white apples . a blog

first day of school

The first day of school. When I see this photo, I can't help but think how those first days of school come and go, year after year. The nervous excitement, the newness and anticipation. She was so very ready to start school again. And perhaps we were all ready for that bit of structure and rhythm after summer's freedom. 

 

The pattern is the Charlotte Apron Dress from The Cottage Mama. This apron style was only way I could figure out how to incorporate that bit of delightfully odd and fantastical elephant fabric by Tina Givens into a little-girl dress. She has been calling this dress her special school dress. It is particularly twirly and inspires elaborate slow-motion dance routines, with waving arms and a dramatically tilted chin. 

 

Pretty soon he'll be spiffing up for his first day of school as well. For now, he just misses his big sister.

my little bear

This guy. So much snuggly sweetness in such a compact and adorable little package. He's just bursting with personality these days. He has so much to say. He notices. He asks questions. He fills our days with humor and joy and delight and loud, high pitched song. To say that his mama, daddy, and sister adore him is a tremendous understatement.

These photos are from a recent farm visit. The kids got to pick (and nibble) vegetables from the garden, including that monstrous okra that Owen is digging into below. He loved the chickens. Is there anything better than kids and chickens? He was all giggles and wiggles when they were let out of their barn - petting them and feeding them scraps from the garden and yelling, Hi Chicken, over and over again. Naturally, he wanted to bring one home.

Juni was more intimidated by the flurry of fifty-some chickens and turkeys flapping all around us and stayed quite out of their way. But then she managed to witness one little lady lay a pretty blue-green egg right in front of her. And she fell in love as well.

here's a branch of snowy may

On Friday, the Early Childhood students at Juniper's school had their May Day celebration and family picnic. We made flower crowns (with lavender from our garden!) and watched the Kindergarten children dance around the May pole. Juni was thrilled with such a special day at school with her friends.

I made Juni's May Day dress using the Sunny Scallop Dress pattern by Jona G. and a couple of simple calicos from JoAnns. Despite the complete lack of pink or sparkles, Juni says it is still "princessy", which is the only fashion metric that matters these days.

in the forest

On our way to school this morning, Juniper and I talked about all the things we did during Spring Break last week. We painted and picked strawberries and had picnics in the backyard. We hiked and stomped in mud and slept in late.

"Mama! I also ate lots and lots of candy and watched too many cartoons!"

Yeah, that too. Since I don't have photos of all the illicit sugar and TV, here are some shots of our hike in Eno River State Park.

The website described this trail as a gentle, 1.5 mile loop. In reality, it was a 3.5 mile loop. In the last mile, Juni kept stopping to whisper, "Mama... I think so maybe this is taking a little bit too long." She kept up though and fell asleep about three minutes after we reached the car. Trooper.

exhale and a new rhythm

I didn't intend to take a blogging break for the whole month of January, but I blinked and now February is right around the corner. As always, January has been a nice long exhale from the bustle and excitement of the holidays. But this year, it held some excitement of its own. Juniper started attending a three-day nursery school at the beginning of the month. The photo above is from her first day. She's impatiently waiting for me to take the picture, before racing through the doors behind her with not a hint of anxiety or trepidation that day or any day since. She is so, so excited about going to school. She gets to paint and chop vegetables and take nature walks, bake bread and hear stories and play outside every day. Her teacher emphasizes gentle rhythms, imaginative free play, and time spent outdoors.

As Juni is adjusting to rhythms at school, we have all had to adjust our rythms at home quite a bit to accomodate school drop-offs and pick-ups. My notoriously late-sleeping kids (I know, you're rolling your eyes) now have to wake up an hour and a half earlier, which means earlier bedtime, earlier dinner, etc. But we're all so excited to hear about Juni's adventures at school every day - that is, the tidbits that she chooses to share with us. 

And while Juni is having fun with her school friends, Owen takes advantage of the quiet house to snuggle in and have a nice long nap. 

a walk in the woods

"I am having a great day!" she shouts. "I am such a good hiker."

And she is, indeed, a good hiker. Or rather, she is a good explorer. A good wanderer. A good little wood sprite, for she zigzags to and fro, up and over and around, with little regard to trail markers and such. If she had room enough in her pockets for every acorn in the forest, she would bring them all home. She stops and lingers, pokes and prods and gathers, and a two-hour hike turns into a whole afternoon adventure.

She reminds us to slow down and look around. That there is no real goal beyond the moment. That throwing rocks into a river is enough accomplishment for one day. That, when your "footies are tired", it is perfectly fine to sit right down in a pile of leaves and have a rest.

