This Vintage Chica

happy halloween

happy halloween, originally uploaded by thisvintagechica.

Hope your evening is filled with more treats than tricks. We have a few of both planned here.

And regular posting will resume soon as our papa returns to work tomorrow. The newly organized craft room is now somewhat presentable, the baby quilt is done and lots more to share.

More later friends!

fall at the beach

This is my most favorite time of year to be at the beach. Autumn. The ocean water is still warm from the sunshine it has soaked up all summer. The tourists have gone back home leaving us the only crazies on the entire stretch of beach. And storms out in the Atlantic wash up amazing things providing us with great treasure hunting. And the waves. Well, any surf worth surfing is good surf on this side of the US. It has been raining off and on for the past four days, but we were able to quickly get a beach break in yesterday between the scattered showers.  Wyatt even had a brief snooze.

My crochet hook is back out again in a pre-season warm up to my favorite winter sport. I have the ongoing project of the family history rag rug. But yesterday, I started working on a scarf to go with my newly thrifted orange trench coat. There will hopefully be a hat to match when I find just the right pattern.

The dolphins even showed up and gave us all a show with their tails slapping at the water.   It is a special thing to see them off the Virginia coast as late as almost November.  By this time of the year, most of them have started their yearly trek South to warmer waters.  I am sure we have our unusually warm temperatures this year to thank for their presence at this late date.  So it was even more of a treat that we got to watch two pods spalshing about and catching a few waves of their own. 

It was such a great few hours, the clouds broke just enough to give us all some special time doing what we love to do at the beach.  Ian and Zane digging a hole the size of Texas, papa catching some waves, the smallest of us taking a brief nap and then waking just in time for a salty dip.  Scout chasing birds and helping with the digging.  And me, crocheting, feeling the sand on my feet, serving as the designated treasure keeper.  Inhaling it all.  Perfect.

Hope your weekend was as relaxing and full of fun as ours was.

fall nature table and school update

Just popping in quickly while S and the boys are watching taped episodes of Survivorman upstairs to say how overwhelmed I was to receive your comments to my last post. Each one arriving in my in box with well wishes and prayers for lots of good family time. Thank you friends, from the bottom of my heart.

I have had a few emails asking how I find time to homeschool or what curriculum I use.  Well, first of all, I do not homeschool.  But we have incorporated many unschooling principles into our regular family life.  So, I thought it might be nice to share a bit of an update on our schooling situation. Remember back in April I was debating out loud about our education choices for the oldest boys about to enter kindergarten? Well, I wanted to let you know how kindy has gone so far and if I feel we made the right decision by designing our own hybrid of public school and unschooling principles.

Here are a few observances so far:

* I am glad we went ahead and sent them on to kindy despite their being young 5s. They are doing very well and seem to be right in the middle of their class. But more importantly, they are really enjoying school in general. They have made lots of new friends and really enjoy their teachers.

* Their teachers are really great at communicating what they are studying in class. So in turn, I take their school subjects and find ways to reinforce them with crafts and activities here at home that really tie into what the boys are interested in. Example: The teachers have started talking about patterns in their math block. AB patterns, AABB patterns and ABC patterns. I took it one step further. Zane has been interested in knights for the past several months, so while helping me design and sew his Halloween costume (a knight of course), we used stripes in an ABC pattern for his tunic...pictures to follow when it is completed.

*One interesting observance: The boys are really only in class from 8:30 to 11:10. That's not even three hours. And by the time the teachers get everyone settled in the morning, throw in a 30 minute PE class, a few bathroom breaks and a snack, I honestly do not know how they can get much done. But they do, and with big smiles on their faces. Now part of it is that they send at least an hour's worth of homework home with the kids. Yes, homework in kindy. (I am sure those of you with older kids are grinning at this and saying, duh! But it was a surprise to me.) So the only way the teachers can teach to standards is to send work home and rely heavily on the parents to help. Which is fine by me, but I can see single mother or father having a rough time with this.

* The first day of school I was biting my nails as to how they would do in separate class rooms. They have been great!

So for us it is working beautifully. The boys are getting time apart in separate class rooms, time to shine on their own without competition from one another. They are benefiting from two really wonderful and caring teachers, and I am enjoying the other half-day to explore their own interests while tying it back to their formal school work when I can. And to top it all off, I am getting a little one on one time with the youngest. In some ways, I wish first grade was only half day. (Did I really just say that?)

