Create Art Daily

Art is really important to me. At school I was clearly not as “talented’ artistically as some people, and the teacher basically ignored me. I didn’t cross her radar, and she wasn’t interested in showing how everyone can create art.

In our homeschool, we just do art as a matter of course. Sometimes it’s drawing, sometimes other media get involved. At the moment, Isaac is on a watercolor kick. Using a cheap palette from Amazon, and printer paper, he just paints. I have good watercolors, and watercolor paper, but he’s interested in volume, so he uses the basic stuff. Sometimes on the counter, sometimes on the deck. Spatter technique is a favorite of Hope’s, so that happened a lot today :-)

And this evening, Isaac was so proud to show me his stack of paintings, explaining and discussing the subjects and relative merits of each. He is an artist, as everyone is. No one is telling him otherwise.

Go play in the woods!

This started as a shoot to showcase some jewelry for fun, and it turned into such a fantastic modeling session for Faith and Hope. Plus I got to play with my new lovely Velvet lens. What else are you to do when it’s actually freezing cold, but you just can’t do winter any more?!?

A brilliant and wonderful friend launched a business with her sister, designing and making scarves, and blankets, but mostly really cool bags sewn from recycled denim. One of their scarves worked its way into our afternoon, and it’s part of the general fantastic-ness of this set. Check out Star Cottage Cloth to see their excellent stuff!

Time for Christmas Pics!

The day after Thanksgiving was bitterly cold, but these brave souls were ready! Their little one loves to explore, so we gave her some time to wander, and catch the light through her curls. Once she got cold and tired, it was time to head home, but we had the pics we wanted!

Wellness Seminar

It was fun to gather some thoughts, and some yummy samples to share with a group of mamas who are looking to care for their family’s health with intention and awareness, using natural/non-toxic products wherever possible.

If you don’t take time to stay healthy, you’ll have to take time to be ill.

The top three points:

Drink Water!

Get Enough Sleep!

Get Outside/Get Exercise!

Sometimes I forget these, and it’s good to do a mental check when I notice my kids aren’t feeling great.

Then…

Eat Real Food!

Read ingredients. The closer it is to the way it grows, the more nutrition is in the food.

When I have a kid who’s eating lots of junk/not eating enough good stuff, smoothies are my backup.My VitaMix is a great friend! I don’t have a juicer, but juicing is a great way to get tons of nutrients in.

Kale Smoothie is Scrumptious!

I get big bags of frozen pineapple and mango from Costco. Big bag of kale from wherever :-) Add frozen banana and frozen concentrated OJ.

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Our bodies have an amazing tolerance to process stuff in our food/drink/environment, but they have a limit. If a kid is growing AND not getting enough sleep AND eating lots of non-nutritious calories AND dealing with toxins from cleaning supplies AND is fighting off a virus, something’s got to give…

The idea of a Toxic Load Bucket helps me think through if a kid’s body is feeling overwhelmed, and therefore likely to drop immunity and get sick.

On the other side, I try to fill up their Immunity Buckets, using nutrition, herbs, and other naturally sourced wonderful things!

Fire Cider is easy to make!

These Multis work well for us. Zinc is the first go-to for a tickly throat.

Vit D is so helpful. Always take with a fat. Vits B and C are necessary for us daily.

Homeopathics work soooooo well for us.

Mullein and garlic for ear aches.

Rescue Remedy for boo-boos of body or spirit.

Oils for focus/attention.

There’s sooo much more to discuss, but this is a start. Please tell me if this is helpful, if you want to hear more, and what you’d like to talk about.

I’ll have to learn more about how to upload video/use FBLive. But hopefully you get the idea!

Hot spiced apple cider, shiitake broth soup, tart cherry gummies, and so many cookbooks, essential oils, and natural healing ideas, along with Jessica’s beautiful hospitality and Jamie’s elderberry syrup demo made a lovely evening. Thank you all!!!

Parmelee Farm Family Session

This gorgeous family was ready to try a new-to-me location, and they wanted dreamy woodland. This town-owned 150yr-old farm property is now being restored with gardens, vintage and working buildings, an event pavilion, and miles of wooded trails.

The sun sinks quickly this time of year, and we made the most of every last drop of light. Family sessions are usually a relaxed walk around a beautiful spot like this, and even if little ones don’t feel at their best, they can play or be held, and we can make beautiful photos just by the having everyone together.

Hammonasset Maternity

This amazing mama was ready to have her baby as soon as we did this session. When clients show up looking the way she styled her family, and ready to enjoy the process of making their family portraits, a photographer does a happy dance, and I actually did :-) There were other families and photographers on the beach doing portraits at the same time we were, so we took turns on the rocks and the jetty. It was a little chillier than we expected, but even their sweet daughter warmed up to playing for the camera.