LivenLearn

Holiday Handiwork

Here are a few pics of some thing we made over the last week. Using only what we already had in the house!! Love that. 

I made little first-aid kits for some guys in my life. Inside are cool ninja band-aids and a little sewing kit; just in case they were to loose a button one day. Great for the car! I made them out of an old sweater.

The boys made these beautiful needle-felted ornaments for family members.I especially love the snowman Lucas made and "willow in a blizzard" made by Tobin. It's always fun to make ornaments each year. Next time I think we are going to make beeswax ornaments.

 

For my little cousins I made fabric covers for moleskines. Just add a little elastic and they can hold a pencil. Oops, I did purchase the fabric special for them as well as the smencils. A fun treat. I also made the boys pencil holders out of the cool bat fabric leftovers with zipper closures. 

 

 

For my boys. Tobin really wanted a baby bunyip, so I made two. They also wanted samari and I think they were my favorite to make. Lucas wanted me to make one of his new comic characters out of wood as well. The green guy there is goo-man.... hee hee :D Love it. I made them a beautiful walnut tree and Schnitzel and Chowder from the hilarious cartoon network show. I always have so much fun making treats for them. The tree is stunning. I wish I had a better photo of it. I can't wait to make more. It looks so much like an old grandpa tree of the forest; getting on in years, but still young enough to sprout a few leaves in the spring.

 

Our annual gingerbread house! This year it is so big we had to reinforce it with toothpicks. Eric and I made it together; which was so fun and relaxing. Then we handed the job over to the boys and they decorated the rest eating candy all the while.

 

Finally we made gingerbread trees for our neighbors. Need to walk these over today.

 

Wishing you all much joy and peace this next week. Have a wonderful holiday!!! Tomorrow is Solstice! Our tomten will be leaving gifts out for the boys tonight. I wonder if he and the julbock will leave muddy footprints in the kitchen again?

How do you celebrate solstice? First we share food with the little birds. We give them a feast of seeds.Then we love to cook a savory soup and homemade bread. We light candles and tell stories. Maybe a fire in the backwoods firepit! 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

Happy Halloween

Wishing everyone a safe and happy Halloween!

 

 

BOO!

Autumn Table

Our autumn table is becoming more and more delightful. I love seasonal tables. It grows as the months trickle by. I love how children add to them and the table will capture them for a while and they will play with the toys and arrange them. It was fun to bring out my big tub of packed away wooden toys. Some from when I first tried making wooden toys. I am too embarrassed to show them to you though, but it was really neat to sit down today and see just how far I have come and the boys work too. Even the work from last year has changed so much.

I bought Tobin another table made of wood from an old Missouri church for his own little study table. We are almost done with it. When we finish painting pictures for the background I will share with photos. He really loves it. Well he is really easy to please and loves any form of learning especially about animals. Both my boys do and I am so proud of that. 

 

 

 

 

A little housewren in a gourd. They love to live near people and will even make a nest out of an old shoe if you leave one outside long enough.

Eric has started turning bowls and I am SO excited. These are made of spalted soft maple and so intricate and lovely. I love his gifts of turned wood.

 

Happy Monday!

A Full Week

Hello everyone. I am sorry it's been a while. I have been working away because I only have my hubby here with me for one more whole day. He has been here for two weeks and it has been so great. I only finished about half of what I wanted to get done.... but I still have this weekend. I have some new templates I drew out, some customs coming your way. I recently purchased this incredible piece of oak from Mr. Woodman and I can wait to cut it up and make books with it. I want to make our family a beautiful recipe book that we can write down all our favorite family recipes to keep forever. We seem to cook more and more as the boys grow. It's just something that we all enjoy doing. Tonight is even homemade sushi night... YUM! If you are so inclined you have to try avocado, strawberry and a little bit of teriyaki sauce in your sushi rolls. It's fantastic!

The boys spent most of the early week and weekend needle felting and Lucas is really getting into sculpting with wool. He made a couple mushroom dudes and I think they are so amazing. He wants to build his blog and have a contest there with some other sculptures that he is working on; he is so sweet. Tobin made a picture that I can't find. I made Tobin a blue mushroom dude and they have been playing with them bunches. So cool to make your own toys. We made wooden accordian books (I will show you how to do this here) and got ants for our ant farm. Our new semester of homeschooling starts next Monday and they are excited about swimming again and making recipes. New books to read and new studies to pursue. Tobin and I just finished a really sweet, sweet book that I want to share with you, but first I have to make the story set to go along with it. I am excited to dive into that project.

Sorry for the rambling post, but like most of you this is the busy time of year with school beginnings and lots of outside time while the heat subsides. Wishing everyone the best! 

