Winter Gift Letter

Wow, the warm days are truckin' right along here in Nor Cal, it's feeling kinda hard to get into the holiday spirit. We're still looking for a rental and I'm wondering where we will decide to go for Thanksgiving. I'm really testing the limits of my fear zone these days - being so close to moving time without a rental lined up but I'm confident and I have faith.



Anyways....



So here's a copy of the winter gift idea letter I sent out to friends and family recently. I thought I would share this with my readers since I know many of you may be wondering how to create a gift list that reflects a natural play environment yet is accessible to those who are not following that lifestyle. I always try to be kind yet set some solid guidelines. Let me know what you think and feel free to copy any or all of it if you want to use it for resources, ideas, etc.



Hugs :)





Dear Friends and family,



Here you will find a list of suggested gifts for Nykki and Ronan this holiday season. We have worked very hard as a family to come up with a wide variety of suggestions which can be purchase at many different merchants, all over the country. Hopefully this makes it easier to do your holiday shopping this year.



As many of you are aware we practice a parenting and homeschooling philosophy based on the Rudolph Steiner (also called Waldorf) method. Please understand that we wish to create and educated with the most imaginative, natural and authentic play things for our children. We will not be able to keep items which do not fit our lifestyle.



For us homeschool and life are intertwined. Nearly everyday the boys are involved in some type of natural, creative project and this constitutes a large percentage of their playtime as well as the highest demand on our resources. You will find on this list many craft material suggestions and may wonder how these are "played" with by the boys. If you wish to know more specifics about the crafts the boys do, like felting, needle work, baking, painting, water color, knitting, etc. feel free to email me.



Homemade



We love homemade things! Here are some simple projects anyone can do that would really warm the boys hearts. The links beneath show you how to make them.



Felt Blocks

http://www.canadianliving.com/crafts/sewing/soft_blocks_to_sew_for_baby.php



Gnomes

http://squirrelacorns.blogspot.com/2008/02/felt-gnome-tutorial.html



Cloth Dolls

http://www.clothdollconnection.com/FreePatterns.html



Kites

http://www.skratch-pad.com/kites/make.html





Nykki



Stockmar Molding Beeswax

can be found at www.waldorfsupplies.com



Wool felt and felting needle (can be found at most craft stores)



100% cotton clothing size 7T or higher



Wooden Doll House



Spanish learning books (no logos please)



Wooden or Metal Kitchen pretend play things



Keen or teva shoes size 1



Pirate and/or space man dress up clothes



Metal Slinkey



Books and/or puzzles about space





Ronan



Stockmar block crayons

can be found at www.waldorfsupplies.com



100% cotton clothes size 2-3 T



Spanish board books



Shoes size 7



Balls (medium to large size, no small please, he still has chocking issues)



Metal Slinkey



Bath Toys



Underwear size 3 T







General



Water color paper



Drawing paper



Natural paints (Michaels Craft Store has a wonderful new "green" line)



Paint brushes



Traditional Medicinal Teas for Kids (found at most health food stores)



Wool Yarn



Embroidery Thread



Play Silks

can be found at www.threesisterstoys.com



Organic Baby soaps and lotions, Organic Bubble Bath (can be found at Wild Oats, Trader Joes or Whole Foods)



Herbs for Kids tinctures



Wool or cotton socks





DVDs



Cirque d'Solei



Star Trek Movies



Star Wars Movies



Classic Scooby Doo



The Sound of Music



Yellow Submarine



The Secret Garden



(Please note that we do allow the kids to see some selected "logo" based shows such as Scooby Doo but we do not believe in cross marketing i.e. "stuff" that goes along with logo TV. Please do not purchase logo items, we will not be able to keep them)



Websites



Here is a list of online mom and pop shops we LOVE. There wholesome products are always a winner.



www.threesisterstoys.com



www.novanatural.com



www.blueberryforest.com





Thank you and merry solstice!



Ayla, Seth, Nykki and Ronan

D and C. 42:43 Herbology

"And whosoever among you are sick, and have not faith to be healed, but believe, shall be nourished with all tenderness, with herbs and mild food, and that not by the hand of an enemy." D and C. 42:43

Herbs are a rich tradition of many faiths. Trusting in our own saints, prophets, medicine people, healers and above all our own personal understanding of God is a crucial part of our health.

In my tradition Apostle Willard Richards prophecied that the principles of herbology "would never die out or cease until it had revolutionized the earth." (Priddy Meeks Journal, p.31 as cited through Ogden Kraut's 95 These)

I encourage you to seek out the tradition of herbal use in your own faith, to trust in what the earth provides us to heal and to join the revolution :)

Love Spiders

I always take note of the spiders who come to live in our home. If my research finds them to be dangerous than I relocate them, or in extreme cases squash them. If I find them to be no treat I leave them to their spider business. We had a pair of harmless spiders hanging out in our bathroom, above our shower.



At first each spider had it's own web on opposite sides of the ceiling. Then a few days later I notice that one spider had moved into the others web. I observed them for a long time. They seemed, to my human concepts, to be in love. They would rub their legs together, and even seemed to hug. At first I was sure one must be attacking the other but none of the actions seemed to harm the other.



The next time I came to take a shower they had gone.....I wonder what happen to them. Perhaps they are on their honeymoon.

Trip to the Pumpkin Patch

We are very blessed to be able this year to go to a real pumpkin patch and pick our gorgeous squash right off the vine! Such an enriching experience it is to be able to participate in the fullnes of food. As the sun shone down on us with it's weakened rays we delighted in the colors of the season, plucking hearty squash, just as our ancestors have done, to sustain us through the winter time.







Nykki pulled Ronan in the wagon







We stopped to say hello to the Bee Goddess, working hard to gather pollen, continue our way of life and provide us with sweet treats, thank you Mama Bee!







A glimps of unspoiled earth, invaluable







Best friends choose a pumpkin. These are the memories I hope to instill in my child. When Nykki looks back on his childhood, I want moments like this to be his foundation.







The star of the show!

The bailout and what we can do about it...

So, here's my favorite article on the approval of this raping of the American poor our government is calling the "bailout".



I believe we are heading very quickly toward a facist country. I truly believe they, read: gov't/big business, want total control of us. The best way to fight is to take the control out of their hands and put it back in the hands of the people.



Build our own homes



Grow our own food whether we live in an urban area or in the country



School our own children



We don't need to fight - fighting makes them stronger - we need to withdrawl from their system to limit an/or completely take away their control.



Peace

New Camera!

(Yes my hair is red again BTW)







Homeschooling - learning about seeds. Oak Meadow Lesson 4 Science

Worlds Coolest House

This website was sent to me today by a friend. It's my dream house!!! I'm going to show this site to Seth when he wakes up this morning and tell him this is what I want.



What's your dream house?

12 Food Additives to Avoid

Read it here and save your life

Church Going Green

Church honored for green efforts
By Cassandra Crockett
The Salt Lake Tribune
Article Last Updated: 06/20/2008 11:58:10 PM MDT

The LDS Church's City Creek development is being lauded as a model for green design.

On pleasant days beginning in 2012, the glass panels covering the retail section of downtown Salt Lake City's City Creek Center will retract, exposing a once enclosed complex to open air.
The 300-by-70-foot ceiling will act as City Creek's air conditioner on warm days but hold in warmth during stormy or windy days.
"You can open up the roof like the windows of your house when it's nice outside," said Bill Williams, City Creek Reserve Inc.'s director of architecture and engineering.
The ceiling is one way that the LDS Church is making its massive City Creek development in downtown Salt Lake City greener, efforts that the Sierra Club honored this week in its first "Faith in
Action" report. Read the rest here