On the Walls

There's barely a wall space anywhere in my house that doesn't have art work, photographs, bunting, strings of pretty things. There is colour everywhere. Some by the children, or their friends, some by other lovely artists. This is really a small sample of my collection!

Seven Days

1. Spin and knit
2. Baking with grandma
3. Quirkle with my Morgan
4. Clay
5. Favourite shelf
6. Party hat making
7. Birthday presents and out for dinner

August Nine-Year-Old Birthdaying

I do have to say just how quickly it comes around, again, and how surprising it feels with this first child to be the mother of a nine year old already....


Favourite present: time turner.


Birthday morning, breakfast table set with rainbow candle and her favourite family photograph.


A party for a whole host of friends. This is the first time she has really specified a themed birthday party, and I got sort of carried away. Just a little bit. But it was amazing (and shockingly organised, for saying I don't usually work well with deadlines). ;)

(The awesome bunting is by Aisling Designs. The painting is the one that usually hangs there, a picture of Alice and her sister reading in the meadow, which Jenna made when she was five.)




Are you *sure* you don't want an olive? Quite sure? (Yes, they face painted each other. All the parents already knew me well enough to expect children to be returned home filthy with a combination of garden potion-making, glittery crafts, face paint, and cake... But still, particular apology must go to Kirsty, whose daughter attended wearing white...)






The penguins have become a tradition. I wasn't allowed to leave them off, even after complaining that they weren't very Alice in Wonderland.


Hand-decorated mad top hats were a (belatedly remembered) hit just before home-time. :)

This was the first birthday Martin has ever had to work in Jenna's life, so the first not spent together as a family. Strange to think that were our children not home educated Jenna would usually be the only one to not have school on her birthday. Anyway, to help with the disappointment of missing Daddy's presence at her celebrations, we carried birthdaying over into today and took her out to spend her birthday money, and all went swimming as a family.

To be entirely honest today was a little stressful, as the children were all extremely tired from partying (especially Talia, who had an incredible hour long screaming fit right in the middle of town, including attempting to strip all her clothes off, and two attempts to bite me). Well, Jenna had a wonderful two-day birthday, anyway, and that was the main aim. The rest of us might just want to sleep all day tomorrow!!

A Letter to Jenna

These celebration days that wake you with early morning excitement, days which you fill with joy and wonder, they catch me somehow deep in the pit of my stomach, with a deep solemnity and almost a mourning at this merciless passage of time. This day will never come again. You are nine, already, quicker than blinking, and every year I marvel more that I was gifted with getting to know you. And more surprising still, and more dear a responsibility, that you have become my friend.

You are interested, and interesting. Passionate and wild and brave and true. Frustratingly single-minded sometimes, exhaustingly enthusiastic always, creative, articulate, and I really must mention how very tall and athletic you are getting...

This year your desire to fit in has heightened, yet at the same time you have found other passionate enthusiastic misfits to befriend. Drama group and your shows have been wonderful for your confidence in who you are. Right now you love gaming, Doctor Who, Literature, greek myths, Harry Potter, natural history, sewing, painting, and Warehouse 13. My dearest wish for you is that you keep on being proud of your own uniqueness.

You are such a wonderful sister, usually so kind and so willing to give to them - time, attention, the endless small gifts you save up odd pennies for. They follow you, copy you, I *know* they drive you crazy sometimes! Remember how much your words can hurt - and how much they can heal.

Learn, grow, run free. Sing. You are loved more than you can ever know.



































Happy birthday, dear, beautiful Jenna.

Rainy Day Handspun (in pictures)

Things to Do (to help with the Home-Ed Freak-Out)

A list of inspirations and ideas for things to do, when you're worrying about what you should be doing and how much to offer. Pick one that sounds fun, and gently feel your way in to a more relaxed mindset. Or treat it as a checklist. Don't forget to breathe. ;)

- Learn something *you* always wanted to, yourself, and let your kids see you inspired and interested. Read a book you always wanted to read. Pick up some non-fiction if you usually only read fiction - or vice versa. Fill your own cup with peace, grace, and interesting things to learn about.

- Make a blank poster of questions you genuinely wonder about and attach a pen for the kids to write on it too if they want to - see how long you can all IGNORE the poster for. No, really. Don't make a big deal about it, or turn it into work.

- Cultivate your sense of playfulness about things. Wonder. Talk out loud about the things that interest you, no lecturing, just sharing. Ask your child's opinion and thoughts at least as often as you share your own.

- Next time you do food shopping, get just one thing you haven't tried before. Pick a weird-looking fruit or vegetable and find out how to eat it. Pick out a recipe that you'd never thought to try before when making dinner, or pick something totally different from the menu in a restaurant.

- Ask the kids where they'd like to go/visit and write everything down (even the impossible-sounding answers like Peru - or Mars). Visit somewhere you never went before. Stop in a new cafe or shop. Explore something, even something mundane-sounding.

