
Woooo 2016! (Note the unicorn sculpture; made by Babyzilla)
WOooo!!! 2016!!! Happy New Year!!!
Since this is the first post of the year, I figure I had better enthusiastically set the tone! haha

January mushrooms

January colors

Lion’s tail

Pumpkin (from the grocery stote; going to see if pumpkin plants will grow from this)

Woooo first snow of winter/2016

Dexie struggling to keep her eyes open on New Year’s Eve

‘Zilla also struggled to keep her eyes open till midnight (but awoke after this photo was taken to celebrate east coast New Year’s at 11PM ahha)

Disco Nap haha

New Year’s Eve

Sitting outside by the fire on New Year’s Eve

Embers

Making a torch

Fire

Making a torch seems like a good new year’s tradition, doesn’t it?!
When it comes to gardening goals for 2016…
I’ve always been really focused on edibles. Radishes were the first thing I ever grew. As I dug in each tiny seedling into dry, clay soil I remember thinking, “This is a lot of work for a bunch of radishes!” Hahaha but there was obviously some allure; and I was hooked! I think I took about 20 pictures of those radishes I grew Hhahaa.
But this past year edibles just didn’t seem like my forte (aside from a prolific garlic harvest); and so in 2016 I am going to focus on flowers (edible flowers mostly!) and probably will try pumpkins (since they are my absolute favorite!). Also, houseplants. I was so inspired by a post Eliza Waters wrote entitled “Breathe Easy” citing a NASA study about how important plants are for cleaning indoor air.

Very Wizard of Oz. It is good to open all the windows in your home and let the fresh outdoor air circulate throughout at least 5 minutes per day.

Inside/Outside

Train painting

Outside/Inside

Gluing

Living room looking into dining room

Playing with filters
We still have the Gingerbread Empire State Building. It is such a nice smelling decoration and I bet more graham crackers and ginger snaps (etc.) have sat for months in dingy storage warehouses…so when you think about it a few weeks (going on 3) for a fresh-baked good isn’t that old! If you’ll notice, some pieces are missing and tasted quite fresh; crispy and spicy, not stale at all! Though I didn’t eat the icing. Eventually we have to take it down. I have a friend who is setting firecrackers off in her tall gingerbread house to say goodbye to it!

Hahahah.
But setting fire to the Empire State Building would seem really terrorist-y so we’ll not do that. For now I will just keep eating it; maybe let Babyzilla go to town on it.

Rrrraaaghhhh hahah
She’s really not all that destructive, I jest. Check out how clean her kitchen is!

Two kitchens

I spy a white-tailed deer

Doe a deer (we loves the movie The Sound of Music)

Little roses

Living Room

Headless Dexie

Haha

Orchid
So I’m [insert branching out pun] from growing tomatoes/vegetables and want to explore other healthful uses of plants in 2016. Definitely want to make it to the MOBOT herb show and Shaw Wildflower market in 2016!

Love-in-a-mist seedlings popping up everywhere; they are quite hardy.

January sky over Forest school

Violets

Mushroom

Vertical garden panel (needs to root for 2-3 weeks)

See the dog picture on the rock?

Snowy white kalanchoe blooms
I’ve been prodding the kids for things they would like to do and accomplish in the coming year and mostly I have gotten some pretty mundane answers.
“Go to City Party!” (She means Party City, a party supply store like 7 miles from our house that we went to around Halloween just to browse for random spooky decorations). She also wants to visit the children’s garden at MOBOT again, which of course I am all for!
The Spy wants more baseball cards (“10 thousand more”) hahah and he is continually working on a list of players he wants to get cards for.

He has baseball cards on the brain 24/7. Hahha

Mushroom

Mushroom

Stump…kinda looks like a bear face

Mushrooms/Fungus/Lichen

Winter is my favorite season!

Winter greens; kohlrabi

Painting in progress

Playing with filters

January garden

Snow!

At Forest School

Living room

Driveway
A blessed and healthy 2016 to you all! Do you have any New Year’s resolutions?
I started a new goal of writing in a journal. The journal is one I got for Christmas and only has a short space to write, with a Bible verse (365 of them). So it’s no pressure; just jot a few notes down. I haven’t kept a journal ever (maybe sporadically in 5th grade?), so it is fun to try a new hobby. In response to,
“He fills my life with good things, so that I stay young and strong like an eagle.” Psalm 103:5
I wrote,
Honey, tea, water, lemon, legumes, rest, stretching, hiking, running, juggling, gardening, dancing, wash face 2x day, swimming, eat tons of vegetables, grains, oils, protein, facials, good posture, taking deep breaths, painting/sculpture/art, walking. Prayer. Paint nails/toes, clean bathroom, organize closets, vacuum, dust, slackline, arabesque;
Plus I wrote a list of places/parks in my area I would like to visit and included some other things; 10 glasses of water each day, tons of vegetables, lots of hot tea, write in journal daily, “Sophomore Year” of DNP Program, watch more TV, learn to unicycle, play outside often. And try out the canoe, of course!
Starting off the new year very under the weather I interpreted as a reminder to rest more (hence the “lots of hot tea” goal haha). Snuggling on the couch watching the X-files (sooo 90s it is great), movies (Jurassic World, The Sound of Music, etc.), is something I’m doing more often; no matter how much writing or reading time I need to put in for school. In order to be productive, creative and spiritual one needs to be well-rested!
“Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” Psalm 23:6
Happy 2016!!!
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