My Nest

I have been in this new house since July, and this has been the first house that I know I will be in for a long, long time.  For this reason, I am burrowing in deep this season.  I have been making all attempts to make our home a cozy one, and Paul is handling the bigger renovations.

Take my advice with the home improvements:  go slowly.  We are in such a rush to make the house our own, and are used to having to move after a bit, so we have been making rush decisions.  (Like having carpet installed before part of the basement is fully painted!)  

I just returned from a spontaneous trip to NYC with one of my great friends, so I want to be at home even more.  It was fabulous, as expected, but home always feels good afterwards. 

One of the advantages to having moved around a lot, is having friends all over.  Now, I apologize to those friends at this time, because my online presence has been minimal.  I haven't returned texts, emails, FB, blogged, etc.  I have been in the here and now with the family and where I am right now.   I will be back soon!  This is a result of my nesting, my retreat, my snuggling in to HOME.  

Making PINK MILK with almond milk+strawberries

Homemade Advent Calendar in progress

Courtney & Soleil snuggled in

Making zipper pouches 

Running errands together. 

The easiest decoration ever

A bit off subject, but we started putting up the Christmas decor, and I must share this with you!  I had a coupon from shutterfly to make any photo a stand up, hard plastic/glossy material decoration.  I quickly found a free printable online, and used it instead of a photo.  Instant Christmas decoration!! It is quite good quality and will last over the years.  

I wish you all a cozy and restorative Thanksgiving weekend.  

Random Fall 2014

Butternut Squash and Chicken Ravioli Soup

Tate's pumpkin creation

Halloween Face Paint

Mary Poppins!

My Halloween Babies

Cozy Fireplace

New oils for kiddos

Broken Mirror transformed into Chalkboard

Frozen Fractals

This is someone else's idea, probably off of pinterest, but I don't remember where I got it!  In any case, it was a hit with Soleil.  The official title is Frozen Fractal Soup, and in case you have been living under a rock, is inspired by Frozen the movies reference to "Frozen Fractals" in the song "Let it Go".  

You start by making the Fractals.   I used one drop of food coloring and water, and the idea was to let her fill the ice cube trays before popping them in the freezer.  She was NOT interested in this part, so I quickly filled the trays for her. 

After the Fractals have frozen, I popped them out, and put them in a bowl.  I placed it in her sand table with tongs, ladle, and different colored water in squeeze bottles and little pourable containers.

I later added a little bowl of baking soda, just to have another ingredient to play with.  (It also cleans the sand table before coming inside for the winter.)

This is a super simple activity, but my little one loved it.  We have already done this twice:)