OH! And the CPSIA mandate. I am working on labels that will go out with each package. I am so happy they made the changes that they did. I can handle some labels and I should have them this weekend. I don't want to mark my pieces at all. People have asked me before why I don't sign my work. Well, I think a big wood-burnt mark on the bottom of my pieces would take away from the play. Why would an animal have a big mark on his feet? After reading this I understand that the idea with handmade toys; like the ones I make, the government is just concerned that if a purchaser were to want to contact me a year from now, they could find me. I need to make it very clear on my products where to find me. So without marking the toys I will be putting them in packages with sticker labels. Also clear record keeping of who bought what and when. Luckily since I sell at Etsy I have this done for me. And if that were to ever change then I would need to keep my own records. Simple enough and I am happy to comply. This is so much better than the original write up. 

Biting My Tongue

Well.... I had a very strong biting my tongue moment recently. I am sure you know what I mean by biting your tongue. Holding back your opinion so that a loved one can feel free to express themselves... I know there is more to it than that but this is my definition for now. My Tobin. This guy is a character. Determined. Strong willed. Stubborn. Free of self doubt. Oh how I love that about him. He is very expressive. He knows exactly who he is and what he wants to do with his adult life. He tells strangers he is a marine biologist and it brings smiles to everyone. He cracks me up each and everyday and I love him and his brother more than life. 

For three months he asked if he could dye some of his hair blue. Being the fun, open-minded mama that I am I said "sure!". In my mind I was thinking... well I will give it time... he may not bring it up anymore. Wrong. He kept asking. Now his aunt Anne is a hairstylist. Offering her services to help Tobin out with his hair experiment. I knew it was gonna happen. He was going to get his hair dyed blue. Sigh. I think my children are so freakin gorgeous! The idea of his beautiful naturally copper colored hair being dyed blue!? But I bit my tongue. It's his hair. It's his idea of self expression. It's Tobin. I am only his mother. But I can tell you.... I don't like it. LOL. I love Tobin's hair in it's natural gob of copper shimmer. But I can live with it. And it's a ocean green blue and I know that makes him really happy. So that makes me very happy.

How cool is it to have an aunt that can make your hair dreams come true? 

So his hair is blue. He's five years old going on fifteen. At the zoo on Friday I must say many mother's would see him and then look at me like... "how could you?" hee hee. While other strangers would just say "cool hair" and Tobin would grin from ear to ear.

Adventure

Getting settled back into our routine. Though it sure was nice to break the black and white of our days here with a single adventure. It's funny how perspective can change with just a few miles between you and the ones you love most. I thought for weeks how I could really use a mama vacation. How I needed to remember what it was like to just be Lorilee for a while. And now I know that what makes me who I am today are the children that call me mother and the man that calls me his bestfriend and wife. I bawled my eyes out the first night in Oregon. And the second night. Yep, it was so sad and luckily I was in the company of friends. I even begged my hubby to get me a ticket to come on home. I think that this is a good sign that I really needed to go on my mama-adventure more than I thought. Also made me realize just how close our family is. That we really love to spend ridiculous amounts of time together. We always have a good time. Maybe I hadn't lost that Lorilee time, but just bummed out that we are still here and we want to move so badly. I want to move so badly.

After a few tears and a sprinkle donut (thanks Janina) I felt much better and I had a blast. I found my twin from another mother all the way in Washington. I can't wait to get to see her and her family again! It was just so easy and mellow; just like home. I saw a bunch of the northwest. It's absolutely gorgeous there. The giant conifers were amazing. Waterfalls, mountains, spitting rain, Portland, coffee, family, friends, ocean, crab, rivers and lots of laughter. Meeting some really wonderful woman and their families and everyone called me MamaKopp. Watching the movie the Goonies on the side of a barn and then traveling all the way up to Astoria, Oregon to see the Goonie house. Why not!? Just the kind of thing I would have done in my twenties. Do you remember the movie The Goonies?

I am really happy to be home. I am not that young anymore, but I am so happy that I gave into that adventurer side of myself and explored a part of the country I was so curious about. I will travel with my family from now on with maybe one or two little mama vacations here and there. It was really good for my soul. It was good to ache for them and cry a little. It was good to get past that and have fun and laugh and connect with kindred women. It was good to give into my fears and be away from a routine. One thing that really makes me unhappy after a while is a rigid routine. Maybe it's the creative side to me that things just look and feel boring after a while. Maybe it's just that I have a nomadic spirit that is starting to push to the front lines of my mind and asking to be tended to. I don't know yet. Right now I am looking forward to the adventure of moving. Lots of summer field trips. Learning new things and snuggling my loved ones a little extra for the next several months.

