starting small

Every since I can remember I have always had a secret longing for living the simple life. A life that is pretty well self-sustaining, home-centered and focused on the ideals and values that are really important to me and my family. A simple life lived together as a family without being cluttered by dependency on unnecessary things and filling the void with busyness.

Over the last few years we have spent many days and nights dreaming of a homestead life- turning our little home and yard into a mini farm where we could depend upon ourselves, our little plot of land and lots of hard work for some of the basics that a family of five needs to survive.

This is a process. And we are no where close to fulfilling our dream. And although we cannot allow chickens to roam free in our backyard, own a cow or sheep or plant an orchard of fruit trees, we have found a few attainable projects that we have been able to complete for now.

Our woodpile is also looking pretty plentiful. Neatly stacked and making me feel content.

There is still quite a bit to be cut and stacked!

We are starting small. And although in reality we are limited in what we can do with our small space, there are so, so many changes that can be made. And the good news is that although we are not zoned for raising chickens, we will always have plenty of children free-ranging in and around our home each and every day.

a bit of color for my world

Spring. It's here and it feels oh-so good. One of the things I love most about Spring is the change that it brings. Lighter. Fresher. A chance to start new.

I thought I would share a little inspiration with you and a few treats that I have found as a way to mark the change of the seasons. Like I've said before, my mind is always turning and spinning up ideas of how I'd like to transform my world to be more beautiful and useful.

Here is a bit of what I'm liking, no, loving, right now...

This darling little (free, yes, free) print that I got from Feed Your Soul: the free art project site. I chose this print for Sophia's room and I find the motto so fitting for this child- Do Something.

My creative, spirited, wheels-always-turning seven-going-on-eight year old is always, always doing something. I cannot keep up with all of her plans, but she usually finds a way of executing them with or without me. I love that she has imagination, determination and the courage to begin new things in life each and every day. I know she will love this.

This quirky little print below is all mine. I'm fond of everything in it, from the colors, to the birds, to the striped tights that this little headless woman is wearing. Strange. Bizarre. Yes. But somehow oh-so appealing to me. This is, of course, for my side of the bed.


You know those curtains that I am always writing about? Well here are two dream fabrics that I've spotted that look like they're just waiting for me to cut, pin, sew and hang in my living area. Big decisons. Really big.



And now for my favorite. I spotted this bag a month ago and agonized about whether or not to buy it. It is called Plain Leaves in Sky Blue from bayan hippo handmade and just seems to embody everything that I love about this season (not to mention that there is enough space in it to carry a good book for when I am out and about alone and some necessary kid-essentials when I am traveling with three little humans in tow). I did buy it. I love everything about it. It was a very good decision.


So that's my little bit of sharing for today. Just a few things that are bringing a smile to my face and a bit of color to my world right now...

choosing contentment

Friday afternoons... something carefree and simple about them. Especially when it is nearly 70 degrees out, gentle sunlight shining down upon your little life and you can not only feel spring in the air, but also smell it, taste it and hear the sounds you've been waiting to hear for months now.

A moment to steal away while one is napping and two others are outdoors bike riding, wrapping twine around things they probably shouldn't be, chewing gum, drawing on driveways and attempting to chase butterflies around the neighborhood.

My mind is peaceful, yet filled with ideas, aspirations and projects-

a new paint color for our schoolroom, some pretty paper to line and transform a small bookshelf with, the umbrella I've been eyeing for the patio table, the haircuts I've been meaning to give my boys.

But there is not time for a master plan right now. Right now there is simply room for the breeze blowing through my dining room window to tickle my bare arm. Room for the sound of singing and skipping coming from the front lawn. Room to let me bare feet sink deeply into the floor below me and humm, buzz and vibrate a bit as they relax from the earlier part of the days outings.

There is the front door swinging open and close faster than I can keep count of. The sound of the washing machine swish-swashing our clothes clean again. The pattern kept by the dog across the street rhythmically barking high-low, high-low. And the occasional plane, car or bird whizzing above, across or outside of our house.

Simple. Life being lived, not forced.

Who am I to disturb this moment?

