Welcome May

 May is here! I'm so excited. May means, my baby will be turning two, school ends, and Farmer's Market season has begun. Yes! I'm not gonna lie, we go kinda crazy about the markets in my house. It's my goal to get as much as possible from local farmers and artisans- cause they are awesome! We eat so much cleaner when we can swing over to the weekend or mid-week market stop and pick up breakfast, lunch and dinner for a few days. No boxes, no processing- just yummy stuff made with warm sunshine. Last weekend was the first of the outdoor markets.

I was so silly excited, that we actually went to two. I HAD to go to the last winter indoor market to stock up with Honeyrun Farms, soap & raw honey. They have officially ruined bland, grocery store honey for me. As in, I don't think I can live without their Fall honey, now. Yummm! We add their bee pollen to smoothies, and honey to anything we can. I've used their baby soap on Baby{J}, almost his whole life and can't say enough good things about it. It works perfectly to keep his curls moisturized, but not weighted down too, without nasty chemicals touching his new skin.

Next, we were off to the very first outdoor market of season where we picked up some fresh eggs, organic potato's, radishes, delicious tomato's, a few plants for the upcoming planting weeks {I'm trying to pace myself}, worm casting for compost tea from One20Farms, and Ohio Maple Syrup.  I even got to use my new market basket {love}.

I love that my children are learning where their food comes from, while helping sustain the local economy and eating HEALTHY. It's a triple score. That said, every summer there are weeks that I wake up and don't feel like dragging along four kids through the busy market, but we do. There are weeks that I have to recite the benefits like a mantra in my head, just to keep from going insane as the children all dart in opposing directions at one. Overall those moments are fleeting and I am helping my kids gain knowledge, and life skills... totally worth it! even with the few short lived moments where I want to cry. 

So happy you are here May. 

Lanterns

With a house full of sick kids, we needed something fun to usher in Spring... and entertain the sicklings. We recently did away with tv in the house {for awhile}, and have been reading oh so much more to pass the time. Reading & reading & reading. Little {L} picked up Lin Yi's Lantern from the book pile, and I knew just what we could do. A quick & easy project that didn't require too much effort from my sneezing, coughing, runny nosed, brood.

A few sheets of paper and glue = our own, pretty lanterns to decorate the house. I love how different each  turned out. The artwork held each child's personality, very clearly. The only complaint I heard was afterward when the kids asked how we would light them. .....light them, you say?... why we are not going to light them.  Lots of grumbles & dissent with that choice, but in the end the found pleasure in them {even without the flames}. Miss M had elaborate plans to make an entire series of them, hung on  strings filling the house....until the no fire clause was added.

tea for three

A nice quiet morning with tea. A little love in a cup. I received an awesome flowering tea set and new heart shaped tea cups for my birthday last month. They have gotten so much use for only being here a few short weeks. I'm LOVING these cups-the heart shaped liquid makes me smile every time!

I love including the boys in our tea parties. A little time to relax and reflect on the rhythm of our day. We sit and talk and enjoy our drinks, sometimes just water for the littler kids. I think it's really important to include the boys. Boys enjoy tea just as much as my daughter, just as much as running and wrestling. I think the time is extra special with Little {L}, who tends to lean towards more physical activities 98% of the time. I hate gender stereotypes and try really hard to raise the kids equally. Equal choice, opportunity and education! So grab some flavored tea, a few cups and spend some time with those sons!

We're Back!

It's the little things in life that really matter! I've been away from the blog for a bit, re-centering and spending some time focusing on the family. It was a totally chaotic December and we needed a few weeks to regroup and get back into the rhythm of the family-no matter how wild!

Lots has been happening, the baby is crawling, has 2 teeth and saying da-da. The big kids are enjoying pretending to travel to the moon, riding a pirate ship and making up new unknown lands full of mystery. Mama is working on knitting a wool lap blanket for us... well mostly "me" to snuggle on these upcoming cold winter months. Dad is trying to kick a cold, and we all know how miserable the boys get when they are when sick... worse than the kids.

I'm looking forward to a lot in 2011. Another year watching my kids grow and change. Tons & tons of projects rolling around in my head. I just need a few quiet hours a week to actually get to them [or a baby who sleeps through the night--either please]. Two of our family friends will welcome new babies to their families-we all know how much I love babies! I hope 2011 brings us much happiness & time together.