Saturday, November 27, 2010

{i n h a b i t} Thanksgiving

I have so many things to be thankful for right now. So many little things that make up a home; an experience. It's the things that mean everything and cost nothing. The gentle togetherness that lends itself to laughing and memories. It reminds me that these things can be recreated everyday, all year long.

Homemade Decorations



Ladies Baking


Beautiful Food




A Special Place For Everyone To Sit



All these things inspire me to make every time we share a meal or an afternoon together into something special, something worth remembering.

I'm linking this post to {i n h a b i t} at the little list. Check it out.

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

stART - What happens in November?


This week for our story + art project we read "In November by Cynthia Rylant"


Now, I usually set out a selection of books for the kids to choose from when we do a stART project. But this week I really wanted to do this book. So mom got to choose. It's a sweet story about what happens in November. From the animals burrowing down to families getting together to share a special meal. What really drew me to this book though was the beautiful illustration of Jill Kastner. The pictures were so lovely and inspiring that we each made a painting of our own about the wonderful month of November.





And in other, slightly off topic news. I have my camera back!! The body of the camera ended up being fine, it was only the lens that was broken.  Still not the cheapest thing to need replacing but better than a whole new camera. So I'm thankful for that.

Until next time.....
~Kayte

Friday, November 19, 2010

{i n h a b i t} learning by example

Some mornings start earlier than I want them to. I’m burrowed comfortably under my mounds of covers when I hear the tell tale patter of little feet down the hallway. After debating whether or not to ignore them for a few more minutes, I drag myself out of my cocoon of a bed in search of three. And when I find them my mood changes like the tide. All tiredness and irritation are swept away by the three of them peacefully inhabiting this space called home. 



So I stumble into the kitchen to make coffee and hot chocolate before asking to join them in their little space to enjoy the early morning.



This post was inspired by the new {i n h a b i t} series going on at The Little List. This is one of my favorite blogs and I highly suggest checking it out if you haven't already.


Until next time.....
~Kayte

{this moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.  A la SouleMama, Head on over and join in the comments, there are so many great moments.

 Until next time.....

~Kayte

Thursday, November 18, 2010

A Handmade Holiday

The closer we get to December I find myself thinking a lot about gifts this year. Specifically, how many things would be homemade versus what we would purchase. I usually make a few gifts for family members but this year I've been thinking about doing a little more. After spending a whole afternoon in a mall yesterday I finally decided to commit to an idea that's been bouncing around in my head for a while.

A handmade holiday.
*or at least 90% handmade:) *

Now I don't think it would be possible for me to actually make gifts for everyone. So whatever I'm not making myself will either be handmade by someone else or something purchased from a fair trade retailer. The only exception to this will be one gift for each child, like the pillow pet Ezra has been asking for. I've been making my lists and have decided to dedicate each Thursday to updating everyone on how my handmade holiday is progressing.

The first thing I've started is Chez Bepper Bebe's Spelling beanbags for Mateos. I can't even tell you how much I love her blog. Her tutorials are really well done and easy to follow. Unfortunately the broken camera situation means no good pictures of this project yet. But here are a few of the fat quarters waiting to be used.


And for the "not made by me" but made by some fabulous artisans from around the world I've been checking out Ten Thousand Villages.


Everything they sell is fair trade and extremely well priced. I've already picked out a few things that would make great gifts for friends. 

Hopefully next week I will have my camera working again so this whole show and tell will be more exciting.

Until next time.....
Kayte



To the mall we went

Yesterday the kids and I spent the day in NY with my sister and her little guy. And we ended up taking the kids to see Santa in the mall. Now this is the first time I've done this since Jael was a baby, so it was a pretty novel experience.

Here they are posing with Santa and their cousin William.

 
Cheesy but fun. Do any of you visit mall Santa?
 
Until next time....
~Kayte

Oh camera of mine, what terrible fate has befallen you?

I love my camera. And if you've been following my blog you can no doubt tell that it's with me all the time. I just genuinely enjoy taking pictures; of my kids especially. But today my poor camera has had an accident.


It's never good when your three year old whispers in your ear that the camera is broken.

Apparently Mateos was being a little too rowdy in the office this afternoon and knocked the camera over onto the floor. I have no idea yet if it's fixable or if I'll need to replace it. Either way I'm missing it already.

But I'm looking at this as a perfect chance to model right responses to the kids. My first instinct was to freak out when I saw the camera lying on the floor. I just stood there for a minute wanting to cry but somehow I kept it together. I may have gotten a little weepy on the phone with the Mr. Later, but the kids saw me composed, which I'm thankful for.

