Organizing the Play Space

A few months ago, I began to realize that despite our focus on keeping just a small number of toys available for the boys to play with at one time, there was beginning to be more than could be neatly organized on the one small shelf of our living room end table. We decided that a bookshelf would be the best way to organize their things in the small area between our kitchen and living room where we spend most of our time. We had a custom bookshelf made at a local store and then I finished it myself with some homemade jojoba oil and beeswax polish (instructions here). The polish worked great and I think I may like it better than the kind you can buy. The shelf turned out really lovely, and was just what we need to open up this area while allowing for organization and room to play. The top of the bookshelf is now home to our seasonal display and a basket of books that are currently in rotation. We keep several seasonal books and a few favorites in the basket at a time, rotating the favorites in every couple weeks. The rest are stored away in a closet 'library' awaiting their turn. We have a similar, smaller 'library' for toys that are not currently age appropriate for either of the boys. In the coming months, we will return Isaac's baby toys and teethers to the library and bring out the puzzles and shape sorter.

The top shelf has a basket of wooden animals, a basket of knitted animals, some large shells we found while on vacation on Sanibel, and a soft doll. The middle shelf contains some stacking toys, a basket of various sized soft balls, and a small laundry basket with colored silks. Basically, things that are safe to be pulled off without hurting a certain little creeping baby. On the bottom shelf are all things wheeled and Isaac's little basket of teethers and rattles. The small train and its track hang out in a basket alongside the shelf. These few toys, along with Noah's larger wooden train, the play kitchen and pushcart are plenty to keep the boys busily at play.

I am loving this newly organized play space. Keeping similar items in their own space or basket makes it easy for Noah to help clean-up and get everything back to its special place at the end of the day. Even Isaac knows where to go to find his little basket of toys. I also love how it has opened up this little corner of the living room and we can now walk through and into the kitchen without having to go around the other side of the couch. More importantly, the boys are loving it, and will hopefully spend many hours playing happily here while I work nearby.

Everything Grows!

We returned from a week-long family vacation in the north woods filled with water activities, yummy food, and relaxation to find lots of growth in our garden. It is amazing what some warm weather, lots of rain, and a week away will do!




There were a few weeds too, of course, but nothing that 10 minutes of pulling couldn't handle. Actually, I found that they are much easier to pull when they are a bit bigger. We have been enjoying lots of lettuce, and I tried my first recipe with swiss chard: a beef stew with mushrooms, carrots, and swiss chard, served over quinoa from The Whole Life Nutrition Cookbook. Now I need to figure out what to do with our bush of Italian Parsley.

I was suprised to see a few blossoms on the alpine strawberries that I started from seed. Of the three varieties I started, this one (called Fresca) seems to be the most hardy and is the only variety with blossoms so far. Now we just have to keep an eye out for berries and either fight off the birds or build a cage for over the strawberry bed.

Some of the herbs were getting a little out of control, so I cut some to dry. The line in our hallway where we hang holiday cards is out of a job recently, so I turned it into an herb drying line instead.

While I can recognize the herbs in their natural form, I thought it may become difficult as they dry and shrivel up, so I made some pretty little labels with a leftover piece of a watercolor painting I did last year.

Now I just need to find some cute little spice jars. Maybe we will do a little thrifting/antiquing this weekend?

-Jen

Enchanted Forest Bedroom

Little by little we have been working on making Noah's room a more fun, relaxing and beautiful place to be. In doing so, his room began to take on an enchanted forest theme. When he turned a year old, I got this growth chart featuring a big tree and all the little creatures that live in and around it. It is so pretty it doubles as art.
Above his dresser hang three fairytale postcard prints; Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Star Money, and Little Red Riding Hood, all in frames made by Grandpa Ted. Below the prints is our nativity stable, now the home of Little Red's Grandmother and several knitted barnyard animals.

Next to Grandmother's house is a framed watercolor I did of the night sky with Noah's bedtime verse written on it. Behind the watercolor is a plant that is taking on the appearance of a small tree. This slow growing plant (I think it is some kind of bonsai) is virtually indestructible. Over the years, it has often been greatly neglected, going weeks without water and living in rooms with no sunlight. Yet it continues to grow. This past summer I re-potted it and covered the soil with green moss. Then, while on a walk, Noah and I found a little stone just the perfect size for this mini-forest landscape. It looked like the perfect spot for a forest gnome to sit and rest. Months went by, and still no gnome. Well, last night I finally got around to making one. He turned out a little bigger than I had imagined, but he seems comfortable on his mini-forest perch.

