Spring Nature Table

Mother's Day Gift Idea - Strawberry-Sage Lemonade

The girls and I made this strawberry-sage lemonade as a gift for my mother-in-law. We used a saved juice bottle and dressed it up by gluing fabric hearts to the front and rubber-banding a fabric swatch to the top.

A Caterpillar's Journey Through Life, and Our Backyard

At school, little I is learning about caterpillars and their amazing transformation. Today she came home and started playing in our backyard. After a few minutes, she came rushing over to me.

"Mom! Mommy! Looooooook!!!" She held this box out for me to see:



"Baby caterpillars! And I made them a nice, cozy place to live while they get ready to turn into butterflies!" Those Giant Impatiens plants are amazing for their popping seed pods. Not too much later I was shown the chrysalis, courtesy of the Trumpet Flower Tree:



Before we knew it, a beautiful butterfly had emerged:



It landed right on her hand, before flying off for a drink from our Pride of Madeira plant:



So incredible to see how what she is learning in school truly lives in her is such a creative, wonder-filled way!

Tide Pools

NatureToto - How to Start Your Own Group

Our mamatoto group is so incredible! I feel so lucky to have these amazing mamas and little ones in my life. I think I already posted about the Nature-toto group we started, but I have been asked so many questions about it lately that I thought I'd post again. We have a set time each week and meet in a new spot every time. We've gone apricot picking, blueberry picking:



on wilderness adventures to places like Ellwood, the beach, Cold Springs, Rocky Nook, and Lane Farms:







to go apple picking and mini donkey brushing at Seeing Spot Farms:



and, to top it all off, we went on a mamas and kids only NatureToto camping trip at Big Caliente!





I highly suggest creating a nature adventure group with your circle of mamas and little friends. What we've learned works best is 1.keeping it consistent. This means same time, same day, so it's easier to remember. 2.keeping it frequent. This is key. If you try to make sure everyone can go, you will hardly ever end up meeting. If it's every week, then it's not a huge deal if somebody can't make it. 3.create a groupMe texting circle, so you can all keep in touch for any last minute changes or check in about the location.

Happy adventures!

Outdoor Music Station

Inspired by other photos on Pinterest, we finally talked Daddy into making one for the backyard:

Fairy Sunday in Spring

Spring has definitely arrived at our home! Two sweet little birds are even building their nest in one of the bike helmets we have hanging right outside our front door. This morning we had such a sweet circle, and Lyr was pretending it was her birthday. (We were at a friend's birthday party yesterday). She realllllly wanted cupcakes for her "birthday" so we decided to make a whole day of it, and had a fairy party. We sang fairy songs like "Fairy Ring" by Maria Sangoilo and made gluten free fairy cakes:



*To make the cakes:
1 cup all-purpose gluten-free flour (we like Bob's Red Mill)

2 eggs
sprinkle of salt
1/2 T baking powder
1/2 stick softened butter
1/2 c sugar
1/3 c milk or 1/2 1/2
4 oz. greek yoghurt

Mix together all ingredients and pour into silicone muffin cups. Bake at 350. When cool, frost with sunflower seed butter or cream cheese. Top with fresh, edible flowers and/or edible gluten free butterflies (find them on etsy).

They were a success!



Serve them with tea!

After the tea party, we told this fairy story while I wrapped a twig loom with yarn. Then the girls searched for flowers to make a fairy loom of their own. They found a special spot in our garden to set it up.



I'm planning on reading "Good Night, Fairies" by Kathleen and Michael Hague at bedtime. Such a sweet day!

Making Pie

When we make pie, we play the Kyra Willey "Making Pie" song, and it is the coziest kind of happiness. If you let the kids wash and chop the fruit, roll the dough for the crust and then cut it out with cookie cutters they feel especially proud of the finished treat.

Tuesday is "Red Gnomie Day" at Our House

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!

Getting Organized

Every mom I know of a 4 - 5 year-old is going crazy over the same thing - kindergarten. We are lucky in Santa Barbara in that there are so many great choices, but it does make the decision really hard. I keep going back to the idea of homeschooling. Even if we don't decide to homeschool our kids, I really want our house to be set up in the best possible way for them. I recently organized the art cabinet, which makes using my list (see below) even easier. The homemade play-doh in baby food jars is on the top shelf with the beeswax, modeling clay, and crayons. The paint and art sets are on the middle shelf, and the stamping supplies and paper are on the bottom. I even went for it and cut all of the corners off of their watercolor paper and sketch pad paper. Feeling inspired...

...And We Shall Never Be Bored

There are list people and there are normal people. I am a list person. I can't get anything at all done unless I first write it down on a piece of paper. Of the many things I'm responsible for, momming is by far the most important, and so it is also the subject of most of my lists. I thought I'd share this last one. It's unlike my other lists, in that I don't have the day of the week specified. The lists I made which categorized activities by the day of the week didn't work for me, since much of my life is spontaneous (Will I get called in to work at the coffee shop? Or to substitute in the kindergarten class? Will the girls be invited to Brody's? Will the ocean be irresistible tomorrow?...) and then my lists would seem stressful and unfulfilled. This is my master list, and I just refer to it throughout the day. If we are in need of a good in-breath, maybe I'll check the art projects; if it's out-breath time, I might whisk the girls away to the tide pools, or choose an activity from outdoor play. To me, it's a list of inspirations, not a to-do list. It is a list of reminders of all of the things I want to remember to do, when they work with our schedule. Hopefully there's some fresh ideas for your family, too, and I'd love to hear your suggestions as well!

Winter Window Stars

It does not snow here, but I would like my children to feel a deep connection with the seasons. When Winter comes, we sing Winter songs, do Winter crafts, and decorate our home in the spirit of Winter. One thing we do to bring Winter into our home is make "snowflakes" that will last all winter. See this post for directions on making window stars. For Winter, we just use all-white kite paper, but you can make them out of regular old paper, in any color. How do you bring Winter into your home?

Nature Toto

It is a little tricky at times to keep up a mamatoto group now that most of the totos are in school and most of the mamas are working. The nap schedules of the second crop of totos usually conflicts, and it's hard to find a day and time that works for everyone. Our answer to this was to add more times to meet up. My favorite of the additions is "Friendly Fridays," otherwise known as "Nature Toto." We try to get out in the beautiful nature of Santa Barbara every Friday morning and have done things like: apple picking, blueberry picking, hikes (such as Coldsprings, pictured), the butterflies at Elwood, The Backyard at the NHM, miniature donkey-riding in Santa Ynez, the beach, and White Rock. I am much less concerned with getting my girls in organized-anything (sports, ballet, other classes) as I am with getting them in nature. While organized activities can lend an atmosphere of competition, our Nature Toto has fostered cooperation (building teepees together, searching for treasure, playing house in the roots of a tree...) while still giving the children plenty of opportunities to develop their gross motor skills. And all the while they are developing an attitude of love and respect for our Mother Earth!

Waldorf Playstands

The playstands have migrated into the den for now. This was an investment, but well worth it!

Autumn Princess

Becca from Cedar Ring Circle gave us the idea to fingerknit a crown and weave fall leaves through it. This was much easier than the sewn fall leaf crown we attempted last year. (We used a knitting tower for the crown.)

Autumn Nature Table

Autumn Nature Table