I've Got A Ticket To Ride

I cannot believe that tomorrow I will be getting on a plane and taking a mama vacation to Oregon. I have been with my husband 12 years and I have never taken a vacation on my own. Never really was compelled to. But with girlfriends in the upper northwest to stay with and get all silly with and husband starting a new job and accruing vacation time all over again, it was either now or never!

So I am taking a break from blogging, homeschool, housework, dog work, yard work, wood working and general mama stuff for a week and just hanging out with some amazing woman and just being Lorilee. And I am gonna miss my boys so very much. But I will be coming back all fresh and wonderful for them. And with presents of course. I doubt they will miss me very much since they will be with their Daddy the entire time and he is a lot of fun to play with. And I think that is why this vacation has got me so excited. It's the first time I have gotten away without any feelings of abandonment or guilt because the boys would miss me too much. They are bigger and more grown up now and Daddy can read the bedtime stories and get the water with three ice cubes in it. I think bedtime will be a little sad for Tobin, but he will be fine. And without those feelings of guilt I will really be free. And I was thinking about this. It has been a really long time since I could feel so free! And how healing and restorative this will be! I plan on laughing a lot and drawing and taking lots of photographs and playing with my camera. I am leaving with little expectation and a very full heart. Tobin said the cutest thing this morning. "But Daddy can't make wooden toys like you can Mommy" with a tear in his eye. And I realized that he gets about two to three presents from me each week! I should pile every wooden toy we have here at our house on the table for a photo-shoot. Would they all fit?

Off to pack! I will be back June 9th. Eric and I have some really fun stuff we are working on for our shops. We will be having a grand opening party here with prizes. Fun stuff for the Mamakopp Shop too. Happy June everyone! Stefani over at Blue Yonder has a new Book Of Days out! It's really wonderful. I didn't know that anyone else knew of insect galls. We have been fascinated by them for a few years now. Really yummy recipes and a MamaKopp gift certificate prize too! Go on over and check it out!

Ganesh

Love from friendship has brought many beautiful things into ours lives, hasn't it? We have been lovin on Ganesh lately. Making him Laddus and giving him flowers. Tobin gave him a drawing. We are learning a lot about the Hindu religon the very best way; through the love of friendship. Inspiration is all around us. Focusing on this religion will be a very slow study. I am in the middle of reading the Gita so that I can share with the boys. And I hope to share much with you as we learn. But for now we have been giving Ganesh and Baby Krishna lots of love. The Butter Thief by Chris Murray is really sweet and illustrated so beautifully. This is what we are up to. Love.

Louder Than Words ~ Home

Two days of building with paper at The ToyMaker. Sneaking chocolates into their frogs last night to surprise them in the morning... because I love them so. Getting started on wrecking journals. Caterpillers eating leaves everyday and making themselves into crysalis'. Tobin has been such a great caterpiller parent. Feeding them each day. Will they be moths or butterflies? Soon we will know. Raw and real. Life as we know it. Books by Shel Silverstein, Jane Yolen and Maurice Sendak. Trampoline jumping, horse drawing, Willow walking, yucky old math, squabble here, squabble there. Oyster mushrooms, wild strawberries, spring beauties, chores. Folding clothes, making beds, toe nail biting (yuck), Totoro. Hugs, kisses, I love yous, pats on backs, a tick or two. Playing games, building towers, sand in shoes, sand in beds. Four days of home. Good stuff.

 

 

Let's Talk Earth Day Shall We?

Earth Day is Wednesday and we will be going for a trash walk, nature hike, sewing grocery bags from second hand fabric and planting a tree. We will not drive the car. We will use the lights and appliances at a minimal. We will take our time to think about our actions and how they reflect upon the ecosystems of our world.

What do you do for Earth Day?

I can tell you that as the years collect after I have become a mother I get more and more upset at the merchandising of Earth Day. Festivals that are plagued with merchants while in the very back behind all the nostalgia there are the NFP booths teaching about composting and recycling. So I boycott this idea. And I offer a fresh idea.

Layla is a six year old little girl. She asks only one thing from like minded folks. Can you step outside your front doors and go for a trash walk? Will you carry a bag and collect the trash that is littering your neighborhood? Do you live close to a nature trail and can collect trash there too? Then can you recycle the plastic? The glass? Can you make this world, this earth a little cleaner and healthier?

I was so touched that a person of six years of age came up with such a brilliant idea. Not only that, she has been working hard making gifts for some the participants. What a big heart this little person has for our Earth! And when asked if we would help the answer was YES! So easy to do. So let me know if you will too. Let me know after Wednesday if you did. And I will let Layla know how much people care about her big idea. Because it is a great idea! Thank you Layla!

 

Some other Earth learning:

Recycle City

Imagination Station has a fun craft activity and other fun links for things you can do in your craft room with recycled materials.