Autumn Cleaning and Beautiful Handmade Toys

I am in the process of getting rid of at least 75% of our earthly possessions. I felt like all I did was clean, and still our house always looked like a hurricane just came through. My girls had too many toys, most of which they never played with. So, out with (almost) everything cheap or plastic, as well as all of the non-handmade soft toys and dolls, unless it was something one of the girls really loved. We donated the books that weren't favorites and the clothes that hadn't been worn for a while. The result is a house that is always clean and in order! Yay! I still pick up a little all day, but the house looks a million times better than before, with much less effort. Even better is that the girls really play with the toys they have, since there is much easier access to their favorite things. We've noticed that the toys Isla gets out are played with for a much longer period of time, and she never asks to watch movies anymore! Another huge plus is that I feel so much less stressed. Less is more!

Anyway, needless to say we are not really in the market for more toys. However, I just stumbled upon this great website for natural, waldorf inspired toys. It's called Sage Dream Design, and has the sweetest playscapes and dolls made from wool, and her things are so magical I may just spring for a couple.

Waldorf Window Stars

I love Waldorf window stars, and was so excited to try my hand at a couple. It's a really easy DIY project, and was fun for me, but I'm trying to find a way to make it fun (i.e. not frustrating!) for my 3 year-old. We found this great tutorial online, on one of my favorite Waldorf-crafty blogs, Twig and Toadstool, and used the same colors since they were perfect for this time of year. I'm excited to decorate our house in honor of the season, since you can't always tell by looking outside!

These window stars are made from kite paper, and you can find it in packs online. The paper I had was 6x6, so there was a left-over strip of paper after cutting out the rectangles for each piece. I cut that strip in half to make the smaller window star you see in the picture, and the same pattern worked for that. The next project I'll post is dying silk... you can see the purple and turquoise piece I did this afternoon drying on the chairs in the background of the first picture. It was my first try, so we'll see how it turns out!

My Natural and Organic Sugar Cookie Recipe

In search of more Autumn crafts and projects, Isla and I decided to make cookies in Fall-inspired shapes, and frost them in the color of the season. We came up with our own version of the classic, to make these cookies a little more on the natural side. I am a big advocate of less sugar for kids, so we made these "sugar" cookies with hardly any sugar. To make them sweet, we glazed them with a little *wince* store-bought frosting which we made orange with natural food coloring. We bought our food coloring from Whole Foods, but if you are crafty in the kitchen, you can make a good orange using tumeric (for the yellow) and beet extract (for the red), and mixing it all together. Our make-shift cookie recipe:

1 c. organic unsalted butter at room temp.

1/2 to 3/4 c. (up to you) organic sweetener (we used evaporated cane juice)

2 eggs

3 teaspoons vanilla

2 3/4 c. organic all purpose whole wheat flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

Mix up the butter, eggs, and vanilla in a large mixing bowl. Combine dry ingredients in another bowl. Stir in the dry to the wet a little at a time. Pat the dough into a ball and pop in the fridge, covered, for 3 hours or overnight.

Flour a cutting board and roll out the dough. Cut with cookie cutters and place on a lightly greased cookie sheet (or line with foil) and bake approximately 8 minutes at 350F. While cookies are in the oven, if you are using store-bought frosting like me, scoop some out into a bowl, add food coloring and mix together. Let cookies cool before frosting.

Autumn Nature Table / Playscape

I love the Fall! Isla's Autumn Nature Table is always changing, and she spent a lot of time and care making it just right this afternoon. She uses it like a playscape and has fun finding new things to add to it. We walked the neighborhood in search of Fall leaves, and were lucky to find a bunch right around the corner. All of the extras we are in the process of pressing, and then we'll mod-podge them onto a short, squatty glass vase for a candle-holder centerpiece for the dinner table. I'm hoping the pumpkins from our garden will be ready soon so we can add one to the Fall scape. Later this week, if it stays chilly, I plan on making apple cider and we can serve it in cups made from apples!

Wonderfully Odd New Kids Books

The Worry Woo books by Andi Green are so great. I am drawn to the uniqueness of the collection. They are whimsical and strange, and have sweet messages. They kind of remind me of the Serendipity books by Stephen Cosgrove that I grew up reading, but with a more current vibe. You can get plush dolls to go with the books, which I was a sucker for. We started with Rue, the monster of insecurity, but now have four books in our collection. I like "The Nose That Didn't Fit" because it teaches little Rue that it isn't his nose that's the problem; it's just how he sees it. Nola learns that friends are all around her, and that they can come in all shapes and sizes, Squeek learns to take calculated risks so he can enjoy life, and Fuddle learns how to make decisions and stop worrying about what the "best" thing is. Cute.

