Why Mama Drinks

What? You missed my original post about Why Mama Drinks?


Go ahead and take a look at that link. I'll wait.




I LOVE that I'm raising a little artist. Really. I do.



I am not, however always fond of cleaning up the mess. Especially when I'm functioning on 3 hours of sleep (thank you Lost finale).





While in the midst of cleaning up this mess, The Little decide to lose the entire contents of his dinner up and down the hall and all along the bathroom wall.

It's always interesting.

Simple Mama

Transformation

The Little's great-aunt gave him the most amazing birthday gift a few weeks ago, a Painted Lady butterfly kit from Insect Lore

When the kit arrived in the mail we quickly opened it, knowing that little caterpillars were alive inside. Each little plastic container held five teeny-tiny caterpillars and enough food for them to live on. I wish I had taken a photo of them the first day we had them. They grow quickly! The Little is so curious about them. We check them every day to see how much they've grown and how much food they've consumed.

It should only be a matter of days before they begin to change into chrysalides and are moved into their new, larger mesh home.

This has been such a fascinating experiment to have in our home. I remember as a child watching butterflies hatch in school, and now I am able to share that same experience with my son.

We live in a completely suburban environment. Cookie cutter houses, manicured lawns, perfectly laid out streets. Sometimes I think that we're thought of as "those neighbors", the ones with the compost pile (non-smelly), the garden, the canning, and now the chickens. But you know what? I'm ok with it. More than ok with it. There's such a disconnect in our society today with were our food comes from, how bugs and bees help pollinate our gardens, how the cycle of life works. Yesterday as we were bringing home our chickens a little neighborhood girl asked me what we were going to do with them. When I told her we were raising them for eggs she looked at me, eyes wide with confusion. "Eggs come from chickens?" She asked.

I hope our worm composting, suburban chicken keeping, butterfly raising, gardening lifestyle instills a deep wonder, an insatiable curiosity, and a reverence for life in my son. I hope he learns about the importance of eating locally, of being a good steward and gentle soul. I hope he learns about the circle of life, and how all things good spring from the earth, and with our help, return to it.

I hope he learns.

This journey is not only transforming caterpillars into butterflies. It's transforming me as well.


Simple Mama

Chicken Little

I've been nagging begging Super Hubby to agree to raising some urban chickens in our backyard for about 3 years now. This weekend, all that hard work paid off when he agreed to the endeavor!

Of course there are some stipulations - like this is MY project. He just wants to partake of the eggs.

He has already agreed to watch the chicks when I take a weekend getaway with my girlfriends this summer however. And I'm fairly certain I'll be able talk him into building the coop. *wink*

The Little was SO excited today to bring home the new babies. We're working hard on gentle handling and not feeding them his oatmeal raisin cookies and ice cream. Our dog is also a wide open question mark with these new chicks. So far so good - she's merely overly curious but not showing any aggression.

So...without any further ado, please meet the newest little creatures to join our home:

Gretchen, our Black Australorp




Madge - our Buff Orpington



And Lulu - our Light Brahma



Oh my! I'm so excited. Stay tuned for updates this summer as we raise our baby chicks and transfer them later to their new coop.

Cheerfully,
Simple Mama

Before the Storm

Our gorgeous sunny weather streak is about to turn into a week of rain and thunderstorms.

Here's how we spent part of our day:






Enjoying the weather while we can,

Simple Mama

Mother's Day

A very happy Mothers Day to all the wonderful mamas in my life. Thank you for your love, your support and your guidance.

I must say, I was pampered quite a bit on Mother's Day. Between Super Hubby taking The Little out for breakfast so I could sleep in, the gorgeous weather and our trip to the farmer's market and ordered in Thai food - the day couldn't have been much better. :)

Hanging flowers for our porch


Tulips from the farmer's market:


Wildflowers from the side of the road (Buttercups? Does anyone know?)


And a beautiful wee bumble bee to symbolize my love of gardening:


Blessings to all the mothers of the earth.

Simple Mama

Three Years Old

Three years ago you changed my life completely, irrevocably, in the most profound way possible.

Three years ago I grew up. I stopped worrying so much about myself, my needs, my comfort and focused my energy on you, the most beautiful baby I had ever seen.


Three years ago I became your mama. The craziest, hardest, easiest, most fulfilling, most sleep deprived, most hilarious, grossest, funniest, exhausting, enlightening, growth filled job I'd ever had.

Happy Birthday baby. It is an honor and privilege to be your mama, to watch you grow, to observe you discover your world, to kiss your sweet curls away from your forehead at night, to dry your tears, and share in fits of hysterical giggles.

You fill my heart to overflowing each and every day.


Here are few photos from our day, which was spent at the Portland Zoo and his Great Aunt Debbie's and Great Grandma Alice's house. More photos will be up later.


His Indiana Jones cake:



Wearing his stunning birthday crown and his mama's sunglasses.


His stuffed letter birthday garland


His birthday spiral


It was a beautiful, lovely, perfect day for our 3 year old to celebrate his birthday.

Blessings and Light,
Simple Mama

Strawberries and Sunshine

I know full well that there are people in America, and even friends and family of mine who have braved far worse than the cold rain I'm about to complain about. I've kept all my friends and family in Tennessee in my thoughts this week.

But yuck! What a week of nasty, cold, wet weather we've had. Every time the barometric pressure changes significantly, I come down with migraine headaches. The Little was starting to go stir crazy being cooped up inside more than he wanted. When I woke up this morning, there didn't appear to be much hope for the day - it was cold, windy, and wet.

Until 4pm.


I looked outside and heard the birds chirping merrily. I cautiously opened the backdoor expecting a blast of cold air. I was greeted instead with sunshine and warmth. Warm enough to put us in t-shirts and shorts and fill up the water table with bubble solution:






And it's pretty clear from the photos that the clothes didn't stay on very long. (It should be noted I was fully clothed the entire time. Our 6 foot neighborhood fences don't lend themselves to adult nude sunbathing.)



The Little brought out the big juicy strawberries we found at the local grocery store this week:




And mama decided to make strawberry shortcake with real whip cream for the family:




We explored our grass and found a gnome forest growing right under our noses:


And we checked on the status of our early spring garden. The sugar peas are coming along nicely:



Living it up in the backyard,

Simple Mama

Goldfish and Acorns...

Almost Silent Sunday


Strange combo, yes? But so stinking cute!


Available in my etsy shop.

At the May Faire

Happy May Day!

We spent the afternoon at the Portland Waldorf School for May faire!

Making hair garland:


Watching the children perform folk dances:


Watching the May Day Pole festivities:


Climbing on rocks:


Admiring local artisans:




We played in the castle for AGES - we found out they've been using this castle in some form or another for 13 years.


We used shiny bangles to make twirly ribbon rings:


Yours in this gorgeous spring May Day!



Simple Mama

Oil Spill Clean Up

I'm just distraught over the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Will this be a wake up call for us to more seriously investigate and implement other forms of clean energy?

I don't know. I hope so. The recent events with the coal mine collapse in West Virginia and the loss of marine life and revenue that the Gulf will endure because of the oil spill are devastating.

In reaction to this newest disaster I'm donating $5.00 from every nest sold in my Etsy store to the Mobile Bay National Estuary Program for marine life relief. I've only listed three at the moment, but if demand is greater, I will be listing more.

Our family will match these funds up to $50.00 for a potential donation of $100.00!

Please feel free to pass this information along.

Simple Mama