Friday, January 9, 2026

And The Winner Is.....

 

Grace's avant-garde inspired by Van Gogh's Starry Night! 

She spent two weeks working on it. She painted it, 
dyed the hair and created the adornments. 

Including this stunning crown! 
And then all the students and teachers got to cast their votes. 
Today the winner was announced, and Grace was deemed "the best of the best"! 
What a fabulous way to kick off the weekend! xo 

Sunday, January 4, 2026

Our (German) Watchword

 

I happened upon this word when I was reading Marmee by Sarah Miller. This is a wonderful imagining of the Little Women story from Marmee's point of view. Marmee has always been my most favorite of the Little Women characters (though I really do love them all!) and if I am being honest it's really wild to me to think that I did not choose "Marmee" for my mama name back when Grace was a newborn. 

In this book, Marmee spends a lot of time working with, and supporting, the Hummel family. One of the things she does is help Mrs. Hummel learn to speak English, and in turn Mrs. Hummel teaches Marmee to speak German. During one of their visits the word geborgenheit was taught. To be sure that I was reading this word correctly I consulted Google Translate. Between the explanation in the story and the  the definition that Google shared (picture above) I knew that I needed to propose this word as our watchword for the year when we gathered on New Year's Eve to choose our word and set our intentions for 2026. Dave and the girls loved it and agreed that it was the perfect choice! It is out hope that geborgenheit will be in abundance for all of humanity this year. xo 

Saturday, January 3, 2026

Welcome Back Hens!

 

The Hens are home! Dave enclosed their run so that it can become their temporary home until the spring when it will be easier (read: not insanely cold out) to rebuild their actual coop. On the next warm-ish winter day, however, we'll head out to paint a cheery scene on the walls of their temporary coop because in its current state it's giving creepy-shack-in-the-woods-inhabited-by-a-hermit vibes and it's freaking us out. Thankfully the wreath helps....a bit. xo