Magical Willow Forts

My husband made this fort for the girls by planting willow stalks at four points and then bending them to meet and tying them together. There are a ton of YouTube videos to help. It will, theoretically, fill in (the stalks have just started to sprout) and there are plans for windows and a tunnel, but until then it's fun to tie up some play silks for walls. We hung some crystals and shells inside and I kind of want to live there. Cost: $0

Or, another option is this little GardenFort, which comes with three kinds of seeds and is $70 on magiccabin.com.

Baby Doll Friends

Lyra and Isla love baby dolls. And not just White girls. We get strange looks from people at the zoo or grocery store when Isla carries around any of her babies that aren't of the blonde haired, blue eyed variety. When the brave passer-by questions why her baby is Asian or Black, we smile and tell her we have lots of different friends. Some are Black, some are White, some are animals. Santa Barbara is pretty lacking in diversity, but that doesn't mean Isla's toys have to be!

Mer-Baby Outfit

Why did I not own this when Lyra was a newbie? $18 for this sweet get-up... I love etsy.

Needle-felting Natural Toys

Lately I've been trying my hand at needle-felting. Isla loves the little dolls and spends hours playing with them. She loves them so much that her choice for a present for her teachers was a felted doll. I made a rendition of her amazing teachers at both of the schools she attended, and the first picture is of the "Miss Jeannie" doll. I thought the teacher appreciation doll was such a cute idea I made customizable options on my etsy store, NatureBaby.

Magical Music for Mellow Play Time

I've really noticed how music affects the mood in our house, to the point where I've temporarily shelved the spazzy, silly kids' music and replaced it with these two albums: The Magic Garden by Diane Tatum and Come Follow Me!, by Lorraine Nelson Wolf. They are both kind of mellow and inspire hours of imaginative, magical play time.

The Best Toddler Movies

In my opinion, Disney movies, and actually 99% of all kids movies are totally inappropriate for toddlers. It seems like almost all of them involve either scary villains or parents who die. I don't want my daughters exposed to either of those themes right now. Ideally, I would have liked to wait until Isla was three before introducing her to the television, but that wasn't our reality. We tried a couple of movies ("Finding Nemo" and "Dot and the Kangaroo") that ended up being much too scary for her, before I remembered an old favorite of mine: My Neighbor Totoro. By the same director we have my daughter's favorite: Ponyo. Totally appropriate for a 2.5 year-old, it is sweet and magical, and I can actually stand watching it more than once. Isla likes to snuggle a little felted wool version while she watches, and then uses it for imaginary play after.

A Green Valentine's Day

I was especially inspired to throw a green Valentine's Day bash since green is the color of the heart chakra. Making the decision to have the party with just a couple of weeks to plan, I scoured the internet for ideas on how to throw an eco-friendly age-appropriate Valentine's Day party for toddlers. I was actually surprised by how little I found to help me. What would two year-olds like to do at the party that would go with the theme? I also wanted to use materials I had vs. buying new. I settled on three crafts: Card Making, Pasta Necklaces, Felt King and Queen of Hearts Crowns.

For the cards, I cut out heart shapes from newspapers and magazines that were on their way to the recycling bin. I then cut hearts out of paper Isla had colored on, which was also on it's way to the recycling. I glued the un-colored-on side of the heart facing out onto the newspaper heart, and set up a table with eco-friendly, non-toxic paints (I used the Clementine brand from Lazy Acres), glue by the same brand, and some feathers I had left over from other crafts.

For the pasta necklaces, I found some all-natural food coloring from Whole Foods. The red was made with two ingredients: beet root extract and hibiscus extract. The purple was just purple carrot extract. I used spinach pasta, un-dyed, and whole wheat pasta, un-dyed, and then dyed some "regular" pasta with the red and purple dye. To do this, put some pasta in a plastic baggie. Add a few drops of the food coloring, and a few drops of white vinegar. Smoosh around until evenly coated. (Isla loved this project!) Then spread out on newspaper to dry. I used some yarn I had lying around to string it, and I dipped the ends of it in some paint so that it would harden, and be easier for little hands to string it.

