simplesparrow

noah's business venture

Noah has been talking about earning money lately. Always asking if he can do little extra jobs around the house for pay. We don't pay our kids for their regular chores--we all live in the house, we all should take care of it. But, for extra jobs--beyond the call of duty we are quite happy to help them earn some cash.

Because his enthusiasm is high right now, I wanted to take this one step further. A small lesson in business if you will. Some time ago we made these cute strawberries together, just for fun. Later I ended up using them for simple math lessons in counting, adding, subtracting etc... great fun for your young ones. So, Noah will take out a loan from the Mom & Pop Bank (no interest of course ;) to buy supplies--he will assemble the little strawberries with eyes and mouthes (help from mom will be quite accessible) place them in our recycled egg cartons along with a paper of ideas on how to use them as we have--and help to package them up for shipping. After he starts to make some sales (hopefully!) he will pay back the Mom & Pop Bank the money he borrowed and the profit will be all his.

We're calling them "Math Berries", but of course they can be fun for other kinds of play too!

Here are the details:

Noah's Math Berries--$12.00 per dozen, idea paper included.
Shipping in the US-- $5.00
International shipping--email me for a quote. All sold!! Noah is wide-eyed with excitement!

If you would like to purchase a box, say so in the comments or email me at: peacefulhome at juno dot com and I will send you a PayPal invoice.

We'll start with offering 5 boxes and go from there. As excited as he is about this--I do think that he will eventually get his fill of gluing googly eyes!
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Thank you for your kind comments on my last post...I appreciate each one. I still have a few posts left in me before my break.

Oh! Check my Etsy shop soon for some ADORABLE vintage children's fabric I found! I'll be selling it by the yard because I found a huge uncut bundle!

ramblings from home

This is the view at my back when I sit to use the computer. I was talking to Noah when I noticed how pretty the light was coming through the skylight. Thank heaven for skylights, I love them so. The orchid on the trunk was a little gift from Mark, picked up while he was doing some grocery shopping. So thoughtful of him. When we were dating I was still in high school (I was 16, he was 19) and sometimes when I would leave in the morning to walk to school there would be a bouquet of flowers sitting on the doorstep that he left for me before he went to work---he definitely scored some big points with that move (are you reading hon? BIG points!)

I got some time last night to work on my spring totes (that's what these will be ) by adding just a little bit of free-form embroidery to the fronts. Sometimes I'm bummed that I can't get most of my projects done faster--then I remind myself of all the other things I need to do during the day--homeschooling, making dinner, laundry, yard work, errands, playing with Noah, spending time with my older ones and providing taxi service, eye doctor appointments, orthodontist apps., paying bills, trying to fit in fun family stuff in between, spend some time with friends, etc..etc.... Oh yeah. Thats why.

We found this trampoline for Noah at the thrift store yesterday. It's only a small, one person one so he can use it in the living room. He's jumping to the moon non-stop. Seriously, this was one GREAT purchase and I highly recommend one for any young child that is full of crazy energy like Noah is.

Actually, now that I think of it, it should be on your list of essentials :)

trees + hearts

I don't think there is a whole lot much sweeter then children's artwork. Noah has been painting so much lately. He discovered my own special box of water color tubes that I had been saving just for me. Well, they have been hidden for a very long time and I still haven't touched them--so why not let the little man have at it? I handed him the tubes and look what he did--just gorgeous I say. I could gush on and on about the perfect simplicity of his compositions and the lovely subject matter but I'll spare you. After all I'm his mum and think he is just about perfect in every way, as are all my children :)

I'm going to frame them in to a little grouping--this one is my favorite. Oops, I said I would stop gushing. sorry. Moving on....

I got inspired by Amy after reading this post to mold some chocolate. It was so last minute as I grabbed the heart molds in Michael's the other day on my way to check out. They keep all the current holiday stuff in the center isle near the registers so as I approached I spied them out and snatched 2 pretty much without breaking my stride. It was impressive.

So yeah, I melted some natural semi-chocolate chips in my rigged double boiler (I don't own a real one) spooned it in to the molds, cooled them in the fridge--and ta da! Hearts. So easy. So cute. Fun to eat.

I can't believe tomorrow is Valentines day already. I always love to give my kids a little something and I'm totally late with making what I had in mind. It's kind of nice to be on time with these types of things.

On a totally random note--I was reading Blair's post today and loved the mental image I got of her dancing around the house because it reminded me of, well, me! If you must know, I'm a dancing fool if I get the chance. So here's my Euro pop link for the day--I've been known to pull some tricky dance moves to this tune.   

discovered

Here are some photos that happily surprised me when I discovered them on my card.....

Nathan taking a self portrait....

Hannah's very creative photo of her very delicious muffins...

Noah with a bowl of tomato soup. Tomato soup that appears to have a pair of eyes. Photo by Hannah.

I hope they surprise me again.

And again.

cuttings

I found Noah in my bathroom the other day--but it was a moment to late. He had just finished putting the final touches on his haircut (gasp!!) He was pretty proud of himself and really, it didn't look all that bad considering. But, there were several bald spots and the inevitable was not to be avoided--he needed a buzz. Goodbye sweet curls, grow back soon.

