skeletons in the garden: BBQ
skeletons in the garden: don’t drink the koolaid
I have a feeling they are trying to scrounge up some funds for their next adventure, but I am not sure I would buy what they are selling!
skeletons in the garden: campout
We had a cord of wood delivered yesterday and I spent hours stacking all the wood. These guys just kept up their shenanigans playing in the front yard. I mean, they didn’t lift a bone to help!
However, they were happy to help themselves to the wood to warm their bones near a campfire!
The kids thought it was pretty funny.
skeletons in the garden: playtime
Friday was a rainy day here in Portland, and the skeletons were pretty excited for the change in the weather!
Today, there have been some showers, but the skeletons and spider are taking advantage of the breaks in the rain to do a little playing!
skeletons in the garden: the beginning
A couple of years ago Lorelai was disappointed that our house wasn’t decorated for trick-or-treaters, so at the very last-minute we improvised. I got some spider webs, cut out some spiders and we put it all up just in time before the door bell started ringing.
Last year, she really wanted a graveyard scene, so we added some tombstones and bones. We also cut out some more spiders and put them on our front windows.
This year, the front garden wasn’t even pulled and she was asking to put our Halloween decorations in the front yard.
To hold her off, we searched for Halloween ideas on Pinterest to add to our display this year. After a covert trip to Dollar Tree and JoAnn Fabric our plan started to come together.
Here is what October 1st looked like in our front yard…
Today, there seems to have been a change of heart…
I wonder what will happen next?!
dressed up for halloween
This little wall space outside of my husbands office has always been a favorite to display kids artwork or important family reminders.
As the kids get older there is less artwork coming home from school with them, so I decided to dress it up for the Halloween.
I did a little search on Pinterest and found a number of free Halloween printables:
I also purchased a bundle of Halloween printables for download which you can find here.
It’s just the right touch to help us jump into the last 90 days of the year filled with holiday merriment.
Stay tuned for more Halloween fun this month!
happy summer
summer came in with a bang.
literally.
we fell asleep to a thunderstorm last night, and woke up to thunder rolling again this morning.
unusual for portland.
not only is today the summer solstice, it is also international yoga day.
so, what better way to celebrate than to practice some yoga?!
i was able to go to my favorite yin yoga class this morning, which always helps me reset.
i, personally, needed a bit of a reset after this first week of the kids being home.
i love having them home.
it is such a blessing to be home with them all day long, but as they get older and they have their own ideas of what they want to do each day it gets harder to manage keeping everybody (including me) happy.
so, i came home from yoga with a better perspective than i left the house with.
happy international yoga day!
it was HOTyesterday, so we stayed in the house most of the day.
i have been fighting off a summer cold (not cool), and when i get sick i need to REST.
i do not like it when colds hang on, and i have found that rest is the main thing that helps me to get over a cold quickly.
after being cooped up in the house most of the day yesterday i was bound and determined to get us out of the house for a bit today.
i thought a visit to a local farm would be fun on the first day of summer!
we have never been to a local lavender farm and i knew there was one that i used to drive by all the time when i would get in the car and just drive to get the kids to nap when they were little.
i “searched it up” (this is what the kids always tell me to do) and we ventured out to Mountainside Lavender Farm.
we were greeted by kiefer, one of the family farm dogs, who lorelai instantly fell in love with.
with the cooler temperatures today, it was a perfect day to spend time cutting lavender.
although there were a few other people there, we really had the whole place to ourselves.
the english lavender is currently in bloom, so we each collected our own little bundle.
they also distill their own lavender essential oil at the farm!
how cool is that?!
stay tuned for more summer adventures!
summer zen
today is the first day of summer break for my kiddos.
i love summer because i don’t always like a task list.
i like a bit of structure, but i don’t thrive with structure.
however, i do thrive in a calm environment, and without structure calm is sometimes elusive.
one of my favorite ways to find some calm is with yoga.
i have recently stepped up my home practice and my goal for the summer is to devote at least 20 minutes a day, at home, to yoga.
i hope to make it to 3 classes per week at our health club, but would love to practice everyday at home.
another way i love to add calm to our home is with essential oils and i plan to use both in my yoga practice this summer.
in fact, i found an awesome kit with roller bottle blend recipes, labels, bottles, and instructions for yoga and meditation roller and diffuser blends from Got Oil Supplies!
today, i put a few of the blends together…
the kit includes 1 recipe tear sheet, 1 label sheet and 10 glass rollerball bottles (oils, mala beads, and yoga props not included).
i am looking forward to using these blends during my at home yoga from some summer zen.
you can also get your own Yoga & Meditation Rollerball DIY Kit at Got Oil Supplies!
clarity is my word for the year, so the clarity blend happens to be my favorite so far!
hello, it’s me…
long time no blog.
i’m still here.
as always, i have missed this space.
it’s a place that, for just short of 10 years, i have calledmy very own.
sure, i share it with you (if there are any of you left out there that might check back in occasionally), but it’s a place that i come to when i need a place to call my own.
it’s a place to come to share the story of my life.
the ups.
the downs.
the in-betweens.
the projects i’ve worked on.
the things my kids do.
the things i enjoy.
the things i create.
the adventures we go on.
i’ve missed sharing in this space.
this space i call my own.
coming back here to type these words feels like home.
for many years, i would spend naptime, time when the kids were at preschool, and nights after they went to bed editing photos and typing blog posts on my laptop.
i would also sit outside while my kids played, while we watched a movie together, or other times when i could grab a few minutes on my laptop.
part of the reason i haven’t been here as much is because i got a new computer two years ago. it is awesome, but it sits at a desk in a corner.
it’s in a main room in our house, but it’s not portable.
see, home is kind of like that.
home doesn’t have to be one place that you come back to over and over again.
it CAN be that place, but it can also be something that you carry with you.
home is what you make it.
this space is one of the places that i call home.
i like to bring it along with me wherever i go.
i may have to take back my laptop from the roblox and minecraft world and turn it back into my portable home.
hopefully, you will stick around to join me.
stephany taddeo 