A picnic and a poem.

Go on a picnic

take a hike.

it doesn't matter if you tread on foot or bike.

The wind is waiting to speak to you.

Although words are few,

it stirs within your soul something anew.

The birds are fluttering to and fro,

singing a happy song wherever they go.

There are rocks to explore

and bugs to treasure hunt for.

Flowers to gather

or clouds to daydream about...if you'd rather.

Whatever your heart's desire happens to be,

step outside and allow your eyes to see.

Favorite Art and Nature Supplies!

Although I like to pack light when we camp or step foot outdoors, there are a few items that we like to bring along to enhance our learning time and noticing!  Learning about both ourselves and the world around us is something really important to me.  If my girls hear the call of a beautiful bird I'd love for them to have the opportunity to make a painting in response, rather than hurry their little selves along, never stopping to notice.  Whether that means my trusty Jansport backpack from my high-school days is packed up or this cute picnic basket I thrifted, we seem to always have a vessel to hold a few essential items for play time in the yard or adventures outside the gates of our lovely farm. 

These are the same items I packed up on our big camping adventure with the cousins that I shared about yesterday so they really are quite portable!  I suppose I could pack super light and do without all this but the rewards of having them are worth far more than the extra baggage. 

Check out the list below to see what we love!

These aren't affiliate links, they're simply things we adore. 

1.) Educational Insights Kidnoculars

2.) Crayola Watercolors

We love this set because Crayola brand watercolors are so extremely vibrant! Plus this comes with two rows of paint inside the plastic container, so we simply open it up and each girl gets their own! 

3.) Melissa and Doug Doodle Pad

Ok friends, I have to say something a tad bit negative.  This paper got rave reviews on Amazon but I'm really not impressed. It is super thin and my girls like to use a lot of color in their painting so the paper gets a bit soggy/crinkly pretty fast.  For on the go, the easel in the backyard, or for camping it's just fine.  But I wouldn't use it everyday. 

4.) Water brushes

How many ways do I love a water brush? So many.  Too many to list probably.  A water brush is a paint brush that holds water in the handle, making it extremely portable!  Seriously, we pack our water brushes for outings on the farm, paint time in the yard, camping, the car, etc.  EVERYWHERE.  They are so easy for kiddos to learn to use too! I taught my nieces and nephews how to use them last weekend and they had the hang of it within minutes.  Your kids need a water brush! (and you do too!)

5.) Nature Anatomy

This book is AMAZING.  It is an illustrated guide to all things nature.  We have gazed at this book for hours already.  It answers many questions we have while exploring outside, as well as answering questions we didn't even know we had yet! They also have a book called Farm Anatomy that is next on my wish list.  

I hope this has left you feeling inspired to take your art and learning on the go!  The natural world is just as fascinating as it gets to me.  Having these simple tools handy to join us on our adventures has made the ride really sweet this summer..

one little word

How are you holding up this holiday season?  Right at the beginning of December I felt the tidal wave of ad after ad hit the mailbox, inbox, and just about any place it could find to land.  I started tuning out to the internet and tv world and instead, tuned in to God more, books, my family, and crafting.  Problem solved.  I've been enjoying the holiday season and the great, enormous treasure it is we get to celebrate such a great, loving God.  I mean, He really loves us, doesn't he?  I can see it, just looking at these pictures alone. 

Have you heard of picking "one little word?"  I believe Ali Edwards is where I first heard of such a thing.  The concept was simple.  Pick one word you'd like to center your thoughts and life on for the following year.  To me, this also means centering my listening, prayers, and worship on my one little word as well.  Last year my word was "light", maybe even the year before that.  

I have to be honest and say this year I wasn't even thinking about "one little word", like at all.  But a funny thing happened.  I noticed in my thoughts, reading, reflecting, and listening…one particular word kept showing up.  Enough times for me to grab 'hold of it, throw it in a jar with a lid, and watch the word glow back at me, just like a summer lightning bug.  

And that word, is slow. 

Slow.

Slow.

Slowing down to have time to reach the good, nitty gritty parts of life.  The morsels that are always overlooked.  To sow slowly in order to reap deeply.  This is not a popular idea in our "get it fast" world.  Our food is fast, our internet sales and fame..even faster.  With the right tools and people and marketing, we can brand ourselves more quickly than ever.  Last year I entered January full of ideas and BIG numbers….

while the ideas weren't "bad", I found the numbers game to be quite toxic to my most heavenly projects.  My girls, farm, friends, and church community require the best of me.  They require slowing down and time.  After being at odds with myself, the big numbers and big ideas warring against slowing down, I'm happy to say I'm finally ready to embrace this new year, new way of living, and new thinking. 

Slow it is.  Slow isn't bad, you know?  Slowly evolving as an artist, not a bad thing. 

Slowly letting an idea roll around in our head, without a definite plan…..not bad.

Slowly easing into our mornings whenever possible…..very good. 

Slowly eating and savoring….wonderful. 

Slowing down our to do list to have time for extra hugs, extra talk at the grocery store, extra time for a tight-knit community of friends……slowing down to create something meaningful with our hands, slowing our steps down to notice God did it again with a gorgeous sunset, painted just for our pleasure. Even slowing down my art to give it time to evolve….and be full of the best parts of me. 

I'm saying yes to slow living. 

{ More on "slow" throughout the year. }

The Sewing Sisters

My friends, it feels like winter has arrived.  Normally the weather seems like the most boring place to go for conversation, but when the morning temps are 25 and the piles of quilts on the bed are growing by the second….well, it just seems fitting to go there. We said "hello" to our frosty temperatures with a little indoor snowball fight this week.  Rumor has it we might even get some snow this weekend.  