He looks a little solemn here, but in truth he couldn't be happier with his new hair. This is his "hurry up and take the picture mom must you always carry that camera around" look. Yes, I must, if you really want to know mr. Noah. Otherwise I would not have these precious photos. One day you'll be glad, promise.

Speaking of cutting--I'm so impressed with Hannah's amazing snowflakes she has been making. Soon all of her bedroom window will be covered with them.

I'm loving those stormy skies in the background. It's been so long since we've had good storm and we need the rain.

Well, ack! I have yet to get one Christmas gift made. The shopping we are doing this year is just about done so that's good. But I'm so looking forward to the gifts I'm making--and we're leaving in just a little over a week to head up north back to my parents house. Dearie me. Will I ever be done ahead of time? so far (like, all of my life!!) it hasn't happened.  Dang, dang, dang.   

Thank you for obliging me with a walk down memory lane in my previous posts. I enjoyed sharing some of our memories with you and I appreciate your kind comments, as always. Have a lovely weekend!

remembering: a sewing son

I love that Micah has has made himself several things that he needed. Slippers, a quiver, a messenger bag to name a few. All from patterns of his own. I love that he's using the machine I bought when he was a baby and that one of the first things I made on that machine was a pair of overalls for him. I've given him the machine.

my daughter the baker

All the messes she made in the kitchen when she was younger is paying off big time! My little gal can make a blueberry pie that will make your eyes roll with pure satisfaction and a mean butter cookie that we have thought of selling more then a few times. Now she is all excited about bread. My father-in-law sent me an out dated bread machine that he picked up from the senior thrift (a man after my own heart) and for the last 2 days she has been giving it quite the work out! The house pretty much smells like baking bread non stop.

A word of encouragement to all the mamas--let your kids work in the kitchen, make a mess, experiment and then teach them how to clean it all up. At the very least they will learn some new skills. In Hannah's case, we would not be one bit surprised if she opened her own bakery one day. I'm so glad I let her fling the flour around when she was little!

What's up with me?  Well, I pretty much feel married to Felt Club until it's over. All my spare moments are being spent making, making, making. I made 5 more sisters for Amelia (scroll one post down) and at the moment I'm working on some jewelry, hoping to get some stationary made with my Gocco and I have an apron idea that I hope turns out as I envision it. So yep, putting my crafty iron in many fires these days. Next post some pictures of it all if I can swing it.

sewing like crazy

It was a long shot I was sure, but still, I applied. And HOLY SMOKES they accepted me! When I got the email I think I must have just stared at it with my mouth gaping open for about 30 seconds. The very best part is that my dear friend Emily got in too, and we will be sharing a table together! We have both been questioning our sanity over this deal, wondering what in the heck got into us to think we could pull this off---neither of us have any inventory to speak of and very little time to sew in between regular life and taking care of our families. But, we have already paid our vendor fee and there's nothing like cash already spent to help motivate you to MAKE IT WORK! Really though, we are super excited and in the end I know we will both have a nice little pile of offerings for the shoppers. You can go to Felt Club here and check it out. If you live in the LA area come and say hi! I would love to meet you.

Before I head back to the corner I will be living in for the next 6 weeks (and believe me, it is not so nice and tidy now!) let me show you something that gave me a big smile. Noah has suddenly fallen in love with this tail. Remember, there was a time when he didn't feel such devotion.

she turns 13

Happy brithday my little love, keep spreading sunshine where ever you go. xox.

the noah update

For Rebecca, who was wondering what Noah is up to these days.

At the moment, Noah likes:
~animals, all kinds. especially birds. (ie: see the eagle in his mouth above)
~yogurt, with sprinkles on top (sprinkles = wheat germ)
~catching lizards in our front yard
~going to the library to use their computer
~watching documentaries on the ocean

At the moment, Noah is learning:
~everything about birds. he is rarely seen without his field guides.
~how to play backgammon
~to remember to put his shoes on before going outside. mom does not like to fish out splinters.
~that some spiders are dangerous, and please do not pick up every one you see. please.

At the moment, Noah is:
~full of energy. I think he could supply a small factory with power if they could harness him down.
~a talker. he talks all the time. and we listen. someone told me a long time ago that if you want your teenagers to talk to you, then you had better listen to them when they are 2, 3, 4, 5 etc.... I've never forgotten that.
~very social, but not past his bedtime. he reminds me some nights that he needs to get some sleep.
~a creature of habit. every morning he curls up in the same chair and tells me he's hungry. he waits while I make him hot cereal. always hot cereal. don't offer him cold cereal, because even though he may eat some, he'll still be wondering when the hot cereal will be done.

Forever he will be:
Our surprise package we could never live without.
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There are few changes around here you may have noticed...new banner, photo, and I updated my About page. Kind of in a fun, silly way. But it's all true :)

I'm off to Texas on Wednesday for 5 days and taking with me the suggestions of places to go from my last post--thank you for that!

See you after I get back.

T.