Our House in the Middle of Our Street

Hello! I've been in such a great mood these past few weeks with all the outside time and Vitamin D I've been soaking up, I decided a giveaway would be a good way to celebrate! I am giving away a Summer Reading Package to one reader! This package includes a number of different types of books. Something for each mood, if you will... First up, a sweet memoir Marley & Me by John Grogan . I love puppies. I love hearing stories about onery puppies. This entire book is filled with them, and with the love one family had towards a pet, Marley. This book will make you laugh out loud, shake your head in frustration at the silly dog, and make you cry a river. It's definitely a beach read. photocredit Next is the action-packed memoir of Jon Krakauer's ascent of (and the tragedy you may have heard about a decade ago) Mt. Everest. I love Jon Krakauer. Anything he writes. ANYTHING! I'm not a mountain climber, nor do I ever intend to, and this book is a fascinating, quick read....

Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson I know I've been a bit quiet here lately. Like I've said before, we've been outside almost every chance we get, only to come in for naptime, night-time, or a brief reprieve during thunderstorms. These are actually recycled pictures, from when our third toddler friend, M, came to visit us awhile back. Unfortunately, with all we've been doing, I've forgotten the camera every.single.time . So these will have to do for now, until next week when I can get some new shots! Above is our wonderfully useful water/sand table that Stefan made last year, and it still finds use almost every day. If you can peek at the top left hand corner of the picture, you can see our bikes hang up outside from the porch, and this table is a lifesaver when I am putting together or taking a part the bike trailer after our bike rides. * Too cute. Seriously* Here is a picture of Lukka and his friend M running downhill in ...

For your listening enjoyment...songs that remind me of Spring!

photocredit What do you know, one of my favorite bloggers and artists, Rachel Denbow , has invited to participate in a little survey. I'm not doing anything today, so...why not?! 1. When do you feel happiest? When I am healthy, getting enough sleep, spending quality time with my family, and putting in some good hours into leisurely things! AND travelling. (sigh.) 2. How do you take care of yourself? See above, but specifically, reading, sewing, knitting, and biking. 3. Are you internally (by yourself) or externally (by others) motivated? INTERNALLY . 4. What do you do for fun? Picnics, make things, watch movies, family bike rides. 5. What intimidates you? Moving away from somewhere I've always lived. I've always wanted to, but it's still a bit scary! 6. What is something you're proud of? My organization & motivation. My to-do lists are crazy long, and they always get done. 7. Finish this sentence. I never cut my hair . Seriously, it's like once a year...

photocredit The Handbook of Vintage Remedies by Jessie Hawkins, MH , was a superb buy with a bit of my birthday money. Vintage Remedies is a nonfiction book that is broken into a few different sections. Section One: The Herbal Primer is a fascinating read, talking about topics such as Immunity to The Family Herbal Medicine Chest. The second section is about common illnesses, which are broken down alphabetically and each has it's own set of "What Is It?/Prevention/Treatment" to explain simply and efficiently how to take back our own health by use of herbs as infusions, tinctures, or through diet. Section Three: Botanical Apothecary describes all the common plants (herbs, weeds, etc.) alphabetically and what they are generally used for, and where they're from. Section Four : The Natural Family Toolkit has lots of information from a glossary to a set of recipes (see down below). The history of herbs used as medical remedies is long and complex, but many families know n...

Here is an almost finished view of the slippers I'm donating to my friend's MOPS silent auction fundraiser (April 22nd, if you're local!)...and of course, that big ball of yarn is still to be another matching cream colored slipper. I think my favorite, however, are the little 12 -24 mo. girl ones with felt star buttons. They remind me of Jem . Did any of you ever watch that? The little boys (3-4 yo) have sweet little sailboats, too. Here is an interesting project. I love wearing headbands, and like all mothers before myself, I feel the need to have my daughter wear the exact same things I do. Hence, the look-alike. I got a fabulous headband from Athleta (out of stock, now!) that I wear constantly. I decided Ani needed one, too. No directions, no pattern, just scraped my way through it by ripping up an old shirt and figuring out how to do a knit on my sewing machine with no practice. The front view. There are a few bumps (tips for knits, people?) but I thought I'd jaz...

If you need us... we'll be outside. Enjoying the beautiful early Spring weather. We've gone to a park (or two) every day for the past two weeks. Fresh air, hours of free play, lots of dirty babies, and sleepin'-like-logs nights. See you around! (I've got two posts coming up, one is craft related! An update on the MOPS slippers (finally snapped a picture with the buttons) and some recycled crafts; and a book review.) Stay tuned...but in the meantime...head outside!

photocredit Our April book club book was one of the One Book One Lincoln nominees, The River of Doubt by Candice Millard. Although I knew bits and pieces about the famous president, Theodore Roosevelt, simpling from studying him throughout my education, I did not know about this famous, horrible exploratory trip he took towards the end of his life. I knew he was a famous big game hunter, and always thought he may have had something to prove, but Millard's in-depth nonfiction book really helped me understand not only a lot about the former president, but about the Amazon and tropical rain forests in general. I thought this was an excellent read, and although I may hesitate to recommend it to just anyone (certainly not a beach read), I would pass it along to people who love history and adventure. The story takes place around Roosevelt's last 'physical' journey, through an uncharted, 1,000 mile river called the River of Doubt [ later re-named Rio Roosevelt ]. The hards...