This week I made..

From the top: 

Simple kale pizza with cheddar cheese and a spelt crust

Quinoa salad with chickpeas, dried cranberries, kale and a balsamic dressing.

Squishy spelt ginger cookies.

I also made, but did not photograph, a spelt chocolate cake. I just made it for fun, no birthdays attached! But..my Bella's birthday is coming next week so there is more baking to come!

Talulah is very silly.

Oh, how I love her!

We love this time of year!

With the very first snowfall this year, I secretly started playing holiday music. It was only November, after all! Then Jason took Jude out into the woods on the very last day of November and came home with this amazingly beautiful Christmas tree, and between the five of us, we had it up and decorated by the end of the night! It is the best one yet I think. I have loved all our trees, right back to the spindly redwood in a pot that we had in our California apartment (: But with a large tree comes a need for more ornaments, and what better way to adorn such a beauty than to do so with ones' own hands! Jude and I have been busy. We have made yarn-wrapped stars, spools and sheep in the past week, and I also made a bunch of stamped mushroom ornaments. Jason sliced an orange and hung those on the tree. Isabella made one of her famous happy cupcakes on cardstock-type paper and sparkled it up with glitter glue. So far, this tree is being treated very nicely indeed (:

Next, gingerbread (:

Nyum nyum nyum

Ollie and his very own chicken

Here is Olllie with his special chicken (: She is very sweet and always lets him 'catch' her, even though he is obviously very slow, clumsy and toddler-ish. I think she likes being held, although I don't know why; I'm sure Ollie squishes her pretty hard! But he is so very fond of her, and when he sees her he exclaims with much excitement, "Mine! My chicken!" It is so wonderful to see (:

smudge

When I was growing up, my mother burned wild sage in our home.

In each of my dwellings since then, I too have burned the sacred sage, even setting off the fire alarm in our city apartment a couple times (oops!). When we drove across country from Ontario to California six years ago, I gathered sage from the roadside fields of New Mexico and Colorado, two bags full, and bound them into smudge sticks once we returned home. They were lovely!
I am nearly finished my very last bundle; there are just a few sprigs left. It was actually one of two I had given my Mom as a gift, but she felt them too special to burn so she saved them all these years until she finally gifted them back to me. I suppose I can't just pop out and drive a few states over to find the good wild stuff anymore, so I am hoping to start growing my own in the spring, right here on my own land.

Whenever we are having a particularly difficult day, for whatever reason, I smudge our home and peace is restored. It cleanses the spirit in the most profound way; what a wonderful gift!
On this day, which also happens to be Thanksgiving in the USA, my gratitude flows freely for the sacred sage which has traveled with me through my living all these years (:

Oh!

 Last week in front of the barn:

This week in front of the barn:

Hmm. I think it's winter!

All three of my lovelies (:

^__^

This photo was taken a few weeks ago, as can be witnessed by the beautiful bits of green. Now all is brown, gray and white as winter leaps in at us. Yesterday Jason and I wrapped the firewood porch in plastic and hauled all the toys into the garage for the winter.

Aren't my lovely ones, well, lovely? I suppose the lambs are about 8 months old now, and though they may look like sheep, they are babies really. They are so sweet. Never has anything brought me so much joy as these guys. And Talulah too of course! She is hilarious, a great goat-y friend (:

Beautiful Teapot

Ollie loves soup!

This picture was taken last night, when Ollie was eating his birthday soup.

Of all my three children, this guy is the first to really love soup, which is good because we need to make a whole lot of it this winter; there are piles and piles of squash from the garden just begging to be made into soup!

Ollie's 2nd birthday was very, very mellow, but that is the way we all like it anyway (:
Jude and I started making Ollie's cupcakes (chocolate spelt) first thing in the morning. I mean, seriously first thing - Before tea and breakfast even! Ollie was still asleep and we were able to get everything measured and mixed before he even woke up. Of course they were excited as anything at the existence of cupcakes, so once they were baked and iced, we all had one. It was morning (:

Then, we played. A normal day for the most part, although Isabella stayed home from school so that was an extra bit of excitement. Ollie spied her straightening her hair and asked if she would do his too, so she did. And then she straightened half of Jude's hair before he ran away, and then they wanted their nails painted, so we did that too. (:

When Daddy got home from work, we ate dinner (soup and quiche) and then the cupcakes. I made a bunch of simple  drawings and taped them to toothpicks for cake-toppers, just basic designs that Ollie could identify, all animals. He had two presents which Jude was more than happy to unwrap for him. A good helper, hmmn?

And of course, everyone was so excited, and a bit wired because of the cupcakes, that they ran around the house screaming and being wild until they crashed, much later than a usual bedtime (-;

And so it is, my baby-love is 2.

^--^

Ollie is Two!!

Two years ago on this very night, Ollie came into the world and oh, we were so happy!
He is a spirit bursting with joy and love. We adore him so!
Today he is two. Hooray! Happy birthday, dear child, my beautiful, wonderful boy (:

love

Sweet little guy, doing sweet little guy things (:

Ollie is almost 2 years old,although I have no idea how that happened!

He brings me so much joy, that I often find myself stopping whatever I am doing to take a deep, much-needed breath and, with a bit of a happy tear in my eye, marvel at his wonderfulness. My sweet baby-man (: