1. We sat with Tibetan Buddhist Monks while they created a beautifully intricate World Peace Mandala that will be swept away the moment it's finished. We were reminded of the work we have to do to make peace with impermanence, with each other, and with ourselves. When Greta broke through the silence, singing loudly, "We will, we will ROCK YOU!" we were also reminded not to take ourselves too seriously. Laughing while contemplating world peace is good and right. The monks smiled. I have to add, on our way there, I was explaining that the monks would be creating a beautiful design out of sand to the kids, and Greta excitedly asked, "Are we going to the beach?!"

2. I was rear-ended this morning. When I got out of the car to make sure everything was alright, the driver said, "Oh, I'm sorry! I have a broken foot and I'm wearing a boot!" I responded, "Do you think maybe you shouldn't be driving?" She shrugged and said, "Yeah, probably. But the doctors didn't tell me that!" So, not only have we, as a culture, completely outsourced responsibility for our own health, we've also outsourced any responsibility to think on our own at all! #empoweryourself #think

3. Okay, this one happened yesterday. A friend gave Greta a new outfit and she asked to put it on. Once it was on, she said, "This isn't a dress! What is it?" I said, "It's a jumper!" Delighted, she squealed, "Ooooh!" And started jumping. <3

I've been thinking a lot about tradition, about my own cultural heritage, and what I can carry forth with me and pass on to my children. How can we thread together a story of where we came from? Many of us in America have recent ancestors who sailed across seas to start new lives in a new land. Those who don't had their cultural traditions severely disrupted in other ways. I feel called to bring tradition to my family, to bring alive stories that have been told for countless generations, but my relationship to the religion and culture of my ancestors is shaky, and my knowledge limited.

We ushered in spring this year with an egg hunt and meal with friends and family. Next week we're hosting a May Day gathering for a group of homeschool friends. These gestures of gratitude and celebration connect us to our landscapes and our loved ones.

Then again, spring comes whether or not we mark the occasion. Perhaps our path forward is obvious. Nature is the anchor and the teacher, where we came from and who we are.

We are only just beginning to understand the beauty of living in this new place. The girls spend all day outside. We are learning about wild edibles and have foraged chickweed, violet, and onion grass, among other things. Sheldon has been digging out a bed for herbs on the hill behind the house. A play structure was just delivered on Friday and the kids spent hours swinging and climbing all over it this afternoon. I took off my shoes and lied down on the grass, only opening my eye a sliver if it had been a few moments since I had heard a child squeal. (That hardly ever happens.) Sheldon and I talked about where the chicken coop and vegetable garden will go. Wouldn't it be nice to have them right near the play structure and fields where the children play? This evening before dinner, the girls dressed themselves in silks and ran around outside. I followed them with my camera and could hardly believe that this is my life and these are my children.

I've read this article before, On the Wildness of Children, but read it again today at the recommendation of a friend. It was just as beautiful and true as the first time. Sometimes it's nice to be reminded why we live the way we do.

We moved! To a new home in the country! Life is cozy and beautiful and fresh. The day we moved, I posted these words on Instagram:

We fell in love, made a home, and became a family in Fell's Point. We laughed, we struggled, we dreamed, we argued, and above all, we stuck together in Fell's Point. We showed each other what we're made of—equal parts love and grit. We experienced a sense of community we'll carry with us forever. Fell's Point will always be where it all began. But tonight, after almost 12 years, we'll be tucking our children into different beds in a different house in a different place. We'll always love you, magical little town on the water and all the beautiful souls who live there. Here's to the next chapter. Here's to doing it together. Always together.

I haven't posted here in a while, but I feel called to write in a longer format again. I'm not sure if that will be here or somewhere new. So much has changed since I started this little, once active, space. The truth is, I've changed most of all. I don't feel quite as young and new as I did when I started writing here almost 8 years ago now. I feel experienced and confident in our path, even when I stumble. I don't always have the courage to share my words and thoughts these days, because they aren't as simple as they one were. Years ago, I wrote about babies and crafting and being a new mama, because that's who I was! But as I find my ideas and lifestyle diverging more from what is mainstream and expected, I find myself keeping my thoughts to myself more often, especially online. Strong statements, whether through words or actions, inevitably alienate some people. I am working on living and sharing ideas with kindness and openness, without fear. I'm guessing that will be a lifelong process.

But for now, a few pictures will do, some taken on Fiona's 8th birthday!

Fiona is sitting on a big, beloved old rock in our new yard here. The kids named her Rock-a-Me!

Here we are painting in our new homeschool classroom. I absolutely love this space, and feel a sense of calm each morning we spend here. I've recommitted to our Waldorf Curriculum and its been wonderful to have some structure and focus again after the upheaval of moving and the holidays.

One of the best things about our new home is it's proximity to the NCR Trail. It's just a few steps from our front door! We have foraged many wild edibles here and waded in the small river.

Living in a home with clean, natural spaces right outside our door has been huge for us. I look forward to settling in and making the most of this new life.

Thanks for stopping by!

I've been quiet for the last few weeks, both here and on social media. I've stepped away from Facebook and Instagram for the time being. Some health issues have revealed themselves in my family and I've been so worried, it seems I only have energy to focus on support and healing. This all sounds cryptic and dark, when the reality is that if we ran into each other at the coffee shop or the playground, I'd explain it all to you quite simply and you'd see that we really are happy and healthy. I just want so desperately for it to stay that way. I find when there is even the smallest threat to my children's health or happiness or future, it brings my priorities into very clear focus. There are very few things that both matter to me and are within my power to change. I am going to live in that space for now. 

I do plan to keep posting here. Looking through the archives has reminded me how beautiful it is to look back at old posts and be transported to a different time. Childhood is so fleeting, as is life.

I spent what felt like the whole weekend switching out summer clothes for winter. That may sound like an exaggeration, but in a six person household, it really is a huge job. The leaves outside are changing, there's a chill in the air, and we've been wearing long sleeves for a week or so now. It was time. Each year, I find that our seasonal rhythms come more naturally and feel more comforting. This is our second year celebrating Michaelmas and the kids have already integrated it into their seasonal expectations. Will we make dragon bread? Let's light the dragon candle! Don't forget to draw a new picture on the chalk board, Mama! I enjoy these rituals as much as they do, and am grateful for the extra push from them to follow through on everything involved.

This past week, we focused all our lessons around Michaelmas. On Monday, I told the story, which they pretty much remember word for word from last year, but love hearing again and again. On Tuesday, we worked in their main lesson books, drawing a picture with beeswax crayons and writing out a sentence. On Wednesday, we acted out the story. We set the scenes throughout the playroom and got all the characters into place. I narrated the story while the girls acted it out. On Thursday, which was the actual day of Michaelmas, we were planning to go to the Festival of Courage at the local Waldorf School Eli attends, but it was cancelled due to rain. It was still a wonderful day though, as we had Nature School in the afternoon and came home for a cozy evening of gluten-free dragon bread and lentil soup.

Wishing you all a wonderful week! Happy New Year to those who are celebrating Rosh Hashanah!

[10/5/16] The Waldorf School of Baltimore rescheduled the Michaelmas Festival for yesterday and we were able to go! I thought I'd add some pictures here to keep everything in one place. :)

Do you see Michael up on the roof above?!

After all the Michaelmas storytelling and celebrating of last week, the girls were thrilled to experience the festival at the Waldorf School of Baltimore yesterday. The children all looked and sounded so lovely, singing and acting out the story in their brightly colored costumes. We have a few more years while Eli is still going to school there to take part in these festivals, so I want to appreciate it while we can! Or maybe they will eventually set up some kind of program for homeschoolers so we can continue to take part! Wouldn't that be wonderful? 

