Late August - school, pony and puppy

Well, School for us starts next week. We've had a fairly busy summer. Helping with camp.
Renaissance Faire - which was "so long ago" that I've forgotten about it! May it was :)
A new pony - yes - a pony. The opportunity came up and sometimes when that happens you take it and run. Even thought we had said next year at the least. Oh well.
His name is Lucky and he's doing much better. Getting used to Rowan being in charge and I think by next summer they'll be ready to do a couple of shows....

There's also been the addition of a new puppy - He was 8 weeks old - yep - and he's and American Eskimo - very, very cute! He's for my 6 year old who was feeling kind of left out since the big sister hardly lets her TOUCH the pony.. Siblings.. She has named him Winter.
I did say anything BUT Snowball - oh well - she's 6!


I think I have our school "curriculum" worked out.. For Jaia -she's going to learn to read - I've been told that it's not fair ! Rowan can read, mommy can read, daddy can read but Jaia cannot read! I think it's time to remedy that! :) Although I really dread the independent reading... I hope she still wants me to read to her. Also math and art for her. Science and History will come after the new year, after the reading is down.

For Rowan - math -6th grade, History Story of the World - book 3, science - chemistry to start....
Art projects, we'll work on writing, spelling, grammar, and geography - that's a ton of stuff to fit in.. No worries - it's not all daily and we work in 6 week blocks -

It will be very interesting - this year I'm officially teaching 2 children - Last year Jaia was not ready -even though in school she would have been in kindergarten..I always wait until they loose their first teeth or they turn 6 -

My goals this year, for me personally - are to start my yoga again - I've gotten VERY LAX! Part of it is this darn computer! So goal 2 - less computer time . goal 3 though is to blog daily or at least every other day to start. goal 4 - give the girls the best schooling opportunity they can have - all the while, while sewing, cooking , baking and generally being a good mommy.
And working 16 hours a week :)

Have a great monday!

Updates

Well it's been weeks and weeks and we've been very busy here in Missouri....
I've been making some cute bags for my Etsy shoppe and we have a new addition to our family:)
His name is Lucky and he's 17 years old and a very ornery boy.
He needs a bit of work on his listening skill... as does the other 2 children in my house hold. But my girls are very excited and my eldest is LOVING having "her" own pony.... Really it's for all of us
but she is having a very hard time sharing him with her younger sister... Of course :) All will work out in the end - I have no worries.
I've very much enjoyed watching my youngest, who's 6, blossom from a very much stay next to mommy type of personality, to a wonderful little girl who has no qualms about going out with other friends at the barn to get their horses and help brush, clean hooves and what ever else the nice person will let her do. It's been fantastic to watch and I've had NO problems adjusting to the new girl :) I was ready for her to be a bit more independent but I just needed her to be ready.
I spent about an hour on Sunday cleaning brush and vines from our fence line. Where I discovered we have poison sumac - lovely.. but luckily I think I made it inside to wash off quickly enough - I only have a small line of itchies on my right arm. I'm hoping to clear out the annoying vines and plant flowering plants or veggies and herbs - anything but the vines and yew bushes that are out there now! We've also planned out where our spiral herb garden will go so now I get to start bringing in soil and manure for planting.....
I hope everyone has a wonderful week!

sarah

Happy 4th!

I hope that everyone had a wonderful and safe 4th of July!! As always the girls and I spent
the day with my parents (it's also my mother's birthday), brother and sister. It's always
interesting when I spend time with my siblings - I love them dearly but we have completely different views on everything! My sister is pregnant with her first child and is very "main stream" and I have 2 girls, 6 and 11, whom I breastfed, co-slept with, carried in a sling for years and didn't do "normal" baby food with at all... I can't wait to see how the next 7 months go, if they ask me for advice or take any of my experiences into consideration at all.. I know that vaccinations are and always have been a point of contention for them/us. I don't do them at all - they just scare me to death - and no the actual diseases don't scare me at all... I hope that the just do their research and go into the whole vaccination thing informed. When you have an overwhelming urge, instinct, feeling that your daughter will never be the same child she could be if you vaccinated then as a mother you go with that feeling. I went cold and had this feeling. We've never even considered a shot. And my children are completely healthy, no health issues, no behavioral issues, no allergies etc....
I'm sure my brother in law thinks we're horrible parents because of this and because we homeschool! If it's not mainstream we've done it! I'm sure he also thinks the fact that our second was born preemie was somehow our fault too.. but I'm not sure.

