a list of needs

Today started with a lot of needs... from both Isabelle and Mommy.  Isabelle needed to play blocks with me immediately this morning... so instead of dropping the morning routine I decided that we should make a list of what we each "needed" to do.  I wanted to acknowledge Isabelle's needs but not address them immediately...I was still drinking my morning tea...

our morning lists of "needs"

And this is what we came up with and we talked about how each of the needs on both list are equally important (some advice shared with me by my friend Rebekka... try to identify and meet needs).  It seemed to help the urgency she had for needing me to play and am thinking this tactic could come in handy in the near future.  

One of my favorite items on the list was putting up christmas/winter ornaments and decorations.  We decided this year that we would wait until baby arrives to pick out a Christmas tree this year...usually it is the weekend after Thanksgiving or soon after...  I am a sucker for holiday cheer... the music, lights, the piney smell, etc.  And since we have to wait for the tree and I am getting the itch of holiday seasons today we decided to take down the fall garlands and decorations and break out our winter ones.

The garlands are something Isabelle and I made together last year, both the fall and winter ones, by wet felting balls and stars and then stringing them onto yarn with bells and other fun things.  The fall garlands were made with felt balls, dried cinnamon and applesauce cookies (that still smell so good), and old beads and buttons.  We also put up the felt christmas tree banner we made yesterday...

I absolutely love taking the time to make something with Isabelle I know I will take out every year and know that I will cherish these items for many many years.  Each garland or banner reminds me of time spent with Isabelle or the friends we spent time with while making them.

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Oh and here is a picture of my granola bars from yesterday...they came out PERFECT!