Our homeschool year has come to include summer since camps and vacations provide such great opportunities for learning, so it is just now that I've been able to print out some final pictures and wrap up our homeschool records from last year. What a beautiful feeling of completeness! Homeschooling can often feel messy and overwhelming, so having a concise and organized record-keeping system can help create some order in the chaos. I've had a lot of questions and interest in my homeschool records from friends, so I thought I'd put together a post about it. My records for last year consisted of a few main elements:

1. Main Overview Binder: Here is where you get the best sense of the whole year. The binder is divided into seven areas: Rhythm, Language Arts, Math, Nature, Art & Craft, Festivals, and Circle.
2. Student Work Binder: This is where all student work is kept that was not selected to be included in the Main Overview Binder.
3. Main Lesson Books: This is where most of Fiona's Main Lesson work from our First Grade Christopherus Curriculum lives. She has a Language Arts, Math, and Form Drawing book.
4. Curriculum Binder: (Not Pictured) This serves as a record as well as it holds many of the projects and lessons for the year and I take notes and date things throughout.
5. Mama's Planner: A general record of how we spent our days.
6. Portfolio: (Not Pictured) Each child has a portfolio that holds any projects that don't fit in a binder.

Rhythm is the anchor that holds it all together, so it felt important to start our Main Overview Binder by giving rhythm its own section. This section includes our weekly family rhythm (above left) and the rhythm for homeschool mornings with my parents (above right). It then includes a photo sheet of each learning space in which the girls spend time: Home, Neighborhood, Parks, World House (the homeschool co-op we were in last year), and Mimi and Granddad's House. A huge part of homeschooling for us is creating and spending time in spaces that facilitate natural learning, so highlighting how we achieve that is important. Below, you see a spread that highlights a few learning spaces in our home.

Next in our Main Overview Binder, we get into the subjects: Language Arts, Math, Nature, Art & Craft, Festivals, and Circle. Each subject section starts with a sheet that gives a basic explanation for how that subject was handled.

Above, you see the beginning of the Art & Craft section. On the left, there is an overview of when and how we handle this subject and a list of select resources and projects. To the right, you see the first photo sheet that documents our time making painting boards. The little caption in the upper right says:

PAINTING BOARDS
cut, sanded, decorated, and sealed by hand
AUGUST 2015

My goal was to have at least one photo sheet (front and back) for each month in each subject. I was easily able to achieve that. The goal is to get an overview, not to document every moment of every day.

Each section also includes examples of best student work and informational flyers in clear sheet protectors for any classes taken or events attended in that subject. Below, you see select pages featuring Nature School photographs, the Michaelmas Festival of Courage photographs and flyer, and some examples of Fiona's Language Arts work.

The Student Work Binder, seen on top in the picture above, is just what it sounds like. It houses all the work that wasn't featured in the Main Overview Binder. It is also divided into subjects. Below, you see Fiona's Main Lesson Books.

I hope this post will be of help to some of you as you start to document the upcoming year. I am excited to get started on our binders for this year soon. I'm sure our system will grow and evolve as we do, but I think we're off to a great start!

I'd love to hear about how other homeschoolers document their year. Do you have a system or resource to share? And let me know if you have any questions!

I have always been in my head. I feel like one of my greatest obstacles to becoming a functioning adult–who cleans and cooks and tends to children–has been to fully inhabit the earth, come into my body, be mindful. The easiest place to slip into is thought. But the ability to reason that I have put so much faith in all these years has little to say about drawing. Why do I draw? I don't know; because I want to. What do I like to draw? Images that portray a certain idea or concept? No, not really. I like to draw what I see, mostly faces, sometimes with bodies. To be honest, I have no reason for drawing other than I feel compelled to. I am not making a statement, other than love, I suppose. All I can really come up with is that human beings have been making marks on surfaces for a very long time. And I am no different.

I've updated my Fine Arts page if you'd like to take a look.

I turn thirty-three years old tomorrow. Thirty-three? That doesn't seem right. It's funny how we construct identities for ourselves. Identities that have to do with age are especially foolish. Time marches on, we all know this. But somehow I have, for the last seven years, identified as a young mom. Partly because Sheldon is 16 years older than me and partly because when I had Fiona at 25, I was the first of my close friends to start a family. But thirty-three is solidly planted in the thirties, and the thirties are solidly planted in the middle of life, and one stepson and three daughters in, I am solidly planted in parenthood. I am here and this is the life I've made for myself. Many of my biggest decisions–who to marry, how many children to have-have been made. This feels good, but also different. All these years, I have somehow continued to feel new to the world, but I don't feel new anymore. I feel capable and experienced and beaten and bruised and wise and aware and very much of this world.

