juicy peaches

i found this awesome recipe, just in time to enjoy some juicy, deliciously peaches in season. i lessened some of the sugar. it is so yummy i had to share.

wip - skirt for a mermaid doll

:: this was an impromptu project my little one thought of, an hour before she was off to a sleepover with her grandparents. she has been engaged in play with her mermaid after our seasonal nature table changed to incorporated treasures from the sea shore. after fiddling around with her tail, she discovered the doll has legs underneath and her play has taken a new journey, full of adventure and new lands to explore.

:: my daughter drew a sketch and instructions were given in detail. the little guy was napping, we had the supplies and i could not honestly give my daughter a reason not to make a skirt for her mermaid. 

:: an hour or so went by, my little one had already left for her grandparents' house, and i was cutting out the finishing touches on the double-tiered wave pattern. and this little project taught me a valuable lesson that i needed to relearn. to take a chance. 


for years, i have wanted to make my little one a doll. and one day make clothing for my children and knit them sweaters to keep them warm. and to one day make a quilt like my grandmother used to make. i have long searched the internet for doll making kits, supplies and books, only to find a reason not to proceed forward with making a doll. afraid of failing or even worse, making a mistake and picking out the wrong yarn for hair (that darn perfectionism coming into play) and i have searched flickr for quilt patterns and inspiration, only to feel like the task was too big to take on. and i guess at times, we can put up road blocks or little speed bumps in our own path. but life, of course, is about learning to overcoming them.

:: and my first attempt at the mermaid's skirt did not work. i learned from it, adjusted the pattern and made another one. and here's the beginning of taking more chances.

last night, my little guy needed his mama's comfort. i am still in my jams (pajamas) i have not looked in the mirror nor brushed my hair back, my body is achier than usually. my thoughts drifting and i gave myself TWO tasks today. to find and make a delicious new meal for this evening and tomorrow evening with my 2 beautiful eggplants. and my second task is to have a calm, peaceful ending to my day. giving myself time to savor some tea, mediate, think about what tomorrow may bring and curl up with a book this evening. 

so, i went searching for some recipes and here's what i came up with, some will be modified to be dairy free:

grilled eggplant topped with goat cheese and tomato

rainy day rigatoni here

vegan muffuletta

stuffed foccacia with roasted eggplant and oregano

trenette with eggplant and basil pesto

15 dips and spreads for summer parties

10 vegan lunch ideas

10 vegan breakfast ideas

 

i decided to grill the eggplant because no matter which recipe i decide upon, the grill brings out an amazing flavor. and i remember how much i enjoy this part of the season when we have delicious eggplant to nourish ourselves with. i decided on the rainy day rigatoni for tonight and vegan muffuletta for tomorrow. and i look forward to the trenette with eggplant and basil pesto next. what is your favorite eggplant recipe?

a new plan

our new journey is re-establishing our family rhythm and learning to nurture oneself. part of our plan is being helped through new services my son is receiving. the wonderful part of the program is that the occupational therapist comes out to your home, observes and offers suggestions. there was high hopes that after we determined his intolerance to milk protein and eliminated milk protein from his diet that he would start eating in a healthy manner and his poor feeding would discontinue. everyone also hoped that my son would outgrown his milk protein intolerance after his first birthday. so we have kind of been in limbo, until recently.

after introducing milk to my son's diet, very slowly, for the past six weeks, we determined that he can not tolerate milk protein. he also has tracked consistently at the 5% for weight on the growth chart, so we still are working with his poor feeding.

our new plan includes:

1. helping establish a healthy eating and sleeping pattern for my little guy. we have adjusted his eating routine where he will eat 5 times a day, instead of every hour and a half. (he needed meals every hour and a half back before. he was so small and constantly active. he now will take some time to sit and read a book and he also takes some time to cuddle so we felt we were able to work with changing his eating routine) now that we are establishing a consistent eating routine, with meals spaced out more so he could experience a feeling of hunger and the ability to feel fulfilled with food, it has already greatly helped his napping routine. he now sharing a bedroom with his sister, which brings us to

2. getting mama a healthy block of sleep. transiting my son out of our bed and into his crib was a very hard decision. i had too many people that love the both of us urging me to do this and ultimately i decided that this was the best decision for our family. i slept on the floor many nights and watched the sun rise, but this is getting better

