Archive for December, 2011

Today was a quiet day of being together…finishing up laundry and errands before we leave for Montana on Tuesday. I hope your day included some blissful “togetherness” as well.

Tonight, Bella and I enjoyed a special time together…one that I have shared with my mom through the years. Wrapping presents together! She was SO excited to help and her help is SO welcome!

It’s nice to have a little elf who can wrap with the best of them. And not only does she wrap, she offers encouragements like “…oh yeah…curl that ribbon…HOLLA!” and she sings me songs while she tapes.

I want to remember tonight for always.

I love watching their relationship grow in depth and connection every day…they are such a blessing!

I’ve always loved yarn. There is something magical that happens when I touch it & look at it. But that’s as far as it goes I am not a knitter, but I am certainly envious of those with great knitting skill (which at times seems like ALL of my friends). I bought these so that I can wrap my dreads with them and use them for art with the girls.

HOWEVER…we want to become a knitting family!!

We have tried half-heartedly a couple of times, but we’re serious now. I would love some advice from some of you more experienced yarn women.

• What needles and type of yarn should we buy?
• What is your favorite online tutorial? Or is it better to seek out a class? Books?
• How did you start knitting? I’d LOVE to hear your stories!!

*Edited to add: I just signed up for Ravelry under “livelightly”. Add me as your friend so I can become a knitter!

 

Thank you so much to all of you who chimed in about your art spaces! I LOVED reading your responses and we were inspired to stock up on a few more art supplies. After a completely crazy late afternoon trip to Michael’s with 2 tired girls and a million other crabby shoppers (what was I thinking?!)…we were ready to go!

I’ve been wanting to get Bella a table easel for quite some time and I found one on clearance…yay! She adores it and spent pretty much the entire day yesterday painting and creating…and she’s already back at it today.

So far, our favorites are:

• Popsicle sticks. We have a box of 1000 for endless hours of fun!
• Glitter. Oh….the glitter is everywhere.
• Yarn. It’s so versatile and fun. We’ve been making lots of God’s Eyes with striped sock yarn.
• Paint. The tempura paint we bought is a little watery, so I’m thinking of switching to acrylic or something more substantial. What do you use?
• Oil Pastels. Such a nice texture!

We’re just in the baby stages of getting our art space set up…although I have to admit it’s rather difficult in the type of temporary rental we’re in right now. It’s furnished…and the owners are snow birds, so they come back and live here in the summer. I’m constantly having to be aware of crayons on the table, paint on the floor, etc, etc. I’m SO excited to move back into our own space in July so I can buy a huge OLD table for all kinds of crazy art projects

I WILL find a way to make it all work in this house though…it just takes time. I know we won’t have a “dedicated space” for art, as our house is quite small…but my goal is to find a way to organize all of the pieces so that I’m not so overwhelmed by the mess that ensues. I’ll be posting photos when it comes together.

Links to art space inspiration:

Art Cubby: This is an ideal space in my mind…I love that it doesn’t take up too much room, but is still super organized and inviting.

Katie’s Pencil Box: An amazing open studio space. So much light!!

Wildflowers and Marbles: This post has her entire homeschooling space (which is insanely organized!) but I love her art area with the jars.

Play at Home Mom: LOVE all the jars and visually pleasing stuff in this space. Super inspiring.

Decorating with Kids’ Art: I love this arrangement of kids’ art on the wall. We do clips on a string…but this is taking it to another level!

A Little Learning for Two: A re-purposed crib…love the blackboard paint!

Books & blogs to inspire:

Playful Learning: I recently ordered this book and I am LOVING it so far. I also discovered the author’s blog…which is full of great ideas as well!

Five Minute Art Ideas: I found this at a used book store and it’s great! I love that all the projects are super simple…using materials that you probably have at home already. And for 3 cents on Amazon plus shipping, you can’t go wrong

An Unschooling Life: Love the quotes in this post. She also refers to Artist Trading Cards. Bella attended an ATC workshop at the unschooling conference and loved it!

If you have found an inspiring blog, book, or photo related to art + kids or creative spaces that you love…please share!

 

 

Bella spreads a little sunshine at our homeschool coop Christmas party

We spent some time at Cheek’s house today. At some point in all of our visits, the kids end up in the homeschool room. And somehow my little natural leader ALWAYS ends up as the teacher

In the other room, Natalie and I had a great conversation around creating space for art in our homes. In an effort to get more ideas…I would love to hear from all the homeschoolers/unschoolers out there.

Do you have a dedicated space for art/creating in your home? How do you keep it organized & inviting?

 

 

If you’ve ever had delusions about my house being in a perfect state of calm at all times…think again. This was my kitchen today around 4pm. A busy morning of catching up with work, computer stuff, and Christmas plans gave way to lunch, and then naptime, and before I knew it…WHAM! It’s almost time for Matt to get home and it looks like we had a small earthquake in the mountains.

I can’t take the credit for ALL of this mayhem.

Until I had children, I couldn’t even fathom the magnitude of destruction that they could hold in their sweet little hands. If I don’t stay on top of their exploring, pretend play, forts, and transferring of goods from one room to another…I tend to go insane. I enjoy a serene, uncluttered space as much as the next mama. But it does take a lot of attention and mindfulness to keep it that way…and sometimes I have to just let it go.

And before you go on with the comments of “Oh! But they are only young once!” and “Babies don’t keep!” and “Housework will always be there!”…you have to remember that in order to feed my family, I have to be able to WALK through the kitchen I am not one who can “let it go” for too long…because especially in a small home, it takes over everyone’s space. And that makes them crabby. My girls love order and spaciousness…and I want to provide that for them.

The majority of the time, I try really hard to have the house in a state of calm and welcome for Daddy when he walks in the door. Music playing, candles lit. A wife with clothes on that were not worn to bed the night before. Teeth brushed…you know Luckily, if this hasn’t happened for the day, I have a husband who sweeps in and immediately starts doing dishes and cleaning up. And I love him for that.

As I type this, the entire house is clean. Not a dish is dirty. The toy room is spotless. Laundry is running. Children sleeping. Mommy is showered. And it’s good. In the midst of the chaos this afternoon, it was hard to see a way out. Hard to muster the energy to keep going. But my fervent prayers sent up at 4pm were heard…

“Oh Lord! I don’t have the strength to do this on my own.
YOU are my strength.
YOU are my supply.
Please walk with me through it…”

I am so thankful for a God who hears my desperate plea…and answers.

“He brought me out into a spacious place; he rescued me because he delighted in me.” *Psalm 18:19

Daddy is home.

On the way to the airport today, we saw about 40 cars parked on the side of the road just south of Boulder. It seemed a bit odd because it was 6:45am on a Saturday morning…but hey, it’s Boulder. You never know what people are doing A few miles down the road, we looked back at the mountains and realized that something was a bit different. The moon was lit from the bottom!

It didn’t take us long to figure out it was a full lunar eclipse in process! And it was SO beautiful over the snowy Rockies…a wonderful surprise from our Creator this morning.