And not to say that our decisions about education should be everyone's decisions.  I do not think there is a "one size fits all" way to see kiddos and their wee minds.  Public school, private school, unschool, homeschool...I think they are all great.  And who knows we may have to shift gears at some point down the road.  But right now, for us, this is working beautifully.

And the photos in this post are of our new nature table. I have wanted to do a nature table for quite some time, ever since reading about unschooling and the Waldorf philosophy. When I started arranging the living room in this house, I purposefully left space for such an area. And now those bits and pieces, rocks and sticks, pine cones and shells, pieces of bark and leaves can be enjoyed and appreciated as they truly should.

I came across this little ABC pattern one of the boys made all on his own with the nature table items we have been collecting. Acorn, shell, leaf, acorn, shell leaf. Incorporating a concept he learned in public school to make a bit of pattern art with items we feel are connected to something bigger than ourselves in our home. This significant little action by one of the boys is a perfect snapshot of how we have taken our children's education in our own hands, incorporated our faiths and values and molded it into what works best for us. Making up our own version of a partnership between public education and unschooling. For me this is huge, I am taking this little scene as a sign that we have made the right decision and I couldn't be more proud of my boys.

More inspiring nature fall nature displays here:

Sarah's table
Amanda's nature table
Amy's nature shelf

he's home again!

Our house is a much different place when our papa is home. So very different in many wonderful ways. I picked him up at the airport on Wednesday and we went straight to pick up the older boys from school. And needless to say, they were over the moon to see him standing at the end of the hall waiting for them with arms open. As they ran down the hall with arms as wide as his, their teachers' pleas for "walking feet" were completely ignored. And tears welled up in my eyes to see them together again. Then off we all went to pick up Wyatt at Mrs. Alice's. This time papa was greeted with a familiar game of "monkey face" that is only understood between the two of them. I inhaled it all. And counted my blessings for all the many ways our home will be different for the next few weeks with him home. His presence is almost immediately noticeable.

- There are flowers on the table that I did not buy for myself.
- The candy jar is full again.
- The house is noisy with tickle fights and extremely loud games of hide and seek.

- The skateboards are out and ramps are being made.
- Home repair projects are in full swing.
- And nightly bedtime stories are being acted out in full with papa as the growling big bad wolf.

I know should take full advantage each and every time he has the boys occupied.  I should run like a mad woman to the sewing room to finish something on my project list, to make a coffee date with a friend, to take a walk by myself.  These times are far and few between, and I know that.  But in these first few days of having him home, all I can do it sit back and watch my boys relationships with their daddy pick up right where they left off two months ago.

Welcome home again papa!

wip - stitchette and a quilt

Just another quick post today as we are still getting things ready for our papa to arrive tomorrow. I am determined that this visit will be better than the last. To do lists have been made for the both of us. He always feels guilty about being away so much and not being able to help out around the house. So when he walks in the door he tends to want to jump right into house projects. When all I need for the first few days is for him to hang with the boys so that I can get some time to myself. So his list does have a few honey do's on it like fix the toilet in the downstairs bathroom and order a rick of firewood for the winter.  But his list also has has lots of other things on it like take the boys to the skate park and visit the bike store to check on some new bikes. All work and no play makes us all grumpy.

On my to do list is to finish this easy peasy quilt for a good friend who had a little girl a while back. Pink is so fun to work with when you have all boys! Especially when it is thrifted sheeting of the softest kind. (A big thank you to Amy who helped me via email figure out a way to piece together the batting I had bought but realized was too narrow.) And there will be a pocket on one corner where this little wee wonderfuls stitchette softie will go. She just needs her other shoe, a few flower tops and her mouth and she will be finished.  The quilt is now all put together and it just needs to be hand tacked and tied and it will be completed. It will be more of a blanket like you would throw in the car for the beach really than a big fluffy quilt with the think batting that I used.  If I can just get this one finished, I can see doing one similarly for us to use at soccer games.

I have been coming across some serious boy quilt inspiration as of late here, here and here.

And there are several (read that a gazillion) other half finished projects around here that are on my list as well. Like putting together our guest bedroom finally. You never know, we might actually have some company for the holidays.

Happy Tuesday all!

flickr fall favorites

So, so busy today. You see our papa is coming home on Wednesday for a two week visit! Yippee! There are lots of preparations to make. (translation: I'm crazily running around doing all the things I should have been doing the past few months like unboxing my sweaters, organizing his closet, mailing out overdue boxes, you know)

We had a busy weekend of a trip to the zoo, a birthday party, making a spider web in the front yard, picking out pumpkins, superhero capes were made, and even more. I took lots and lots of photos, but no time right now to even blog them.

