happy birthday michael!

dear michael, 

looking back on the year i have so many sweet moments to share.

you are such a sweet and loving man.

you build the best sand play lands for ezra to play in

we love going to the beach with you

ezra is always happy when he is with you

i love being on this path of parenting together with you

you are a great playmobil truck assembler 

bike tire fixer

kite flier

pumpkin carver

and hand painter

i love your face

and ezra does too

*nose kiss*

i am so happy to have created a little family with you

you are a wonderful man, husband, and father.

we hope all of your dreams come true.

we love you!

thank you for coming out of  your office to kill cockroaches, mosquitos...

and capture crabs crawling in the closet.  you are my hero.  

the countdown...

we are counting the days until christmas this year with these advent 

bags i made inspired by the lovely blog moment to moment

ezra helped to hang each of them up.

he likes to count them and when he gets to 14 he says 14, 16, 14, 16, 14, 16... etc.  

he will tell you this is when santa comes

and that this is daddy's birthday

(cousin) luke and gigi's birthday (my mom)

when matthew and eva come to st. maarten

matthew and eva's birthday

uncle matt's birthday

and ezra's birthday!!!

as you can see we have a lot to count down to this month...  inside each bag is a small gift and/or craft, activity, or project we will be doing that day.  the first day he got red glitter and we made white play-dough with red glitter from it.  the second day he got the materials to build our advent wreath, and today he got a kinderschokolade ueberaschungs ei - aka - a chocolate surprise egg.  

i have seen a few other really cute advent calendars this year in blog land.  andrea, tara, and this blog have some beautiful ones they made as well.  i'm going to make something more permanent when we move back to the states.  i am so inspired and love this idea!  but, this year being our last christmas on the island, i just used the things i had on hand - lunch bags, wrapping paper, a string of yarn and clothespins - oh and my own little drawings of all the sagitarians and capricorns in our family!

this moment

A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.   inspired by soulemama

yarn along

i'm a day late for ginny's yarn along.  i just could not get on the computer yesterday long enough to accomplish this task.  here are my completed projects and current read and projects...

one fingerless glove that i lost the link to on ravelry

here's one of the pair of slippers i made for E from this free pattern on ravelry

i finished this slouchy hat for my little sister (she's turning 10)

i love the way it turned out and want to make one for myself one day

here's the free pattern

i am close to being finished with the zebra puppet.  i finished the green koigu rocky hat for my brother (who is also turning 10 - they're twins) and am reading the "busy book" for craft ideas to do with ezra and "playful parenting" which is something i read bits and pieces of here and there.  by the way...  to those of you who were excited about the book i posted last week, "confessions from a jane austen addict," well...  it started off well but really fizzled out for me.  i have a hard time not finishing a book.  something within me likes to finish things, but this book could not be finished.  so, i skipped ahead to the last pages and do not recommend it to anyone.  don't buy it!  thankfully i didn't.  

piece together peace reflection

as a part of piece together peace, this month i decided to set an intention to do yoga everyday in order to bring more peace into my life.  yoga has been a part of my life for the last 16 years since meeting my husband.  he gave me the book yoga: 28 day exercise plan by richard hittleman and i haven't lived a life without yoga since then.  before ezra was born we went to a yoga class together 3 times a week and still found time on the off days at home to do sun salutations and head stands.  michael is good about incorporating sun salutations everyday in his morning routine, but my morning routine involves making breakfast for ezra and turns quickly into what activity we find ourselves doing together.  

today we built an awesome fort under which we played blocks and told nursery rhymes with felt cut outs.  before i knew it, it was time to make lunch in time for michael's return.  then i started to prepare dinner - a casserole i would later put in the oven - so that i could finish the dishes, the laundry, and the floor sweeping, go to the playground, then go for a walk and come home and only have to put dinner in the oven for it to be ready.  i actually did not get to my yoga today, but will later this evening.  i am happy to have made a more conscious effort to do yoga everyday this month.  yoga is always a good choice.  

but, my needs have changed in my physical and mental health practices since moving to st. maarten.  island life is slow paced and relaxed.  i am not the one in medical school.  i have virtually no stress in my life.  thank you michael!  i love you for that!  so, i must say that i don't need yoga to unwind.  i also spend a lot of time on the floor playing with ezra and can find myself crawling along the floor in a game of trains or cars and can stop for stretches in the middle of our play.  it is not hard to put myself into a downward dog or cat/cow position during our day of play.  what i am missing in my life is cardiovascular exercise.  we live on the 7th floor of a hotel.  i rarely take the stairs because of the amount of time that takes when you're holding the hand of your 3 year old counting each step all the way down as he hops down each one like a bunny rabbit, or just the feasibility when you're coming back from the store with 5 bags of groceries.  one must take the lift and bring the pram as well!  

