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.

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."

Project Life: January 2012

I love the idea of project life, but doing something daily or weekly seems a little too much for me. Plus, I LOVE the supplies. Well designed and systematic. And I know I'd go a bit crazy on them. In an effort to memory keep in a sustainable way (and save a bit of money)-- I thought I'd do one 12x12 page a month and share it with you here. So I can keep a record what joys we've had, perhaps at the end of the year I'll print them all and make a scrapbook.  O my, did I just say that?!

make believe: The kids went on a "date" pretending to be Eric and I. Isabel wore 'more jewelry than mom usually does' and Truman told her that their date was important, "makes us better mommies and daddies."

weekend visit: The four of us traveled up to visit Kerry and her beautiful family. There was lots of love, conversation good food and coffee. Next time, perhaps, Truman will sleep. That will make it waaaay more fun!

date in omaha: Eric and I took 24 hours to ourselves. He surprised me with a night away, a new outfit and my nails done. Then dinner at our favorite restaurant. I think this is where Truman heard the speech about dates making us better mommies and daddies. It's so true you know.

on a walk: In the first week of January, we took a walk to visit Grandma Bonnie and Grandpa John. It was very cold so Isabel decided to wear everything she could fit on her body. She loves layering you know. It makes Truman's wardrobe of hat, gloves, coat, scarf seem so... simple.

snow play: Eric and Isabel made their first snowman together. Truman and I stayed warm and baked chocolate applesauce muffins. Then we made faces as they threw snowballs at us.

ready for bed: One night we cut Isabel's hair before bedtime. This photo of Truman clowning around (:

garden planning: Sketchbook Saturday Morning a few weeks ago, Isabel decided to plan the garden for next year. So she drew everything she would like us to grow. We're going to have to think about bananas and plums. I'm not sure we'll be able to have a exotic orchard in the back yard.

grand arrival: My bestest friend had a beautiful girl. And they sent us their Christmas video. What a treat. Oh I cried when I saw that new little bundle. Truman kept kissing the ipad screen. I can't wait to see her in March!

adventure: We were on our way to Sketchbook Saturday Morning looking for patches of snow to stop in. And half melted puddles to jump in. What a good combo for a 4 year old adventurer.

sketchbooks: We love our Sketchbook Saturday Morning. A few hours of relaxation, coffee, books, coloring, knitting.


This template is from Rebecca Cooper, a month in photos. I've made a few edits to it.

Scenes from California

Playing in the sprinklers is a thrill in October!

We traveled a bit the last few weeks... staying 10 days in California with family. Here are some of our favorite scenes from the trip (a few more posts to come!).

During a blackout, we lit candles and antique lanterns.

Grandma P's beautiful roses.

This is the scene from my run. Foothills and sunset surrounding me!

Playing at the park with Papa

Doing crafts with Grandmommy