Wishing you happy holidays

We are still in the midst of holiday preparations

And I am logging off for the rest of the year.

May you have happy times, 

and see you again next year!

Sustainable Christmas tree

Snow has come and gone temporarily, but December has arrived and is here to stay. This year, it was anxiously awaited by the kids.

Years ago, we decided that nothing Christmassy would happen before the date of December 1st.  Seeing the Christmas decorations and music making their appearance earlier and earlier each year was a cause of irritation for us; I even remember one year when we felt that Christmas had outlast it's welcome in our house before December 24th.  We just couldn't wait to remove the decoration, and get on with something else.  This is the year we promised ourselves that we would restrict Christmas to december, and that was going to be more then enough.  It is really.  And we have no problem holding on to our word.

Since saturday,  Christmas has started to creep up everywhere.  From decorations to music, to handmade gift ideas scribbled on a piece of paper.  We see the old traditions happening again, from getting the box of decoration out on December 1st, to going to pick the tree that very same day.

But sometimes traditions needs to be revisited according to new believes, and to include even the littlest amongst us.  The Christmas tree picking was the one to go this year.

We have made big stride towards a more sustainable living.  We still have loads of road to travel, and things to learn.  But the Christmas tree tradition has been troubling me for the last few years, and I was happy to have find a solution to it.

Last year, we decided to choose a potted Christmas tree amongst else to decorate the house.  Once the celebrations were over, we took the tree outside, and let it be until spring in a well protected area of our yard.  Once spring came, we transplanted the tree to an area of our yard.  It was such an amazing experience to plant the tree we celebrated upon a few months earlier, (and most of all see it grow through summer), that we decided to do it again this year, and use only this tree as our "official" Christmas tree.

It feels so good not to have to throw a tree out once the celebrations are over, and instead to keep nurturing and protecting this tree until it becomes part of our outdoor environment.

Now this little thing needs to be trimmed, and since it is right at E's level, he'll be able to participate fully to the process from start to finish.

Present for a 2 yo

Birthdays for 2012 have come and pass.  I now have a 7 yo, (with another lost tooth!), a 5 yo, and a 2 yo.
Life goes just too quickly.

Choosing a present this year for X and M was easy, but I have to admit that for E (2), it was harder.  I don't know why, maybe because we already own the basic 2 yo things.  But I really had to look and look.  I had many ideas, but that were more geared for the 3 yo crowd.  Yes, next year will be VERY easy!

But I finally settled  for this, which was my first choice (before I changed my mind a zillion times).

And am I ever happy!

E LOVES it.  he plays with it everytime he sees it, day or night (yes, he actually woke up one night, and played with it before coming to join us in our bed!)

Right now the thrill is to put the pegs, and have them tumble down.  He can repeat this over and over again.  But as an added bonus, he is starting to recognize numbers.  He is not at a stage where he can internalize this, but he is able to do recognition work.  I was impressed.  But again, at this point, that was not my principal hope, I just wanted him to have fun with the mechanical part of this toy. check.

*** Of course, how could I forget to name this toy, and link you to where I took it.

It is the Tumble Down couting pegs toy.

VERY well made, super sturdy!  THis is built to last.

Sorry all, now, you have all the informations! :)

I'll take about X's present tomorrow.  That is another complete HIT!

voyage

La fête de ma puce approche, et question de célébrer en grand, nous partons en voyage quelques jour. Si voyager (en avion) maintenant demande un peu plus d'organisation, que dire lorsque de jeunes enfants sont impliqués.

Depuis une semaine, je me suis mise en mode organisation.

My DD's b-day is coming up. And in an attempt to celebrate big, we are going on vacations for a couple of days. (by plane) If travelling now requires a little more thoughtful preparation, what can I say when it is the time to travel with little ones!

5 suggestions pour inclure et aider les enfants lors de vos prochaines vacances:

My best 5 suggestions to include and help children to travel easily (well, it that ever exist!):

- Commencer une liste quelques jours avant. Je dois avouer que je suis une listeuse compulsive, mais je trouve très pratique le concept de la liste qui me permet de rajouter quand l'idée me passe par la tête, et de barrer quand les choses sont rendu dans les bagages

Start a list a couple of days before the anticipated departure: I am a compulsive lister, but I find very practical to have a list to add to until the last minute, and to cross off when things are in the bag.

