Flaglines

I must share with you one of my favorite things that decorates my home, my flaglines.  They are hand sewn by Karie from workermade.  My favorite is the one that hangs in our entryway with the word LOVE.  I also love the Blessings one that's hangs on our front porch.  I love giving people positive messages and I can't think of better ones than love and blessings!!!  My sister had Karie make a set of flaglines with little Avery's name on it.  They really add to a room. 

 

 Yesterday I felted all day and when I mean all day, I mean all day! My hands never stopped. When cooking I would felt while waiting for water to boil,  when talking on the phone still felting and so on. I even contemplated felting in the bathtub but figured the steam might affect the wool.  The project I loved working on the most was a giraffe. He is not complete and I have to tell you that felting spots on a giraffe is a LOT of work.  I am falling in love with him.  He will be another project that I will not be able to part with.  To be worth my time I would have to sell him for a lot of money.  Some felting projects do take a long time to accomplish and it is for this reason that I like to give workshops.  Workshops are great on many levels. They give the felter an idea of the time it takes to make a work of art, they give the felter the joy of felting something of their own and they gather people together to bond and connect.  As humans we are social creatures and love to create ties and friendships.

 

Another project I finished are these balls and bird.  I am a felting maniac and addicted for sure.

I hope your Christmas preparations are going well. It's not far now and I am very excited about spending Christmas with Zoe, Owen and my parents.  love to you!

Pattern Interupt

Here I am in the cabin in the hills, surrounded by trees and facing a small lake that's covered with ice. It's snowing, there's a fire burning and I feel very cozy and happy.  Later it's going to be time for a snowshoe adventure.  Zoe and Owen are with Rob (my ex) and my life of laundry, kids, and so forth has been put on a hold for a day of rest.  At times I still mourn my concept of my family living under the same roof.  I feel torn between my life as a mother and my life as me without kids.  The kids are shared 50/50 between their mother and father.  They seem to be adjusting well and yet at times my heart pulls with sorrow at not being able to give them their father and mother together in a happy relationship. I wonder if it's a feeling I will always have or that throughout the years will dissipate.  I guess time will tell... All that said my life is full of wonderful people and I do love this life as a single mom that I have created for myself.  I love my family of 3, my daycare family and the community of friends and family that surround me.

My needles and wool are here with me. I can't seem to put my needles down.  If I am not making something I feel a little out of sorts.   I plan on giving my family members something made from my hands this Christmas.  So I sit here felting birds looking out the window, watching snow falling and I feel good.  I feel gratitude for all that life  brings me.  I truly live a blessed life.  I feel it. I love it.  May your day be blessed with adventures and gratitude for whatever it is that blesses you in this moment.

 Before leaving you, I have to add that our new friend Alfie Wizzle the elf has been really fun to have around.  Again it's my eldest Zoe who is most curious of all. On Friday she swore she saw him move and was convinced that his smile was bigger than the previous day.  He even has me enamored.
Ciao for now...

The Elf on The Shelf

 We have a new friend living with us. His name is Alfie Wizzle, he is red and an elf.   When we arrived from the bus stop yesterday afternoon we found a book on our doorstep.  The kids were perplexed as to how it got there.  The title read "The Elf on the Shelf".   We entered the house in great excitement and showed the other daycare children the book and the mystery of it's arrival continued.  Even before reading it we agreed that the Elf had brought it.

We read the book about the elf that lives in our home. He looks over the children and reports to Santa at night and comes back in the morning in a different spot in the house.  If touched the elf looses his magic.  I loved watching the children get more and more excited about this Alfie (named by them).  They started searching the house for Santa's helper.  They were sure he lived in the Christmas tree and even said they could see a small red light about the size of dime hiding in the branches and was sure it was him.  I loved that their imagination saw him in the tree!  That is how big children's imaginations are, they can see things that aren't there!  Eventually they spotted the real elf in his red suit, sitting on the window sill.

He was the object of much speculation.  Zoe my eldest who has decided this year she is a non-believer of Santa Claus really had lots of questions and was the most curious.  She really wants to believe and I don't blame her. She asked many questions and really wanted to touch him.  I still remember when and miss those days when her daily dress was dress up clothes.  I love watching her grow and at the same time I want her to keep her magical fairiness. 

 

This morning the elf made his way into our felted stocking, hanging in the entryway.  I love catching the children looking up at him! 

Things are starting to look more like Christmas around here.  That feeling is in the air.  As much as I have an issue with the commercial aspect of this season I definitely love the magic!

Merry Christmas!

