Spring

*Gideon picked the pussy willow branches for me and then made me a plaque out of Legos that says "Love."

I love it!

 

I can't believe how fast the past few months have flown by. School is wrapping up, perennials are waking up in the garden and my guest room is filled with trays of happy seedlings and smells...well it smells like dirt. To a gardener that smell and feel of dirt after a long dark winter is lovely!

 

In March I planted seedlings that I ordered from Swallowtailgardenseeds.com. They have a wonderful selection of herbs, vegetables, annual, and perennial seeds. They also offer some organic seeds that I like for herbs and vegetables. I may or may not have planted too many...I am running out of room.

 

Geraniums.

I ordered four varieties and they are coming along wonderfully.

I needed a little color after the winter.

 

 

 

 

 

I found these little bottles at Ozarks Americana. They are so cute. I am thinking of hanging them over the kitchen island. Some little green ferns in them might be refreshing too.

 

We have been spending some time outdoors. Even Captain America is loving the spring days.

 

 

Curriculum Fair has come and gone and we have ordered all our curriculum for next year. Yay. SBA testing for Tanner is done. Yay. We are studying Space for the next few weeks in science which has resulted in several experiments. Very fun!

 

This was a good experiment and the boys repeated it until we ran out of baking powder. Then I looked up how to make a rocket using a water bottle, vinegar, baking soda, and a cork. It took a few tries because it is a fast reaction with those ingredients. We had a bottle shoot across the back yard spraying vinegar as it went. It was awesome!

Next week the boys have a booth at the Worlds Fair for our homeschool program. All the kids will have passports for visiting all the countries. We chose Egypt. It has been a blast to put costumes and information together. We have a lot of things we are going to try to put together. So next week I should have more pictures and possibly a time lapse video of the boys putting a Lego Egyptian Tomb set together.

 

Enjoy the Spring days!

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Lovely Yarn

 

A few months ago I placed an order on Knit Picks. I spent some time "dream shopping" with a few yarns and had added them to my online shopping cart. Well apparently I was not very attentive when I placed my order and so...I ordered my dream yarns with my order. Oops.

When I got my order it was to find that yarn that was soft, light, vibrant... utterly delicious. I bought it in three colors: Emerald, Azurite and Amethyst. They are part of the Diadem fingering weight yarns.

A friend of mine had a birthday last month and it was so fun to work with this yarn. It blocks amazingly well. I may have to order more, but on purpose this time. :)

Here is what I made. You can get the pattern here: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/shaelyn I wanted a shawl that was long enough for a comfortable drape. I used 1 1/2 skeins of the Diadem yarn on this.

Below: this is before I blocked it. I was impressed by how well it opened up the pattern after.

 

The colors were so pretty together and draped nicely.

 

 

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Remembering 2013

 

Today as we slide into a gentle evening I thought it would be fun to remember some favorite moments from the past year. There are many more pictures that came to mind, but these were on my iPad and they make me smile.

I love this picture of Gideon.

Last camping trip of the summer.

Coffee...which is always something lovely to be remembered.

 

Time with Grandma.

 

A sweet note from my boys.

 

My Fairy Garden

Harvesting

Lost another tooth.

Tanners jalapeño that he grew this summer.

Heart rock that Tanner found for me.

Gift I made for a sweet friend.

 

He wanted to eat green eggs.

 

Sweet boys

Storytime with Daddy

I look forward to what this next year will hold.

Happy New Year!

 

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Winter Break...

Winter break...this year Brian gets five days off. It has been so nice to relax and have minimal plans. We have played several games of Monopoly, Sorry...and tonight a very looooooong game of Risk. I have been trying to finish up a few knitting projects which will hopefully I will complete soon and share a few pictures.

 

My guys getting ready for a calm game of Risk :)

 

My little fellas.

Brian thought sugar cookies should be on the list of things to bake so Gideon helped me roll them out and cut them. Today we finally got around to frosting them.

 

The boys were more than happy to sample a few or maybe five before dinner :)

 

 

 

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Make Your Own Toothpaste

I find joy in making my own bath and beauty products. I have made toothpaste in the past in a powder form and I liked it fine, but when I came across a recipe for a creamy natural toothpaste I had to try it!

There are only 4 ingredients: (You will also need a container. I have this beautiful little blue jar a friend gave me, but I would love to put it in a tube like the author did.)

Here is the lineup of ingredients:

Coconut Oil, Baking Soda, Stevia, Peppermint Essential Oil

Mix your ingredients in a clean container.

A fork worked fine to mix it up.

My alterations to the recipe:

*Since I used Young Living Peppermint e.o. I only added 7 drops* I also had only a small jar of stevia extract so I used 1/8 tsp. You can adjust that amount to your taste.

The texture is great. My 6 year old loved the smell and wanted to try it. So we both went in and brushed our teeth. It reminds me of Arm & Hammer baking soda toothpaste, but not as sweet (I don't like really sweet toothpaste). It has a light peppermint flavor and leaves your mouth feeling clean.

Here is the recipe at: Tammy's Recipes

I wonder how it would be to add a little of clove to this since clove is known for gum health...I may have to make another batch. Let me know if you try it. :)

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