I wasn't ready for this at first.  For the slowing down, the staying home more (have you ever bundled and buckled two toddlers in freezing cold?!), the inside play, the stillness.  And then, suddenly I was ready.  It must have been the nights by the stove, cozy under my momma's handmade quilt, that did me in.  I'm craving and ready for rest.  For a few months to savor all the good memories of the last year, and look ahead just a bit to the next.  To sew and putter around the craft room.  To paint.  I have new stories in my head to paint that are like nothing I've created before.  I'm excited to have the space of winter to roam a bit. 

Winter also brings time to roam a bit with my girls.  Spring and summer's are spent tromping around the farm, playing all kinds of wet, messy games.  Exploring galore and using the outdoors as our classroom.  While I don't expect to stop our outdoor learning during winter, it does give us a bit more time indoors.  We started our winter fun by pulling out the sewing machine, photographs, a heart paper punch, and crayons/oil pastels. 

Our goal was to make some new art journals.  I'm very excited and proud to say the girls and I have filled up our journals we purchased at the beginning of the school year!  They are just beautiful to look at.  With it being time for new journals I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to sew something.  

The girls started out by coloring two pieces of a cereal box, one for the front cover and one for the back.  Anna Ruth glued some hearts punched from a magazine onto her covers, as well as her photographs.  I did Betsy's for her because all she wanted to do was dump out the crayons and colored pencils.  That's real life sometimes! (especially when you're almost two)

Next, each girl got a turn at the sewing machine.  This picture sums up our real-life learning moments quite well.  Betsy Grace has usually climbed someplace she really shouldn't be, things are spilling everywhere on the floor, and both girls are so incredibly eager to learn and use both their hands at the same time.  So it's a bit of an adventure is what I'm saying. 

But it is an adventure worth taking.  I find myself sometimes getting frazzled with so much activity happening at once when I'm trying to teach the girls something.  I suppose my first response would be to just shut it down.  But really, these precious girls wouldn't ever get a chance to learn much of anything if I shut things down every time my human nature felt things were slipping off balance a bit.  The big picture is, crayons can be cleaned, hearts (ok mine) can pray for patience……

the learning and joy must go on.  

As I was later recalling our sewing morning to Brett I told him it both amazed and terrified me a bit how much Betsy Grace loved the sewing machine.  Like really, really loved it.  I say "terrified" because I reminder her over and over not to put her tiny hands under the needle.  She was quite fascinated with watching it go up and down.  But, with reminders and full attention from me she stayed perfectly safe and I believe we've found a new passion of hers.

I adore how the journals turned out.  Obviously Anna Ruth's is kid made and Betsy Grace's is not.  Maybe she'll be more interested next time.  

A few things I tried to teach the girls about sewing, Anna Ruth especially,

was where the "on" button is, how to lower the presser foot, not to touch the needle, and how to guide the paper (or fabric) through the machine. 

These sewing sisters made my day. 

Summer + Slow Living = love.

My favorite season used to be fall.  I loved everything about it from the layers of clothes to the warm drinks and gusty winds.  And the leaves! Don't even get me started on the leaves.  

Then along came my life on the farm and little baby gal and then another baby gal and before I knew it, summer snuck up on us.  It surprised us with its carefree spirit, even though-wasn't our routine the same as all the other seasons of the year?  There was no work to take vacation from, no school breaks yet.  There's something to this season called summer though....it invites a sense of slow living into our lives we didn't know we were missing before. 

(excuse the food in the mouth, but is this not the cutest?!)

The words "slow living" showed up in my thoughts last week.  "Structuring your life around meaning and fulfillment.  Less is more" is how google defines it.  Rocked my world, this definition and these two words.  In a world of more, more, more, more.....sometimes I feel like I'm sitting in the cheap seats of life when God is expectantly waiting for me to take a front row seat, or even join the game itself!  Life up close.  A little slower, more passion, more tastes to savor, more breaths to exhale.  

This concept has wrapped itself all the way around my mind so I'm sure I'll have more to say in the upcoming months.  For us, we're choosing the slow life.  To sit on the back deck with a gal in my lap all morning long if we like.

To slow down and notice the exact way my girls' hair looks....from the very color to texture.  Slow living this summer means playing and kisses on the lips from Betsy Grace....

ring around the rosy, 

hide and seek. 

here

More books, magazines, things read on paper....

less screen time. 

Slow living means preparing for winter with a "Books to read" list in anticipation of sitting by the fire.

Making and savoring every single crumb of zucchini bread,

painting in colors that make you feel alive,

(painting here.)

Studying bugs,

dressing yourself to play in the rain.

Wandering in the rain in the prettiest, dreamiest skirt ever,

delighting in baby legs.

Slow living is playing outside with my girls,

leaving the to do list (even mentally) inside.

Pretend enjoying "spinach" that Anna Ruth made, 

complete with compliments for the cook.

Slow living is time spent on the porch,

soaking in the bath during afternoon nap just because I can,

sitting during the day instead of always being on the go.

Time spent exercising off the treadmill and in real life instead-picking weeds, chasing the girls, farm walks.  Climbing fences and gathering wildflower bouquets.

Slow living for me equals a month without sweets but a body that feels drastically different,

savoring fresh garden food and lots of bread instead,

plans to spend the evenings canning instead of in front of the t.v.

Slow living means stopping the worry train that races through my thoughts and takes over,

instead intentionally acting on some dreams I've let fear stop before they even happened.

It means farm retreats this fall,

where for an evening you can step into our slow living world too.

What do these words mean to you? 

How do you make this lifestyle possible in our fast-paced world?

A favorite blog of mine to read concerning a slower lifestyle is Foxs Lane.