All in a Day

Today is Wednesday and I love Wednesday. First of all it's a hump day and hump days are so much fun.  Second of all it's my day to go to teach yoga to Owen's grade one/two class followed by teaching Zoe's grade 3/4 class.  This is definitely a highlight of my week.  To have a group of about 20 children sit in a circle, breath deep and get centered is the most beautiful thing.  Today in Owen's class we lined up in 2 lines, facing one another forming a human tunnel with our hands held up high palm to palm connected with our partner.  We closed our eyes and got centered.  The fun part was turning around in a 360 degree circle to find our partner's palms once again.  The young yogis and yoginis were very centered and focused.  To finish our "game" one person took a turn walking down the human tunel that we created. As the person passed through each child gently touched the child walking through. It was beautiful.  The energy of the room was very quiet, with a special  quality that is difficult to describe.

Zoe's class is older and fun to teach in that we can discuss the human body as we go through the postures.  Today we talked about breathing with a long deep breath so that on the inhale the upper belly expands and contracts on the exhale. It's amazing that 8/9 year olds already breath with a tight breath and the opposite of how we were born breathing.   In learning to breath effectively we can change our state of mind and body energy level.   It's as simple as the breath.  This class is full of boys and it's a little harder to keep them focused but when they are the energy in the room is quite powerful.   What I like to evoke in these classes is a sense of confidence in themselves, body awareness, respect for themselves and others and so much more.

By the time those classes are finished it's 09:30 and I wisk over to Rama Lotus to teach the baby and mom class at 10:00.  Needless to say this class is so much fun!  The babies are cute.  I must admit that at times I can feel some maternal stirrings but know that I will stay a mother of 2 :)

Now I am sitting at my desk, daycare is going on downstairs and I am gearing up to clean and organize my upstairs space.  I  have been so busy felting that things need a little TLC.  When the day rolls around to 18:30 I will be teaching a 20 minute yoga class followed by a felting workshop, then sleep, phew!

I hope your day is as fabulous as mine!

I leave you now with a photo Mei Mei painting the egg onto our home made pretzels.  This child is so sweet with eyes that sparkle and a smile that shines.

Night Terrors

Owen my 5 year old sometimes wakes up screaming in terror and it frightens me.  My attempts at consoling him are refuted by his stares into the unknown with a look of utter fright as he points into the dark void of his hallucination.   Whatever he sees in his minds eye has him completely terrified and my heart breaks as I try to console him. I have often wondered what it is that makes him so frightened.  I have felt frightened myself to see that my hugs and soothing words have no effect at breaking the barrier between illusion and reality.  Eventually 15 minutes will pass and so will the "episode". In the aftermath I lie beside him stroking his face and hair as tranquility once again sets upon his face.  In these moments I wonder and fear that he is troubled in some way.  I worry that his parents separation is "damaging" him.  All these thoughts that plague me.  I say this to you in knowing that if you are a mother, there is a part of you that understands what I am saying, understands the responsibility that we feel to raise emotionally healthy children.  I feel the responsibility and sometimes I feel like I fall short of my expectations.

In a recent conversation with my sister Mad, she said that her son Ian also experiences episodes of waking in terror and it's called night terror.  It feels nice to hear that there is an explanation to his crazy wakings in the wee hours and his frightful screams of terror.  Thanks mad for that light bulb moment.

Gathering

Wednesday 9 women gathered in my home and felted balls and angels.  A great atmosphere was created as conversation flowed freely and hands were busy at work. There was an eclectic group of women from a midwife, yoga teachers, homeschooling mom, and home daycare provider.  When I am with a group of people creating, talking about life, I am at my happiest.  I love learning from others and hearing other people's experiences.  It was all lovely and I am loving this hosting workshops in my home. It's been a dream of mine for many years and as this year is about being creative and living my dreams it all fits in quite nicely.

 
I fell in love with felting 4 years ago (I think, time can be very elusive for me).   My mad passion for barbed needles and wool began at a workshop for childcare providers where I learned to felt dolls.  I have had a love affair with this art form ever since.   Now my mission is to join community through creative expression.  So many people tell me that they are not creative and I always disagree with them.  I truly believe that we are all creative.  It is part of being human.  It is my opinion that when we put our creativity aside we create a void within ourselves.  I could keep on going but that will have to wait for another time.  I have been so busy lately that I am surprised my head is still on straight.  My plans for the next 24 hours is to go hang out with my dear friend in his cabin in the woods, go for a walk in the forest and warm up by the fire.  I am sure there will be a little felting in there somewhere ;) Have  a great weekend and see you soon!

Christmas stocking

 Here are the concentrated faces of children hard at work. You might remember us sewing some stockings last year that were hung on our seasonal wreath.  Well I had forgotten about last year's endeavor and Grey (above) reminded me a few weeks ago of the fairies who left chocolate in our handmade stockings.  So this year we continued the tradition!