the person who did not grab them up, but i am so glad that i got the opportunity!

so, when i got this news, i knew i could wait no longer to do my own giveaway. one thing that has always drawn me to this community is the incredible openness and sharing that takes place. folks sharing their precious tutorials so freely and continually offering up such sweet gifts to virtual strangers. it warms the heart and enriches my life.

so, i offer to you one adorable knitted snail made using linda's tutorial (made of 100% wool) and two cotton dish cloths. at least i use them for dishes, but i do knit them kind of small so maybe you want to use them for a face cloth or something else entirely. i realize that most of you reading this could probably knit these things yourself, and maybe you have already, but this is what i have on hand today, more giveaways are in my future for certain!
if you are interested, leave a comment by thurs, june 10 and one of my little monkeys will draw a lucky winner.

this giveaway is closed. congrats to mamakopp! sienna pulled your name out of the basket this morning. i'll be contacting you shortly.

while you're at it, here are some more spots to get lucky.....

* chocolate eyes is giving away an adorable felt peg doll to celebrate her etsy opening. ends june 7.

* a beautiful piece of jewelry from cypress sun. ends june 9.

* progressive pioneer is hosting a giveaway for a $50 gift certificate to the vintage pearl. such lovely jewelry! this one has ended.

* sarah from bella luna is offering an incredibly generous $100 gift certificate to her shop on her blog moonchild. this one has ended, too.

***edited to add*** giving is contagious! i just love it and had to share friends that posted giveaways today:

* cadi at maehegirl is feeling the giveaway love and is giving away one of her adorable newborn pilot caps. so darn cute! ends monday, june 14.

* over at twig and toadstool you can win a sweet set of rainbow gnomes. my kids love these guys! ends monday, june 14.

* and at salt and chocolate you can win a copy of *nigella express*, and inspirational looking cookbook. ends thurs, june 10.

good luck to you all! and thank you so much for your generosity and for sharing so much love with me.

***i guess i am going to have to drop this *intense debate* service. it messes up my comments every time. i liked it because my comments came to my inbox and i could reply easily. that is counteracted if the comments disappear altogether though! linda and cadi, i have your comments. if anyone else has commented and it is not appearing, please e-mail me. sorry for the hassle.***