On another page... we're contemplating purchasing our first horse/pony.. I can forfeit the money
I'm making at summer camp to pay for a pony and then since we also work every Wednesday at our friends barn most of our monthly fee would be taken care of.. It's something we still have to discuss, my friend and I, (and I'm horrible at talking through things - it's cause terrible problems with my hubbie and I).
We've been there since she took over and for the first year didn't get paid for anything, wouldn't accept payment and wasn't really expecting anything in return.. But now I'm wondering if that shoudn't count for something or if this is just business and we shouldn't get special favors..
My oldest is ecstatic at the thought of a pony and she's been told that she is responsible for helping - I am not buying her a pony - she will be responsible for him and she knows what we're going to expect from her.. We'll see... I'm leaning towards yes because we're the only one's there that don't have a horse and her 2 friends have multiple horses. It's been her dream since she started taking lessons. I would imagine we'll know by the end of the week.

Have a great day!

sarah

Another hot day!

Wow! Here in Missouri we're topping 100+ heat index again! It's so hard to enjoy anything when it's this hot. I took the girls to Missouri Botanical Gardens on Wednesday and we were there
by 9:30 and home by 11:45 - Just enough time to play in the sprinklers in the Children's play area
and get wet! We allowed the older 2 - both 11 years old - to wander the children's area - only the children's area (one way in and one way out) with walkie talkies.. No need to worry though - they would bounce back every 5 minutes or so to check in :) I guess they're getting "too old" for the children's area -
http://www.mobot.org/finn/default.asp
Such a fun place - I do have to admit we have a ton of fun, free (or free - ish) stuff here in St. Louis.
Even with our bad rap here :)

Have a great weekend and stay out of the heat if your in our area!

Happy Father's day!

To all you new and ''seasoned" Fathers out there - Happy Father's Day!

yeah - i'm posting!!

As I promised - posting today.
Well our day at Avalon was - again - a ton of fun! I got to ride Big Girl - the
farms Belgian.. tons of fun and boy my legs are feeling it now! But I rarely get
a chance to ride so I took advantage of the time I had....

Of course though, it rained!! A wonderful down pour with thunder and lightning to boot
for about 40 minutes! I loved it.. My girls, however, not so much.. My little sat on
my lap and covered her ears and my biggest held onto a friend's mom since I was
in another barn.. But it soon cleared up and out they went to play in the puddles and
practice Dressage in the outdoor arena...














Renaissance faire pictures coming soon!

Missing in action

I promise I will write more tomorrow! I've been so busy:)
Finishing school for the "summer" and Renaissance Faire have kept
us pretty busy for the past couple of weeks...
Summer camps at Avalon Horse farm are coming up soon and I'll
be making bags to sell there - hopefully... this craft/selling
business is rather new to me and so far disappointing.. I'm not selling
anything so far. But I know that it just takes time.. I'm one of those that
wants instant gratification and I get "down" when things don't go my
way immediately... I know... Take deep breaths, think positive selling
thoughts and things will pick up soon - right?

Anyway, I have a few things on my Etsy shoppe - Circles and Dotts....
check them out..

More tomorrow!

enjoy the day!

One more day!

Only one more day until the Greater St. Louis Renaissance faire starts!
http://www.stlrenfaire.com/
This is our second year volunteering in Kid's Kingdom and you'll have to keep
your fingers crossed for us that it doesn't rain!! We're also down to 10
volunteers in kids so we'll be very busy!
I have one fairy, one rowan hood and me:) Not quiet a peasant but
not nobility either - thank goodness:) I've decided to be a cloth trader's/
merchants wife...
Pictures to come - until then -
s

something finally in my etsy shoppe

I finally added something to my etsy shoppe! It's been there a week or so but I though I'd give it a push here also.
I love to make circle skirts and my 6 year old loves to wear them:)
They're her "dancing" skirts - gotta have a good twirl to them!

Hop over and see it...
http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=7239129 I think that will work although I'm not sure. If not then just put in CirclesandDotts under seller in the bar and it should come up.
I'll be adding something new this week and hopefully each week.

Hope everyone had a nice Mother's Day!

