5 Orange Potatoes » family

simple pleasures on a cold day

5 Orange Potatoes — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 21:05:14 +0000

Warm breath on a cold window.

Yearly picture standing in front of the snowy 30 year old spruce- the pic on the left is Jan. 2010, the one on the right is Jan. 2009.

Preparing to sled down the 8 ft. tall taxis shrubs covered in snow. Fauna looks forward to this every winter!

Araina prefers sitting and “just being” in the snow.

Taking lots of pics of the snow, love how the echinacea seed heads seem to be wearing little Cossack hats, how very Doctor Zhivago of them.

Then coming in and warming up with hot chocolate and making snow cream.

We’ve also be thinking of ways to use up the needles from the Yule tree; couple ideas come to mind, but that’s for a future post.

Now to make a big batch of veggie chili and cornbread!

grandma’s homemade goodness

5 Orange Potatoes — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 23:12:33 +0000

I want to share some more homemade goodies, this time all made by my mother-in-law. She has always made homemade gifts for Christmas; every year we get a new handmade Christmas decoration. This year, however, she made more than decorations; just about every gift that was given to us was homemade. Here are a few of my favorites:

- The little ladies and I each received a corduroy apron. I LOVE these aprons, we have used them so much already! Oh, how I love the pattern with the orange and brown colors on mine shown here-

-She also made the little ladies each a flannel blanket. Araina was all cuddled up in hers today listening to free Storynory downloads. (Now that her room is clean and organized she doesn’t want to leave it).

-I love this corduroy bag with a big front pocket she made me. Temporarily it is full of colorful yarns, but I plan on it being my sewing bag that travels with me everywhere.

She also made us cute little snowman ornaments, a Santa, and snowman pillowcases for the little ladies. Thank you Grandma for the gifts. We love them and use them everyday!

homemade goodness

5 Orange Potatoes — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 23:26:09 +0000

Here are a few of the homemade goodies given this year by my side of the family.

-A hedgehog family and their home made by my mom for the little ladies.

-A Field Book of Ohio Flora and Fauna to record as we see them; handmade by my sister Katrina and her husband Matt. These guides include a separate section for wildflowers, butterflies and skippers, reptiles and amphibians, birds, trees, and rare and endangered flora and fauna. It also has blank paper for sketching and a big pocket on the front cover for keeping natures’ treasures.

Whenever we see a particular plant or animal that is listed in the book, we write the date and location down beside it; in hopes of filling the entire book one day. They made one for each of the little ladies, my sister Robin, and myself. Katrina bound the books by hand-sewing the pages together. They are amazing and are going with us EVERYWHERE!

-A special gift to Araina, from Robin, is this vintage sewing basket full of sewing goodies. The perfect way to encourage more handmade!

Araina LOVES the heart pins that were included,

and a homemade pin cushion (also included in the basket were colorful needles and fabric).

Throwing in some pics of their Solstice gifts….warm and cozy ear-flap hats (not homemade, but very necessary). Perfect for today’s super cold and snowy weather! Provide them with appropriate outdoor gear and the little ladies will continue to go outdoors no matter the weather!

More homemade goodies to come!

christmas eve

5 Orange Potatoes — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 20:16:02 +0000

So this post is a little later than I wanted but we have had so many family get-togethers for the holidays, finding the time to post was difficult. So here is a little catch up of our Christmas Eve.

The little ladies were busy making last minute ornaments for gifts. Thanks to the lovely ladies at Plot 55 for this idea!

And they were busy decorating gingerbread men in their brand new Christmas jammies!

We received many lovely handmade gifts for Christmas this year; but I’m saving those for a future post. I hope all is well and the holidays are going great!

our day

5 Orange Potatoes — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 00:05:19 +0000

This afternoon I finally started to feel like myself again. Here are some things we did today:

Ornament making- love this one by Araina of me.

Playing outside in the cold; no snow yet, but the little ladies find the cold invigorating.

Fauna is writing paragraphs and reading biographies.

I’m working on some new bigfoot boys!

And getting out the last holiday goodies to decorate the house.

Tomorrow we will be cutting evergreens to decorate the hearth and preparing for the Yule tree, which we will be getting on Saturday. I also need to finish the dream pillows which I make each year for the little ladies for winter solstice (thank goodness I started them this past summer). I have so much catching up to do!

Thank you to everyone for the well wishes and remedies for the vertigo; niacin and apple cider vinegar are going to be well stocked in my kitchen from now on! I have said it many times but I must say it again I LOVE THIS BLOGGING COMMUNITY; so supportive and full of wisdom. Thank you all again!