Leaf Windows

I know that I missed coming on Thanksgiving and being thankful... but I was and it was a great day with the family, so I didn't have time to come on here! I figured there were others holding up the thankfulness torch on that day!! : )

Thanksgiving was just a few days ago and now it is Christmas time everywhere!
I feel the pull and excitement of it more this year than I have in awhile... Sophia is at an awesome age, she is old enough to believe in the magic of it, and seeing that in her makes me feel happy and young and magical again myself.


SOOO... before I start getting into winter time activities and crafts, I have to show you the fun project we did with leaves.


We love going for walks in the park and playing at some of the wonderful parks here in the 'Burgh. I'm not from here, so I think that I appreciate the beauty of Pittsburgh more than some people who have always lived here. The desert is beautiful in a completely different way. But. I love the leaves changing and feel so lucky to live in a place where the kids get to see the change in the seasons.
I LOVE FALL!!


While we were going on walks together, we would pick up leaves that we thought were pretty. I would bring them home and put them in big books to dry out. I ended up with a good amount of leaves from different kinds of tress in all different colors. I put some up around the house in doorways, and the kids made "Leaf Windows".




Now, the truth of the matter is that this craft takes way more work for you than your kiddo... but it is super cute and the older they get, the more they will do... but I think it is worth it because they are awesome keepsakes! I love it when I get out Emily's old daycare stuff... it's funny actually because I've noticed that it's as much work to do it at home for two kids as for 15 at pre-school.. the extra supplies you need don't take that much more time it's the preparation you need that takes the time! : )
anyway, if you want a fun fall idea:


How to make a Leaf Window

what you need:

a bunch of dried leaves

non- toxic glue

a wet wipe-up rag( to catch any random messes,

we use cloth diapers)

see-through plastic

{ I used the bags from our diapers... I save everything, maybe to a fault...

and am always trying to use things as much as possible.

I was going to use saran wrap until I thought of these,
but think it would have been hard with Roscoe because it is so thin.}

1. Ok the first thing you do is cut two peices of equal plastic, for each window. I cut the half of a bag(from the diapers we use) into two peices(that way it was already pre-matched).

2. Then you get your table together with your supplies, a wipe-up rag, and wrangle your kids into seated positions!

3. Next , it is time to let the kids pick their leaves. I put some glue all over the plastic so they could just push the leaves onto it. This was Roscoe's first experience with glue.. and he did great!! Sophia did a good job too, they made me really proud! They had fun and so did I!

You can see that at the end Roscoe decided he didn't like the glue... but that is what the rag was for so no biggie!

The time the kids took doing this was about 5 minutes -tops! Then it took me a couple of nights to make the frames. I made them from old cereal boxes(see -crazy keeps everything lady!!). Just cut strips from the boxes and glue the obnoxious sides together and you get a nice brown(fallish even!) colored frame. Then hang them in the window. When the light comes through them they look really pretty!



I think I'd like to add some more color to the frames... with their names and also let them color around the frame... but I wanted them up before I wanted to put up snowmen...so up they went!

I am thankful for fun!
I am thankful that my kids will actually sit and do "centers" at the house.
I am thankful for my adorable children!
I am thankful to be home and able to spend an entire day playing with my kids, because they rock!

raking leaves

Today is usually my friday. My husband has Mondays and Tuesdays off. But because of Thursday being Thanksgiving, he is working tomorrow.
That is a drag.
BUT he is working tomorrow because he has Thanksgiving OFF, so it will be ok.
A lot of people have to work on the holidays and I'm glad that we get to be together as a family! I worked on all the holidays, in a different life, way back when I was pregnant with my oldest, Emily...and ever since I have always remembered to be grateful for the opportunity to celebrate with family.

I love my family. I feel like the luckiest woman in the world when I look at what I have, as far as cool people in my life. The truth is our life is hard, and I wouldn't mind if things were a little easier... because well who wouldn't. But we have love in this house. We all have our moments, being human and all, but we do alright for one another.


Today I participated in the ritual of leaf raking. It is a funny thing what a few hours of raking leaves can do for your state of mind. For me it is a rare opportunity to be with myself and my own thoughts. Its good exercise and it makes me feel good every year at this time.



We have a huge over one hundred year old tree in our yard.
It is incrediby large.
I have a love/hate relationship with this tree.
I love our tree because it gives us amazing shade during the summer and our house is so very much cooler than the last place we lived... by almost 20 degrees during the sticky parts...and that's big!! Especially because I was pregnant in the summer.... yikes!

I hate the tree a little because of the birds and squirrels that take refuge in it, are a pain.

I love our tree because it has been here for over a hundred years and that's a long time in the city.

And I hate the tree because I am a gardener and we live in the city on a small ass plot (that we rent) and the top of this thing is crazy big... this house hasn't been taken care as well as it could.. we are doing our best but it's not ours and we could be putting hundreds and thousands into this place.. but it won't be ours when we're done... and that matters...

anyway we cut a lot of the tree down but too late in to the growing season because this year was our first year having a garden here... so we are learning. This house is surrounded by trees and the last had fun sun from every direction all the time(hence the crazy hot summers!) So I didn't have as much produce as I would have liked.. but I think it will be better next year... especially with the fantastic compost we will have come spring!! : )

the leaves from the tree provided shelter for some herbs that I hadn't harvested yet... so I got to play with smelly plants today too, which is a total score! I lost a few herbs that weren't close to the ground, but saved some thyme, oregano, and marjoram which are three of my super favorites... so that's awesome! good job tree! thank you for shedding your leaves right before the snow came...or I would have lost everything!! : )





For some reason our tree reminds me of the book the Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein. I love that book ...it still makes me cry when I read it to the kids .... it was one of my favorties when I was a kid.







Raking can seem like such a tedious and seemingly never-ending chore... so many leaves... but you know the number of leaves is not really infinite. It is a perfect metaphor for life really.... just keep plugging away... you'll get there eventually.. might not be as quick or even exactly what you were expecting.. but funny thing is .. it just keeps on happening. Life is all about the moment.. a bunch of little moments everyday. I just try to make more moments ones that I want to have again, than the ones I could do without...perspective is the key.

It is satisfying when you get that huge pile o' leaves too! I'm hoping it will dry out a bit and the kids can go play with it for a bit because it is so much bigger than the are.... even together!

One thing that I didn't get done that I had wanted to do today was a super cute leaf project that I have been trying to do. Tomorrow for sure, so I'll post it soon.( seems like every other day or so I get a post in)

Roscoe and I did get to build today, though which was super fun.

He is becoming such a little ham truly..he is so darn cute I can't stand it! He is our last as far as we think right now... so being my third I feel like I am constantly looking at him and thinking "aw... I'll never have another crawling baby now..." I love that he still makes noises and doesn't talk much because it's so sweet.
I love, encourage, and enjoy his accomplishments but I'm not in a hurry to send him into toddlerhood ....and tomorrow girlfriends and for the love of Pete DRIVING!... at least it seemed to go that fast with Emily. Often I wonder what the hell I was thinking starting over again with a 10 year old already... but then I remind myself that everyone is better off for it. Emily is allowed to grow up because I don't have time to be neurotic about her NOT being a baby anymore.... and the little ones get my extra patience(sometimes) because I realize that their times as young kids is fleeting. It throws a good helping of perspective into the mix having a teenager, pre-schooler, and a toddler under one roof!

Today I am thankful for Fall.
I am thankful for the exercise and my time to myself today.
I am thankful to have such a cute and loving family.
I am thankful that we all get to be together Thursday for one of my favorite holidays, Thanksgiving!