::this moment::artist at work::

Stop by www.soulemama.com to view other moments or to share your own!

love bug love

Our house is infested...

with Love Bugs!

Inspired by the marvellous Margaret Bloom, I made my own versions. I couldn't get out to the store for flower stamen antennaes or sticks to create their little heart signs. I sneakily painted their hair, faces, and bodies while my girls played with play dough in the kitchen this morning! Then I glued the felt bits on this evening while they played in the livingroom. 

Even without the cute details, they're pretty darn adorable. I was so thrilled to receive a parcel from Bear Dance Crafts this week, and set to work immediately painting and gluing these little sweeties, for my children to find on St. Valentine's Day, and for them to give to their bus driver and teachers.

This year, my kids went wild with watercolour paints, covering big sheets of newspaper from which we cut heart shapes to glue on card stock. I printed a personal message on each card, and then they signed their names. We're pleased with how they turned out!

Much love to you, friends and followers, on Valentine's Day and always!

Yarn Along

Time with needles in my hand has been vastly curtailed by the arrival of Norah Dell, although sometimes when the circumstances are right (read: she is asleep in the sling and her older siblings are occupied) I've been known to knit while doing the rock-dip-sway that infants seem to prefer.

A rash of births amongst friends has necessitated the creation of many Aviatrix hats. I no longer use the pattern, so many of these have I knit...two a week for the past two weeks! It's just such a fun knit, and I'm especially enjoying using up bits of self-striping sock yarn to create these hats. The design is so clever and effective, and choosing a perfect button is a joy. 

I also started a slouch hat for myself, inspired by Soulemama, of course. I can't find the pattern and can't remember where it came from...will link to it some other time.

I finally ordered some patterns from the inimitable Linda Dawkins of Natural Suburbia. Check out her patterns at her etsy shop here. I'll be knitting a rainbow horse for Margot for her birthday (if I could ever get knitting after she's in bed and before I fall asleep)!

As for reading...well, I pop a Petzl headlamp on my head at night and read a few pages of Diana Gabaldon's Voyager before passing out. This is the fourth time I've read her series of seven (so far) books. And I love them, every single time.

Seed catalogues and gardening books are waiting for my attention, and I have a few books on order through Amazon and Chapters/Indigo. I'll write about those next week, where I can hopefully show you the progress on my horse!

Please stop by Ginny's blog to share your own Yarn Along!

39 years

Two months old...looking a wee bit like my youngest child.

My third birthday, wearing one of my mom's groovy 70s handmades.

My beautiful mother, lovingly feeding me. I remember the creak of that rocking chair, and my mother's scent.

My first home, out on the Queen's Line.

And another groovy handmade...

Thirty nine years ago today, I came into this world. I had two older sisters who loved me, and my parents named me Stephanie Rose (with the little pink toes). 

I had a happy childhood, full of homemade playdough, helping my mom bake, learning crafts, reading in the boughs of trees, and running the streets of my hometown with my little brother and best friend. 

I spent my teens activating for social and environmental change while also teasing my bangs, wearing too much makeup, and dating lots of boys. I went to France when I was 17, got drunk for the first time at 18, and headed to university at 19.

I became a teacher in my twenties but mostly spent my university years playing guitar at pubs and coffee houses and parties, being philosophical while smoking light cigarettes in cafes (especially when I lived in Belfast), then settling down in a rural schoolhouse in Ontario. Then I met my husband and the rest, they say, is history.

I am grateful to celebrate this new age in my life, the last year of my thirties. I would sum up that decade with one word: mothering.

I look forward to the coming year, and the next decade in my life with joy and anticipation!

Monday Musings: Celebrations

Joining in with Nadja at Patch o' Dirt Farm for Monday Musings!

Right now...I'm waiting for the baby to wake up. We just got word that the buses are cancelled due to freezing rain, so Jude is pretty pleased! Robin just came in from scraping off his car and tells me he could see Jude up in his room, wearing a pirate mask and fighting with his reflection in his bedroom window! We've already broken up a screaming fight between Violet and Margot. The kettle has boiled so I'm thinking it's time to make tea, although it feels like a coffee kind of morning!

This weekend...was full! On Saturday, Violet went to the National Arts Centre for a production called "Green Eggs and Hamadeus", part of a series of family concerts. She was so cute in her excitement, all dressed up for a date with her little buddy. I sent a small camera with her and loved seeing the photos she took. 

On Saturday night, we went out with my sisters, our husbands, and our parents to celebrate mom and dad's 45th wedding anniversary! Wine, steak, and a beautiful gluten-free dessert, with generous sprinklings of Norah-adoration made it a lovely evening. We are so blessed!

On Sunday, I lost ten years of my life getting the kids out the door to Mass. Jude will be making his first Communion this year, so we were invited to a Commitment Ceremony to renew the promises we made to him at his Baptism. Another ten years were lost in keeping Margot quiet and relatively still throughout the Mass. I realised that the pressure I feel for my children to behave in church has more to do with my own worries about others will think of us than with others' expectations. A friend and colleague approached me afterwards and reminded me of the blessing it is to see Margot so active and joyous, when a few years ago we were all praying that her heart surgery would be successful. I needed that bit of encouragement and perspective, and saw the experience in a whole new light. I've renewed my vow to get to Mass more often with my children, remembering that I am not always being judged as I fear I am.

When we got home I made some sushi, something I haven't done in a long time. I really enjoy making it, and cut up one roll for my family to sample. Jude and Violet used to love it when they were the only kids in the family (back when I had time to make things like that!) and I was pleasantly surprised to see that they still do!

The sushi was for a gathering at a friend's house to celebrate two birthdays (one is mine!). Guitars and singing, lots of drumming, and some divine potluck offerings, warm sunshine and a comfy chair, cats that love attention, and so much love and hugs poured out to one another...my soul was refreshed as it always is after spending time with these women (and one man)!