- Go for a walk and see if you can get lost in your own neighbourhood. Walk down a street you never walked down before. Name the flowers in the gardens, look for simple machines (like latches, wheelbarrows, levers, pruning sheers). Look for berries growing wild and pick the ones you know are edible. Pull out a map or a list of local attractions and remind yourself what is nearby for visiting and exploring. Go somewhere you haven't been for weeks, months, or years!

- Buy stickers for no reason or turn the whole of downstairs into a masking tape roadway for toy cars. Plan to surprise your children with fun and unexpected things. Do something sweet for them.

- Set yourself a challenge to Spring Clean your home, especially the toys, craft supplies, books, and unschool supplies. When the children get distracted by something newly discovered in the tidying, just smile, find another area to clean. Move things around, and rearrange to make supplies more accessible and useable. Everything doesn't have to be out all at once - is there a way you can rotate things, make a new display for art work, or create a new area?

- Browse Pinterest, together if you like, give them their own boards of potential interesting things. Get out an open-ended craft and start work on it yourself. Ask if they'd like to plan and make tea by themselves. Make some mess. Collect ideas for later, for just in case, for another day.

- Buy books that interest you, or that might interest them. Queue up their favourite things on Netflix or borrow some new video games to leave lying around for them to find.

- Say yes to something you wouldn't previously have considered saying yes to, and see what happens.

- Try not to jump on their new interests with your ideas or an attempt to teach them something. A fair bit of deschooling is figuring out the dance of when to offer and support, and when to get out of their way. Many of us still have some deschooling to do. Measure your child only against themselves, and really look at them, are they healthy, interested, growing? Breathe.

Daybook, when frazzled and tired

Outside my window the sky is grey but the air is warm. This week has felt decidedly more Autumnal, but today we are back to summery albeit overcast. The garden is a mess, and the potato plants are looking straggly and unloved, they will be ready for harvesting in just another week or so.

I am feeling exhausted. Talia has been having a rough day - ie crying and asking to be picked up, then trying to fling herself out of my arms kicking and screaming, then crying again when I put her down. Getting to sling meet and back made me just a little crazy. It took four attempts to back wrap her to head home.

I am thankful that we all got home safely. I am thankful for a comfortable safe colourful home nest to retreat to. I am thankful for redcurrants in the veg box and storm-grey spinning. I am thankful for the kind lady in the shop who chatted to Talia sweetly and petted her while she raged at the check out.

In the kitchen I have enchilada ingredients waiting for me to prepare tea. I *love* enchiladas.

I am wearing a purple and black swirly goth-y dress, teal cardigan, and turquoise charm bracelet.

I am creating: more handspun, I'm carding blue and turquoise together to spin and ply with the storm grey. I'm still knitting away on the straight section of the Low Tide cardi, which is coming on beautifully. I'm sewing some little felt season table fairies. And basically taking on tons of projects at once as usual. :)

I am reading some random paperback crime novels my mum left for me. Mostly James Patterson, that sort of thing. The kind of books I get half way through before realising I already read them.

I am hoping Talia starts to want to actually walk in the same direction as the rest of us some time soon. It's very frazzling. :S

I am looking forward to Jenna's birthday and Mad Hatter's Tea Party on Friday. :)

I am learning lots about plying a balanced yarn, though I have yet to actually achieve that!

Around the house there are the usual piles of laundry. The large map of the world poster refuses to stay stuck to the wall in the living room. At least the bulk of the chores I was evading last week were done over the weekend!

Some of my favourite things: fresh lavender from the garden, stripy rainbow straws, home made pink milk, glass beads, little girls in hand made skirts and cardigans, a cup of hot chamomile tea, painted pebbles.

A peek into my day:

Seven Days: in which there is far too much evidence of how quickly they are growing up

1. Sleeping baby
2. "Alice"
3. Sushi
4. Pixie kisses
5. Self portrait!
6. Early morning Monopoly
7. Bouncing

Yarn Along - blanket progress and cuteness

So, the huge crochet blanket is growing slowly but surely. :) Must be about half way, now. I'm really pleased with it.




Talia is really pleased with it too. In fact, all the wee wild ones love it very much.


In other yarnie news, Low Tide was killing me (what with having worked the first front lace piece no less than five times, and the second piece about four times, and STILL having left in a - matching - mistake in each just because I didn't want to pull back again), but now I have made friends with it and am almost finished on the entire bodice section. And in the hand dyed sea-green yarn, it is just gorgeous.

I re-read Unseen Academicals last week, and enjoyed it slightly more on second reading. I'm not feeling so much like reading, again, I guess too many projects on at once to concentrate on a book. My mum gave me The Light Between Oceans, but it looks like it might make me cry, so it's consigned to the "maybe" pile. Jenna just finished Sea of Monsters and is keen to get started on Titan's Curse.

And our storecupboard shopping arrived today in a huge box, which of course is the most wonderful thing in the world until it falls completely apart. :)




Joining in with Ginny and friends for a weekly round up of crafting and reading. :)