Here We Are Together

Time to paint (& organize) our bookshelves!

Before:

& After:

much better!
&hearts

No, we still don’t have a house yet, but this week, so far, has been full of smiles.

It’s quite sad really that it took all this to make me realize that we make our own happiness,
but just now, when it seemed like we were missing out on all the good stuff, when we were far too busy to do anything fun at all, that’s when it happened. It wasn’t an instant change, but slowly, really slowly, we are getting back to doing things we used to do.
I picked up some yarn today and got some lovely brass knitting needles from a very lovely lady (thanks!), and I already feel a lot better.
I now knit while Anthony reads Harry Potter to us, and it is so good.

It’s really all those little things that make our life happy,
this little one and his lovely big smile, it’s brilliant!

He started making those tiny little baby noises, and I just can’t stop smiling.

I love this little man so very much, it’s funny to think that just two months ago he wasn’t even here yet.
Well, not properly,anyway. He’s been around before that, of course, listening, finding out about us.
I hope he is happy that he chose us, I hope he likes it here.
Emi loves him so fiercely, she is always showing him thinks, asking him questions,
(”Do you like my princess dress,Archie?”)
I can’t wait till they can play together a bit more than they do now.
I finally ordered some basic craft supplies, as we had run out a while ago but really could not afford to get new things. That was a difficult time.

I didn’t tell you about it back then, because we don’t want people to worry, but when you can’t even pick up a set of glitter glue for £1 then you know things are bad. They really were. But we made it through. Well, almost, we still don’t have a new place to stay, but we are a bit better now.
We have had a lot of help from friends and family, and I think we never said thank you often enough for that. Thank you!.
I also think I need to apologize to some people still for not being very social during that time. I would have loved to go out for coffee and such, but I really could not.The reason for all that was that a while ago Anthony had to quit his job and work from home because there were problems with Emi. She was not feeling well, and she changed. We are now seeing doctors to help her feel better, don’t worry, she’s okay, but Anthony is still very much needed at home, I could not homeschool Emily and the boys on my own.
Did you see what I did? I called them “the boys”. I love that, but I really must be careful not to do that too often,
I think Arthur will look a lot like George, and I want to make sure that I know who he is, I don’t want his personality to get lost in all that “looking like Georgie” thing.
Emi is doing much better now, we are even doing crafts now.
Baby steps, though, starting out simple again, today a magic wand:

She loves all the magic that is spilling from the Harry Potter books into our daily life, and I’m not bothered. I think I might be enjoying it more than the little ones are.
We are probably looking at another house tomorrow, but for now I have to go & pack some things into boxes.
Wishing you all lovely day!
♥

I’m afraid I’m going to have to rant for a minute here.
If you read my blog then chances are you agree with at least some of the things we do,the way we raise our children and educate them. We co-sleep and our boys are intact. We don’t hit (or smack ) our children , we don’t let anyone cry it out and we certainly don’t force anyone to do anything they don’t want to. We don’t have a TV, (we do watch DVDs sometimes though!) we have family meals and family story time, we begin our day with a morning circle or meeting in bed, and, what I think is really quite a big part of our life, we homeschool.

(Pictures are from a recent nature walk in our little forest. Because “the world is our classroom“)

For the past four years we have seen our children grow from tiny helpless newborns into independent smart people.
I can only repeat again and again “you are your child’s first teacher“. We read to our little ones, we answer their questions, we take time to do experiments, go to the library to read a book about how something works, we learn together.
Our children actually enjoy learning!

I understand that to some people it seems like a crazy idea, because it’s not how they grew up, it’s not what’s normal for them, but it really makes sense when you think about it.
No-one knows your children better than you do. You know exactly how to meet their needs, how to make something fun for them, how to make them feel better when they are upset.
Teachers have to learn how to be teachers because they have to teach 30 (or more) students at the same time.
At home, you can give your child your full attention, when they understand something or learn something new you can build on that, you can move on, progress.
In school your child would have to wait for everyone else to do that.
If your little one has questions, wants to know more, they won’t be embarrassed to ask, and you can take the time to explain it to them as many times as they want to.
You can do fun experiments, you can go on school trips ,hey, a school trip to Spain for a history project sounds great , doesn’t it? And even if it’s not Spain, a trip to the garden can certainly be far more educational then reading about your garden in a book. And reading the book in the garden? I’m sure you know what I’m trying to say.
Besides, how many three year olds that are not homeschooled can tell you which leg-bones belong to which animal?

