dancing rabbit daycare

May 16, 2012 by erin | 13 Comments

 

{I found and purchased the dancing rabbit image via etsy}

Many of you have been oh so curious about our decision to have a daycare in our home.

If you had asked me at any point in my life what I saw myself doing for a living, home daycare would have been the last thing I would have answered.  I have always dreamed of owning my own shop or some sort of furniture building.  But a few weeks ago, Mike and I were chatting over coffee about how we would like to have more regular play dates {I am sure I have mentioned how much I hate that term, but have yet to come up with a better one} for the kids’ social sides.  Minutes later I checked my email and there was an email from a local couple who had seen my poster in the post office and were wondering if I would be interested in caring for their two young children a few days per week.  The next day we met and all felt comfortable with making it a reality.

Now, I had considered doing home daycare, but never thought it would be someone’s first choice with our free range chickens and numerous pets, but we found out from chatting with them that there is both a need and a lack of childcare that doesn’t include plopping the kids in front of the television and feeding them poor quality foods.  I was shocked, but when you consider the average hourly wage of the home daycare provider it has to be  a labour of love.

Some of you may think I am insane for taking on more children as I have often written about how exhausting it is being a full time stay at home mom, but a lot of the exhaustion comes from worry and maybe even some guilt.  I worry that I am not enough or that my children are bored or under stimulated (they aren’t).  I think that home daycare will give me the focus and organization I often lack as well as provide a change of scenery and important  social skills for the kids.  We also hope it will loosen the financial cinch as a side benefit.

Some of you have mentioned that you have considered doing this yourself so here are a few simple steps I have taken to prepare:

  • Notified our home insurance provider that we will be providing home child care 2 to 3 days per week
  • Registered my business name with the government – this way I can claim things like food costs, toy and book costs, and even a percentage of home maintenance costs.  The tricky part will be to put the taxes away for tax time.
  • I have taken the full first aid course many many times in my life, so I purchased a concise laminated copy of the emergency basics to keep in the bathroom with a few first  aid items.  We also have a home first aid learning kit we got from the local EMS.  It is important to refresh the basics on a regular basis.
  • I refreshed our stock of basic craft supplies like scissors, glue, construction paper, and ingredients to make bubbles, cloud dough, slime, finger paint, etc.
  • I did some basic meal and snack planning and will continue to go through our cookbooks and Pinterest for great ideas.
  • When purchasing groceries and supplies I tried to fairly divide it into two purchases – home use and daycare use so that the receipts are simpler to tally up.
Need to do:
  • Make up a simple info sheet for the parents to fill out – birthdays, emergency contacts, general information, etc.
  • Create an invoice template to issue – because families can claim childcare costs most parents would require a receipt.
  • Find an effective and simple software to keep track of expenses, payments etc.
  • Organize a file folder for receipts and documents as well as purchase a ledger (I still prefer paper records though it would be wise to transfer it to the computer as well)
Yesterday was the first day and it was a good day.  There were no tears, though I know it was a transition for everyone involved.  The kids shared well and there were no arguments.  They are two very sweet boys, but it is still 4 children to feed and care for so it was a big change for me.  As we all get more comfortable, I would be open to taking on one to two more children depending on their ages, but will take the time to adjust to two extra bodies first and see if I think I could comfortably take on more.
We had some free play, lots of outside time, bubbles, water, sand, and ball play, painted with watercolours, paper cutting, gathered eggs, played with the bunny until it got too intense, reading and looking at lots of books, a healthy snack tray (a la Dr Sears) with orange quarters, apples, cranberries, crackers, cheese, and dry cereal and a homemade lunch of organic beef stroganoff.
Some activities I would love to do with the kids:
  • transferring their crayon drawings to a blank shirt
  • cloud dough
  • giant bubble wands
  • cut and paste with old magazines
  • colour matching with paint chips and clothespins
  • felt and button bracelets
  • simple baking and diy pizzas with homemade pita breads
  • gardening
  • nature walks
The day’s goal rhythm:
  • greetings, getting settled, free play
  • outdoor free time, let chickens out, check for early eggs, gather fresh grass for the bunny
  • morning snack
  • main activity/craft
  • tidy up
  • lunch
  • stories/reading
  • quiet time/nap time
  • wake up, afternoon snack
  • yoga dvd/outdoor time/or movie (weather depending)
  • gather clothes and items for home time
  • goodbyes
*all snacks, meals, and activities will be done outside when possible because a) it keeps cleanup a little simpler and b) outside time is good.
*if and when they do watch television I would do a quick tidy/catch up and then sit with them while doing some simple hand craft like knitting or crocheting.
go gently + be wonderful
e.
Posted in dancing rabbit daycare, recipes, tutorials + DIY

earth’s best sundays

May 13, 2012 by erin | 4 Comments

garden work

cashed in my mother’s day chips for a {gripe-free} trip to Ikea

a nearly completed harvest table {!}

warm sun

black flies + mosquitoes. oh my.

phone calls to all the mamas

deck re-style

the return of our hummingbird

ukulele on the porch

last minute preparations for ‘Dancing Rabbit Daycare’

happy

go gently + be wonderful

e.