But at thirty-three, there are still thousands of choices left to make and dreams to be had. After eleven years in our beloved Fell's Point with Sheldon and fifteen years total in the city, we are moving back to the woods and fireflies and open spaces of my childhood. We haven't found the perfect home yet, but we will, and it will have trees to climb and a little creek and a rope swing. It will have a kitchen window overlooking a garden and a few chickens. The next phase of our lives will be spent building our own homestead, trying to live a more sustainable life, and rediscovering our place in the natural world. I'm guessing I'll feel new again in no time.

Thanks to my Mama for the birthday picnic!

A new homeschooling year has begun, and with it, a resurgence in my desire to align my goals with my actions, my knowledge and ideas with my lifestyle. I haven't posted much here in years. In that time, I have turned inward. I have done a lot of work on myself and made quiet, sometimes winding, incremental changes in the way our family lives, eats, moves, and learns. We have come a long way, and have a long way to go. I'd like to return to this space to write again about our journey, both to share knowledge and to stay inspired. Where should I begin?

It seems there is so much to say and so many gaps to fill, so let's start with something simple: Our homeschool schedule for Fall! Every homeschooling parent will tell you about the huge expenditure of mental energy that goes into creating the year's schedule. What classes to take where, what gatherings to attend and with whom, when to simply stay home... It's a 15,000 piece puzzle that takes an exorbitant amount of time and thought to fit together. This is what I came up with, with each day having a morning and afternoon focus:

Monday: Life & Lessons with Mama :: Homeschool Friends Gathering
Tuesday: Life & Lessons with Mama :: Nature School at Irvine
Wednesday: Life & Lessons with Mama :: Speech Lessons
Thursday: Life & Lessons with Mama :: Nature School at Irvine
Friday: Life & Lessons with Mimi & Granddad :: Afternoon at Home
Saturday: Gymnastics :: Life & Lessons with Daddy
Sunday: Life & Lessons with Mimi & Granddad :: Family Adventure

I hope we've found a good balance between academic lessons, nature time, quiet time, family and friend time, movement time, etc. Time will tell! I hope to break down each component of our rhythm and talk about some overarching philosophies in future posts. I hope you'll follow along!

So that's it for today. Thanks for being here!

In the last few weeks, I've made some major changes to my business, the biggest being my choice to retire House Love portraits. It was a difficult choice, considering their success and the still-growing wait list. I have been spending the majority of my work time on them for three years now. It's been a wonderful adventure, creating these darling little portraits that mean so much to their recipients (and being featured in a bunch of magazines and blogs along the way), but I am ready to move forward. For those of you who have gift certificates, no need to worry! I will be honoring gift certificates for years to come!

I know this shift is what is needed to allow more time for mothering, homeschooling, homemaking and moving forward with my art. I am ready to spend more time on my non-custom prints and on making more art with my hands (drawing and painting, oh how I've missed you!). I have so many ideas flying around in my head all the time (a blessing and a curse!), and I need to choose wisely how I use my limited work time. 

The above sketches are the result of a commitment I made to myself a couple weeks ago to keep a daily sketchbook. While I haven't been able to squeeze in a drawing every day, I am pleased that I have stuck with it and wanted to share the sketches here. I really do love drawing and want to make more time for it. I'll be posting here every week or two with new drawings and would love if you all followed along!

Hello All! Just a quick note today. If you have been considering purchasing any prints from the Transportation Series, I've donated the above three to a silent auction run by a friend's son, Nathaniel Drexler, to benefit charity:water. Consider buying the prints from Nathaniel's silent auction and do some good with your purchase! (And check out his other offerings while you're there!) Hope you're having a lovely weekend.

I am so excited to introduce a new print I've been working on. I have loved Karen Maezen Miller's work since becoming a mother and have held many of her words close to my heart as I've navigated motherhood (and personhood, for that matter). When she put out a call for an artist to create a print of her 10 Tips for a Mindful Home, I was quick to raise my hand. I am honored I was chosen and hope I did her words justice.