Until I get to post again, here is a mosaic of some of my fall favorites from flickr.  And don't forget to visit Six One Way on Mondays (or anytime of the week really)...Stefani's photos this week blew me AWAY!  Love her shot of her little one licking the beaters.  The stuff childhoods are made of I tell you!

Yeah, our papa is coming home, jiggidy jig!

finally fall

Oh, the cooler temperatures have arrived finally!  Thank you all for sending some of your Fall our way.  We were going to continue with our regular Autumn rituals anyway, but it has arrived just in time.  And we are celebrating!  Wyatt took an all too rare morning nap so that I could have a quick moment to enjoy my traditional pumpkin spiced latte and a magazine.  Also a rare thing these days.  I picked up Mary Engelbreit's magazine while at the grocery store yesterday.  I don't subscribe to this one, or even read it off the racks normally.  I find it a bit to sweet sometimes for my taste, but with a cover article called "Rock Your Rooms", I was intrigued.  I loved the curtain fabrics in the photo above.  The dining room is not the only room that needs curtains you know. 

And I also fell in love with a little pillow on the Halloween decorating spread.  On the second page, top photo, do you see the black pillow with the white botanical silhouette?  Love that!  Although I can not imagine decorating my whole house like this for Halloween.  Yikes!  I looked the pillow up in the back of the magazine and it referenced Target for all of the pillows in the article.  Hmmm...I haven't been to Target in several months.  I think a trip there is in order soon.

Ian has been dying to make some Christmas sugar cookies.  What?  Is the entirely-too-early Christmas marketing all around us seeping in?  Not in this house!  So, we compromised with some leaf shaped cookies.  Flour was scattered, dough was rolled, dough was tasted, sprinkles were sprinkled, and dough was tasted again and again and again all the way up to the point of popping them in the oven.  We are lucky we ended up with a full plate in the above photo.

And I even wore my new owl on a limb t-shirt it.  New only because of the continuing wardrobe redo.  Plain yellow Old Navy t-shirt + owl embroidery from Sublime Stitching + a little rough edge applique for the branch and this is what you get.  It was perfect yesterday with a chocolate brown long sleeve underneath!

Happy Fall Ya'll!!!

Autumn in a bowl

A big thank you to those who have emailed from up North to tell me the cooler temperatures are on the way! Until then, I am just going to pretend fall has arrived.

Last night, our good friends Joe and Maggie (and boys) came over for dinner. We had marinated beef loin, spinach salad with champagne dressing and sweet butternut squash soup. Mmmm...so good.
There was about a half pot of soup left, lucky for me. I got to have a second round at lunch today.

The recipe is from this book, The Squash Cookbook by Yvonne Young Tarr circa 1978. I picked up the book last winter while we were in Wisconsin at a thrift store and I have used it a ton since then. If you ever find a copy, it is definitely worth picking up. It has great information on planting and growing pumpkins, zucchinis and squashes and also lots of great recipes.

Quick Sweet Winter Squash Soup

3 1/2 cups butternut squash, baked, cooled and pureed
4 1/2 cups of light cream
5 Tbsp. honey
2 Tbsp. butter
3 Tbsp. light brown sugar
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. each ground cinnamon, mace and nutmeg (I didn't have any mace, so I omitted it and it still was very tasty)
1 orange, juice and zest
crumbled bacon and chives to garnish

Directions: Combine the squash puree, cream, honey and butter, and cook over low heat, stirring continuously, until warm. Mix together the spices and sugar; add to the squash mixture and simmer gently without allowing it to boil. Grate the orange zest and squeeze and strain the juice, then add both a bit at a time to the hot soup blending well. Allow the soup to simmer for 10 minutes, then garnish and serve.

Enjoy!  Even if the temps aren't cooperating, luckily the fall veggies are plentiful and oh, so good!

an apb on autumn

What the h-e-double-hockey sticks happened to Autumn?  You know the season where the nights get cooler, you bring out the quilts to lay over your little ones while they sleep and warm apple cider becomes an afternoon treat?  Yes, that season.  Has anyone seen it, because I think we should send out a search party.  An APB at the least.  Autumn must be lost.  Because it is not to be found here on the East coast...anywhere.  Believe me, we have been looking.