The felt crowns were easy: cut crown shapes out of felt and sew together at the sides. Cut out hearts, leaves, flowers, etc. out of felt and cotton fabric. I also put out paints which were left over from Lyra's baby shower, and also happened to be pink! Since I was crunched for time, I didn't sew on buttons and make slits in the shapes like I did for Isla's birthday party. Instead, that was a "mama-help" station, where the kids could pick out the shapes they wanted to use, and the mamas sewed a stitch in the middle of them to keep them on.

Isla made the goodie bags. We used brown paper sacks and I drew heart shapes with the non-toxic natural glue. She then sprinkled them with candy sprinkles we were given a few years back, but don't cook with ;). Another option for this would be to sprinkle the glue hearts with sand, and decorate the bag with a feather. In the goodie bags were some trinkets Isla had picked out from my craft materials bin: polished abalone shells and feathers. Her grandmother also came by with some musical treats we threw in the bags. We left the goodie bags relatively empty, figuring the kids could fill them with the crafts they made. Some of the kids brought valentines for everyone, and the bags were perfect to store those in.

For treats, Isla and I made little mini carrot cakes, dyed purple and pink with the beet and carrot extract dyes, with frosting using the same dyes. We decorated them with dried goji berries, cranberries, and blueberries.

We made Love Potion out of coconut water and the purple carrot extract dye. I had wanted to make little heart-shaped ice cubes using the red dye, but ran out of time. Some of our guests brought fun things like apples cut in the shape of hearts, open-faced strawberry cream cheese heart-shaped sandwiches, no sugar added oatmeal treats, etc. We also put out some totally unrelated green spinach dinos, pretzels, and whole wheat pasta with cheese.

As for what I'd do differently, I definitely should have had some full-body activities. Our little pink plastic car outside could have had a tag on it: The Love Bug. Tunnels could have been put out and dubbed: The Tunnels of Love. Our swinging chair, always a toddler favorite: The Love Seat... Maybe next year <3

The Birth of Lyra

We were so happy to be able to have our second baby born at home, just like her big sister. We were beside ourselves to be able to have the experience of being the only ones in the house when Lyra was born. Of course we didn't plan to deliver the baby on our own. We had a plan, and the best team of midwives around. They were waiting by their phones, and sped over the minute Ryan called. They were there in less than ten minutes!... but Lyra was out of my womb and in my arms in less time than that! It was the most perfect, intimate experience either of us had ever been a part of. And the first midwife, Anna Bunting, was there within a minute or two of Lyra's birth to make sure everything was perfect, and to deliver the placenta.

Awesome Anatomically Correct Baby Dolls

I buy only cloth-bodied or anatomically correct baby dolls for Isla, since the realistic bodied type with no genitalia freak me out. Cool anatomically correct dolls are hard to find, though, so I am always casually looking. Luckily, you can get really cute (and non-toxic!) ones locally, from Summer for Kids in Montecito (or on their website). Pictured is their European Boy with underwear, and they also have a girl and a newborn girl. Unfortunately at the moment they only offer White babies, but I've inquired about it and they do have plans to carry other ethnicities as well.

The other company I like for dolls is Berenguer. Pictured is the Asian Baby Girl. The website is a little strange, but I ordered a newborn doll for Isla (to be the present from her soon-to-be baby sister) and it came in the mail quickly and in really nice packaging.

Blessing Way for Baby Lyra

When I was pregnant with Isla, I secretly pined for a Blessing Way, even though I wasn't entirely sure of what that was. And I don't think very many of my friends (if any!) had ever even heard of it. I had a gorgeous baby shower that was fancy and lovely, and we had every guest decorate a quilt square that we later made into an incredible quilt for Isla. I felt incredibly lucky.

After the birth, I joined a mamatoto group, and met dozens of incredible mamas, a large handful of whom would become some of my closest friends. This pregnancy, I was lucky enough to be thrown another beautiful baby shower, and later, my mamatoto friends threw me a Blessing Way! What is the difference? Including my own, I've attended only two Blessing Ways, so I am by no means an expert, but here's what I've noticed: like a shower, a Blessing Way honors the mother and the baby on the way. However, traditional showers seem to focus on the gifts, and Blessing Ways feel more spiritual. The showers I've attended go something like this: guests arrive, eat, play games, and watch the mother-to-be open presents.