Posted in earth's best sundays

have a merry mother’s day weekend

May 11, 2012 by erin | 5 Comments

go gently + be wonderful

e.

Posted in celebration, family, life, photography + writing

diy headboard art + crooked art

May 10, 2012 by erin | 12 Comments

Making my own headboard has been on my to do list for years, but I never could get my hands on some weathered barn board.  I saw this particular design on Pinterest and with all the broken barn boards from our recent shed demo, I had no more excuses.  I thought of using another quote, but this one spoke to me and fit so well I didn’t bother to change it.

It just so happened that the door from the old hunting-cabin-turned-shed was still in tact and the perfect dimensions for a headboard.  I removed a couple of wooden patches someone had nailed on and wiped it down.  I wrote the words on with chalk first and then simply painted over it with some latex paint.  I had my demolition king remove the crooked support board down the center.  I also wanted to remove the 2×4 along the top as it wasn’t as weathered as the rest of the wood, but it is nailed on with at least ten  rusty 4 inch spikes bent down and hammered in.  So instead of removing it, I grabbed some quilting charm squares I bought last summer, the last little bit of Mod Podge in the craft cupboard and slapped them on all wabi sabi like.  Poppy enjoyed helping me choose the colours and order they would go in.  Now I am so happy I was forced to come up with a creative solution because it takes it to the next level of awesome for me.  I think it is just begging for a tiny washi tape garland don’t you?

Now, I must run and make some lunch and perhaps some bagels, but I do hope you’re inspired to make your own headboard art!

go gently + be wonderful

e.

Posted in craft, our cabin, recipes, tutorials + DIY

living

May 9, 2012 by erin | 24 Comments

listening to

Us + Our Daughters on repeat because it is heartbreaking and beautiful and good.

the birds in the trees

the wind + her stories in the leaves and wind chimes

rain on a tin roof

painting

the bathroom

a “new”  headboard made of barn boards

preparing

a healthy organized snack and meal plan

fun crafts and activities for the kids

for my new adventure in home daycare

enjoying

our new flemish giant bunny named Sugarfoot

{you can’t very well have a home daycare called ‘Dancing Rabbit Daycare’ without the dancing rabbit}

Poppy’s latest mama-made haircut

the young blossoms and leaves filling out the landscape

building

a rustic garden fence and gate

a nice big composter

our harvest table

thinking

perhaps i will rearrange the bedroom again

i will start painting the kitchen soon

realizing

my kids are growing up too quickly

i only have time for doing things or writing things {the yearly ebb+flow of the blog i suppose}

feeling

renewed, hopeful and a tad creatively enlivened

 go gently + be wonderful

e

Posted in family, homesteading, life, our cabin, wellness

jordan bower – lovewallah

May 1, 2012 by erin | 3 Comments
I would like to introduce you to a friend.  I worked with Jordan’s father when we lived in the city and I only met him a couple of times in passing, but years later I stumbled upon his blog and was moved to tears by his words.  He has been inspiring me ever since as I have watched him stretch boundaries, strip away the unnecessary, and question himself, our society, our relationships and what we think we already know.  I do hope you will find it in your heart to help him on his journey in any way you can.  He has come up with some really meaningful and beautiful ways to honour each and every contributor and his story is fascinating.

He will change the world one story at a time and remind us all that we have a story worth telling and the ability to change the world.  Thank you Jordan.

My name’s Jordan, I’m a lovewallah, and last year, I walked 3,000 km from Canada to Mexico on a quest for love.  The trip took me 316 days (and 3 pairs of shoes).
It starts, as these stories often do, with pain.  A harsh breakup a few months before I turned 30 seeded me with an enormous amount of anger that needed to get burned off.  So on September 1, 2010, I started walking south from Vancouver towards the border between California and Mexico to attempt a journey on my own that the two of us had dreamed up together.
Anger is a wily emotion.  Just when you think you’ve got it squashed, it takes you somewhere new, somewhere deeper.  Each step on my walk brought me more deeply into myself.  At first, the immensity of my anger terrified me.  Yes, of course, I was angry with my ex-girlfriend.  But the list of other people I was angry with stretched back decades.  And not just people!  The society, the government, the celebrities, the advertisers, the corporations: all those forces that give rise to disempowerment, that make us feel less than perfect, that treat the world with contempt and a mentality of scarcity.

