proud mommying moments: handmaking, perfectionism & the pioneer farm

pioneer farm project handmade by little rikrak / images by me : kristal davis / rikrak

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confession time:

now don't tell anyone, but i can be a super-over-bearing perfectionist-seeker of a mommy! 

i know, you're probably not shocked, right sweeties? :) 

we all want the best for the children in our lives. 

i do too.

but sometimes i'm a meddling mommy. 

i want to involve myself in every step of every project to make sure it's as perfect as perfect can be. 

i'll admit: that's not always helpful. :)

so here's a proud mommying moment (and handmaking life lesson) i wanted to share with you all...

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so little rikrak had a fun school project last month: the pioneer farm.

• first there was lots of adorable research. (think supercute little-one handwriting!)
• then trips to various hands-on sites. (feeding cows, visiting pioneer barns, touching great great great great grandfather-made tools. splendid!)
• then an essay rough copy. edit. & good copy.
• then practicing a fun interactive presentation.
• then building a beautiful model.

through all of it... i wanted to get my mommying 2-cents worth in. but the best lesson of all for me? as tough as it might be, let your little ONE shine! 

if you've ever been privy to a child working on a project, i think we can all agree... it's VERY tempting to try and lend a hand (or lend many hands!) , especially as obstacles arise.

but i had personally decided to be the most hands-off, support from the side kinda helper i could be for this project. i could see the excitement in little rikrak's eyes as he brainstormed fabulous idea after fabulous idea, many of which i couldn't have thought of. 

we all have our own fabulous perspectives, don't we?!

needless to say i'm over the moon proud of little rikrak's hard work and creative figurings on his latest life project.

and just look at this wonderful DIY model!

the cute handcut bales of hay.

the fun pipe cleaner oxen yoke.

the handmade, not factory-made or mommy-made wonderfully child-drawn marker lines on the barn roof.

he MADE that. 

what joy there is in that sentiment, for each of us!

 

many a time i wanted to get in there and "fix" or "alter" or "adjust" something. 

BUT i KNOW there is great learning, and beauty, in the handmade. "imperfections" and all.

it's a value our family shares deeply.

sometimes my quest for perfection as a mommy invades that ethic.

i struggle with it.

i know some day we'll have to dismantle this fabulous model (unless we can build a *museum for everything little rikrak has handmade* 3rd floor addition to our home! mr.rikrak?)

but for now i just look at it all day on my desk and smile.

and best of all: the pride on his face for a project he handmade. that's a wonderful thing, indeed!

isn't it magical when little ones work hard, overcome challenges and see a project thru with vim & vigour.

well done, sweetie pie. i'm so proud of you.

(and don't you love the open-up barn roof and removable hay loft? makes for hours of fun playing, let me tell you!)

did i tell you how i FORCED us to watch little house on the prairie episodes as bonus *research?* LOVE IT!

tell us something you're proud of in your little ones' lives.

how do you step back and let the little ones in YOUR life shine?

yay to handmade families.

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pioneer farm project handmade by little rikrak / images by me : kristal davis / rikrak

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i like pie

i found this adorable little note one morning last week.

little rikrak really cracks me up ... always.

inspired ... i'm gonna leave more cutiepie notes for dearies to find. 

it's such a good feeling discovering them, isn't it?

found any cute notes around lately?

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proud mommying moments: the ukulele

:: darling handmade ukulele-ness ::

clockwise from the top-left corner

nicholasfrith

skylaar

rozenn bothuon

celentanowoodworks

sterainstruments

cherijame

birdandbloke

sometimes crafter

bRainbowshop

cabin no7

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well nicies. i have a new love.

the ukulele, and my little one strumming it!

my smitten-ness has been growing & growing over the past few years. 

but as little rikrak readies for his 1st ukulele concert this week, i can happily confess that it's my new favourite sound: hearing him so cutely strum & sing fabulous folksy hit after fabulous folksy hit!

it's absolutely adorable.

what sound are YOU loving these days?