Attached

I am a huge fan of attachment parenting. I nursed each of my girls for 2 years - weaned them only
when they were ready and by 2 actually they were. My youngest didn't have "real" solid food until she was 1 and that was really only because she took pizza out of my hand and began to eat. Literally - I guess she really wanted that pizza:)
They co-slept in the bed with us for about a year and then slept next to us and didn't move out
of our room until they decided. My eldest decide one night when she was 3 that she wanted to sleep in her own room in her own bed and just did it .. No looking back :(
I never carried them around in a car seat - never - unless it was from the house to the car or vise versa. They were sling carried for YEARS - only until they got too heavy and until then the stroller was used more for our "stuff". I even home school!
But ever since I've gone back to work part time at a library last year my 6 year old has been having serious
separation issues. Luckily though - not with my husband. Won't go play at friends houses with out me there, won't spend the night at Grandmas (which she used to do ) .
But yesterday I helped a friend fix some electric fencing in the middle of a horse pasture and since we didn't want J coming into the pasture/herd we left her at the fence. Mind you she could see us, talk to us and hear us, but that didn't stop her from standing crying at the fence for the 20 minutes it took us to put up the fence! She followed me around for the entire 7 hours we were there.. sitting on boxes while I cleaned stalls, calling me constantly if I walked out of her site for an instance.. you know - to go to the bathroom...
Even yesterday morning she was waiting outside the bathroom for me after I got out of the shower.. I know that this just a phase and that it too shall pass but has anyone else had these issues for a 6 year old?! I'm trying very hard to be patient - but my lovely girl - momma has got to have some momma time ! :) So in the weee hours of the morning I'm enjoying my momma time here starting my blogging career :) with coffee. and I will take many deep breaths throughout the day and hand out many hugs. Thanks for letting me vent a bit...

On a lighter note - this the skirt I just added to my etsy shoppe..
CirclesandDotts... right now this is the only thing I have but I hope to have more soon - right after I finish our Renaissance outfits :)
It's roughly a size 5/6.. J wears a size 5 pants and this skirt has elastic in the waist.
It's great for twirling and J has a least 3 others she HAS to wear when she dances. :)

Enjoy the day!

Tuesday

Another day. School in the morning and I have got to finish 3 renaissance costumes by
Saturday!

The girls and I are volunteering in our second year at the Greater St. Louis Renaissance festival this year.

http://www.stlrenfaire.com/index.html

I have a Rowan Hood, a Fairie, and a Merchant's wife (me) that I have to finish.
I doesn't help that I took mine completely apart yesterday because I could not figure out how to attach my bodice to the skirt without it looking awful. So now I've started over with my bodice - which really only takes an hour or so to finish - and no boning support this time I think.

This year my girls are the ONLY children in our group. I think this is going to be our make it
or break it year. No fun for me if they're not having fun too...

Tomorrow we get to go to our favorite barn - Avalon Horse farm and then again on
Friday where my friend and I will offer our co-op class. Hiking on the trails at Avalon.
That is if the rain stops and it's actually dry enough to hike. We'll see.

Pictures to come..
Have a great day!

busy, busy, busy

I saw this really neat guy while waiting to go into work the other night.. Very Cool!
He or She was eating dinner. I'm glad I didn't get a picture of the meal! I think she' a red tailed hawk but don't take my work for it.
I'm certainly not a bird expert!










Today we picked up sticks out of the back yard





So we could cut this very long grass!



And we found this Robin's nest in our car port. I looked up and was staring right into a georgeous birds eyes. I said "hello" and she promptly flew away frightened.. I hope she comes back.



And the girls cleaned and "sanded" this cute little table I found next to the road (about a year ago) so they can paint it with the colors left over from their rooms.. Pink and Blue.




Today we're off to our FAVORITE barn run by a friend.
Avalon - don't you love that name! where we will clean stalls, play in barns and secret passages and ride ponies and horses! We are so lucky to have this in our lives... Every one needs a barn to play at and be a kid in I think..

Enjoy the day! It's supposed to be in the 70s in Missouri today...

Busy Weekend

Wow - I had a busy weekend! These weekends completely throw me off.
I rarely have time to sit at home and breath! Friday we had our home school
co-op - Daisys for the little one. My big one could not find anything to suit her
needs or wants this year. Not even fencing, which I tried very hard to push.
Saturday was work for me and this Sunday was the one Sunday this month
I worked. I'm a library clerk. Simply put, I put books on shelves. You'll
usually find me with ear buds :)
Then, with the girls, immediately off to a party at our favorite horse boarding
barn :) Horses and Simon says.. What could be more fun to watch!
Home School meeting this afternoon and work again this evening.
Luckily tomorrow we get to stay home! We'll work on school work,
watch some school related videos, read, hopefully it will cease raining enough
so we can get some yard work done. Between raining, work and everything else
I've done little else than start my starters. Then art projects, dinner, violin,
reading on the couch - what could be better.

Happy Monday.

Intro

Just a pop in to say "hello"!