But beneath all of that, I was furiously angry with myself for not being perfect.  That abrasive grain of sand drove me further and further: across the Columbia River, down the Oregon Coast, through the Redwood forest, over the Golden Gate Bridge, and down through Big Sur towards Southern California.  3,000 km later, when I reached the border just south of San Diego on Day 316, like inside an oyster, that grain of sand had turned into a pearl.

Here’s what I’d learned: that if we wait for permission to be great, it’ll never come.  If we lust for someone else to validate us, we’ll never be good enough.  If we surrender our authority, we’ll never find our bliss.
Permission.  Validation.  Authority.  The components of power.  To gain that power in our lives, we need to reclaim our own sense of self.  We need to give ourselves these gifts.
My walk taught me that the route to power was through my heart, through a path of self-love. If I really wanted to change the world and find love, the person I needed to begin with was me.
Ever since I finished the journey, last September, I’ve been thinking about how to share that lesson widely.  That’s the responsibility of journeying into adulthood, I think: what we learn, we must teach.
I’ve been seeking for a way to teach that merges the old ways and the new ways, the traditional with the technological, the instructive with the interactive, the spiritual and the grounded (and the East and the West).  I’ve come up with something really cool: a mobile app that will take you on a kind of interactive scavenger hunt.  The idea is to invite you to walk a metaphoric mile with me and to allow our stories to connect together the old fashioned way – through our hearts.
If we both get out of our heads and into our bodies, we give ourselves the opportunity to learn something new about one another, to see the world a little differently, and to appreciate the beauty that lies in the spaces in between.  There, in the real world, beyond our comfort zone, we learn to trust the wisdom of our hearts, the genius of our intuition; we prove that creativity and faith lie far beyond the cold, harsh logic of our trickster minds.
Getting back in our body helps remind us about the abundance of things, and that creative possibilities and opportunities to grow are truly limitless.  When that lesson sinks in, both of us will be better off.  Both of us will learn to be in power.  And not by sharing power.  By finding our own power and becoming truly empowered.
After all, 1+1 really equals 11.
That’s what we need most of all, I think: to share a message of positivity and empowerment at a time so focused on fear.  To rebuild our communities around honesty and heartfelt connections.  To become 11.  That’s why I’m sharing my story with you today.  That’s what I hope to help do.
But to do it, I need your help.
Right now, I’m fundraising for this next phase of my project on the website indiegogo.com.  Here’s the short video that tells my story.



If you’re inspired and able, I’d love your support.  Even if you don’t feel you can, I’d love your help spreading the word.  My goal is to contribute towards that important move towards empowerment and stability.  I think we can do it, and I’m dedicating myself to discovering (and showing) how.

I really hope you’ll come along this next phase of the adventure with me.  I’ve got a great story to share, and I’d love to do it together

You can also find me at www.jordanbower.com and on facebook.  Thanks for reading.

Best wishes and have a great day.
Jordan.  
Posted in sponsorship

finding JOY

April 26, 2012 by erin | 32 Comments

After bathing the kids, I began picking out their alphabet and numbers from the lukewarm water.  The last three letters were J O Y.  In that order.  I think someone is trying to tell me something.

I can’t seem to find clarity or purpose these days.  With the exception of those two weeks of summer weather, it has been a grim, cool spring here.  We’ve had a fire burning every day and had a thick blanket of snow covering the peonies and lilies earlier this week.

I go to bed feeling empty and guilty.  I wake up feeling as though too many hours stretch out before me and the time Mike comes home.

As I said before, my life isn’t lacking.  It’s all in my head.  I know what work needs to be done and where I want to be, but I can’t seem to find the gumption.  I busy myself with the tasks of cleaning and tidying with the promise of doing the important self work later.

 

I bake cookies and pies when I should be exercising.

I look at pretty things when I should be creating pretty things.

I scrub toilets and sweep floors when I should be dancing and singing with the kids.

I sleep shallow sleep when I should be awake and sipping the silence.

I make lists when I should just start.

I read blogs when I should be writing my own blog.

I watch tv when I should be finding comfort in my own life.

I look at Facebook and wish I could quit it.