- Utiliser (autant que possible) des bagages qui permettent à l'enfant de contribuer au transport de ses choses

Les petits formats de valise roulable sont excellent pour que les enfants puisse rouler leur valises dans certains endroits

Use lugages that will allow the child to participate in carrying his/ her items. The smaller lugages that you can roll around are perfect for 4-5-6 yo.

- Préparer un sac a apporter à bord qui contient activités et choses pour occuper les enfants pas seulement dans l'avion... c'est long maintenant

Nous y avons mis des crayons, des livres, cahiers de dessin, carte de jeux, dés et de la laine pour se pratiquer à tricoter avec les doigts.

Également collations dans des sachets fermés sont aussi essentiels pour le voyage.

Finalement, j'inclus toujours les essentiels dans le sac de cabine tel que /1 rechange, sous vêtements, pyjama et costume de bain (applicable ici :) ) au cas ou les valise seraient perdu par la compagnie de voyage...(oui, après l'expérience, je n'oublie pas...)

Prepare a bag with activities to do on board and in the various waiting lines We are brigning books, coloring book, crayons, tangram game, dices, and yarn for finger knitting

Also snaks in closed packaging are essentials. AND I always bring in the on board bag: a change of undies, pj and bathing suits in case the lugages get lost.(because not being able to go swimming is a tragedy when in front of a beautiful pool or by the sea shore!) Experience speaks here ...

- Lire des livre sur les avions et les aéroports avant de partir. Ça sécurise les enfants qui n'ont jamais voyagé avant

Read on airport before leaving: Really helpful for youngster that has never travelled before

- Apporter des tas de Ziplocks

Bring loads and loads of Ziplock bag lol

Bon voyage! :)

See you in 7 days :)

Fête de Mai

Je ne suis pas disparue, mais nous avons traversé quelques semaines difficiles. E a fait une crise de Faux croup que nous sommes toujours en train de combattre dans la famille. Il est difficile de faire les choses hors norme dans nos sociétés moderne, et traiter les enfants de façon naturelle en fait partie. Parfois, c'est facile de marcher à contre courant, et faire confiance à la nature, mais d'autres situations, ou maladie demande plus de foi que d'autre, ce fut définitivement le cas ici. Plusieurs fois, j'ai bloqué le reflexe de me rendre à l'hôpital, et je me suis rappelée de croire en mon fils, a la force de guérison à l'intérieur de lui, et que je suis capable de l'aider sans avoir recours à la médecine allopathique (pour ce genre de maladie là.) Nous y sommes presque. Il est sur le chemin de la guérison!

I have not disapeared, but we have had some challenging weeks. E has been down with a case of false croup. It was a scary experience for us, and it was definetly challenging to help him go through this without the help of allopathic medecine (and dare I say despite). We had to remind ourselves many time that allopathic medecine is not the only way, and that our bodies have the abilities to heal themselves(in those types of diseases) if given the rest, food and care necessary. We are well on the road to recovery, and I am so glad to have believed in him and in our abilities to help him out differently.

Alors après 3 semaines de disparitions me revoilà avec les images de la fête de Mai organisée par l'école locale Waldorf. Belle façon de célébrer mon retour ;)

So after 3 weeks of being away from the blogosphere, I am back to show you the pictures of the May fair that we attended about 3 weeks ago.

Nous avons été accueillis par cette dame qui offrait aux enfants des cadeaux: un emballage de coquillage et pierres de toutes sortes

We were welcomed by this lady who was offering presents to the kids present: seashells and various stones.

Il y avait plusieurs stations d'activitées:

Many activities were set up for the kids to participate to:

Après avoir fait des courrones, des épées, des bracelets de cuir, nous avons emprunté ce chemin qui nous a mené à un gazébo juste au moment ou la pluie s'est mise à tombée. Et comme par magie, nous sommes arrivés en plein milieu d'un jam de tambour

After making flower crowns, wooden swords, leather band ... wer decided to take this path that brought us to a gazebo just in time before the rain started to pour. And we arrived in the middle of a public tam tam jam!

