Weekending

This weekend was the most wonderful mix of relaxing and hard work. Good conversations and great coffee. And of course, Halloween candy!

We started the weekend off super pumped for Trick or Treating. The kids jumped off the bus ready to get into their costumes. We drove over to pick up milk for the shop, they had to be in full regalia. They wanted to trick or treat by themselves but only made it a few houses away from us, but they loved the idea of being on their own. We ended the night with take out and the Great Pumpkin with our favorite friends.

On Saturday Eric woke up super early and worked at the shop and I took my regular afternoon shift.  

It gave me plenty of time to hang out with the kids and reinstate our ritual Sketchbook Saturday Morning. The kids reveled in their jammies: painting, playing, reading and hanging around. It was thrilling-- it had been a long time since we'd taken an at home day. We finished the day off together, snuggled up on the couch watching Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. 

Today, we woke up early and enjoyed our extra hour. We went off to church and spent the afternoon having great conversations with the Room for All community at the shop. What a joy to be exploring inclusive community and becoming a safe place for ALL.

I hope you had a lovely weekend as well! Did you do anything fun?

Good read, good thought, good listen: a list for the weekend

Hello and good morning. It's not a holiday here, we're all up to our daily activities. Kids are with their glorious caregiver, we're going to work. But, I did sleep in a little and I will wear flip flops to work. That makes it feel like a holiday!

I have a few more images for you from our trip, but we'll have to wait until the weekend to look at them together. What a joy! I brought home thousands of photos. I am thinking about combining them into something. Any suggestions?

For the weekend here's a little list of things I'm loving right now:

Good coffee: Every morning, I am grateful for the Old Factory Coffee shop. We even took a huge bag of their coffee on our trip. A little bit of home on the road.

Good photography: I'm taking Erin Little's class and I've been shooting manual for a few days now. Eeek, really? Me? Shooting manual? She's patient, kind and explains the hardest concepts like an artist. Thank goodness.

Good read:  I just finished reading Wendell Berry's The Wild Birds. About membership, community and family.

Good thoughts: Huge list of easy steps for sustainability. It's inspiring, every little bit helps.
And Wendell's own list of Rules for Sustainability.

Good listen: And finally, a rare reading from Wendell Berry. About Arthur Rowenberry, one of his Port William Membership characters.

weekending:: dirt + robots

What a lovely weekend. It was simple and sweet. The skies were grey but the grass is vibrant, eager and promising. It was misting a bit as Isabel and I walked home from a birthday party on Saturday. I took deep, gulping breaths of spring wind. We both agreed we loved the smell of dirt.

Tonight, Isabel and I walked home from our beloveds John-John and Bon-Bon's house-- we were  dancing robots, we skipped, we tried to walk as a three legged race, then we spent the last block humming an empty conversation. I hummed a tune, then she hummed one back. It was more elaborate with every mumbling question and answer. Buzzing lips-- a wild tonic in the rain. We laughed and laughed.

When she was getting her jammies on tonight, she said, "Yeah, but Dad, I have NO IDEA what we even said to each other. But it was nice." It shows you sometimes, you just have to be present and dance like a robot down the middle of town.

 ++++++

We spent our Sketchbook Saturday Morning time around the kitchen table. We took out the paints and brushes plus, we made robots out of butter boxes and hot glue. I started a little embroidery, read a bit of a book and I drank a latte while we watched it rain.

Today, a pot luck at church and a trip to the swimming pool. After we put the kids to bed, I folded laundry while we watched The Bletchley Circle. The drama, suspense and costumes. So good!

Even though, we had lots of little things going on this weekend, I felt like we got to spend a lot of time together, together.

What were you up to this weekend?




Joining amanda for weekending. 

Weekending: Always Winter?

Well, it's still winter here, it feels like it will never end.

We finally finished reading, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. And I think I know what all those characters felt like always winter.

I know we've loved these months... but today, right now it feels like spring is a far off dream that is just out of grasp. We've even loved the snow-- the quiet it brings to our home and the way that it makes the days seem a bit slower, the sounds of the world dampened by a thick blanket. But right now, we are itching for green gardens, dark deep earth and the unmistakeable sweet smell of growth.

I resolve to be patient, I will practice my resolve... It will be here soon.