 

They say only boring people are bored, but man, I can’t seem to shake this feeling.  I think when I felt this restlessness before, I would just grab the stroller and numb it with buying fifty cent clothing at the Salvation Army or busy myself with finding the best shampoo or hand soap at the health food store.  Now I am left alone with it and I am faced with finding better coping mechanisms.  Which isn’t a bad thing, but it is a bit of a painful process.

I am fighting the urge to apologize for being anything other than upbeat and crafty in this space.  I don’t write in my journal anymore so this is where it all lands.  This isn’t to be dramatic or woeful.  It is just me working through and rolling with it.  Writing always take me to the answers and the truth is, all the wisdom of the ages rests within each of us.  The hardest part is to listen and then do something with it.

I know who I want to be, but it means breaking some old habits and that is never comfortable, but always worth it.

 

go gently + be wonderful

e.

Posted in life, wellness

book reviews

April 24, 2012 by erin | Leave a comment

The Organic Family Cookbook by Annie Daulter.  

This is a beautiful cookbook full of bright and happy photography by Alexandra DeFruio.   It is divided into seven chapters: Naturally Tasty Breakfasts, Simple Snacks, Wholesome Lunches, Family Favourite Dinners, Savory Sides, Refreshing Desserts, and Homespun Extras.  Each recipe has a nice big picture which is one of the first things I look for in a cookbook!  Many of the recipes are accompanied by a lovely anecdote or inspiring ideas to involve your children in the kitchen and to help your community and environment as well as waldorf inspired activities.  Also scattered throughout the book is ingredient education with basic information on how to make responsible and wise food choices.

Now, I do love healthy food, but I also love comfort food and flavourful food and I must say this cookbook delivers on all three.  She has cleverly used healthy organic ingredients in ways that are appealing to all ages and moods.  She also includes a few raw and vegan recipes. All of the ingredients are easily acquired at your local grocery store, farmer’s markets, gardens and health food stores.

This is a really beautiful, useful, family friendly cookbook.

Buy it here.

 

Ice Pop Joy by Annie Daulter

This book also boasts beautiful and cheerful photography by Alexandra DeFurio and includes pure fruit pops, veggie pops, yogurt pops, tofu pops, herbal tea pops, chocolate pops, and specialty pops.  She give many tips on how to get your young children to eat more healthy foods as well as serving and ingredient tips and education.

It appears she is a master of sneaking healthful ingredients into her creations.  Some of the more surprising ingredients you may not see in your average ice pops include quinoa  and kidney beans, teas and herbs.  I have tried a few of her recipes (one worked as a great dairy- free throat soother in the middle of the night for a croupy boy), and will be making so many more with the return of warm weather.

The ingredients can be easily acquired at your local grocery store, farmer’s markets, gardens and health food stores.  These are not your average ice pops.  They are healthy AND tasty and I love this cookbook!

Buy it here..

 

go gently + be wonderful

e.

 

 

 

Posted in Uncategorized

words

April 23, 2012 by erin | 11 Comments

Yesterday was a true feather + anchor day in which I fluttered about madly and Mike stayed the course; practical and unruffled.  I really don’t know how he does it.  My goodness how I wish I could be the anchor every once in a while.  I am a little tired of being in this tortured head to be honest.  If only I could settle this flapping in my rib cage and rest on a gentle wave for a spell.

These are the words defining me, keeping me awake, making me think and bringing me peace of late…

I am not a graceful person.  I am not a Sunday morning or a Friday sunset.  I am a Tuesday 2am, I am gunshots muffled by a few city blocks, I am a broken window during February.  My bones crack on a nightly basis.  I fall from elegance with a dull thud, and I apologize for my awkward sadness.  I sometimes believe that I don’t belong around people, that I belong to all the leap days that didn’t happen.  The way light and darkness mix under my skin has become a storm.  You don’t see the lightening, but you hear the echoes.  {source unknown}

I need to start making things again.  My itchy fingers tell me it is time.

 

go gently + be wonderful

e.

 

 

 

Posted in Uncategorized

earth’s best sundays

April 16, 2012 by erin | 5 Comments

taking advantage of these cool, bug free days

wood pile stacked and drying

breaking  ground on our new garden space

double batch of bagels

double batch of  apple, raisin, flax seed breakfast pitas

first ever batch of meringues {oh.my.}

lots of laundry

filthy dirty children

a few found treasures buried in the garden space

homemade veggie pizza {always on the weekend}

early morning coffee

go gently + be wonderful

e.

 

Posted in Uncategorized