Anyway, my point is, the way we choose to raise our children, the choices we make for our family, we do these things because we feel they are the right thing to do. We know our children better than anyone else, and homeschooling is not easy, we give up a lot to do this, if we both worked full-time jobs we would life a much more comfortable life, but our children are worth it, we do it for them,
so please, don’t accuse us of “ruining their future”, because I happen to find that pretty offensive.

Aehm.
I hope your day was better than ours.
Here’s to tomorrow.
♥

Today we enjoyed a very busy day with Rosaleen from MamaUK and her two lovely little ones K & L .
We were so busy that I did not take any pictures at all.
Now the little ones are fast asleep and all I have to share are pictures of the mess we made while playing and having fun.
But you know what? Mess sounds just fine to me right now.

Thank you , K , for the lovely book you gave Emi !
We love the Brambly hedge Treasury !

We even had some fairly quiet moments when the girls were drawing together!

We hope to see our lovely friends again soon!

Have a lovely day!
♥

We had a busy day today, it’s Purim! (Finally..)

In the morning we opened our Purim presents,
the little ones were very happy to receive a Mama made doll each
and a set of books to share.

Later we went to the Purim Party at the Synagogue ,
where we met many friends and made great king & queen masks.
(No picture of Ezi, he slept through that part..)

I hope you all had a lovely weekend!
♥

As some of you know, things have not been easy around here recently, but, in the spirit of staying positive,
I introduce Tooteem!

About Tooteem Dolls
When we first began our journey into Waldorf education we were immediately drawn to the beautiful natural toys, especially the dolls.
I could never find just the right doll for our little ones, so I decided to make them myself.
When we saw the delight on children’s faces as they received their beautiful new best friend, we knew we wanted to share that joy, so we started Tooteem, a place for natural, unique, affordable handmade dolls.

Hop on over to Tooteem and take a look at our new site.
That is also where you can customize and order your new doll.

You can choose between lots of different options to make your doll just exactly how you want it to be.

There are also some doll slings for you to choose from:

I hope you like it, and if you do, feel free to grab a button for your sidebar.

Thank you!

Oh, I am sure you all know this, it’s the end of January (already?) & even though we try to spend as much time as we can out,we find ourselves being in most days in these winter months.
And so, for everyone’s sanity, a little re-arranging was in order.
A new art table for the little one’s, a place for Mama to rest her cup of raspberry leaf tea, & many more changes in our home. I will share some more during the next weeks, it’s a slow (& messy creative) process.

Have you changed anything around recently?
♥

By our & other’s loving hands:

Plane, cloud & sun mobile:

Wool soakers, (thank you, Oma Rosel!)

Cloth diapers:

A painting by a very excited older sister:

A beautiful soft white shawl / blanket:

Have a lovely day!
♥

Today, on Emi & Mama’s special solo date we went to see Santa.
Now, I never met Santa when I was a child, so I was not quite sure about the whole thing,
but seeing Emily’s face light up when she saw the snow, the animals & a whole room full of presents , it was definitely a good idea.

On the way to Santa’s house:

The polar bear scared her a bit…

In the end it was all worth it because we got to meet Santa,
& he even gave Emi a special present!

Maybe George will get to meet Santa next year, too, but for now I think he might be rather scared of him…

Do you take your children to meet Santa?
Wishing you a lovely day!

♥

Do you remember how just weeks ago I declared that autumn was my favourite season ever?
Well, not anymore.
The more it rains out there, the more I fall in love with winter.
Slowly but surely my little one’s feel the shift from still many days spent outside to almost every day spent in.
One of our new favourite things to do is telling stories.
Yes, books are lovely, & there are few things better than reading books & drinking hot chocolate in front of the fireplace, but a story told by your little one?
Just about the best thing ever.
I made these “story dice” for us to use as an inspiration for our stories, just in case they get a little bit stuck. (they are not my idea, I believe I first saw them a couple of months ago on the crafty crow.)

They are absolutely lovely & really work so well, there has been so much more storytelling than ever before.
Emi really likes it when I write down her stories, though of course she is in charge of underlining it all in purple, obviously!

I am going to make some more of these dice, maybe some with photos of people she loves, or of places we go.
Wishing you a lovely day.
♥