~ spring shawls ~

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Exactly 10 days before Easter,

and the annual egg hunt at my grandparents' farm,

my mother (love her) requested shawls for each girl, in lieu of store-bought sweaters.

I have been wanting to make them a shawl each,

but with such a deadline......

I'm just crazy enough to do it!

A total of 36,000 stitches in 10 days.....I was knitting constantly!

I took a little break afterwards.....

This is the Little House Shawl from Rhythm of the Home.

Here's the Ravelry page, and my project page.

I wanted something washable, but still soft, so I chose my standby Berroco Comfort DK,

from my LYS Things Remembered here in town.

It's a superfine nylon, superfine acrylic blend. and very very soft. 

It looks more like cotton than a synthetic blend, though it works easier than cotton.

We tied the shawls behind their backs,

so they looked and wore like a little bolero.

As a testament to the shawls, they wore them all day and they didn't shift or slip from the shoulders.

And while I'm at it, I'll throw in some other family pictures from a perfect day. :D 

~carrie~

~ outside ~

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Our family life has been so busy recently! 

Lots of travelling, lots of fun, lots of late nights for Daddy at the office.

I swear that I plan to play catch-up here, 

because I have some super-cute pictures of the girls hunting eggs,

and playing in the creek,

and...

and...

and....

But for the meantime, I'll share a couple pictures from today.

We're deep into our Four Math Processes block,

and I am feeling quite good about it. 

We've named our homeschool (a requirement here in NC) the R. Thorpe Jones Outdoor School. 

After my paternal grandfather. 

I know he would be proud of the girls.

And the 'outdoor' part reflects how essential I feel being outside is to education.

Today was the first day in 3 weeks that we've had our lesson inside - it was chilly this morning!

All the challenges we had in the first few months melt away when we're outside.

I'm planning to share details from our math block,

including pictures of our gnomes and the verses and story I wrote.

Someday.....when we manage to get inside.

~carrie~

~ tenderness ~

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She fluttered down from the sky,

a very tattered and dying luna moth.

She had reached the end of her ephemeral life,

having laid her eggs somewhere in our yard.

 The girls understood that she was soon to be gone.

We discussed - as much as you can "discuss" - what was happening,

how she was returning to become part of the Earth.

I encouraged them to be so very gentle with her,

to make her last moments as peaceful as possible.

They decided our newly planted faery garden would make the perfect resting spot.

They tucked her gently under the beautiful foliage of the coral bells.

They gave her a sprig of bright pink azalea.

The girls kept vigil until she died, which was about 15 minutes later.

It was not sad.....it was beautiful and peaceful. 

That they have it in their hearts to show such tenderness

makes me grateful that I am witness to their lives.

~carrie~