What a beautiful evening for a walk on the beach!

 It's nights like this that make me go....
"Wow! I can't believe we *get* to live here!"

Children's Garden

We went to the Sarasota Children's Garden again today!  This is only the second time we've ever been... but the place is amazing!  The lush greenery... the fanciful surroundings ~ So fun, beautiful, & whimsical!!

Old-Fashioned play

(courtesy of)

Especially in light of KB's birthday coming up... and the eyebrows being raised, as to the simple items we requested... I wanted to share this excellent article on npr about all the benefits of "Old-Fashioned play'. Before all the commercialism, the focus of play was on an activity rather than an object... and used imagination & make-believe - which in turn developed critical cognitive skills & emotional development, among other things.

Chudacoff's recently published history of child's play argues that for most of human history what children did when they played was roam in packs large or small, more or less unsupervised, and engage in freewheeling imaginative play. They were pirates and princesses, aristocrats and action heroes. Basically, says Chudacoff, they spent most of their time doing what looked like nothing much at all.

"They improvised play, whether it was in the outdoors… or whether it was on a street corner or somebody's back yard," Chudacoff says. "They improvised their own play; they regulated their play; they made up their own rules."

Even I remember - though I am not that old - being sent out into the backyard for hours. to play. - Just us six or seven kids, a tire swing, a simple swing set (consisting of one swing & a slide), various discarded household items (several pots & pans, an old cinnamon broom, some wood, etc), a few balls & Frisbee's, good ol' Mother nature.... and our [extremely] creative imaginations. And while it may not seem like much, now... we honestly thought we had the world. We ended up having so many awesome adventures out in that seemingly giant back yard! It became a home to be kept.... a jungle to be explored... a castle to storm.... mystery to be solved... or one of many other exciting places to be discovered. A stick became a sword, bow & arrow or some other prop... wood became floors, planks, and who knows what else... berries & other foliage became food , medicine, decorations, clues, etc... vines got twisted as jewelry & crowns... and in and among the trees were our forts, castles, "clubhouses"... :-) But most importantly, as our minds grew... so did our sibling relationships. ~ We grew together as friends... a unit... a team! Sure there were instance where we didn't get along... or that we pined to get inside out of Florida heat! But as any person wanting to keep their sanity whilst residing in a tiny 600sq feet and managing 7 little ones (age 10 to baby) running around.... there were many times the moms laid down the law... and for the most part, we didn't seem mind at all. ~ I still think fondly of this one tree that I would climb - nestling myself comfortably in the branches, just to get away for a few minutes & think. Yes indeed, those were the simpler times....

Our day....

This morning I woke up to the most amazing cool breeze blowing through! Apparently the storm during the night was enough to seriously cool things off (at least for a little while). Really nice, but also bizzare. Are you sure we're still in southwest Florida, in the middle of.... JULY?! At any rate, I am taking full advantage by having all my windows open, and enjoying the fresh air blow through - a welcome change to the normal constant air-conditioning going at this time of the year. Coupled with the glorious fresh smell of the neighbors' lawns being mowed... coffee brewing..... music being played... and little one is off coloring & exploring. It is truly a a beautiful morning!

Then, this afternoon, I needed a few more items for dinner... so KB and I walk the half-mile, to the grocery store. Now, I have walked this route several dozen times.... but never have I experienced such strange events as I did today. --- From the old guy who saw KB getting into the potatoes in the produce dept, and proposed I use candy to keep her hands busy (no thank you sir, she doesn't eat candy. No, I am not "lucky"... we have a no sugar policy in our home!)... to the old lady who stopped me to inquire about KB's stainless steal water bottle (she just read about them & the hazards of plastics, and wondered what they looked like - ::raised eyebrow:: okay.)... to the "good Samaritan" who stopped to offer us a ride (keep in mind, it's a busy road - not exactly a road one just randomly stops!) ...to the 3-4 passing cars that honked at me + 1-2 guys that holleredout of their car windows at me. -- Not a normal occurrence.... esp et alone, for me!! What makes it esp hilarious though, is my appearence. I quickly threw on a t shirt & denim skirt as I was running out the door... my hair is a mess... and at the time, I was slowly pushing a stroller containing a hot & tired toddler (My Ergo was in the truck, at work, with my husband... grr.) and a *bunch* of groceries ... not exactly what I'd call a hot & glamorous sight. LoL (okay so I was hot... but more in the sweating, working out sense)... aye yi yi! ~ Never a dull moment!

With that, I am off to start dinner! :-)

Dairy Farm

Today our Conscious Parenting group took a little "field trip" out to a [raw] dairy farm! 

Sidewalk Chalk

We had a beautiful afternoon in the beautiful outdoors, playing with one of my childhood favorties... sidewalk chalk!!

As tradition... I traced around KB, and made her a chalk girl....

We started to make a second one - a ballerina girl....

But got interrupted by this...

After the rain passed, we went to the front yard, where B had just finished trimming...

and collected these pretty flowers for the kitchen table....

Oh January mornings... how I do love thee!

Despite some unusually quite cold days.... this month has also held it's share of some of the most beautiful days! Almost spring-like weather, that only Florida can offer during the otherwise bitterly cold month of January...

Our lemony morning...

The sun is shining brightly, the air is crisp & cool...

Our lemons are finally ripe...

Ready to be picked...
Washed with with love...

And patiently squeezed into...
homemade lemonade!

Christmas craft idea!!

I think I've figured it out what I want to do for KB for Christmas!! And it only took a beautiful day, a [free!] Starbucks cappuccino , and some awesome crafting books to figure it all out!

DH was home *all* day... so after stopping in to Best Buy to make a return & check on the job application B put in earlier today.... we spent a good part of the afternoon walking around Barnes & Noble, drinking our coffee (I love coffee!!), and looking at all the fun books. With Christmas coming up quickly, the economy being as it is.... a lot of people seem to be looking for frugal alternatives for Christmas gifts this year. I am especially intrigued by how many people are considering making homemade gifts... which was apparent by all the neat crafty books! Not knowing myself, what I was going to do for KB for Christmas... and not really wanting to get more toys for KB (esp not battery-eating, plastic ones - we're trying to stick to the "simple is better" thing)... I found myself leaning towards also making something. But what? Then I found it, in this book....

Sock and Glove: Creating Charming Softy Friends

from Cast-off Socks and Gloves
by Miyako Kanamori
Publisher: HP Trade
62 pages
ISBN-10: 1557885168
ISBN-13: 978-1557885166

Sock and Glove tells us the story of an old sock and glove and how "Mom" turned them into Billy the dog and Marcus the monkey. Then "Mom" goes a little nuts and makes Rabbit, Bear, Dog #2, Cat, Sheep, Girl, Mouse, Pig, Fish, Panda, Elephant, Zebra, and (my favorite) the little red Bird...
So then I had my idea... what if I made a few of these little birds... and then buy Heather (my wonderful crafty sister) some brown yarn to knit or crochet a "bird's nest"?? So that's my idea... what do you think??Now all I have to do is get the book [oh*twist*my*arm!]... find some red socks... and then figure out something I can do for my hubby!!! -- I am SO excited!!

A flower's appeal is in its contradictions - so delicate in form yet strong in fragrance, so small in size yet big in beauty, so short in life yet long on effect.About five long years after originally taking the cutting from my FIL's garden, and planting it in the front yard.... my Frangipani plant finally bloomed!!!

Inspiration: take time to perceive...

"What we forget is that God's love and beauty are all around us, every day, if only we would take the time to look up and see them."

-Matthias