almost time!!!

Psssst!

Hey Dears,
 We have been quiet, what with the end of Summer and the Back to School~ness of September but most of all we have a surprise for you!
 Over the next few weeks we will be launching our very own website! Yup a dot com!
 We are so excited and have been working so hard, we thought we would share some of the images from our photo shoot with longtime loves Pretty Simple Productions!

What do you think?

We love this face!

The edited version

The Original


Z has been our mosey model for years, he is really growing! He just turned 6 this week, it's so hard for me to believe.
In addition to being our best boy model, he is also one of my favorite students of all time.
A few things to LOVE about this Birthday Boy:
His sense of humor, I love the way he makes a joke and his face scrunches all up as he laughs
He believes in gnomes (please 6th year don't take that away)
He's a little brother but at school he is the big man on campus
He watches me during circle and tries so hard and gracefully to learn through imitation
He thinks school goes on all the time, everyday
...
He's a puddle jumper, a mud pie maker, a dishwasher and my A-#1 tea pourer
My daughter adores him, he is the boy which all others are measured against (and she is only 4.5)
She once told me Z and her are to be married one day, oh we shall see little bits!
At our very first open house amid shaved ice dessert I looked up to see him at the tippity top of the play structure, his mom gave me a nod that it was okay and he has been climbing everything in sight since.
His parents and big brother  are really wonderful, the love they have for him shines through, can you see it?

He is the O.G.

Lots of love to this boy on his Birthday, and many returns...

{pardon our mess}

we are very excited to announce that we are working on a new website, that's right a real dot com! all our own.
stay tuned for snippets and sneak peeks here until we go live!
xo

Mail!

Butterfly Days!

Rain rain go away!

Out in the mail today!

Pretty much sums it up

The call of the Sea

Some days are sad. That's okay.  I try to share here the good days. I know a lot if mama bloggers especially who feel this way.  No life isn't always fun cozy times or long days at the beach or funny antics of a four and a half year old.  But sharing those good times helps make life feel better.  Seem brighter.  Someone once said anxiety and worry are like prayer for bad things to happen.  I think that's true but it doesn't stop worry from happening especially these days with such a wide open world, such a wild and rapid evolution. 

I'm glad I live in a small town.  I can get in the car and drive to the ocean and look out and feel small. Feeling small is good sometimes it puts things into perspective.  Then I can call on a friend to have coffee and sit by the window and look out at my little town. A little town that's growing but still holding into old ways of community and inter connectivity.  I go to the post office where the post master calls on my baby by name. 

I head towards home then, the salt of the sea in my hair and pray for goodness feeling better already. 

Today's mail!

City Park Pool

On the Hoop this week!

Fist full of Flutterbys

This Summer we were so excited to be asked to be *Pen Pals*.  Little bits has been working in ernest on her package, we mostly craft in the mornings when she can be at the kitchen table while I also work.

She has a theme going, can you guess what it may be?

She is JUST at that age where the transformation of cocoon to butterfly is carrying some weight around here along with some heavy questions. 

WHY?

If you have older children this may be pretty far back in your rear view, and if your children are still babies or young toddlers you might not be there yet, well I'm here to tell you this phase can be a doozey!

In part, I think for me at least, because I want so dearly for her to hold onto the innocence of childhood.  But then again the asking and answering sometimes sparks even more magical thinking!

I wonder how you all answer your little ones questions of the universe?

xo

First Popsicle of the season!

meet *Barley*

First Pop Ever!

Summer feet

First of the season!

Follow us on Instagram

Flash Sale Sunday at 11 am

Oh magical magical childhood

Mail Today!

Nursery Tour!

How to make a Lavender Foot Bath!

These foot baths are good for all kinds of healing...Mind, Tired Body & Spirit.

We especially love them at school after a hop in the mud or the sandbox, on a day when it's a bit chilly still.
We take our red basins and fill with very arm water (test it, of course!) and add about 3-5 drops of Lavender Essential Oil. We love Aura Cacia's Lavender Essential Oil, it's affordable and has a great scent.
We let the children help carry out the footbaths to the back porch and give a good soak.
This is also wonderful for soaking splinters and we even gave the mother's at our school footbaths for Mother's Day.
It is great to have handy:
A plastic or galvanized metal bin
Hot water
Essential Oils
A hand towel for drying
A small chair for sitting and soaking in the love!

(In winter we love to add peppermint and chamomile)

Let me know how your footbaths turn out!

How to Make a Wooden Sword for Knighting!

These sweet swords are as simple to make as the shape itself.

They are also wonderful for young children as they have no sharp point.

We used left over kindling wood that we had from our local hardware store, the handles were cut from a long length of wood. We had the children help with a small handsaw

 (parental or caregiver supervision a must, of course!) 

We drilled a hole working with an old fashioned hand cranked 

screwdriver that was easy for little hands to work with.

We glued the button cover and used heavy string to secure it all while it dried

 and also make the hilt look more fancy. 

Many of the children chose to leave the string, they had worked hard to tie it, 

so they were kind of attached to it!

We applied a coat of beeswax to "polish it" the last in a long line of tasks, and a favorite for all.

This project took shape from mid Winter thru to Spring which made it's finishing all the more special.

The swords were used in our "Bridge Crossing" ceremony, a custom in Waldorf Kindergartens. The children cross over in to "Summerland", or in the case of First grade ready children they cross over into First Grade.

This year I knighted the children with the following verse and then they crossed over the bridge to Miss Toki who greeted, hugged them and let them go into the arms of their proud parents.

Teacher: "Child's First Name have you been Brave & True?"

Child: "Oh, Yes"

Teacher: "Have you heard the Stars calling to you?"

Child: "Oh, Yes"

Teacher: "Then you shall be a Knight too!"

And then I handed them the swords they had built this year and said:

"Use them with gentle hands..."

I have to thanks Sarah from Bella Luna toys for the above verse, I learned it when I was her assistant in the Rose Kindergarten many many years ago. Xo