~ our gnome fire ring craft ~

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Today marks our 8th anniversary of marriage!

I'm grateful to have a wonderful partner to share this life.

One of our favorite activities

has always been sitting around a fire.

Warm feet, cold backs, 

we sit there for hours,

watching and listening and talking.

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Thinking about that today, 

my mind wandered  to our little gnomes*, 

made at our Waldorf co-op,

and decided they needed a fire ring too!

My girls are finally at an age where

we can have a little nature display, 

so it felt like the perfect time to nurture 

their newfound love of scene-play.

I started by cutting out a small circle from corrugated cardboard 

(using the lid from a yeast jar as a guide)

and we all collected tiny rocks and twigs.

Then using flatter pebbles and hot glue, 

we pushed the rocks just inside the layers of cardboard.

This helped to keep them in place.

Notice how the girls saw fit to color with pokeberries?

They are abundant around the yard now, 

and the mockingbirds love us for it.  

Once the outer ring was complete, 

we started putting dots of hot glue for a second layer.

I let the glue dry slightly for the inevitable burned fingertips.

"Suck your fingers like Laura and Mary did," chided Lela.

When the second layer was finished,

we filled in the gaps with even tinier pebbles.

With the basics of the ring made,

we started working on the fire.

I took little bits of wool roving in oranges and yellows.

Liv took her turn needle felting the wool

into the shape of a blazing fire.

With a big blob of hot glue, 

we smushed in our fire.

The gnomes quickly crowded around!

Using some Tacky Glue and my pinky finger,

I made a thin spread around the fire,

and the girls sprinkled dirt to cover the cardboard

as well as gaps around the rocks.

We tapped out the excess, taking care to keep dirt out of the fire.

More Tacky Glue around the fire provided a place for arranging our twigs.  

Glue (versus hot glue) let us take more time to arrange the fire

and could be easily covered by more dirt.

The glue strings were fun to pick off with tweezers.

And once more the gnomes could gather!

What stories do you think the are telling?

We moved to our nature table, 

the top of a small bookshelf that holds other nature goodies.

We all enjoyed setting up a little scene 

with the gnomes and their new fire ring.

 I think this is the start of some wonderful scene-play for us!

And the beginnings of a sweet little nature table.

~carrie~

*p.s.  These gnomes are from the tutorial by Wee Folk Art!

~ ocean ~

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Earlier this month, 

we camped at Huntington Beach State Park 

in South Carolina.

The very first morning,

I took Liv and Lela to watch 

the Sun rise over the Atlantic.

We had a full day on the beach,

and with plenty of natural, marine-safe sunblock,

no one was burned.

Laurel enjoyed the more shallow spots.

Lela had the greatest time!

 I promise that,

even though not represented in these pictures,

we did have Olivia with us.  

I got some cute ones of her 

that I'll share later.

I felt like I was doing good to get these up.

~carrie~

~ life with twins ~

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I had to laugh when I saw 

these sequence of pictures 

from our third day in Virginia.

It pretty much sums up 

what life can be like 

with two 3 1/2 year olds.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Here, you can see Olivia strategically placing 

the bowl of potpourri in Laurel's lap.

Laurel positions her legs just so.

~ "Hmmm, Laurel, you hold this bowl of Gran's potpourri." ~

Now, they coordinate their movements so that,

to the untrained eye (or gullible parent),

it looks like the bowl tips right over.

Don't believe me? 

Look at the excitement on their faces!

~ "How did THAT happen Olivia?" ~

Now, each twin reaps the reward

of picking through the pile for treasured bits.

~ "We are so clever! ~ 

I love these girls!  

Having twins is a lot of fun!

~carrie~

~ so many pictures... ~

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...so little time!

Here's pictures from our second day in Virginia,

the "epic nature walk" I referenced in my last post.

We first adorned Kitty's grave with flowers.

Kitty passed away just before our visit.

She was the sweet beloved cat of my dad and sister.

RIP Kitty! 

We walked along the edge of the woodline 

until we came out into the pasture.

Gran is a florist and knows the common and scientific names of nearly all flora.

However, in the rare event she doesn't, we call it Roadsidius.

Our new pup loved the free range

and had the "zoomies" all day!

We then crossed the creek toward the large rocks.

Funny, those rocks seemed larger when I was a kid.

There weren't quite so many groundhog holes then, though!

Gran calls this her "special big rock" because when she was a girl

she came to this spot with her Daddy, our Papa,

to put barbed wired along the creek

Laurel inspects a piece of barbed wire,

buried deeply in this beautiful tree,

placed there by her grandmother and great-grandfather.

This lovely old tree has been a horse for three generations!

Giddap!

Our last spot was to the Ice Cream Rock.

This large exposed rock in the pasture 

boasts three colors - strawberry, vanilla and chocolate.

Gran tells the girls about a story when she and her sister

got in trouble for venturing to the Ice Cream Rock without permission.

What a great and beautiful day!

The girls have recounted those memories often since then.

Please come back for more pictures!

We have had so many amazing adventures lately,

and I cannot wait to share them with you.

~carrie~

~ trip to va - visit with grandma ~

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The summer started off slow, but has picked up steam!

We weren't back from camping but a few days

when we hit the road again, this time for Virginia.

We just returned from six days, sans Daddy, visiting family there.

The first day, we had a great visit with Grandma.

There's never enough time to spend with family,

but I'm always amazed by the connections 

that are made in such a short span of time.

We had lunch together and did some shoe shopping.

During lunch, she told the girls funny stories 

about when their Daddy was a little boy.

The girls are fascinated by all the little "special things" 

around Grandma's house.  

We hope that Grandma can come stay with us soon!

Back tomorrow with our second day - the epic nature walk! 

Hope to get our camping pictures featured here....

......before we leave to camp again this weekend!

Happy in Summer adventure bliss,

~carrie~