(photos from the Eno River State Park)

{this moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

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inspired by Amanda Soule. join in on her blog.

 

when autumn leaves start to fall

One early evening last week, we took a trip to a local pumpkin patch. As heavy rain clouds piled up behind us, Owen grabbed fistfuls of hay, Juni flounced through mazes and prickly pumpkin vines, gathering up bits of corn and straw for the nature table.

I love this time of year, when the days are shrinking and the wind arrives in short, intoxicating gusts. "Wind!" she shouts, and dances around in a circle, arms outstretched. Though our days are still warm, the trees have started to blush and shed. "That's because it's Fall," she tells me, "Look, the leaves are running around on the ground."

A year ago, I was nine months pregnant, heavy and tired and anxious to meet our little boy. Now that little boy is nearly one - walking across the room, saying words and phrases, making his sweet presence felt in our family. To say that the time has gone by fast is so ponderous and boring and so utterly true. In this season that I love, I can already feel the earth tipping towards winter. I tell myself to gather up these moments like acorns beneath a tree, to enjoy him as he is now, strong and tentative, loving and smiley and full of words and song, to enjoy the sound of her voice, her certainty and delight, the way she moves and scrunches her nose and always looks at the sky. "Look, the moon is missing some pieces," she says, "It will be different tomorrow night, though. Yup, it will."

the fourth of july trip

Juniper has always been up for an adventure. She thrives on new experiences, new places and faces and things to see. The excitement of a whole new house to explore, things to touch, places to run. She loves a road trip, chatting the whole time about all the things whizzing by outside the window, anticipating the destination, savoring the journey, giggling the whole time. She has always been that kid - fearless and adaptable.

 

Owen is wary of anything new. He is thoughtful and cautious and quick to startle. He enjoys the familiar and cozy and predictable. Regular naptimes, regular mealtimes, regular bedtimes. He cried pitifully, heartbreakingly for most of the many hours it took us to drive from North Carolina to southern New Jersey, wondering what on earth might warrant such long and uncomfortable travels.

We had a wonderful Fourth of July weekend with Charlie's family, mostly lounging by the pool or at the beach, enjoying the beautiful summer weather. Juni spent every moment she could in the water, splashing in the waves with her daddy or her uncle, kicking around the pool in her "floaty wings". "Look at me! I'm a Juni fish!" Indeed. When she wasn't channeling her inner fish, she was picking blueberries and riding the carousel on the boardwalk and zigzagging around the little zoo nearby (where she met the most adorable two-day-old baby camel).

Owen avoids the water and the sun, so he spent most of the weekend lounging and dozing and crawling around in the shady spots. He enjoyed a few moments of fun in the sand and a bit of toe-dangling in the pool before crawling back to the sand- and water-free safety of my lap with an expression of mild panic on his face. Though while crawling around on Grandmom's lovely new deck, he did manage to stumble upon some tasty ears of Jersey corn. Little adventures can be just as grand as big adventures, especially for this little guy.

and away she rides

Every once in a while, in the crazy whirlwind that is toddlerhood, a moment, an idea, an experience stands out as transformative and magical. You can almost feel things clicking into place, as her worldview grows just a tiny bit. As mamas, I think we chase those moments. We yearn to create them. We run after them out in the big, wide world. We hoard them and protect them and manipulate them, all for the pure joy of watching our little one learn about herself and her world and for the selfish satisfaction of knowing that we are creating beautiful memories for her.

These are the things, the moments, that she talks about in the dark, just before she closes her eyes to go to sleep, when her mind races through her day and her words come tumbling out in a great rush and I can't tell whether she's talking to me or herself or her doll or the stars outside her window. That's how I know what moments have crystallized in her memory. That's how I know what she cherishes.

The big lesson for me was realizing how simple and small those moments could be. Riding a carousel. Running through a sprinkler. Building a fairy house. Baking a cake. Topping a pizza. Picking a blueberry. Splashing in a puddle. Meeting a new friend. A few days ago, Juniper was completely enamored with an ant that was crawling on her arm. "It tickles! It TICKLES! You're so tickly, Ant!" Later that night, she reminded me about the ant that visited her arm in the garden and gave her a tickle. Sometimes those moments are so small, it is easy for me to miss them all together.

Other times though, something big and new and wonderful comes along and I know my little girl will have much to chat about that night. A first. A first can't help but be magical in some way, right? Last week, Juni got her first horseback ride, thanks to her Grandmom. What is it with little girls and horses?