As I worked on the illustration, standing at my desk (a.k.a. the kids' art chest in the kitchen, which happens to be the perfect height!) with Greta sleeping in the sling, I listened to the audiobook of Momma Zen. It felt like a gift to myself to let Maezen's voice comfort me during this exhausting and beautiful time of life caring for young children. I think this print will always symbolize this time for me. If you purchase the print, I hope it can come to mean something to you, as well.

Hang the print in your kitchen or living room. Hang it in your bedroom to see upon waking. Hang it anywhere you need a gentle reminder. Keeping a mindful home is simple (but not easy).

You can see Maezen's own blog post about the print here. (And I have to say, seeing my work on her blog is so amazing! Wow!)

Thank you again to Maezen. It was an honor!

A bit more about Karen Maezen Miller: Maezen is a Zen Buddhist priest and author. Her latest book is Paradise in Plain Sight: Lessons from a Zen Garden. She also wrote Hand Wash Cold: Care Instructions for an Ordinary Life and Momma Zen: Walking the Crooked Path of Motherhood. Visit her online at www.karenmaezenmiller.com .

I could easily spend the rest of the evening (or the rest of my life, really) finding the right words to express the gratitude in my heart—for a present, supportive and loving family, for nourishing food on our table, for the gift of spending every hour of my life with people I love—but I am short on time in the most beautiful way I can imagine. I have a baby downstairs who needs nursing, children who need feeding, and a home that needs tending, so a simple Thank You will have to do. A thousand times, Thank You.

I hope you all had a peaceful Thanksgiving with the ones you love.

Oh, hello there! It's been a while. Quite a lot has happened since the last time I posted. First, let me introduce you to my beautiful baby daughter, Greta Rose! (Though, I'm betting many of you have met her over on Instagram already!) She is a happy, smiley little thing and we are all enjoying getting to know her. There is nothing like a brand new baby, is there? So cozy and sweet. I just love her.

Shortly after welcoming Greta into our not-so-little-anymore family, we began another new chapter. We started homeschooling this Fall and the girl gang (yes, I have a gang of them now) and I have spent most of our days outside, which has been wonderful. We're doing 'yoga' here... ;)

Thanks for checking in, friends! Wishing you a peaceful week.