This weekend, we had a beautiful mix of old friends and new. Dinners, birthday parties, pre-snow trail jaunts (hand knits, capes, sunglasses, neon), gymnastics, church... slowly one thing fades into the other and we magically arrive at Sunday evening. Where we sit comfortably book and journal in hand, Harry Potter 4 in the DVD player and with a cup of coffee (which I will regret while wide eyed at 2 am, I’m sure).

But, if I can just wonder in amazement at these two faces for a moment. They were babes just yesterday, weren't they? They were all limbs, coos and cries, milk faced and sleepy? And now. Now, they are intensely their own.

weekending

This weekend was so beautiful.

Early on Saturday morning, I heard Eric wake up with the dogs. Help the kids find something to do and then he started a gourmet breakfast and did dishes. I can't help but love him so much.

A few of our favorite friends stopped by for lattes, homemade biscuits and pear sauce. Then walked we all down the alley and found more friends upstairs at the Old Factory Coffee Shop. Conversations, laughter and the best coffee in Iowa.

In the evening, after bible study and prayer group-- we played Four on the Couch. Best. Game. Ever. I haven't laughed that hard in years.

Eric made our old gas grill into a charcoal smoker. He used some dry applewood boughs to cold smoke a pork butt. Then he slow roasted it overnight. We had the most delicious pulled pork for our potluck at church today and the super bowl party attended.

Now I'm sitting knitting a simple scarf for Truman (blue please! soft! not fancy!). Bulky yarn on large needles means it's going fast!

I'm thinking about next week, menu planning and declaring a family week. All of our evenings focusing on each other. Good food, good sleep, lots of reading, playing together and getting outside.

How was your weekend? What does your week look like?

I'm joining the habit of being for weekending and Kerry for I love.
And Gratitude Sunday.

All is Calm, All is Bright

It's New Years day and the family started their journey home. I am sitting in a quiet kitchen with a cup of pumpkin spice coffee while the kids are at their own activities. I've already vacuumed the living room and I'm about to start a load of sheets. Folding up the blankets was a quiet reminder of the people who only a few hours ago, filled up this space with laughter. The house is markedly quieter--a bit empitier.

This trip was so lovely, I was amazed at how well the kids played together. They spent their afternoons crafting, playing in the snow and piling in the tent (set up in the playroom!) to watch movies together.

I was blessed by lots of crafting time with my sister in laws.

My heart was fulfilled by watercolor painting with the nephews and nieces and teaching my oldest nephew to knit. Pots of tea, carafes of coffee, jelly belly beans, homemade tamales, holiday meals... all of it shared with so much love.

This year our theme is going to be "All is Calm, All is Bright." I think we are already off to a great start.

Finding Fall: In a Litte House

My lovies in a big chair at the Frontier Village.

A few weeks ago we headed out on a big road trip to North Dakota for our friends wedding. An 8 hour trip in a car with two little people might seem daunting, but for me it was an eight glorious hours of conversation, book reading, joke telling and snack eating. And it was a beautiful weekend, the leaves were changing color. It was chilly and I wore a wool sweater most of the weekend. Could the weekend have been more perfect?

Um, Yes, it could.

Especially if your like me and you take every moment possible moment to indoctrinate your children on the books you loved growing up. Ha! I pumped up and hyped up Little House in the Big Woods and it did not disappoint the backseat peanut gallery. So many things to learn!

We read it for almost the whole trip.

And since I had planned on reading this book, we took a detour through De Smet, South Dakota to the Ingalls' Homestead-- hoping to get a good look at the house they lived in during the book By the Shores of Silver Lake.

The 'little house' and the later built homestead.

We took sometime to explore the visitors center and drive around to see all the buildings, taking a tour was just not in our budget this time. But both kids picked up corn cob dolls- just like Laura.

Frontier Village Log Cabin

On our way home we started reading Farmer Boy and we stopped by a Frontier Village which we could explore all we wanted. We were excited to see that it was in a similar time to the Little House books.

We even wrote a family report about our experiences-- hey the car trip was getting a bit long! Most of it was dictated by them.

I am so glad we took these little side trips, it made for such an adventure. And the midwest has such a rich history of exploration and settlement, I want the kids to experience that too.

And how could we not stop to see the World's Largest Buffalo?

Would you like to see our report? I've added it below! (:



We found fall on our adventure. Where are you finding beauty this autumn?