Alors nous avons tous pris un Tam tam, et nous nous sommes join au concert Quel plaisir!

So we all took a tamtam, E included, and joined in with the rhythm. What fun!

Goddies on the way out:

Superbe journée, même si Dame Nature n'a pas coopéré tout le long. Nous continuons de parler du jam de tamtam, et je crois bien que lorsque tout le monde sera remis sur pied, ça restera une activité familiale. Ne manque que quelques tam tam!

Magnificent day, even if the weather didn't cooperate as much as we hoped. The tamtam jam is something we keep thinking and talking about, I can see how this will evoluate as a family activity soon (once everybody is back on track!)

The little town of Christmas

Of course, having just about finished to unpacked most of the boxes, we have not yet had the time to prepare for Christmas.  Well, at least, not as usual.  And since we are already December 7th, we don't have much more time to do the usual activities that we do around Christmastime.

But

We finally managed to FIND our Christmas boxes, and go through a few things.  And after digging through, the kids found this town set we have, but have not used in the past few years.  They obviously thought this was the greatest discovery ever.





So for the remainer of the crazy day we had yesterday (our first snowstorm of the year, and a good one!) we all enjoyed a much neede peaceful moment while  they happily played with this little town, creating tons of Christmas stories and of course, selling and buying their houses to one another!



and guess what mama was able to do while all those transaction took place?



My guess is this had instantly become a new Christmas tradition for years to come

Happy Halloween!

Well, I have NO idea how I managed that, but between baths, night routine, boxed being packed and all the craziness going around here, I managed to ba able to do it all!  Knit a pumpkin hat, make finishing touched to costumes, and even fix a "horrible" dinner for Halloween night.

On the menu:

Snake marinated in a dragon tooth sauce, (i.e. CHicken marinated in olive oil and dijon mustard sauce)

toadstool tongue in a juice of squished spider (asparagus with marmelade)

purée of dragon brain (sweet potatoe and regular potatoe mashed)

and to top it off, cake a la dracula (i.e. pound cake with strawberry syrup on it)

it was delish!

As for the rest, here it is in images



 

this is how Halloween is spend when you are 3 months old...



 

The pumpkin fairy is about to pass around here.  I cannot wait to see the kid's face tomorrow am.

 

I hope you are spending a spooky and happy Halloween!!

 

Celebrations

We have been in a celebrating mode since the weekend. First, my nephew's christening, and today was DD's bday :)

It was a beautiful day full of activities and new and old traditions.

The new ones



Her crown that I managed to finish last night while listening to a Waldorf expo workshop!



She loved the crown, and waking up to this table. I loved how it unfolded the day, and for sure this will be carried on to the following years!

The old traditions...family times



She wanted to go pick strawberries!









And then some quiet snuggle time



And a time to remember that she is still so little



But yet growing up...



And what better way to celebrate then with chocolate cake...and freshly picked strawberries :)



as well as new slippers



We ended up the day with the story of the Princess and the pea. She was so tired that she almost fell asleep while I was reading.

I love how this day was a celebration, and yet at the same time a family time, and a peaceful time. I felt like this day was breathing in and out, following a pattern...moving, and slowing down. Nothing like the big birthday parties with favors and gift giving and overwhelming activities...and you know, I didn't miss it a second. And frankly, I don't think DD missed it either ;)

The colors of Easter

As far as I can remember, I have never seen an Easter being so hot.

It was incredibly hot, and yet, there were still some spots of ice in my swimming pool...how weird was that. That allowed us to do a first round of BBQ in the backward, which was absolutely delish. At some point, we even had to try to find shade, because the sun was just so darn hot. But we enjoyed nontheless, but had to be careful that the chocolate, for the easter hunt, would not melt (a problem I never anticipated before...)









And of course, some artwork is always a good way to end an egg hunt...



I hope you had a lovely easter, whatever you did, and whatever the temperature was...