Now it will be a challenge for me to see how much I can document with my camera phone :)

Until next time.....
~Kayte

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

The end of soccer season & decorating with fall leaves

To my utter delight we’ve managed to draw out the last few tepid days here with some fun outdoor activities.  We all enjoyed Jael’s last soccer game. The boys managed to entertain themselves quite well. They literally just raced each other back and forth across the field for an hour.


We also worked outside on a fall leaf mobile to decorate our front porch with. The kids had been helping the Mr. rake all the leaves up and I couldn’t help missing their lovely color across the lawn. So the kids and I gathered some up to string together. 



We liked the first one so much we added one to the dining rooms as well.


Until next time.....
~Kayte

Monday, November 15, 2010

A Night with Bob

I had planned on having an elegantly written piece today on the wonder of seeing Bob Dylan live, but the only thing coming to me is:

Oh my gosh, it was so amazing, 
my face hurts from smiling so much, 
Oh MY Gosh.....

Which honestly could go on and on. But I will spare you all. It was really a fantastic show. He played some of my personal favorites, which was especially nice. Hands down though, the best moment had to be singing along with him to "Like a Rolling Stone". It was one of those nights you'll never forget.

It was super hard to get any pictures because of where we were standing and my being relatively short. But here is one that you can some what make out the stage.


Of course I had the Mr. buy me the concert poster. Which is getting framed and going to find a place on my bedroom wall.


Now it's back to buisness for me.

Until next time.....
~Kayte

Sunday, November 14, 2010

Dreams Fulfilled

Most people go through life with a list, be that mental or actually written down, of the things they dream of doing in their life. One of the reasons I'm pretty MIA on bloging this weekend is because one of my dreams is becoming a reality.

Tonight!!!

I'm finally getting to see my all time favorite musician live. I don't think I could even convey how much this means to me. Dylan's music has been a life long companion for me and seeing him live has been a dream since childhood.
All I can do is be me, whoever that is. - Bob Dylan

 I will be back tomorrow to let you guys know how amazing it was and whether or not I got teary eyed :)
Kayte

Friday, November 12, 2010

{this moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.  A la SouleMama, Head on over and join in the comments, there are so many great moments.

 Until next time.....

Kayte

stART

This week saw us starting some Thanksgiving themed books and crafts. We've been reading,



It's a chapter book so each day we've read a few. Since this story got us thinking and talking about the things we are thankful for I decided that we should make a thankful centerpiece for our craft.

I grabbed one of the less attractive pumpkins I had laying around and began craving like I would for a jack o lantern. I also added a P for our last name.



Once it was all cleaned out I took some flower foam and cut it down to fit into the pumpkin.


Now that the grown up part was done the kids gathered some fall foliage to decorate our pumpkin with.


We just added until it looked full enough. Using the foam to hold the sticks into place.


Then we painted some wooden skewers brown so they would match our fall colors.


I helped them attach some dried leaves onto the sticks when they were dry.


Then the kids wrote out a couple of things they were thankful for. Then we cut it out and pasted our thankful lists onto the dried leaves.


Our thankful leaves were added to the bouquet. Which we're now enjoying on the dining room table.


The things the kids decided to write were quite interesting. Jael was thankful for her home and family. Ezra was thankful for being born, it was too cute when he said that, art and school. Mateos was thankful for his first mother and fruit snacks. I'm planning on having them add more thankful leaves as we get closer to Thanksgiving.

Until next time.....
Kayte

I've also linked up to Read.Explore.Learn
& abc and 123 Show and Tell

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Dedicated to fun

When I finally kicked my but into gear this morning things turned out quite nicely. I've been kind of upset with myself for not having many extra activities planned for this week. But with the upheaval that travels brings I've decided to give us all a pass for the week. So after doing "Power School" (which is what I call cramming as much into two hours as possible) we dedicated the rest of the day to fun.

Brownie Cupcakes


Megamind 
*Which was super awesome. I think I loved it even more than the kids*


A funny side note is that Jael lost a tooth in the middle of the movie.


Then we spent a leisurely time browsing for books.



And we finished the night with a spot of paper dolls.


Then it was grown up dinner time.


Until next time.....
Kayte

Right Now

There is school, activities, and maybe even a fun outing planned for today but Right Now all I want to do is stay here.


Inspired by the Making Life. Check it out, it's very good.

Until later ;)
Kayte