Land's End Hooping

Land's End Hooping

This photo of me hooping on the Maine Seacoast was published on hooping.org today!  And, my hoopin' friend is moving right near me!  She teaches hoop classes and I can't wait to partner with her to bring more hoopin' love to Noblesville (plus I can pick her brain about tricks...)

blissful summer days

It's been a great summer and we'll continue to celebrate it for as long as possible.  i'm writing about our trip to the Jack Johnson concert, it will publish in the paper and on my writing blog next Tuesday, then the following week about our Summer Soiree.

Here's some of what we've been up to:

We made homemade playdough, which is the BEST.  We our batch with natural dyes--one with beet juice, one with blueberry juice.  Cool!

On a lazy Sunday we walked downtown and had a treat at Alexanders Ice Cream...

And stood on the vent eating it.  In the pink leotard and tutu!

The kids picked flowers and let them go fly over the vent.

We also saw Jack Johnson Friday, and had our Summer Soiree Saturday.  A beautiful weekend!

the 'hippies cook with herbs' party

As a change from our 'I'm not a dirty hippie' monthly parties, my friend Cortney offered to do a cooking demo with fresh herbs and lots of fresh garden produce. It was so very good, and very fun.

OK, I love this. Cortney brought her own Compost container.  This is the mark of a kindred spirit!  I love how she wrote 'compost' on both sides--to prevent children (and adults I suppose!) from snacking out of it. 

Also, the next evening I had my bookclub meeting and we met at my new friend Linda's, who only lives a few blocks from me (so nice to be able to walk to friend's houses).  I was amazed by Linda's house and yard--which in 2 years she's changed into a beautiful, beautiful garden.  And then...in her house as you go through the kitchen into the dining room, there is a small room that you walk through.  It could be used as a little office or similar, it's a small cozy space, and Linda has made it her yoga room.  And as if THAT'S not enough, she has written quotes all over the walls in silver paint pen.  Hey!  I said, Me too!  She is another kindred spirit.  I love it.

calvin is TWO!

I woke up this morning at 2:30 and thought of Calvin.  He officially turned two at 1:30-ish this morning.  Two years ago he was born here, right here just feet away from where I sit.  I still feel so amazed and grateful for another homebirth and it was oh, so beautiful.  I tear up just thinking about it.  My first post to this blog here was his birth story!

I wore Calvin today in the Ergo.  He asks to wear his bike helmet...just like the big kids (who are, of course, riding their bikes, not riding on my back).  He's also got his doll I made him, little Calvie.  I love this boy SO much!!

rummage sale finds and bricks

I love thrifting, and I've found the BEST place to find a lot of bargains in a little bit of time (cuz driving around to what often amounts to piddly garage sales and often leaving empty handed is not something I do much anymore) are church rummage sales.  There are five annual ones within a few miles that I try to hit every year, and one of them ended today so it was fill-a-bag-for-$3 day.

Here are some glasses we got (perfect for our party!) and some stick things.  I don't think they're chopsticks, but they're wood and Calvin had a good time sticking them in the glasses.  I got a metal bowl and the milk glass vase (can't.resist!) and the two toned pink vase, all shown above.

2 prs. of jeans for me, a homemade felt lion headdress, a green 'dress up' shirt, a towel...

a woven bag, a visor, tops, pants and dance outfit for Lily, 2 shirts, socks, and pants for Eric, and books...

...shorts, 2 shirts and jammie top for Grace...

A wood red barn and farm animals for Calvin

And I got these vintage books--all from the 50's.  LOVE.  Noticeably absent of the word 'Disney', too...

and all of this for the grand total of....are you ready??

9 bucks.  Heck yeah.

And then, Eric and I wondered how many bricks are in our sidewalks?  We did some counting.  Well, lots of counting.

And some multiplying, and determined that there are approximately 4, 418 bricks in our sidewalks, plus the approx. 500 bricks in our backyard for a grand total of 4, 918!

Yeah, it's only July, but think Green for Halloween!

I'm excited to announce that I'm a volunteer coordinator for the grassroots initiative Green Halloween!   I spoke to the founder, Corey Colwell Lipson, last week and I just love what she's doing here.  I remember last Halloween, again going through the dilemma of what to give out for trick or treat, because I loathe doing the normal candy thing.  We got silly at dinner with options like chunks of cheese, toothbrushes (actually a really good idea!!), fresh fruit, hard boiled eggs? to the way wacky idea of diabetic testing strips (from Rob).

Besides all the candy given out and ingested, there's all the trash generated, not to mention the cheapo trinkets that end up in the landfill almost immediately, and the cheap costumes that aren't meant to last, and the face paints that have lead and other harmful toxins in them.  I always say I would rather have one thing of quality over a bunch of inferior junk.  I know children feel the same! 
 
So, of course, I'm excited to do this--it's right up my alley.  Be sure to check out Green Halloween on facebook too (and 'like' it), as well as Celebrate Green, which is a book Corey and her mom co-wrote.  When I talked to Corey I mentioned that I'd recently been flipping through last year's December/January issue of Mothering and saw the article on eco friendly decor she and her mom had written.  Her mom has written many, many articles for Mothering, so Corey grew up with that magazine.  How cool!  (I'm on pins and needles waiting to hear from Mothering if my article will go from being on retainer to publication.  I won't hear until the last moment before it goes to print (and if not in the next issue, they'll hold it...up to six issues).  Oh, the suspense!!)

And here are some videos they've made, which are great.

summer birthdays & projects

Coolness--we found a 'toy' typewriter in a shop downtown--the kids are loving composing notes and stories and musings.  they are...interesting!

On Lily's birthday, which had identical weather to the day she was born--sunny, warm but not hot, low humidity--perfect--we walked over to our old house, where she was born.  I lingered and remembered the getting down on all fours once I was gripped by the realization that this was IT, the calmness Rob exhibited while arranging care for Eric, who was 2, and getting us all home, how my friend Kristin came and got on the phone with my midwife, while she and Grace got the birth supplies, how everything unfolded just as it should and the midwife arrived approx. 45 min. after Lily.  Now here she is, as beautiful and strong willed as ever, Lily Jane.

I had some presents in my cache that I could have given Lily, but Grace and Mamie had gone downtown earlier in the day and bought her a present--a poofy pink and purple wand--perfect for Lils.  She was delighted.  So, that was her present.  It was just right. 

Here we are browsing baby pics.

And the projects--Rob made me this table out of scrap wood years ago--till now it's been unfinished.  I had a gallon of paint I was itching to use, so I cleaned it up (it was the laundry table in the basement) and painted it, I put it on the porch and discovered it's a perfect table for the stools out there.

And I painted this free buffet/cabinet I got from a friend--I added knobs and handles that I already had, along with some little wood flower details I glued on. 

Here's my vintage cooler!

And the patio is done!  And it looks amazing.  I love it.  Thanks, Rob!