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on pins and needles

:: artful pins & needles ::

photoworksbydawn

MayaLee

xoxolovejessica

namolio

alleluja

made in lowell

maude and lola

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seems as though tis the season of *on pins and needles*... a grand slew of things to be a little anxious / thoughtful / worried about / mindful of! 

some things are a little worrisome. some much less so.

life's like that, right!?

on the sillier end of things (i.e. not real worries!) ... we're all on pins and needles here tonight about game 6 of the stanley cup hockey finals!

now you may know i'm not such a hockey fan (read my mean tirade , jokey dis-love tale here) ... but little rikrak and mr. rikrak LOVE the vancouver canucks. me too!

so instead of worrying about all that other stuff tonight, let's just cheer on our cute canucks!

go vancouver!

what do you do to ease your nerves when you're worried about stuff, nicies? 

cheering for boston or vancouver?

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photo essay: at the curling rink

 

   { all images by me: kristal davis / rikrak 2011 } 

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now i've never curled in my life, sweeties.

but this classic winter sport has recently become part of our weekly life: little rikrak's become an avid little curler! {now i'm biased - but he's just great at it!}

part shuffleboard, part crokinole (my fave!) 

i love the symmetry on the rink. the glide & curl & colour of it all.

ever curled? 

thanks for the wintry memories, curling!

see you in the fall!

...............

 

   { all images by me: kristal davis / rikrak 2011 } 

 

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fun handmade lunch ideas!

fun & healthy lunch ideas from the article "Sayonara, baloney":
Globe and Mail, wed. aug. 26th

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well well well... it's back to school time here in ottawa for
the wee little ones!

little rikrak is loving his fun new teacher, his fabulous arts forward classroom, & seeing all of those wonderful school friends all day again!

as mommy, i'm delighted for his joy, and to be honest... a wee bit missing my little sweetie! it was such a great summer! alas! how are you feeling about the wee ones back at school?

i saw a GREAT article in the Globe and Mail last week on the joy of packing a gorgeous healthy handmade lunch for our kiddies! indeed, lunch-packing can be a parental chore & problem-solving task! but i loved the great bento box ideas. beautiful! thought i'd share some here.

check out the whole article online for more pro-healthy school lunch ideas. they might take a wee bit longer to craft, but what a handmade lunch! {loving the use of cute reusable cupcake holders to divide some of the lunches, too!}

woohoo! yay school! lunch never looked so creative & delicious! (ps: by the way... little rikrak's lunch didn't look much like any of them today! alas... i'll keep trying! :)

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fun & healthy lunch ideas from the article "Sayonara, baloney":
Globe and Mail, wed. aug. 26th

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proud family moments!

happy monday, lovelies!
hope you had a wonderful weekend.

we celebrated two very special occassions this weekend.
i had the fabulous experience of being doubly proud of my wonderful family.

it was my wonderful mom's annual piano recital. she is an amazing & fabulous musician and teacher, and every year her many students join together to share their wonderful talents! it's always such a joy to see the children of all ages doing their very best and performing songs they've worked to hard at! my mom's one of those superfun, interactive teachers that encourages each of her students to achieve their very best by sharing her own genuine love of the joy of music, in fun and interactive ways. her students LOVE taking piano lessons (imagine!) and i'm so proud of her.

this was an extra special concert. it's my mom's 40th year since she started teaching piano lessons. so as a little surprise, my siblings and i invited back a handful of some of her 100s of students from over the years. it was such a joy for us to see what an amazing impact she has made in the lives of so many students, and their touching musical tributes to the fabulous woman she is. they talked of how her rare kindness and friendliness and loving nature encouraged them in their diverse musical interests and careers, and as part of her family, i was so proud of her.

it was also a special night for another wonderful reason.
it was little rikrak's 1st musical recital.
gosh - i've gotta admit, was i ever nervous! :) (ever a nervous parent?!)
i knew he'd do wonderfully, and he did! he did his very best and i'm so proud of him!
he played "the Tennessee Waltz" , a family favourite, and i entered a new world of mommying.... seeing our little sweetie up on stage, so proud of his own success and hard work! and he was so proud of his grandma. it was a wonderful thing!

i'm a lucky daughter & mommy indeed!
hope you had a great weekend!
have some proud family moments you'd like to share?