"This weekend we went to visit Laura Ingalls' homestead [in De Smet, South Dakota]. There was a covered wagon, there was a school house, a country church and now a gift shop. The houses and buildings were set on a prairie. on the homestead they had a barn for animals.

In the car we read a book called "Little House in the Big Woods." Pa, Ma, Mary, Laura and baby Carrie life in a log cabin. They make a lot of their own food like stewed pumpkins, bread and butter. Pa hunted animals for meat, they smoked the meat. They made their own cheese.

For fun the girls played under the trees in nice weather. Laura had a corn cob for a doll she named it Susan. For Christmas she got a rag doll and named it Charlotte.

On Sunday, we went to a little frontier town. It had two goats named Ted and Fred. And we saw a HUGE buffalo. In the town it had a log cabin with a wood stove just like Laura's! There was an old quilt on the bed.

On the way to North Dakota we saw lots of different kinds of farms. We saw lots of crops: corn, beans, sunflowers and potatoes.

On the way home we started reading Farmer Boy. The little boy Almonzo attended a one room school just like at Laura's homestead and like at the frontier village."

Early Morning

I can't think of a place I'd rather be, before that house starts moving-- with a cup of coffee and a few thoughts.  

Plus, the way the light plays on the table I know Autumn is coming. 

happycampers: Going on an Adventure

This weekend, we went on a little drive after finishing up our school shopping. We drove through our favorite hide-a-way in the city, Stone Park in Sioux City.

We noticed the campground was nearly deserted, so on a whim we made a reservation. And we went home (45 minute drive... we were a bit crazy!) packed a few things. Including our tent, sleeping bags, flashlights and campfire food.

In less than two hours we were back, putting up the tent, unpacking the car and having hot dogs for supper. And in my head I was singing, "We're going Camping now we're on our waaayyy."(start the video at 3:36). Just like my mom did on every camping trip we've taken together.

It was so nice to spend some time together around the fire, playing an early morning round of Candyland, hiking and sleeping under the stars. We are so blessed to have this little slice of heaven so close to us!

weekending: rest

This weekend was filled with more rest and hopefully restoration, I am getting stronger everyday!

Brunch, pancakes with whipped cream and strawberries.
Thrift store trip with my beloved friend.
Rest while the kids played over at their best friends house.
Back to school shopping at one place. Amazing!
Dinner and more rest watching the olympics.
Coffee in the cool morning air on the front porch.
Lunch with a dear friend, yummy roast!
A nap and some knitting.
A post dinner trip to our favorite place in the world. The kids and Eric play while I snap some photos from the shore.

We didn't 'accomplish' much but we had a beautiful and restful weekend just being together.

What did you do this weekend?




Joining The Habit of Being.

Weekending

Dinner with friends
Putting the kids to bed in another house (win!)
Early morning wake up call (Truman, as always)
Breakfast, coffee and mate
Painting and dreaming
Making banana pops
Thrifting
Family Walk
Spending the day with Bon-Bon and John-John
Impromtu date with Eric (more coffee!)
Chicken Tacos
Sewing and mending
Church
Sunday Lunch
Quiet time
Cleaning and organizing
Sprouting Rice
Cooking Pintos

Playing in the rain
Taize Service (I went by myself! Silence!)
Jammies and book reading
Folding laundry, putting away laundry
Making muffins for breakfast
Sneak a applesauce muffin and a cup of tea
Listening to a book
Bedtime

Phew! What a weekend!

How was yours?

Joining the habit of being. 

Weekending:: in the quiet

This weekend was a real treat. We had no where to except dinner on Saturday and lunch on Sunday.  It was the quietness we need and togetherness that we love.

This weekend:
grocery shopping
journaling
crafting
lots of book reading
coffee at home, coffee at our favorite place
preserve eating
exploring herbal recipes
discussing lent
playing with friends
eating great food
learning to make Tennessee Tea (use lemonade instead of sweet and sour)
snuggling
laughing
soothing little ears (poor Truman)
a trip to the co-op 
a wintery road trip back home


How was your weekend?



Joining Amanda for Weekending.

Weekending: Aflame with Glory

I heard this poem this morning, on On Being. And it set my heart to singing.