Finally, the biggest part of Noah's bedroom makeover happened this weekend. This is something I have been wanting to do for a long time, but Curtis was hard to convince. Actually, I am not sure I ever really succeeded in convincing him. I made an executive decision and just decided we would do it. A little over a month ago we gave it a try, but due to a bad mis-measuring incident, the project was put on hold for a while. Then, Saturday night, while Noah slept in our bedroom, we got to work. Many hours, the 'Mellow' playlist blasting from the speakers, and a box of Lemonade Girl Scout cookies later...

An enchanted forest mural! It is far from perfect, but from a distance I think it looks very nice. This was not a fun project, let me tell you. Despite measuring several times before cutting, the dimensions were still off by an inch on each side: too wide side to side, and too short on the bottom. How did that happen?! It turns out the ceiling is not exactly straight and the paper expanded unequally as we applied the paste and made crazy bubbles. Lets just say that the majority of our conversation during the 4 hours it took to put it up revolved around how much we would have paid to have someone else do it ($300 for me, Curtis was less at $100 - I think he is crazy!) But it was worth it in the end, and Noah's room was transformed into an enchanted forest!

I have more ideas for fun little projects to add to Noah's forest bedroom, but I think I need a little break after this project.

-Jen

Kitchen Nook

It is time to share another Corner of Our Home. It is one that we spent a lot of time in; our little kitchen nook. It is actually our entire dining room, but it is rather small and cozy, so it is pretty nook-like. I often feel that I spend the majority of my day here, either preparing meals, eating, or cleaning up after meals.

There are many things I enjoy about his space. I love the large rag rug which so cleverly hides dropped crumbs. I love the way the sunlight streams through the window sheers in the morning and how Noah pushes them aside to watch the children walk by on their way to school. I love the table itself, which was a wedding gift from my parents and is a custom handcrafted Amish table from a local furniture store. I love the rather whimsical chandelier that hangs above the table, with its dangling dew drop crystals and the recently added flying peace doves.

It is common to find seasonal nature tables in many Waldorf-inspired homes. This is usually a special table or window sill displaying seasonal items, often found in nature. For now, instead of a seasonal table, we have a seasonal center piece. This is both due to a lack of space and also to keep the pieces out of a certain little one's mouth. We always have a beeswax candle, which is often light during dinner. The other objects change with the seasons. Right now, there are some crystals, a pine cone, pine boughs, cinnamon sticks, and Mary, Joseph, and Donkey, traveling to the stable (in the living room).

Our center piece also includes a pot of paperwhites. What can I say about them? They are ever so pretty, almost like a bunch of little white stars. When the sun hits the petals, they almost glitter. But why, oh why, must they STINK!?

Another area of this nook that I have come to love is the window sill. For a couple years, it sat empty, but recently I have started adding elements to it. It is a bit of an extension of our seasonal center piece since it is out of the reach of curious little hands.

The window crystal creates lovely little rainbows around the room when the sun shines through it.

The frame is custom from Da Bear's Shop (a.k.a. my Dad) with one of last year's Christmas cards on display (maybe it's yours?). The little Willow Tree angel was gifted to me by a favorite and inspiring nursing instructor when I graduated from nursing school.

The best thing about this corner of our home is the time spent here together as a family. These days, Noah keeps us laughing through most of our dinner with his jabber-talk banter and clowning around. When he is not packing food into his mouth, one fist after another, he likes to tilt is head, cheek to shoulder, and grin at us until we do the same. His newest trick is reaching across his tray and trying to balance bits of food on his toes.

I hope you are taking time to decorate and enjoy all the little corners of your home this holiday season!

-Jen

Corners of Our Home

There is a group of photos on Flickr called Corners of my Home that is a "place to share the favorite little spots in your home - the spots that make you truly feel something - joy, peace, whatever it may be. It doesn't need to be a literal corner - perhaps just a nook or cranny or object." The purpose of this group is that we often don't think to take photos of the spaces that we know so intimately, and years from now we may find it difficult to remember our favorite spaces and how we lived in them. I thought it might be nice to start a set of photos dedicated to photos of corners in Our Quiet Place.

One corner that we enjoy is currently featured as the header of this blog because this is where we spend most of our days. This is where we sing, read, play piano, build forts out of couch cushions, play hide-and-seek, and just hang out. I also love how you can see our backyard and swing through the window, another space where we spend much of our time.

Another corner I love is our dresser, which is filled with things that remind me of our family and wedding. If you view it on Flickr, you can scroll over the photos to see my notes on this picture.

I also love this view of it, in a picture taken by Curtis when Noah was about 5 weeks old. This was our view for most of those first 5 weeks and beyond. I think I memorized most of the blessings written on our wedding photo from having read and re-read them while nursing Noah. Note the piles of burp cloths, cloth diapers, and blankets on the dresser.

So, from time to time, I will add photos of special corners of our home. Until then, maybe you could take a few moments to notice and perhaps photograph some special corners of your own home?

-Jen