That is what rain puddles are for....

Annika the big sister

When Lyn is away with her friends it is nice to see Annika take over as the role of biggest kid in the room or as in this case the playground. She tries so much harder when she can be "in charge". With all of her new neurological / psychological new concerns it is nice to focus on the HALF FULL instead of the HALF EMPTY.

Lyn is learning to sew

Lyn's Granny is working with her to help her sew on a sewing machine. She is doing some sewing by hand too. Well, the first order in was for pillows. Lyn made her pillow from the scraps of cloth given to her by Sara my co-worker (and friend). Everyone else's pillows were made from old pillow cases courtesy of Granny. My pillow is the biggest of course!!! Everyone picked out a scent for a hidden sachet within their pillow. Of course I picked rosemary. Annika picked lemon and ginger. Evan picked hibiscus. Eliot picked blueberry. I picked peppermint for Ben. Lyn had already made her pillow so hers did not have a scent picked out. They turned out pretty good!!! Thanks again Granny for all you do!!!!!

The sun was shinning.......

On Saturday after working in the morning I took all of the kids that were at home out of the house to give Dad a break. There is a small church at the end of our street that has a playground. We were given permission to use it with care. It is safe for even Ben to walk around and play. I took the opportunity while everyone was playing to sew a little. I am putting some spirals on some sachet bags. I actually got more done that I expected. The kids had fun. Evan even took a lot of the pictures on the slide show on the sidebar. Everywhere we go he wants my camera / phone to take pictures.

More water

Annika went on a walk and found a puddle of rain water. I sent an empty medicine type bottle with her. Eliot helped her transfer the water she collected to our communion bottle. I am just enchanted by the shape of our water communion bottle. It makes me think of the shape of woman......

My bottles arrived....

I ordered some bottles to use in my oil, lotion, and body butter experiments. And that is exactly what they are, experiments. The rosemary water, rosemary oil, and lavender oil all turned out OK. I am working on some lavender lotion right now but it is not coming along the way I expected it to. We will see......

My own tea tree anti-microbial spray

My glass bottles came in the mail yesterday so I was ready to start making my "potions". The first on the list was a spray for boo boos and ouchies.

What I did today....

A friend of mine on facebook recommended this book and I realized that I had in the car waiting to be returned to the library. I checked it out for the girls but they didn't seem to be very interested in it. I started to read it and it is really good. I had to renew it. To the left of the book is a spring of cedar with cones on it. I just had to pick it. I had never seen this particular species before. (I have to look it up). And the candle is a rosemary one. You know, my favorite scent. I picked it up today.

For my big girls...

I ordered these prints from The Black Apple on etsy. They are just perfect for additions to their Spring gift baskets.

Gladiolus, dandelions, and outdoor fun

The kids helped me work in the yard a little today. OK, they worked and I supervised. We planted some gladiolus, weeded some areas, and aerated the soil. We also just plain played in the yard. Ben had a lot of fun pushing a riding toy around. I put up some dandelion flowers to dry. Lyn collected some to make dye out of. (OK, Annika and Eliot actually collected them.)

Because we live in a house that was once my grandparents we still have some of their tools and supplies around. We used Pa's old hoe to break up the soil. I pointed out to the kids how one corner of the hoe was more worn than the other. This showed he used it just like I do so he must have been right handed to have worn down that corner. We miss you Pa.



More water for our water communion bottle...

Lyn and a friend spent this past Saturday outside exploring.  They spent some time near a local lake.  Lyn collected some water and brought it home.  I think we will leave the bottle out on the altar for a while.  The shape is reminiscent of a woman to me.