Thanksgiving Day Prayer
by Walter Rauschenbusch (1861–1918)
For the wide sky and the blessed sun,
For the salt sea and the running water,
For the everlasting hills
And the never-resting winds,
For trees and the common grass underfoot.
We thank you for our senses
By which we hear the songs of birds,
And see the splendor of the summer fields,
And taste of the autumn fruits,
And rejoice in the feel of the snow,
And smell the breath of the spring.
Grant us a heart wide open to all this beauty;
And save our souls from being so blind
That we pass unseeing
When even the common thornbush
Is aflame with your glory,
O God our creator,
Who lives and reigns for ever and ever.

Have I ever told you the importance of Thanksgiving week in our little family. O wait. Maybe I have. So many life events that invite retrospective glances, but to have them all in a few day span every year, helps us mark time-- to come to this week with as much hope and expectation as we do New Years day, or the beginning of a new school year.

We started this week of so well... the group we eat Sunday lunch with came over to our house for Sunday dinner. And we had a holiday meal-- A Friend Thanksgiving. Ahh. I hesitate to say to much and perhaps my memories won't be as clear, beautiful. It was a beautiful evening.

So this week, be extra thankful. Let your memories serve you well. Give kisses and hugs, say your I love you's. Because being thankful isn't about the perfect turkey it's about all the common things that are aflame with Glory-- the people you see (or don't see) often that make the world go round.

May your heart be wide open to all this beauty this week.

What are you thankful for?

weekending

Today: The air has changed, there is the crispness in the morning that soared in with the falling leaves and the changing light.
We spent our weekend recuperating from a blistering week and we've so far met the day refreshed. A pot of tea, crepes in the sizzling in the pan.
Two round cheeked babes, still fuzzy from sleep are sitting at the table.

This weekend: 
Friday: Dinner with my best. Lattes + Watercolors.

Saturday: Early morning walk. Four littles, more water colors, paper and crayons. Soup and English muffins. Lamenting green tomatoes, but making green tomato sauce anyway. Menu planning and budgeting-- three meals a day all week long. Pizza and a movie night.

Sunday: Breakfast together. Church together. Lunch together. Friends together. An amazing dose of togetherness, just what my heart ordered.

How was your weekend?

Joining Amanda.

*The green tomatoes were mealy and bland, so I charged forward with sauce. 

K-i-s-s-i-n-g...

Two of my favorite little people, doing what they do best... mainly, loving each other.

Weekending: What Remains

Last weekend was encompassed by a certain vibe, if we named that vibe it would be: embrace the remains of summer.

We ate a thrown together meal of hot dogs, macaroni and cheese, spinach salad with grapes and broccoli (homemade honey mustard!) and pickles. We followed our meal with a bonfire and s'mores with crazy large marshmallows.

Saturday held a lazy breakfast, and a day in town, followed by one melt down and two birthday parties. Then we all floated to dream land together. 

Sunday was just as dreamy another lazy breakfast of monkey bread muffins (recipe below), pears and cups of coffee.  Church. Sunday Lunch with friends.

Later in the weekend, we took our last swim out at Paullina. It was warm, the beach was empty and there was lots of giggling.

These two girls love each other so. It's been amazing to watch them grow.

And at the end of it all, I wasn't begging for more weekend (though I'll always take more), I was really content for the weekend we had and excited for the week ahead of us. And isn't that what weekends are for? Giving some time to stop, regroup, rest and then propelling us forward?


**********

Monkey Bread Muffins
1 Can Grands homestyle biscuits
1/2 Cup White Sugar
1/2 tsp Cinnamon

Glaze:
3 tblsp Butter
3 tblsp Brewed Coffee
1/4 Brown Sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon

Cut the biscuits into 1/8ths or smaller (about nickle sized pieces). In a shallow bowl, combine sugar and cinnamon. Roll biscuit pieces into the sugar/cinnamon. Fill lined muffin cups with pieces (about 6 per cup).
On medium heat in a skillet or saucepan, melt butter, mix with brewed coffee. Once combined, add brown sugar and cinnamon. Wisk until sugar is dissolved and bubbling.

Spoon glaze over each 'muffin' (about 1/2 a tablespoon).

Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until golden brown.

Turn out gently, the sugar glaze is very hot!

Mud Baths

Saturday, while Eric was at the grocery store and I was finishing the last of the vacuuming. I got a knock on the back door. And I was greeted by this.

Muddy-muddy children.

