girls will be girls

cactus over here, cactus over there...

Hello there! Have we been busy! After moving to the unique Sonoran Desert and trying our best to establish rhythm and order, we have been out exploring our new home (and might I add, trying my darndest to see its beauty).

Our girls are growing strong and steadily, and I sometimes find myself laughing all day long. They can be quite the comics!

We miss all of our friends and family and hope you are well! xoxo

because we miss daddy

I decided to dress up with my girls at the last minute. I did it for Miss Daffodil. She called me "Maria" all night and kept asking me to ask her what her age was, at which point she would answer very maturely, "Sixteen!"

Happy Halloween, Daddy! XOXO

blog inspiration- remembering who I am

I think this song helped form me into the person I am today. It has so many poignant and powerful lines. I will forever love Jewel!

"I'm Sensitive" by Jewel

I was thinking that I might fly today
Just to disprove all the things that you say
It doesn't take a talent to be mean
Your words can crush things that are unseen
So please be careful with me, I'm sensitive
And I'd like to stay that way.

You always tell me that is impossible
To be respected and be a girl
Why's it gotta be so complicated?
Why you gotta tell me if I'm hated?
So please be careful with me, I'm sensitive
And I'd like to stay that way.

I was thinking that it might do some good
If we robbed the cynics and took all their food
That way what they believe will have taken place
And we'll give it to anybody who has some faith
So please be careful with me, I'm sensitive
And I'd like to stay that way.

I have this theory that if we're told we're bad
Then that's the only idea we'll ever have
But maybe if we are surrounded in beauty
Someday we will become what we see
'Cause anyone can start a conflict
It's harder yet to disregard it
I'd rather see the world from another angle
We are everyday angels
Be careful with me 'cause I'd like to stay that way

A Knitted Garden

All the mothers in Miss Daffodil's Parent/Toddler class got together to exchange pieces to make a Knitted Garden. The first time I saw the concept I was in love with it. Mine is very simple, but I am okay with that. At least it's done! There are some gardens I found online which are absolutely beautiful!

If I do it over again, I think I might do it just like this one.

Image via The Knitted Garden

Image via Thriving Too

Image via The Violet Hours

I'm almost embarrassed to show mine! There are things about the one that I made for my girls, though, that I love.

I love that the big blue "ocean" is the first square I ever knitted, with it's holes and all! And I especially love the brown square that I turned into a "log".

Nature Cures

It feels like we've been bouncing-off-the-walls-busy lately! We went camping in Sequoia National Park- which was both awesome and exhausting- and then dealt with one sickness after another, with family guests in between. Today felt like the first day in a long while in which we could get back into a semi-regular schedule, even though I was the one who was now under the weather and felt like doing nothing but staying in bed. So, as we tried to get back into normalcy, as always seems to happen, my Daffodil rebelled! All day all I heard was, "What should I do?" or whining to watch T.V. It was exacerbating!

I finally pulled myself together enough to go outside- which hasn't been very enjoyable much here in Southern California because of the heat- and clean up the yard at just about dinner time! And within several minutes, I was reminded how curing Nature can be, especially for little children! My little Anne, who is 7 months old today, was completely entertained by natures quiet movements, and I am always okay with babies eating a little dirt. And Miss Daffodil, for the first time today, was enthralled with a quiet activity by herself and the roly-polies. It was the kind of play that I am always so careful to never interupt, and kick myself when I do.

It wasn't anything fancy. It wasn't an ocean. It wasn't a forest. It was just a little spot of dirt for her to dig. She was in her moment, at one with the Earth.

Ahhhhhh... I can breathe :)

Summer Gardening

Miss Daffodil and I dug and dug (and sweated and sweated, might I add), and planted a summer Three Sister's Garden. I was actually quite impressed with the little three year old who was willing to go out with me almost everyday for 3 weeks to dig up the dirt and prepare the ground. (Yes three weeks! Have pity on me...it's hot here in California, and I just had a baby. Ok, so she's 6 months old, but still...) AND Miss Daffodil was actually a big help! Being novice gardeners, we decided on a Three Sister's Garden. What is a Three Sister's Garden you might ask?

It is an ancient method of gardening using an intercropping system which grows corn, beans, and squash crops simultaneously in the same growing area that is typically a rounded mound of soil, often called a hill.
Corn is the oldest sister. She stands tall in the center.
Squash is the next sister. She grows over the mound, protecting her sisters from weeds and shades the soil from the sun with her leaves, keeping it cool and moist.
Beans are the third sister. She climbs through squash and then up corn to bind all together as she reaches for the sun. Beans help keep the soil fertile by coverting the sun's energy into nitrogen filled nodules that grow on its roots. As beans grow they use the stored nitrogen as food.

And here is our garden 1 month later.

More pictures to follow.

Happy summer to you!