so...  what i do need is exercise that jogs my heart and gets my lungs taking in huge gulps of air.  you would think this is easily done living on an island where it's always warm and sunny.  but, that is not the case on st. maarten anyway.  first of all there are no sidewalks.  the cars do not drive like they're on island time.  they race around like they're on a racetrack.  there is no dotted line demarcating lanes, no stop signs, or crosswalks in my neighborhood.  but, i digress.  i say a little prayer every time i go out with ezra in the BOB and push him up the hill toward a less traveled road.  we live right off the main road that goes around the island.  the real reason you can't easily go for a walk anytime here on st. maarten is the oppressive heat that envelops us six months out of the year and the hungry swarms of mosquitos carrying dengue fever that abound and relentlessly bite my ankles and any part of ezra's sweet body during those long six months.  it doesn't cool off when the sun goes down at night nor when it rains (unless it is a hurricane).  but, just about a week ago...  something magical happened here.  the trade winds came back blowing all that heat and all those pesky mosquitos far far away.  i find myself running errands and returning home without a drop of sweat on my brow.  so yesterday and today ezra and i began walking a couple mile loop again with our dear friend alexi and her cute dog bailey and are planning on walking everyday until the day we leave st. maarten.  yesterday evening i felt 'alive' for the first time in months and found myself singing songs as i was putting away ezra's toys last night and bursting out into more songs today - without even consciously doing it!  what i need to do to bring more peace into my life is to walk more.  so, that is my intention for the month of december.  i will walk everyday.  hoping this finds you with peace in your hearts and minds.  namaste.

happy thanksgiving

this was our second thanksgiving living on st. maarten and also our second thanksgiving as vegans.  i prepared all the food while our guests were at school either studying or teaching.  

ezra helped me to bake this special train cake for our dessert.  i know he doesn't like pumpkin pie, but he loves this applesauce cake from the waldorf snack book.  the stencil was made on the spot at ezra's second birthday party by his aunt annie.  i have saved it for future cakes for its adorableness.  ezra loves it too.

i continued to work in the kitchen 

while the rest of the gang enjoyed the view.

   

here they are

and this was what they were looking at

rahul digging in

we are ever so grateful for these sweet friends of ours.   rahul and erica have been studying with michael since the beginning of school.  erica's boyfriend jon moved here in april and has become a good friend not only of us adults but of ezra too.  

the day after thanksgiving was beautiful and a perfect time to spend the day relaxing on the beach.

ezra and i met up with some friends at local mullet bay.

ezra and bianca loved rolling down the sand slope.

on saturday we went to get the car washed (for the second time since moving here) and spent the 40 minutes waiting at the simpson bay lagoon.  it is nice and breezy and always fun to check out the cool boats that have arrived since it is almost high season.  this was a lucky shot as i captured a united airlines plane taking off.  there are so many awesome sights to see everyday on st. maarten.

this was our favorite boat with its sleek 

stainless steel siding and super tall masts.  

even though it's a bit stressful for michael to be away from his studies, with blocks a week away, and finals two weeks away, we love every minute we get to be with him.  i love seeing ezra and michael together.  it always fills my heart up.

i liked this aussie boat's name 'secret love london'

ezra squinting in the windy sunshine 

watching some sailors jack up a pretty spiffy dinghy

palm fronds swaying in the trade winds that have returned

i am so grateful the breeze is back!

in the afternoon ezra and i went to baie longue with jon, cat, and bianca.  jon dug a huge hole near the shoreline for the children to play in.  they first called it a bath and then later a pool.  they jumped in splashing each other and squealed each time.  they sat in it and screamed when a big wave of white wash would spread over them.

we took a walk along the shore and on the way back the children made foot prints and tracks

we left just before the sun set 

and by the time we were home it was dark out.  

we had a wonderful long weekend of celebrating our blessings in life.  we have each other, loving family, friends, our health, and a beautiful island life experience that we will cherish our memories from forever.

right now i am...

sitting on the balcony looking at all the activity on the sparkling caribbean sea

making plans in my head to go back to the beach this afternoon 

where the water looks calm like a bath just the way i like it.  

this all came about after ezra and i went to water our plants

and ezra made some foot prints on the deck

right now i am procrastinating going inside and starting the preparations for our thanksgiving feast tomorrow.  where did our cloudy rainy weather go that was just right for staying inside and baking and cooking on the stove?  at least the sun sets at 6:00...  what are you doing right now?

check out what other people are doing right now over at earthmama