The yearly advent bags

Inspired by an amazing homeschooling Waldorf mama back in Miami, I have been using these simple advent bags to count down the days to Christmas since Kaleena was two years old.

I have actually been using the same bags every year until this years. As I have mentioned so many times already, most of our belongings are boxed and stored, and that is also true of our christmas treasures, so this year I made a new collection of bags.

I keep it really simple, I use plain paper gift bags and this time I used scrapbook paper, the first set I made I used an antique looking gift wrapping paper for the numbers.

Then on the first sunday in advent the children wake up to find these bags strung on the wall using clothespins. The first year I tied each bag with a red ribbon, and the effect was lovely, but very 

time consuming and hard for the children to get down on their own, so since then we have used clothespins.

For the most part the surprise in the bag is a project to be made together during that day, some things repeat on certain days each year. The first bag always contains candles for the advent wreath, and that day we make the wreath together, make aebleskiver ( a danish tradition of round pancake like balls), and drink hot chocolate. On the 1st of dec we they always find pine branches in the bag and that day we get our tree. One day we bake cookies, another make christmas card for family and friends, and so on. Usually each sunday will hold a little simple gift. The children love this tradition and each day wake up excited to check on the surprises of the bags.

 To make them I simple take the paper of choice cut out the numbers from one to usually thirty, each year will be a little different depending on what day christmas falls on

  glue them on

and hang them....

clearly they have not been hung yet, I would usually have them on more of a straight line as to me it looks prettier:)

~A beautiful day to you~

This Moment

A friday ritual inspired by Soulmama

A single photo, no words

A moment I want to pause, treasure and remember

~Have a wonderful weekend~

Martinmas and paper lanterns

Today we celebrated Martinmas, a celebration of inner light, of our humanity and of harnessing the suns warmth within us to guide us through these coming cold months. We talked about the story of  

Martin and the poor man,and we made paper lanterns while I told the children this sweet lantern story, appropriate especially for Keenan; 

There was once a boy called George who had been outside in the garden all through the Summer running after the butterflies, jumping like a grasshopper, singing like a bird, and trying to catch the sunlight. One day when he was lying on his back in the meadow gazing up into the sun-filled sky, he said, “Dear Brother Sun, soon the Autumn winds will blow and wail, and Jack Frost will come and make us all freeze, and the nights will be long and cold.”  Brother Sun pushed the clouds aside and said, “Yes, it will be dark and cold. In the deep midwinter, warmth and light live deep within, hidden from sight. In the time of dark and cold, you will tend the Light Within.” “But,” said George, “How will I tend this Light when it’s dark everywhere around me?”“I will give you a spark of my last Autumn rays once you have made a little house for it, for this spark must be guarded well. It will light the way for you to tend the Light Within throughout the time of dark and cold.” And then Brother Sun once hid again behind a cloud. George went home and wondered how best he could make a little house for the spark of the sun. He took a thick piece of paper and painted a beautiful blue and yellow watercolor upon it. When it was dry, he cut windows into his painting. Then he placed colored tissue paper on the back of his watercolor – and – he formed it into a lantern. He took a candle and put it into the middle of his lantern. And, as it was growing dark, he went outside with it. George held the lantern up above him and said, “Brother Sun, I have made a little home for one of your golden sparks. Please may I have one? I will guard it well.” Then Brother Sun looked out from behind a cloud and said, “You have made a beautiful home. I shall give you one of my golden sparks.” And suddenly, George saw how the windows of his lantern were lit up, and as he looked into the lantern, he saw a spark happily dancing on top of the candle. Oh, how happy the light was in his lovely lantern! It shone and shone so brightly. “Thank you, Brother Sun,” George called out, “Thank you.” And he took his lantern and carried it carefully home.

( I found that sweet story over at Our little nature nest, where there is also other wonderful recourses for the Martinmas celebration, as well as wonderful homeschooling inspiration. )

We have made these lanterns for years now, this is how we did it.

First the children used water color to paint their paper, we used blue and yellow because of the lantern story.

Once dried we cut a thin strip from the shorter side of the paper to use as a handle, and depending on how tall the children wanted their lantern, cut a piece off the long side of the paper. Then the children drew a few "windows" and cut them out, and along the length of the bottom cut about one inch in with about one inch between each cut, see below if that did not make sense. 

then we glued silk paper over the little windows we had cut out, and using a hot glue gun, glued the sides together creating a cylinder. For the bottom, and this I have no pictures off:( we cut a circle that could fit inside the bottom opening, and with hot glue fastened the little cut up flaps one by one to the circle, thus creating a bottom for the candle

 Then we glued the handle onto the top, and the lantern is ready for use

 As the light of the day faded, I told the story of Martin oce again as we lighted the lanterns, and the children walked around the garden shining their little lights.

 so lovely...

~may your inner light shine and bring you warmth through the coming cold dark days~

Ahh yes and the winner of my little giveaway, found using a homemade random selection ( a number on a piece of paper for each comment, into the hat ) And out I pulled number 4, and the fourth comment is
K from kstreetjournal please email me with an address :)
Thanks to all who entered!