Since we announced that we are expecting our 4th child, we have been asked (and have asked ourselves) many times whether we plan to stay in the city. I would never presume to know what is right for another family, or for our own family many years from now, but right now, we know Fell's Point is our place, tiny rowhouse and all. It seemed like an apt time to re-read, and re-post, my piece from 2012, which was originally published on the DBFA Blog.

~~~

Every morning, I pack up my children, Elsa on my back and Fiona in the stroller. We take a long, wandering walk through our little corner of the big city. A few blocks to the coffee shop and another few to the harbor, we stop every couple steps to chat with our fellow early risers. We pick up some groceries, stop by a neighborhood shop and catch up with the owner, then head back to our two hundred year old row house, where Polish immigrants lived before us with their five children, two in the attic and three in the bedroom. We know this because one of those grown children knocked on our door the week we moved in. He wanted to say hello and take a look around. The whole kitchen used to be Pepto-Bismol pink, even the damn cabinet doors, he told us.

In the afternoon, we venture out again to drop in the bar where my husband and I met one tipsy night many years ago. Today, my stepson, Elijah, performs magic tricks in front of that same bar with a little hat and collects money from passersby, fifty cents a trick. Fiona is greeted with hoots and hollers from the regulars as she skips in. Captain Kai beckons her to pull his white beard and Gaz starts a debate about the proper name for crisps. They’re called po-ta-to chips, Fiona insists. Bernard makes a joke from behind the bar about kids not being allowed in this establishment and naughty grins spread across the children’s faces.

We live in Fell’s Point, an old waterfront town founded by ship builders, home for centuries to the tobacco, flour, and coffee trades and miraculously avoided by the Baltimore Fire of 1904. Over 200 years, scores of immigrants have built a life here and have come together to create a community rich with culture and diversity. In the 70s, we almost lost Fell’s Point to a highway, but locals rose up and fought for years to save this magical place. And they won. I hadn’t even been born then, but the men and women who spearheaded that revolt still live here. We know them, hang out with them, and are grateful beyond words for their efforts. We just celebrated Bob’s 83rd birthday at Tony and Laura’s house. Fiona wore a fancy dress for the occasion.

But this place we love, that they fought for, isn’t perfect. I know a day will come when we’ll have to explain to our children why one of our neighbors acts differently from one day to the next. Substance abuse, we’ll explain, changes a person. A homeless man rants at his station outside of the coffee shop, scaring the tourists, but we know better. His name is Mike and he wouldn’t hurt a fly. He suffers from mental illness, we’ll tell the kids, and he deserves our kindness. These lessons are real and raw and they are right in front of us.

These people who have become ingrained in the fiber of our everyday, the shop owners, the men selling roses, the homeless, they aren’t people we see at natural parenting playgroups or soccer practice. We don’t meet at 4pm on Tuesday. We live our lives alongside each other, with each other. We don’t share a background, political ideology or age. We share something much deeper and more permanent. We share a place.

We don’t choose who we run into on the way to pick up groceries, who moves in next door, or which children happen to be at the park in the afternoon. But it’s in the not choosing that we find something beautiful. This city, our home, has created a tapestry richer with community and history than one we could have ever woven on our own. And for that, we do choose to stay.

I am so excited to announce that my children's art prints are now available at my favorite (and local!) toy store, aMuse! They are currently carrying my Transportation Series and we have big plans to expand the line to other prints and products. Oh, the possibilities! I love that my prints are alongside so many of our favorite picture books. It bordered on embarrassing how many times Fiona exclaimed, "We have this book!" (I can't help myself!)

The girls and I stopped by the Quarry Lake location today to visit and check out the display (and the toys, obviously!) and we arrived just in time for Story Time! The girls were excited and we will definitely attend again. It is held every Tuesday at 11am if your kids love books as much as mine do.

I think Fiona and Elsa would agree that there are some major perks to having a Mama working with aMuse!

I just posted this to Instagram, but the small image really didn't do it justice. Fiona and I worked on creating some comics a bit today after she's shown an interest in Toon Books, even asking, Mama, can I have a million comics? Can I have all the comics in the world? Being the sucker that I am (with a very weak spot for books, and a very very week spot for books with pictures...), I said of course, and now comics are the new thing around here.

All I did was create the comic storyboard template and let her go to town. She came up with the story, images and words, just asking for help with spelling. When she finished drawing and writing, she asked me to color it in for her and I obliged. As usual, I am blown away by Fiona's work. I am so amazed that this tiny person has such big ideas.

(The comic goes like this: First, a mama fairy and her daughters are hanging out, then an evil witch zaps the mama. The daughters say, "Oh no!" and, "She's hurt!" Then the mama feels better and the daughters say, "Mommy! You're better!" and the mama says "Oh thank you, kids!" And the evil witch says "Hmph!")

Photo by Sasha Gulish for The Land of Nod

I am so excited to share with all of you a project that I've been looking forward to for some time. The Oh Joy for Nod kids' bedding and decor collection was released last week and included is my very own illustration, Car Love. See it up there, directly above the yellow bed and below the adorable collection of moths? I can hardly believe it. To have a piece of mine selected by Joy and carried by The Land of Nod is huge!

Head over to The Land of Nod to explore the whole collection, or learn more about the inspiration for the collection on Oh Joy!

We invited family over this weekend to celebrate Fiona's birthday with a morning of food and art. Fiona has been planning and dreaming for months about selling her artwork at an art fair, so for her birthday, we made it happen.

I bought some blank cards and envelopes, set out our usual art supplies of graphite pencils, colored pencils, beeswax crayons and watercolors, then Fiona, along with her siblings and cousins, created designs on the blank cards. When they were finished with their cards, we tied a little string with a tag with the artist's name on each. After cake and singing, the adults were invited to purchase cards for a quarter each.

Fiona loved it. I have a feeling this isn't her last fair.

Family, food and art. Ah yes, good stuff.