3. cooking without milk protein and eggs. (eggs is something that we will try in his diet in the future. my daughter was allergic to egg until she outgrew it at 3 years of age, so this is why he has been egg free)

new waldorf kindergarten resources

:: there are a few books that i use and reference quite frequently. first and foremost is the book, you are your child's first teacher by rahima dancy. i find myself going back and re-reading chapters time and time again. 

i am finding simplicity parenting by kim john payne to be very useful. i am still reading it and have already utilized the book in simplifying my daughter's bedroom. i have started working on small sections around the house and we are doing our second round of simplifying the kids' bedroom and going through the bookshelf, which we did not get a chance to go through yet. kim john payne spoke on the waldorf connection. i jotted down some notes that i am hoping to post soon.

a real treasure is, a child's seasonal treasury by betty jones, which is out-of-print (the first part of the book could be found on google books. it would be wonderful to copy as much as you could) i am still introducing new ideas from this book and i have used it for years now. the book includes verses, poems, movements, fingerplays, games, activities, handwork, baking and cooking for each season. it also is a great introduction to mornings, mealtimes, cleaning up, evening verses, with roughly 2 verses for each. the treasury also contains the birthday anticipation verse as well as a number and alphabet verse that could be used for a first grade resource.

another great book that i can not say enough about is earthways, by carol petrash. the book includes seasonal activities and crafts and seasonal nature table ideas. it also offers valuable earth-friendly tips and ways to create a natural indoor and outdoor play space. there is also a tremendous resource section in the back of the book, included seasonal book recommendations. it is also on google books and you could definitely use the index to plan your projects. 

for songs, there are nursery rhymes, folk songs and a series of songbooks that i really love is from naturally you could sing that i would recommend. the song books from naturally you could sing include a cd, which really helps if you do not know how to read music. we own sing a song of the seasons and i have used it for years, with movement and fingerplays in circle time or on our car rides. their website includes a list of contents for each of the songbooks, including this is the way we wash-a-day, sing a song with baby, lavender's blue dilly dilly, and the wonder of lullabies. i discovered some new lullabies that i really enjoy singing, as well.

for verses, i really like seven times the sun by shea darian, is a wonderful resources, which provides verses and songs for morning, mealtime, play, work, quiet, healing, bedtime, family time, personal renewal and peacemaking. there are a section of family rituals, a passageway for parents and book recommendations for each chapter. there are a few songs that i use all the time and really never would have thought to use at these times because i never really experienced someone singing at these times, in particularly for healing and quiet times.

quiet moments  by shea darian

quiet as the wings of a butterfly

quiet as the gentle falling snow

quiet as the light of a firefly

quiet as a seed starts to grow

quiet as the clouds that are drifting by

quiet as the rocks by the sea

quiet as the mist cross a country road

quiet as the wind in the trees

loving arms  by shea darian 

loving arms that hold you

loving hands that care

loving eyes that see your pain

guide you back to health again

loving arms that hold you

loving arms that care

another series which is great for verses is the wynstones series, which i see cited all the time. we have gateways. along with verses and songs for morning, evening and birthdays, gateways also has a section of fairy tales that are shorter in length. at this time, i can not remember anything so i do use index cards (or cards from our watercolor paintings) or sometimes i only have short amounts of time, which makes this there fairy tale section a great resource for puppet shows.

for stories, of course, a grimm's fairy tales is an essential going into the first grade. we also have a tasha tudor's fairy tales, which has some abbreviated tales that might work well. an enormous resource for FREE stories could be found at www.mainlesson.com. 10397 stories to be exact. WOW. you can search the site by authors, books, stories and curriculum. here is the waldorf kindergarten book list.

i have a relatively young journey into waldorf and i have discovered the parenting passageway to be so resourceful. carrie is well versed in waldorf, homeschooling and shares valuable parenting information and book reviews. i am really enjoying the new energy that her postings are bringing me, i have so many postings bookmarked. you could spend hours over there. carrie has a bunch regarding resources, that you might find helpful:

which early years book should i buy?
fairy tales, books and storytelling with little ones

resources for the waldorf kindergarden years

favorite waldorf resource guide #1: joyful movement

favorite waldorf resource guide #2: simplicity parenting by kim john payne and lisa ross