Laughing with delight at their filthiness! They were 'playing in the sprinklers' with their beloved next-door neighbor friends and after an hour or so, this is what it evolved into.

And instead of get angry at their mess, I grabbed my camera and a towel for their track-making feet!

And we laughed together while they regaled me about their mud-slinging adventures.

First they got to rinse off all the grass and mud. Then we washed the tub. And then they took a real bath.

And I got the mud out of their swim suits. Hooray for me! And they are still talking about how dirty they got. Hooray for them!


**********

Just a reminder about Revisiting Sanctuaries, spots are filling up. So join today!

Weekending

Friday night dinner with around our kitchen table with friends.

Saturday morning park date and donutless-bakery date. Heat-induced-mild-crabbiness from 5 kids.
Lazy, quiet time afternoon. Cool sheets, special snacks and a oasis from the heat afternoon movie.
A mud bath with the beloved neighbor kids.
Mama cleaning the house. 
A rinse off bath then a bubble bath post mud bath.
A late night visit from two of my favorite women-- while our Men were out together.
Sangria and coffee plus waaay-past-bedtime-children-wrangling. 

Sunday morning quiet with a visit to church.
Pork ribs, cheesy-rice and fruit salad for lunch. Simple. 
Another lazy quiet time-- a stack of books with my boy. 
A visit to our favorite pond, meeting some favorite friends by happy accident.
Hours wading in the water-- splashing, laughing.
A quick picnic.
A sunset drive home.
Time for bed.
Laundry to wash, dishes to be done.
Reading out loud, knitting away.
Waking up to a thunderstorm-- snuggle down into safe warm bed for sleep.


How was your weekend?


Joining Amanda.

Newsday on a Tuesday!

My brain is kind of confused about what day this is-- but I'm glad to be back in the swing of things and refreshed.

We spent the long weekend camping. We needed a break. A break from everything. I think more than anything we all needed some good food, sleep, fresh air and physical exertion. Funny. I already know this is what we need, I just need to remind myself once in a while.

Before this weekend, we had a crazy crazy few weeks. My family visited and it was so good to have them! Then two weeks of running around... plus the Isabel had swimming lessons (She passed Level ONE!).

And when we got to our destination, it as if we went from running crazy to a complete stop. And um... it didn't go well. I think we spent the day and a half detoxing the crazies out of our life. But once that detox was over-- we finally had a really good trip. I feel so bad for our camping neighbors who heard,"Truman, lay down. Truman, it's not time to get up yet. Isabel, no more crying..." Grr... I digress. We made it, and we have some great memories too!

*********
I just want to let you know a couple things:

Revisiting Sanctuaries is FINALLY going to start. Sign ups are now through Wednesday, July 13th. It starts July 18th. Please join us! If you want to see what the class is about you can read an excerpt here from Rhythm of the Home.

Rhubarb Sangria--- amazing, I posted it over at What am I Cooking?


*Um, yes, I haven't uploaded my pictures yet. This photo was from our last camping trip! 

happycampers: Stovetop Lattes

Are you going camping for the holiday? I was just day dreaming about our three day trip coming up. Three glorious nights listening to the wind, the rain, birds and other campers. Tent sleeping and outdoor-fresh air-first-thing-in-the-morning-warm-latte drinking.

Whaaaat you ask? Lattes in the wilderness. If you travel with us,Yes!

To make our camp stove lattes-- all we need to bring extra is our Moka pot. We like to pack light, so I'm glad the Moka is small.

Do you have a Moka pot? We love, love it. It's stove top, compact and easy to use. I got ours on ebay a few years ago for $9 bucks. It brews espresso-strong coffee and we mix it with whisked milk with just a hit of sugar. Camping coffee at it's finest. (Brewing tips here).

And recetnly, we needed to invest in a camp stove. For the six years we've been married we've made do without one. I'm not sure how. We really only had one style in mind, when we went to get it --the green Coleman Stove just like my parents but when we got to the store, we found that they were all sold out. We tried the next best thing a Coleman Fold'n Go 2-Burner Stove.

And after a few uses, I think I can say we love it. It cleans super easy, cooks evenly. And the only thing I look for next time is a wind screen, but I'm sure we can rig something up.

So if you are in the wilderness having a hankering for a latte, stop by our campsite. We'll make you one for you on our new stove! My kids will even wash your dishes....