Wool Felt Paintings

Start with a big piece of wool, and either clip it to the chalkboard, spread it out over the rug, or order a ready-made board (ours is from www.waldorfsupplies.com). Offer your little one small puffs of felting wool in different colors:


And let her make her masterpiece!



Ta Da!

March 11

Today was so sweet, and one of those days where everything falls into place. I worked for a few hours while the girls were at school, then after pickup we went to the grocery store. Not prepared with a list, we did the usual - just grabbed what looked good. Butternut squash, some nice cheeses, rhubarb, etc. When we got home, L took a nap while Isla and I began to prepare the dinner we would bring our friends and their new baby. Sage and Butternut Squash Mac N Cheese

*Apologies to the organized types, there are no measurements, but if you try letting go, and just go for it, I bet it will turn out amazing!

You will need:
butternut squash (med. size)
2 T butter fresh sage (a big handful, washed and torn into small pieces)
a splash of 1/2 1/2
two egg yolks
one small container part skim ricotta cheese
a big handful of shredded mozzarella cheese
a big handful of shredded parmesan cheese plus more for the top
1 and a half c vegetable stock
olive oil
salt
pepper

Peel and chop up the squash into bite-sized pieces. Toss with olive oil and a little salt. Bake at 450 for half an hour or so, until soft. Cook a small bag of pasta (we used egg noodles) according to the directions on package while squash is cooking. Remove squash and let cool a little. Turn the oven down to 375. In a small saucepan, heat up butter until just bubbling. Add the sage and cook until just starting to brown (five minutes or so). Add the stock to the pot. Smoosh up the squash a little with a potato masher, then add the stock mixture. In another bowl, mix up the ricotta, parmesan, 1/2 1/2, and egg yolks, and a little salt and pepper. Layer (kind of like lasagne) the ricotta mixture, squash mixture, pasta in a baking dish (we used two so we'd have dinner for our friends as well as our family), and top the last layer with some extra shredded parmesan. Cook on 375 until the top is kind of golden and crispy-looking. We also made garbanzo bean and brown rice flour bread, chia-seed pudding, and a big kale-carrot-avocado salad, and put it all in a big basket. On the way, we listened to the audio story "Visiting the New Baby" (highly recommend! Check out SparkleStories.com, under the "At Home with Martin and Sylvia" section) which beautifully mirrored our afternoon! My favorite part: Isla mindfully picking the bugs off of each leaf of sage before carefully tearing it up into the perfect-sized pieces <3

March 10

So far today we had circle time inside, a nature walk on the bluffs, play time on the beach, a picnic in the teepee, garden harvesting, and painting. I painted with the girls and finally got some daily/weekly/yearly rhythms up on the fridge, above their art table. I'm feeling happy and inspired and grateful today, and now I'm off to study group :)

Home, Sweet Home

Yesterday was absolutely unreal! There was snow up in the mountains of SB and we took the girls up there for some sledding and snowman-making. Amazing, this place where we live.



Today was another magical one. Ry had the morning off and spent it in the garden with the girls. Then he made the bamboo frame for our giant backyard teepee! The girls played with their neighbor friend and then we had a tea party//picnic/circle time under the geodesic dome. I played the flute for them, and we sang Spring songs. It was windy so we read a couple of chapters of "Mother West Wind." For art, we painted and made play-doh cupcakes (Isla's idea! - we used real cupcake papers and our homemade play-doh). For cooking, we made chia-seed pudding. Then we harvested greens and veggies from the garden. The curly kale, lettuce, broccoli and cauliflower became the better part of our dinner and the swiss chard, dandelion greens, and flat kale we steamed and blended, and poured into ice-cube trays to freeze for later use in smoothies, soups, and rice dishes. Tonight's bedtime snack was fresh strawberries Ry came home with after work, story was "Nobody Rides the Unicorn," and song was "Rest Your Heads, Little Sleepy Heads." Before dinner the girls put on a special puppet show for me, using their wooden rocker as a puppet theater. (That thing is probably our #1 toy - so many uses! We purchased ours from www.bellalunatoys.com)



Tomorrow I hope to start making some alphabet cards for Isla to play with (in a couple of years...) and maybe get another lecture done for homework. Then in the afternoon I get to go to a study group on "The Kingdom of Childhood." Our homework from the last group was to do a form drawing while we tell a story. I better practice that one on the girls! Today I kept flashing on how like a homeschool our average day is over here. I just purchased Melisa's curriculum for early childhood and kindergarten (www.waldorfessentials.com) which has been so affirming. (I highly recommend it, by the way...) When I don't have to get too much work done during the day we have the most incredible time! I'm trying to figure out how to have just one job (ideally the jewelry business) and get 99% of it done when the kids are asleep. Wish me luck!