I'd like you to meet Charlotte

I worked on this sweet little girl for many nights leading up to Solstice! She was made using the Wee Wonderful pattern available here. I had never made a doll before and she was not difficult, but it did take longer than I had expected.


Zara was absolutely thrilled to see her on Solstice morning. She immediately named her Charlotte (that was the name of Laura's doll in Little House on the Prairie!). Since that morning, the two girls have been inseperable. I laughed out loud the first time I saw Z go flying by, holding Charlotte by one arm saying "Wait up Charlotte....you're going too fast!" They have so much fun together!

One night last week, I was tucking Z in to bed and I asked if Charlotte was okay in there with her, or if it would be better if she slept on the edge. Z answered, "She keeps my heart warm at night". My heart was certainly warmed that night!

I had pictured Z treating her fairly gently as she's a handmade doll, but I don't know what I was thinking! I may need to sneak some extra stitches around her arms and legs at some point. Ahhh, she's well loved and that's what I'd hoped for.

Wishing you all a wonderful New Year!

Lentil Quinoa Soup

Yummy!  I found this slow cooker recipe last night in the January 2009 Alive Magazine and happily had all the ingredients to make it.

I made it first thing in the morning, so the delicious smell wafted through the house all day (very welcome after shoveling more snow!)  It's filled with lentils, quinoa and tomatoes from the garden (that I crushed in the fall and froze).  So good!

I checked on the Alive website and they don't have it listed in their recipe section yet, so I thought I would post a copy for anyone who wants to make it but doesn't have access to the free magazine.  Unfortunately, blogger decided that it should be posted on it's side...
I highly recommend this recipe (if you click on it to make it big, it should be easy to read.  The flash didn't really cover anything important up)  I have a fairly big slow cooker, so next time I would add more broth and quinoa, and more tomatoes too (I don't think I used as much as they suggested).  I omitted the carrots in my version and added a bit of Braggs (a tamari/soy sauce) to it as well.  It's definitely a great starting point and a delicious way to warm up after a day in the snow!

A whole lotta stomping

About a month ago we all watched the DVD Pulse, A Stomp Odyssey. We really enjoyed it and E stomped around afterwards making his own rhythms. We ordered Stomp Out Loud from our library and finally got a chance to watch it last night. Both boys were fascinated - there was nary a peep nor a wiggle during the whole show. They were riveted. I'm a little concerned about the fate of my garbage cans though. I have a feeling when the snow melts the boys will be outside seeing what kind of rhythms and sounds they can create with all manner of things. After watching the DVD I feel inspired to make a little music while I chop my veg too. ;-)I think I'll make a point each day of stopping what we are doing to take a break and say, "Let's make some noise!"

In case you want to see a little bit of it you can check it out here. You'll see what I mean about the veg. ;-)

The crafting elves are busy!

We have been busily preparing for Solstice around here - 2 more days to go! Last night I went into the den and Z said "You can't come in here Mom!" So I went into the living room and sat down and started working on her present. She came in awhile later and I said "Oh, you can't come in here!" There are many little secret projects in the works and the suspense is building!

Here are a couple of the things I've been working on:

This apron is for one of my nieces. It's the first time I've used this pattern and I'm quite pleased with the results.

This is a colored pencil roll for Z.

I found a tutorial for one similar here and then I made this one using that general idea. Well, back to the crafting!

Toy flashback

I have a weakness for toys from the early seventies. The boys and I were out sledding in town the other day and decided to pop into one of our favourite thrift stores. They immediately spotted this - Ringa-majigs.

It is quite similar to the Ji-Gan-Tiks that I bought years ago at a church rummage sale for W.

Do we need more toys in our home? Certainly not. But I love that someone has held onto these toys since the early seventies. I love that they remind me of my own childhood. I love the simple container that they come in - cardboard cylinder with a tin lid. I love that my boys enjoy building all sorts of things with them. And...I love that they were $1. (plus I wanted these old toys to go to a good home - somewhere they would be appreciated. Weird, I know.) ;-)

One thing I notice about all the old toys and games that I have from the sixties and seventies is that the packaging always has pictures of children playing the game or toy. The container for the Ringa-Majigs also says *Teaches Coordination * Stimulates Imagination and Creativity. I always get a kick out of things like that...cuz just having fun isn't good enough? ;-)

This morning we woke up to a winter wonderland. This is what it looks like right now and it is still coming down like crazy. You can see how high the snow is piled on our birdbath. I had to post a picture for Katherine so she could see that, as much as I like to tease her about our good weather, we are actually under a pile of snow right now too.

Now...off to go play in that snow. ;-)

Favourite Tiger Butter Recipe

Last year E made tiger butter to give as a gift to some of his favourite males (we always find it easy to think of gifts for the females in our family but the guys prove a bit tougher). He loved making it and has already made one batch this year to give as a birthday gift. It was well received so I thought I would share the recipe here. ( this is in his words as he also wrote it out as a submission for a newsletter)



Tiger Butter
About 1 lb white chocolate pieces ( from the bulk bin in your grocery store)
1/2 c. smooth peanut butter
bit of dark chocolate to make stripes

Melt the white chocolate over a double boiler or very carefully in heavy pot. Add peanut butter and blend until smooth.
Pour white chocolate/peanut butter mixture onto an oiled cookie sheet and spread out a bit. Let set for a bit. While you are doing this start to melt the bit of dark chocolate in a separate pot. Drizzle the melted dark chocolate over the white chocolate/peanut butter mixture in small lines. You are making this look like tiger stripes. Cool in fridge. Break into chunks. Eat, share or give as gifts.


**We are calling it white chocolate here because then people know what we are talking about but in my house we would say that with much scorn in our voices - how can it be called chocolate when it isn't even chocolate??? I like to refer to it as white confection...it certainly has its place and it is delightful in this recipe...but chocolate it is Not!!

A brief introduction!

I realized after I just jumped in and added a new post to this blog, that some of you reading this won't know who I am. I thought that maybe a quick introduction is necessary so here goes! My name is Jacqueline and I know Heather, Katherine and Samantha through our homelearning community. I was absolutely delighted when they invited me to join them on this blog. Blogging is something that's been on my "To Do" list for years, so it's fun to be getting my feet wet with some good friends!

I'm a mama to 3 beautiful kids - a 7 year old daughter, and boy/girl twins who will be 2 in April. I'm also blessed to have in my life and in my house; my loving, supportive husband of 9 years (also a great dad) and our live-in nanny from Peru. She is my angel and my sanity saver. She's also given us the gift of Spanish in our home. My oldest daughter has learned an incredible amount of Spanish in the past 11 months, and my babes understand English and Spanish equally well.... such a gift.

Some of my interests include (but are not limited to!) natural parenting, natural living and health, crafting - specifically sewing and felting right now, gardening, and living simply.

If you were to peek into our life at any given moment, you might find us :

* reading (likely something to do with pioneers and Little House on the Prairie)
* working with some delicious fabics in my sewing area
* playing on the floor with babies
* baking bread or cookies, or something else that's yummy!
* cleaning up the never ending messes that come with just living!
* working with felt or wool roving, doing puzzles, drawing, beading
* getting a baby to sleep - sometimes it feels like that's all we do!

I'll leave it at that as we'll get better aquainted as time goes on. I look forward to this new adventure of blogging and to sharing it with you!