The Blessing Ways were like this: each guest brings a dish and a special token to decorate for a secret project for the baby or the mother-to-be (no traditional wrapped gifts). The gathering is generally smaller, and more intimate. Guests pamper the mother-to-be with foot rubs, belly casting, henna, etc. Then, a long strand of string or ribbon is stretched around the group so each guest holds onto a point while they take turns saying a blessing for the mama-to-be, the baby, and the birth. At the end, the ribbon is cut so each guest keeps a piece to wear until the birth or keep in a special spot and wear for the labor. Or, each guest may bring a bead to bless and then string on a necklace for the mama to wear while she is in labor to remember the support she has.

My Blessing Way was magical and amazing, and I was so moved I wanted to cry the entire time, but I was having too much fun to do that. My friend Alicia organized the entire thing. Everyone brought a Moroccan dish (my all-time favorite food!) and a piece of driftwood. I was pampered with foot rubs, shoulder rubs, and braids in my hair. My friends decorated the driftwood with beautiful art and loving words, and then strung it into the most incredible mobile for Lyra. Then everyone held onto a long piece of hot pink elastic and blessed the baby and me. At the end, my friends each put a hand on my huge belly and we took pictures.

Don't get me wrong, the traditional shower is important as well. The Blessing Way works best with a smaller group, and you probably have some family and friends who would rather attend a shower. I think if you can swing it, the way to do it is to have one of each. My Blessing Way was the best party I've ever had, and now that another mama in our group is expecting, I can't wait to throw a Blessing Way for her.

Birth Center in SB

Isla and I got wrangled into modeling for the "Fabulous Fashions for the Family" event benefiting the Santa Barbara Birth Center a couple of weeks ago, on August 14th. Although I am a home birth lady, I am a huge supporter of the Birth Center, because it gives women more options for their births. Birthing at home is at one far end of the spectrum, and a hospital birth is at the far other end. The Birth Center would provide a safe and more natural alternative to birth in a hospital. I have lots of friends who are afraid of having a home birth, and although these fears are largely based on nebulous fears and not actual information, they keep these women from having the natural birth they would like. Check out their website for more info at http://www.sbbirthcenter.org/ and if you'd like to see more pictures from the fashion show you can see them here. Why are people getting in the pool in that first photo? Because at the end of the fashion show, $100 was being donated to the Birth Center for every person who jumped into the pool. Isla was one of the first ones in - and I guess she, my babe in belly and I counted for 3!

The Best Play Dough

Isla has gotten really into play dough. First we tried making our own. She loved it, but I rarely have the energy or drive to do it, and she rarely has the patience to wait for it. Then we tried Eco-Kids Eco-Dough but it was crazy expensive, and such a mess! I loved how natural it was, and although Isla doesn't ever try to eat her dough, some of her friends do. However, it was a huge pain to get it off of our floor, and left a weird residue on our hands. Next we tried the name-brand Play-Doh. I was scared of the ingredients, but loved how easily I could sweep it up off of the floor once it had dried. And it is so cheap. But the nagging feeling that I was giving my daughter something unhealthy to play with made me switch it up once again. Now we use Clementine Art Natural Modeling Dough. It is totally non-toxic and the ingredient list makes me feel like I could eat it by the handful. Even the colors are completely derived from natural ingredients. It smells like fruit and doesn't leave a gross residue on my hands. It's easy to sweep up off of the floor and costs way less than the eco-kids variety. You can get it from the link above, or they also sell it at Lazy Acres.

The Fairy Prince and Princess Party - A Success!

So, the party went really well, and even though I forgot to put out a lot of the fairy snacks I made, I'm really happy with the outcome. The babies had lots of fun and really got into the crown making and fairy house painting. Around 18 babies and their parents were at the party, all crammed into our small backyard.

My sister ended up making "Fairy Stew" AKA vegan chili, summer salad, dino pb&j's for the babies, lots of organic fruit, fairy cupcakes with homemade frosting and sprinkles (verrrrrry little suger, but SO GOOD), and we had lemonade/limeade with raspberries to drink, along with water and ice tea.

The party went from 10am until 1, but ended up going until around 2 because we were having so much fun. Most of my non-parent friends didn't make it until later, because the concept of having a party at 10 in the morning was so strange (it won't be after they have kids and start working around the nap schedules!). All in all it was a lot of fun, and fairly low stress, a combination I am really not used to!