Strong

I'm doing an online course with Sheye Rosemeyer this month.  This is my first assignment.   We were to to choose a word to describe a part of ourselves that maybe get's a little lost in every day life, and then take a photo to represent that word.

I chose the word "Strong" because I need to reconnect with my own strength. I've always struggled with my health, but this fall I had a health crisis that I'm only now recovering from. I've spent most of the fall and winter feeling very weak indeed. I chose to photograph the river - most specifically the current, because I admire not only the strength and power, but the *flow*. Trying to stop the flow is futile, much better to settle in and enjoy the ride. Surrender to the flow. I am reconnecting with my own strength, power, flow, and learning to surrender. I included the metal of the bridge above to represent strong foundations, and transitions. Crossing over into a new and different me.

I'm putting this here, because I want to remember this moment.

6 years old

 My girl turned 6 years old today.  She woke up and said to me,

"MOM!  I grew last night!  I'm sooooo much bigger now, cause I'm six!!

Rainbow Birthday

My 2 girls have birthdays 3 weeks apart, and decided to share a birthday party this year.  A very rainbowy birthday party ;)  I had a lot of fun (and spent way too much time on pinterest) planning.

I didn't sew the dresses this year - I just knew I didn't have time or energy for it, so I went looking on etsy, thinking that if I couldn't sew them, then the next best thing would be to have another mama sew them.  She did a wonderful job on them.  Here's the link

 A dear friend sewed this lovely rainbow banner for us :)  Isn't it gorgeous?  It's reversible - with different colors on the other side.....

Yes - I sewed the streamers ;)  Instructions found here  It's a really simple process, and it didn't take long to make a ton of them - maybe an hour altogether.  The only issue was that they aren't as gathered as they were supposed to be because my machine didn't like the high tension, and if I got the tension up high enough for it to gather, then the thread would break.  Very annoying.  I did figure it out, they just aren't as gathered as they could be.

The cake.  

6 layers of gluten-free almond flour cake. 

In 6 different flavours.

I did try so hard to keep food coloring out of it.  I'm really not a fan, but in the end, several of the colors would have been brown, and I'd have had some sad little girls, so I did use coloring for the blue, green, and purple layers.  Not a lot - but it's there.  

I went and photographed it with the colors the wrong way - oops!

Red was strawberry

Orange was mango orange.

 yellow was lemon  

(I coloured it with india tree natural food coloring that is tumeric based)

Green was lime 

blue was blueberry

purple was blackberry

I sweetened the cake using coconut sap sugar, which is brown like brown sugar, and did make it somewhat harder to color the batter.

We're not done with rainbows yet around here - now I'm knitting little Miss A a rainbow pinafore !

Regina - the hat, not the singer ;)

This is Regina, by Carina Spencer 

Knit using leftover scraps of several different colorways of Noro Silk Garden from Aeowyn's Tiny Tea Leaves.    This was an easy knit, thanks to Carina's excellent pattern - which didn't surprise me one bit, since she is just meticulous like that :)  And of course I am a big fan over patterns that are easy, but produce a result that *looks* complicated ;)

Man Hat

I've been knitting up a storm, but keep not getting around to taking photos.... Today is the day ;)

This is "Man Hat" by Haven Leavitt  (click to see my notes on ravelry) I used Mirasol Sulka in "biscotti.  It's a lovely blend of merino, silk, and alpaca and is absolutely dreamy to knit with.  This was a really simple knit, and has a great fit.  I will most definitely revisit this pattern again.  There's something about mens' knits that is intimidating to me.  I did attempt a hat for my man a couple of times, but both attempts were dismal failures ;)  That's fine - we got there eventually.  Perhaps it would have been sooner if I wasn't always knitting for my little cuties ;)  

Stay tuned - I've got three more knit items to show you :)

Staying Real

Staying real.  With our kids, with our loved ones.  Being honest, even when it's really hard - It's so important, and is so key if we want to stay in our hearts - and where better to be if we want to really connect with our children, in our marriages.  And every time we take that leap and really take a hard look at ourselves and choose love - well our hearts just get closer, and there is a deeper intimacy all around.  Even if it's something as simple as not quite reining in frustration, and letting some words slip out that we regret - we have the option to stop right there, and make it right, reconnect.  Because really - it's not about being perfect.  It's about growing and learning - and our kids watching that process, and seeing it as a normal part of life.  Then they too can find the strength to take a good look at themselves, and see the bits they'd rather not see.  Every time we say to them - "Wow - I really lost it there - my words came out sounding really harsh - I wasn't meaning to direct that at you. I'm just feeling really tired and overwhelmed right now.  I apologize."  and we look them in the eyes, and we let them feel really *feel* our love -  well that's the real stuff.  So often there is pressure for parents to be "right" - that they are undermining their power and authority to admit they were wrong.  I just don't agree with that.  Our society needs more people who can admit they have messed up.  People who value connection over being right.

There is such a huge focus on the surface of kids - their outer manners, what they can and can't do.  SO much pressure, that is rarely age appropriate.  More important than any of that is what lies below the surface.  *Why* is my child acting out ?  What need isn't being met?  Do they *feel* loved?  We know we love our kids - but that's not enough.  So often kids don't feel loved - have lost the connection, in our busy lives that leave so little room for connection.  With 5 kids - it can be tricky to maintain a connection with each of my kids, but that is my number one goal, every day.  Maybe my kids will swear.  Maybe they'll.....pick their nose in public *gasp* or forget to say please once in a while.  Heck - they might be downright mouthy at times, but that is the surface, and the more years pass, the more I realize that that is not the part that matters.  That surface stuff - it matters, but it matters because it's there to signal us.  To let us know that a child needs *connnection* and lots of it, more than anything else.

And really - doesn't it make it all so much simpler?  Maintain that connection.  And the rest will follow naturally, almost, *almost* effortlessly.

I heart faces - Pink

I just noticed that this week's theme over at i heart faces is pink :)  Since I just finished doing a very pink photo shoot project with my lovely friends Andrea at tapestri, and Becca at all-about-afternoon-tea.com/ well I figured I didn't really have a choice now did I ?  So here it is - my entry for this week :)

Be sure to head on over and check out all the amazing entries...