The beauty that surrounds us

We are being blessed with amazing weather in these parts, yet again, it is certainly chilly in the morning and evening, enough that we have the fire going in the wood stove, but the day are wonderful. Fresh, clear and warmish. We went to the local bird sanctuary, which is also a preserved wetland right in town, to enjoy the joy of being out, and of course being that most leaves are off the trees you can now see birds so clearly. There is such a constant flitter of birds right now as they scramble to fill up before winter sets in and food becomes scarce. One thing I have been noticing since living here is that the Cardinals always travel in pairs. I find it so beautiful, first I almost always see the bright red male and as I look closer I inevitably always see his mate, the more subtle colored female, always together. I can certainly appreciate the luxury of that,  these days:)!

The children love to come here, as it is beautiful and many places to run and especially to climb, this one tree in particular has been a favorite since we have been coming here. They do love to climb these little monkeys of mine, and how healthy it feels when I see them up there in the bowers. Their skills become greater by each tree they climb, their agility, their comfort inside their body, their skill at keeping safe. We have always taught them to keep three points of contact when climbing, so as I observe I see how attentive they are and yet how relaxed, I feel with certainty how beneficial for their growth all this climbing is.

~sweet nature blessings to you~

~~and do hop over and enter the giveaway~~

Play dough bugs

Today in the homeschooling group the little children talked about bugs, insects.

They started out by reading about them and seeing pictures of different kinds of bugs, the similarities and their habitats, after that we all got to make bugs together. They came out so great and the children really enjoyed the process, Keenan still sat at the table deeply concentrated on his bugly creation, after everyone else had gone to wash hands.

There were so many great ones, there was a ladybug and also spiders, dragonflies, caterpillars, beetles, mosquitos and others, such fun!!

The play dough we used, which had such a soft delicious consistency, was made using 1 cup of flour, 1 cup of water (with food coloring if desired), 1 Tsp oil, 1/2 cup of salt and 2 tsp cream of tartar.

Stir and cook until the consistency of mashed potatoes, then take off heat and knead by hand until it looks like play dough. This will keep for 2 months with home use, store in refrigerator.

I have made play dough many times, yet have not cooked it before,  I really loved the feeling of this and will make this next time we make some at home.
Besides the play dough there was also silk paper wings and construction paper pieces, buttons and tooth pick as well as pipe cleaners.

To complete the experience we went outside and looked for bugs in the places where we knew they liked. the children had brought buckets, shovels and magnifying glasses, and they loved it. Even though we have had a few frosty nights and some cold days, today was in the sixties and just lovely, and to out surprise we found many little bugs, spiders, worms, crickets and ants...

 Even a  beautiful Praying Mantis

~remember to sign up for my little giveaway here~

A first giveaway

Good sunday to you:)

I am so happy to finally be doing a little giveaway. I have had the good fortune to win two giveaways from other lovely blogging mamas, and I am excited to be giving back a little.

 I was making a Birthday book the other day for my sisters sweet daughter and thought I would make an extra and give it away here for someone to make their own birthday book, or to use as a notebook or perhaps a little diary. This book is made in the same way as the other birthday books I have posted, it has 10 thick watercolor paper pages, and has pressed Queen Ann"s lace flowers on the front, and is hand sewed together. I am also giving away a copy of Kids knitting, which is a sweet little book for children to knit by, it does not teach knitting using a rhyme like; "A first book of knitting", but has nice little projects for beginning knitters.

To enter, simply leave a comment below. I will post the winner on thursday nov 11th after 6 pm. Please feel free to enter once a day until then. And I am also happy to ship anywhere in this lovely world:)

~A wonderful day to you~

This Moment

A friday ritual inspired by Soulmama

A single photo, no words

A moment I want to pause, treasure and remember

~mmmmmm, a sweet weekend to you~

Late autumn nature wreath

Feeling that it was time for a change on our front door, we headed for the botanical garden to gather supplies for yet another autumn wreath. Although I am not quite ready for winter, and though we have had amazingly mild weather there is no doubt that winter is on his way. The temperatures are dropping steadily now and friday promises a chance of snow. 

It is amazing the difference to be seen outside from just this past weekend, already most leaves are gone, and the crispness in the air, has turned to a certain chill.

( I get cold easily, Kaleena still refuses to wear a jacket)

 The children played by the creek while I gathered supplies for the wreath

 yes, well as I look at this picture it seems that there are still a few leaves holding on:)

I love gathering dried out flowers and plants, I love all the different textures and interesting seed pods, and while this scenery lasts I like to make bouquets out of theses dried flowers. This time though I used my findings for the wreath

 At home we brought in the wreath we made to welcome autumn back in august, and took off all the decorations. (note to self ; go easy on the glue gun if you wish for the wreath base to last for a while)

This time I used no hot glue I simply weaved all the flowers into the base, and just two things I tied on with raffia. I really adore the result.

~may your evening be warm and cozy~