favorite waldorf resource guide #3: melisa nielsen's be a beacon program

favorite waldorf resource guide #4: the files of marsha johnson's yahoo group

favorite waldorf resource guide #5: get more movement in your homeschooling

www.movementforchildhood.com ,  www.healingeducation.org , and the book, Movement Journeys and Circle Adventures by Nancy Blanning and Laurie Clark

review of a lifetime of joy

if you are like me, this is something new to me. there can be a lot that i feel i need to research and i could spend hours searching the web to find more information. it can be overwhelming trying to choose the right thing. but, i have learned that it just is about doing and being with my children, baking with them, cleaning with them, singing with them, being in nature with them, creating joyful moments with them and making connections. slowing down, taking time and nurturing relationships by giving, receiving and responding with love, warmth and truth. rhythm is also key, i am working at re-establish it here because i have experienced the harmony that rhythm brings.

marsh johnson, of waldorfhomeeducators@yahoogroups.com, can put you at easy with her words. she writes the following...


Playing, helping, resting, imagining, thinking, painting, modeling,
experimenting with blocks, logs, string, trees, mud, wind, cooking,
eating, sharing, giggling heaps of preschoolers in a rainbow house,
planting and gardening, sewing, fingerknitting, listening, singing,
playing with bubbles and learning to cut with scissors and use glue,
and sitting on a warm human lap…….hearing the stories, hearing
the words, creating the images inside those adorable curly and stick
straight haired heads………..this is the intellectual development
of the human child in the best sense of the word: addressing all the
aspects, the head, the heart, and the hands.

At home, you can accomplish this so much more easily, in a sense,
because YOU are the creator of your world. Your home, your schedule,
your possessions, your choices, your stories, your food, your tone of
voice, your joy and creativity, you are the queens and kings of your
child’s universe, the King Peter and Queen Susan and Aslan all rolled
into one! In a sense, you are the suns of your galaxes, and your
children dance around you in their own ellipses…as such, you can
select and create elements that will shine on all of us….now and in
the future times.


are there any resources that you love or find helpful? please share

summer solstice wet felted doily

:: we made our doily using the wet felting process. here are some instructions on making it, from the other day. as the piece became firm, we were able to add some details to it. we added details to each side individually, using a small amount of fairy sprinkles:) and gently rolled in the beginning. adding detail to each side gives you two different looks and our doily could even be hung on a wall or used on our nature table. smaller ones would be great for coasters. wet felting is pretty fun and i really like the end result.i am still getting the hang of it and used to the process. 


have you tried wet felting? if so, what have you made? i'd like to try something new

moments from our summer solstice

:: magical floating flowers from all year round and a silk streamer i made for my little one. i also made up a little sun decoration the same way i did for rhythm of the home. our paper flowers flattened as soon as we placed them into the water, as i ventured off the directions. (i thought the beeswax would allow them to keep their cupped shape, but they did not) they were lovely for breakfast.

:: a fairy basket filled with treasures i found around the house.

:: the little guy discovering some rainbows from our sun catcher just before he went down for his nap. my daughter was so happy celebrating and asked about a treasure hunt. how could i say no. so, i quickly came up with a handful of clues, which took her on an adventure about the house and the yard. during the treasure hunt we enjoyed some orange tea, searched our gardens for newly blooming flowers and read a seasonal book out on our swing. the last clue brought her to a basket of golden hued roving for a wet felting project ~ a sun doily.

:: we started by laying out short pieces of wool roving to create a circular shape on bubble wrap. the pieces were fluffed apart and put down in thin layers, alternating the direction of the wool. to create depth used a bunch of different colors in the same colorway. we used yellow, golden yellow, pale yellow, tangerine, and pumpkin. we then we added some fairy sprinkles of soapy, warm water before we tightly rolled up the wrap.

 ::it was gently rolled on the ground then unrolled to add more fairy sprinkles. then we wrapped up the bubble wrap in the opposite direction and repeated the process a bunch of times. i completed the last few rolls with piping hot, soapy water which really felted up the edge.

 :: zesting and juicing some oranges for our tea and muffins

my little one also loved this verse from a little verse from a child's seasonal treasury.

sunshine fairies by betty jones

we are the sunshine fairies

and with our sparks of light

we shimmer and glimmer in the air

hugging flower with colors bright

hope you having a beautiful solstice. we have a few more pictures of our sun doilie that i'll show you later. please stop by wonderment (my new community space) to share stories and pictures about your summer solstice celebration.