Despite the heat, and some congested sinus passages, progress is being made around here. 

The wardrobe makeover continues.  Two of my most favorite, but getting a little shabby, plane jane GAP t-shirts have been made new with the help of a good spot cleaning and some iron-ons found at Joann's last time I was there.  They were very easy to do, just like iron-ons should be.  The instructions recommend ironing for 30-40 seconds, but I found it better to iron for more like a full minute.  The love design is my favorite, but I haven't even had a chance to wear it yet because of the blasted 80 degree+ temperatures.

 

The dining room has new curtains, from the thrifted sheet in this post.  I was not sure about the red and yellow print against the pale green wall color.  But after looking at it all weekend and some encouragement via flickr, I cut the sheet in half, sewed a casing at the top and presto!  New curtains.  Wyatt seems to like them.  A lot.  He has made the window sill behind one of the curtains his new spot for watching the goings on in the cul-de-sac.

Look at that sweet face.  So sweet, I couldn't get on to him for playing in the curtains.  So sweet, I actually joined in.

That's it for now...we're going to the beach tonight.  Luckily it is usually 5 degrees cooler or so there.  Stay cool everyone!

treasure hunting

It has been quite a while since I have gotten to do much thrifting.  Not like the good ol' days (ahem...last year) in Wisconsin or this summer in Texas.  My friend Alicia and I got to quickly hit two stores a few weeks back, but I did not find much.  A VHS movie or two and two extra pairs of soccer shorts was all I had to show for the day. Which really isn't blog worthy.

But today Wyatt went to Mrs. Alice's again for a few hours and the older two were in kindy.  Which gives me exactly 1 hour and 45 minutes.  I have just enough time to either run right back home and clean the kitchen up from breakfast and take the trash out, or I can hit two thrift stores that are situated directly in between Alice's house and the school.  This one is a no brainer for me.  Any respectable thrifter would come to the same conclusion I did.

I was able to hit the CHKD Thrift Store and the Judeo Christian Outreach Thrift Store, both off of First Colonial Road.  At the first store I was able to find a fireman costume for Ian (not photographed as it was already on his little body) and one of our favorite videos the Little Twins.  But then at the second stop I found several goodies for myself. (Click on the photo above to take you to flickr where you can see a detailed description.)

My favorite purchase has to be a king sized top sheet.  It is not vintage, but I really like the print.  I had originally thought I would use it for yard goods for other projects.  But when I got home I noticed it had the same yellow and red that the wool rug in the dining room has.  Noticing this little detail then prompts pulling the dining room chair over to the window to drape the sheet over the plain white tab tops that are currently hanging.  I think I like them there.  And yes, my tablecloth needs ironing. 

Now as I am getting ready to leave the any thrift store, and if I do not have three little boys falling out and acting like fools by this point, I usually do a last walk around the store to make sure I didn't miss anything.  Orthat a new rack was not put out while I was on the other end of the store.  So on my last walk around of the day, I spotted this...

on the back of a mirror in a group of old prints and frames.  "A. Brandt Co." As in THE A. Brandt who made ranch oak furniture in Ft. Worth, Texas in the 30's and 40's?  As in, if you live in Texas and want to decorate your house in authentic western style, you have to have a piece or two of A. Brandt ranch oak?  I whipped out my cell phone to call my mom faster than green grass through a goose.  (see, even when I talk about my native state the accent and colloquialisms come back)  The conversation went something like this...

"Mom, are you busy?"

"Not too busy?"

"Mom, A. Brandt is good right?"

"Yes, generally.  It is very good.  Why, what did you find?"

"I found an A. Brandt mirror that is in perfect condition at a thrift store for $3."

"Get it!  Quickly!  I love you, bye!"

(Hi Mom!  Yes, I know there was more to the conversation than just that.  I know you asked about the boys.  And we talked about you taking Grammer to her hair appointment.  But that was just the down and dirty of it to make for a good thrift store story.)

That was that, SOLD!  Now, if I can only sell it on Ebay for what they are currently going for before my S. gets home in two weeks, I'm will be doing good.  He just does not understand this buying and selling thing.  And a big thank you to the U.S. Navy  who deems my blog, and all blogs, as a security risk and blocks it from being read, or I would have just blown my cover.

gallery opening

I thought I was prepared. I had read several articles in parenting magazines. I have heard my friends with older kids talk about it and their options for dealing with it all. I thought I was ready for the slew of paper and art projects that come in your child's backpack from kindergarten.