For now I will just take this all in and choose to be content with the moment, with my current state of house and home and the straggly little head of hair on my three-year old.

Right now I will choose contentment.

Happy Friday right now to anyone who is reading this...

three

Last week was everything I hoped it would be. Except for several chilly, rain-filled days, our week was perfect- no agenda, nothing scheduled, time to just be and to enjoy one another.

A tranquil home indeed.

Today was a very special day in our home. Not only did we celebrate the most important day of the year for us as Christians, but we also celebrated Elias' third birthday. Yes. Three.


We've been talking about this big day for months and explaining to him what this day meant and how his age would be changing from two to three. I think he understands perfectly. All he would do whenever his birthday was mentioned was to hold out his little hand and one-by-one unfold his little fingers to show us one-two-THREE!

This child is big-time into horses, Star Wars, coloring inside the lines (a new skill that he spends hours on each day) and practicing his independence each and every day. Mike refers to him as the wild card... you never know what you're going to get!

He is loved and adored by his big brother and sister. They make it their mission in life to include him in their play, to make him happy and to encourage him when he needs it most. They read to him, give him piggy-back rides, let him use their dress-up clothes and always are looking out for his safety and well-being.

As his mother I have so many wonderful memories and hysterical stories already from these last three years.

I can remember how he had already tripled his birth weight at five months of age. How he had a pair of red rain boots that he just had to wear no matter the weather every day for several months during his second year of life.

He has been my longest nurser (that is another post altogether).

How is favorite book is currently Where the Wild Things Are and We're Going on a Bear Hunt and how I often find him deep in thought, intently flipping through our Joan of Arc book like he is really reading and absorbing all of those French words and thoughts on saints.


We love you Elias and wish you a happy 3rd birthday...

tranquil home

This catalog arrived in the mail yesterday. Mike collected the mail and just knows not to recycle this when it comes. He knows that it is filled with pages of color, inspiration and that days-worth of vintage fantasies will follow a mere browse of this catalog and that these are vital to a mother of three at this point in her life.
I am just getting to it tonight. There is something about this cover that just draws me in. The scene- a family of five, spending time together at the ocean- is so wide-open and so full of possibilities. It's like looking a clean slate.

A clean slate is just what I am in need of. After weeks of balancing home-life, work-life, home-schooling, corresponding with friends, meal planning, meager attempts at spring cleaning, preparations for Easter and Elias' third birthday, dating my husband and trying to find time to decompress at the end of the day- I am in need of some down-time.

I am in need of a tranquil home (yes, I know that a plush, gray, vintage sofa from Anthropologie is not going to provide me with true tranquility, but I just love the slogan- although I'm pretty sure that I would feel pretty relaxed while lounging on this beautiful thing!)

Traditionally, I have always regarding the week leading into Easter Sunday- the passion week- the most holy and sacred of all weeks. We typically take a break from homeschooling during this week and this year will be no different.

It will be a time to prepare our hearts and home for the celebration of Easter and all the hope that we have as Christians because of this day. Very worth spending time preparing for.

My desire is to keep it simple and to slow down our pace; to enjoy one another, our home and to quietly journey towards the celebration of Christ's resurrection.

My desire it that it will be a time to put all nagging thoughts, doubts, insecurities, guilt-trips, falling-shorts and strivings up on the shelf for a week of neglect. I know that they are not going anywhere and that they will be counting the days for their reunion in to my life after they have collected bit of dust.

But for now, just for this week, I will not think about...

how four rooms in my home remain curtain-less and are in desperate need of me spending some serious quality time with my sewing machine in order to provide a remedy

or how we really should patch those holes in the back wall from the wall pegs that were torn out last week from our little batman child using them to hold his full body weight in an attempt to fly

or how we really need to paint the schoolroom because we are so tired of that bright yellow and every wall has a thousands scuffs, pencil marks and scratches

or about the fact that if we are really going to have the garden we dream of this year, we really need to make our raised-bed-garden dreams a raised-bed reality.

It will take effort and deliberation, but I know that I can focus on the simple and the important this week.

I think I can. I think I can...