Making time for each other when doing things for others

 I was up late cooking apples my friends helped peel and slice. I hoped to can 15-20 quarts to give to the local Homeless shelter. One pot burned terribly, one just a bit before being saved, and two large pots awaited the food mill and canning. As soon as I awoke this morning, I was making applesauce again. My boys were also up late.  They somehow managed to attend the first 1/2 hour of the applesauce party before bedtime round two.
Although a little sleepy everyone was chipper. I fixed the boys some toast with apple butter and gave them a bowl of mandarins to eat for breakfast.  Then they played and I worked on applesauce.  They then made cards to give with the applesauce.  Then they played again, nicely.
And then I noticed that I still had a bit of work to do, they were just about out of patience, and it would be hours until my help (grandma and grandpa) arrived.
So I packed a quick lunch, put two trikes and a pot of the burnt applesauce in the back of the car, and after picking up a coffee for Mama, headed to the park...Oh what a good idea!

We rode our bikes into the safety town, ate our picnic, and my 4 year old noticed there was a lot of trash.  He wanted to pick it all up.  I grabbed a kitchen size trash bag from the car and we practically filled it by walking around the park.  Oh the joy it invoked.  We were so happy to pick up trash that I do believe for a moment we skipped in unison.
I do not believe in preaching to your children.  I think most teaching is through imitation and observation. What I do, is much more important than what I say. It brings tears to my eyes to witness them doing something I would love for them to do, especially when I said nothing.
My heart ached with love for these little people who found pleasure in making this park more beautiful.
The joy stayed with us through the day.

Little guy trotting with joy.  He even stopped to pick a dandelion seed head to blow in the wind.

Then ever the comedian in bloom, noticed Mama with a camera and stuck his fingers in his nose.

 We took the burnt applesauce to the Breakneck pigs to enjoy. I parked the car so the boys could watch the meat birds, and adorable puppy, while I bought some grain, feed, veggies, and stew chicken.
All that talk about feeding the pigs must have spurred some creative juices.  They spent the rest of the afternoon building a pig home and gates until Grandma and Grandpa arrived.
And then, I got back to the applesauce...

A very dirty stove, which gets replaced tomorrow.

15 quarts complete.

Tallmadge Beach

 This is not really a beach.  A slightly flooded hardware supply store.  We went for pea gravel and a little sand for the sandbox, but found ourselves covered in sand and water.  It was too perfect for me to say they could not play.

Pea Gravel Patio

I have been in my own little bubble lately.
Or in other words, I have had a project that I wanted to finish.
This time it is the pea gravel patio I have been thinking about all winter.
I priced quotes through the winter of pea gravel, landscape timbers and figured I would spend about $200
on this patio.  That was too much.  I also redesigned to get materials that I could fit in my old Jetta.
So to save a $40 delivery fee, I decided to gather my own pea gravel four 5 gallon buckets at a time. $6.00 for 4 buckets. We put 15 buckets of pea gravel on the patio, approximately $22.00
And I spent $18 on 18 pavers.

So with maybe $10 in gas (the hardware store in 6 miles away x 4 trips). I made a patio for $50.

I needed to power wash the wall and rake away the soil, before I put the pea gravel down.
But after that, the boys and I hauled pea gravel and one load of pavers.

We just need to paint the wall and add a new bench and plants, and hopefully a rain barrel.
It withstood a heavy rainfall.  Before this would have been a small pond.

We also moved our raised bed garden from the front yard to the back yard.
I moved leaf compost and soil by the 5 gallon buckets too.
I moved about 9 buckets of leaf compost and 15 buckets of soil.

So I guess it makes sense that for 2 weeks I fell asleep at 8pm and slept till 8 am.
The rain was a welcome break.

Winter Walk

We are blessed to live a short distance from The Cuyahoga Valley National Park.

Every time we get to Kendall Lake or the Ledges I feel

immersed in beauty and awe.

I love this big field.

As soon as the little guys shoes were on they ran as fast as they could down the hill.

It was a warm Sunday winter walk (58 degrees in December) and so much fun.

Under the Oaks

Under the Oaks

Home based child care with Waldorf Principles

By Andrea Zeno

Location: Kent, OH

Caregiver: Andrea Zeno

Dates: Ongoing beginning fall 2012

Program: 1, 2, or 3 day morning program M, T, R

Times: 9am-12:30pm (1pm)

space available: 4 children age 2-4 (total of 6)

Fees: e-mail or call for fees

$50 application fee as supply fee for 3 months

Certification:

Waldorf Training Certification, Bachelor's and Masters in Education

Schedule:

9am Arrival time, hand washing, free play (Outside?)

9:45 am Morning Circle

10am Morning Activity ( Painting, Craft, Breadmaking) and Creative Play

10:45 Snack (Fruit and Cheese)

11:00 Puppet Story

11:15-12:15 Play

12:15 Blessing and Lunch (Grain of day)

Clean-up, dress for outside and pick-up.

1:00 pick-up

Gnome and Fairy Houses

We went to the park on Sunday for a picnic.
In the past storm, a few trees came down which supplied us with numerous materials for building special little houses.
We had a wonderful time collecting bark, sawdust, acorn bowls and filling them with little acorns.  Then some kind of seed was so tiny the perfect size for a fairies cup.
My 3 year old loved collecting and adding.  After I found the perfect piece for a bed, he then said, "Mama, this is the perfect rocking chair.  Do you see it?"

Then Papa and little brother joined in and a third house was built. (not shown)