I had hung a very large cork board in the explore room (our play room) to hold some of it. I had a folder for each child to hold papers, thinking that ever so often I would go through them and do the ol' pitch and keep.

I thought I was prepared. I was wrong.

This is the pile of papers and artwork that have come home in the first month of my oldest two being in kindergarten. Just one month! And actually this photo was taken about a week ago, so believe me when I tell you there is more.  I also do art projects here at home with them that pertain to a current interest or theme we might be exploring.  And those projects need to be stored and displayed of course too.

The boys have started tacking their drawings on the wall above their bed, just high enough that they are out of little brother's reach. (And yes, thank you for noticing.  It is a messy bed.  But Ian says he likes it like that....ahem, sure you do Ian!)

I have framed some of my most favorite pieces -  now that their drawings are actually starting to resemble what they were meant to resemble.  Not that I don't love those two year old abstract works, but you catch my drift (wink).

And now we have a vintage drying rack (purchased from an Ebay seller) in the living room currently displaying a summer watercolor, a johnny Appleseed tree and a "letter T" kindy worksheet among other things.  I really love this drying wrack idea because the "gallery" folds down or back against the wall if not in use. So handy!

We used to hang a clothes line in the boys room to hold artwork.  And I am thinking of doing that again.  I guess the boys got accustomed to that (see photo number three).  I am thinking of using these type of clear containers to store papers under the bed.  Here are a few more options that we might have to put into use.

I am sure I am not the only mama who wants to validate their child's creativity by hanging their artwork for all to see.  Im sure I am not the only one who looks at each little signature and wants to save them all, but knows there is not a storage unit big enough to keep all of the papers and projects that will be coming home in the next 12 years. 

So here is the question...How do you sort through the piles of papers and artwork? How do you store it all? How do you decide what goes and what stays?  And how do you display those deemed most precious?

Let's share, shall we?

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Before I forget, a quick birthday shout out to one of our adopted Grammies.  My friend Maggie's mom turns 60 today!  But she is not a day over 30...she is still body surfing with the grommets.  The boys and I made a little zippered linen bag, hand embroidered ocean pattern for her to keep her keys, sunglasses, etc. while she is catching some waves.  Hope you enjoy your day Grammie!

motherhood - six one way

For quite some time, I have thought about my story, as a woman and a mother.  Many hours have been spent brainstorming ideas on how to best capture these fleeting days.  I am not a scrapbooker.  Not one of my boys has a photo album.  Oh, I have the photos, all stored and organized in boxes.  And I am now OK with them being stored in that manner. But like all other mamas, I want desperately to freeze the tiny blink-of-an-eye moments, when the stars and moon align perfectly, when you look down at your child and know they are yours, you are theirs, and all is right with the world.  When you know you are in the exact place you were meant to be.

I have been chomping at the bit for three weeks now (for those of you Northerners, that means excited beyond containment) to share the news of a new project.  A shared project. With another mama of three boys. A fellow Texan. A lover of nature and all that is out of doors. An amazingly creative woman and teacher. A person to whom I feel deeply connected to despite never having meeting to face. A sister mama.

If we were not so many miles apart, I know Stefani of Blue Yonder fame and I would share coffee, tea for her, on the one morning each week when all six of our children are at school. We would meet for margaritas once in awhile when we both need a little time to cut loose. We might watch the other's children while one of us gets our hair cut or needs to tend to other business. I would not care if she dropped in unannounced, dishes piled in the sink and cobwebs in the corners because I will have already seen her house in the same state. Heck, we might even dissect owl pellets together. We joke in emails back and forth that we must have been separated at birth.  I can not think of anyone I would rather share this experience with.



We have been quietly working for the past three weeks getting the new space just how we want it. I have been nervous, excited, anxious.  I am a perfectionist about some things.  (the dusting of my house is not one of them I assure you).  But this project is mildly scary for me for many reasons.  Because I love to write and my writing is very wordy.  Because I generally feel the need to explain things in great detail.  Because I process events and problems by talking them through.  So, now with a huge breath, opening ourselves up in a new way, Six One Way begins.  A quiet without words glimpse at me, at us.  Letting the photos tell the stories.

Two mothers
Six boys between us
One love of learning and taking photographs

Join us will you?  As each Monday morning Stefani and I each share three photos, six in all, of our journey through motherhood.