THEN upon my return, we celebrated my birthday with my parents. The girls were in party dresses and vibrating with excitement...they'd helped clean the whole house, tied helium balloons to my chair, and helped daddy make a cake while I was out with Norah! The kids gave me a microwave for my birthday because I'm always complaining that my coffee gets cold before I have time to drink it! When our old one broke I felt we could live without it...until we had another baby and I depend on warming leftovers etc.! 

Other gifts included seed bells for the birds, a bag of potting soil to grow some wheatgrass, and gift cards for a massage, pedicure, and facial! I'm thrilled. Self-care is at the bottom of the list these days, so my husband and parents chose well!

Some plans for this week: I'm hoping to gather with some other close girlfriends for a birthday celebration, and will be heading out to spend time with a friend who just added her fifth baby to her brood. Today I'll be making meals to bring, and hopefully my little one will let me hold HER little one so she can rest. My housework goals are getting the laundry sorted and starting to gather the odd boxes and bags of toys into one space to begin the great Toy Purge!

If I find some time for myself, I would like to...Haha...that's a good one. IF a moment presents itself these days, I like to just sit down for a moment. If I can read a few pages or knit a few stitches, it's a good day!

I am grateful for...The wood fire that continues to warm us through the late winter. Seed catalogues on the kitchen table. The voices of my children playing upstairs. This healthy baby that continues to delight everyone with her smiles and beautiful spirit. The willingness of my husband to continue growing with me in our marriage. The love and dedication of my children's teachers in all they do.

Some special prayer intentions for this week:  For two friends, one who is grieving the loss of her mother in the fall while caring for her large family, and the other who is adjusting to her new life as a mother of five.

Something that makes me smile: The image of  Jude sword-fighting his reflection in the window. Meeting my husband as he came up the stairs and I came down and enjoying a long hug until my milk started letting down and I bolted for the washroom so my shirt wouldn't get soaked! Plans for the day...putting out food for the birds and planting some seeds in the depths of winter.

fridge door

Mementos from a trip, bits of philosophy, or tiny piece of artistic expression, the magnets tht adorn a fridge door perhaps can tell you as much about a new friend as the books on their shelves.

...a bit of Tolkien with a 50s flair...

...a daily reminder from our son, with the word magnet to reinforce the message...

...a magazine message, magnified by a dollar store glass blob...

...or a picture from a children's storybook, stuck on a sheet of adhesive magnet reminding  me to hang on to the goat-farm dream...

...a bit of textile beauty used to cover an ugly "ad" magnet, and my famous "three Newfie boyfriends" magnet...

Together, they hold up so much beauty: photos of loved ones, bits of inspiration, and especially the artwork my children create each day.

What's on your fridge door?

inspired

Well, if last weekend I went through the wringer, this weekend I've been stuffed to the brim with good things. A Friday visit to the wonderful and always inspiring Wabi Sabi Wanderer started us off on the right foot...mess and chaos, with our eight children (one of hers was away for the day!) pulling out every single toy, the grown ups dirtying every single pot in the kitchen in pursuit of a lunch to meet all tastes, lots of baby snuggling and dressing and undressing the littles in and out of snowsuits. 

This lovely friend inspires in so many ways. Her grace and true enjoyment of mothering always lifts me up, and her home is so warm, quirky, and beautiful that I remember what life was like without toddlers and babies in the house: oh yes, I used to have plants and framed photos on end tables, too! I've started sorting through the many boxes that have been relegated to our attic over the past few years, and have already found some treasures that I hope to put out around the house again (until Norah starts to toddle, of course...)

She showed me a delightful little handmade she'd received from another blogger and told me where I could find the pattern. Well, after visiting this site, I ended up ordering more than just one pattern! I'm hoping that by next Christmas, the Natural Nativity will grace our seasonal table! I also couldn't resist the Halloween Hamsters, and the Initial Elves.

On the homefront, we've been doing a lot of art these days. After I spent an inspiring morning with the wonderful Genevieve Townsend, the kids have been into "doodling" (filling a defined space with experimental lines, colours, and shapes). I didn't quite finish my piece while in the session, and my children are always first to notice when I've found a moment to add a line or two. Watch for an upcoming blog post with an artist interview and giveaway, featuring Genevieve's beautiful work!

This blog post has had me smiling and giggling all week. Take a moment to look back through this mama's incredible journey with her sweet baby Lucy.

This blog post by the wonderful Danielle made me pause in recognition, and to wonder how many of us mothers hide our low times, whether we just feel blue, or experience true depression. Share it far and wide and hopefully it will encourage more women to reach out for support.

When I can manage to get the camera into my hands, I seem to be taking lots of pictures of this little lady (fresh from the tub). The lines and curves, softness and sweetness, dimples and rolls of a baby are endlessly inspiring.

My tendency towards all-day bedhead has me a bit camera shy these days, but I snapped one picture after being inspired by a beautiful picture my sister-in-law posted on Facebook of her as a baby, with her own mother who has since passed away. In it, her mother looks tired, a bit grubby in a sweatshirt, but radiant just the same as she bathes her gorgeous baby (my gorgeous SIL!). She glows with that unique mama-love. I know that that photo is now a treasure for my sister-in-law and have declared that I must have more pictures of myself these days, exhausted, makeup-and-braless and bed-headed though I may be most of the time.

Right now, Norah is napping, the house is quiet with all the older children off to Grandpa's farm with Daddy. I'm feeling inspired to get outside to photograph the astoundingly beautiful frost that trims everything I can see outside, before heading back up to the attic to continue the great Purge of 2013.

What inspires you these days?