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proud mommy moments

lemon cloud original by stephanielevy

i've gotta say... i'm a proud mommy.
not that either one of us are always at our best...
but ...
i'm always so proud of my little sweetie.

that he's a kind little soul.
that he works hard and tries his best.
i'm so proud of the little sweetheart he is. thoughtful, loving, generous.

an especially great little proud mommying moment happened this past weekend.
i don't usually post about all of my proud little sweetie moments (there are so many when you're a parent, an auntie, a teacher, aren't there?!) but i thought i'd share this one with you.

there was a great big garage sale going on this past weekend in ottawa.
(more on that later - how i LOVE garage sales!)

weeks ago when little rikrak and i were talking about it, he mentioned that he'd love to sell some of his own toys, make & sell some cookies, and donate all of the money to the local food bank. we had been talking about food banks that week, and the wonderful things food banks do for our community.

i was so thrilled to hear him say that.
i was so touched to hear his thinkings on how he could help others. i was so proud of him for using his creativity to help problem solve.

so last week we prepared.
he gathered toys. we baked cookies. we made lemonade. we made fun signs.

on saturday morning it was a great sight.
neighbours and others generously gathering around. little rikrak busy pouring juice, taking it all in. little rikrak & i both seeing how one person, regardless of their age, can certainly make a difference!

i know there are mixed feelings in the parenting community about showing children that you're proud of them. but i have to say... i can't help it.
i'm so proud of our little sweetie.
if i ever dreamed what qualities i would hope my child to have, having a kind heart and sharing it with the world would be at the top of the list.

so that's me.
a very proud mommy with a grateful heart. Pin It

what i'm working on: bibs

afternoon, lovelies.

it's been a fun-filled day here @ the rikrak home. today i got to do something i've NEVER done in my life before... but more on that later! :)

and now it's back to work! i'm working on lots and lots of sustainable patchwork bibs today & tomorrow for some wholesale orders... and maybe a few new ones for the rikrak shop, too! what have you been working on?

and don't forget to enter the funfun rikrak giveaway.... two days left!

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with thanks

you folks are so sweet! i mean it!
thanks for your daily fun comments (i read each and every one... and usually go clicking along your links to visit your fun wepages & sites! what talented readers the rikrakstudio has! :)

....what fun blogging is! now... i'm really bad @ being tagged, and passing tags along. that's always been the case! but i very much appreciate all the sweeties who have honoured me with fun web awards... so it's high time i say thanks! in lieu of tagging forward, i hope you don't mind that i'd like to feature these sweeties instead!

thanks first to artmind, who kindly sent along the proximiade award, for being "an exceedingly charming blog!" ... how sweet, nicey! thank you!

next, thank so much to new york memos who tagged me for fun random things!

lastly, thanks to 2 lovelies who sent me a Kreativ Blogger award! that's so nice of you sweeties!

to the lovely nancy of nancywallis designs,

& to we blog artists (winner of my giveaway - woohoo!) ... many thanks... it's an honour!

so... the latter 3 awards asked for 6-7 things i love / or random things. so i hope you don't mind that i've put them all together into one little list:

7 random things i love!

1. i adore blue sky mornings & rainy afternoons.
2. i love playing @ the park with my little sweetie.
3. i can't get enough of 80's dance parties in the living room.
4. i apparently talk really fast (& i kinda love it! ;)
5. i love staying up late, talking with dear friends.
6. i'm obsessed with taking photographs & looking @ others beautiful photos.
7. i'm addicted to playing board games & talking games. (oh my poor poor family!)


so thanks again, nicies!
what fun it is to meet a whole new community of fun folks in bloggerville! thanks so much to everyone who's stopped by the rikrakstudio to visit! yesterday, i put together a little treasury about my appreciation for those blogging superstars out there! you can find it here!

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lastly, this with thanks goes out to the wonderful fawn & forest, who is featuring rikrak as a forest find this month! i'm so very very honoured! and the whole process of working with the lovely, brilliant folks @ fawn & forest has been a delight!
thanks so much, nicies!

happy thursday, wonderfolk! thanks.

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feeling shy

w.i.p. by rikrak

i'm feeling a wee bit shy today. i've been working on a few secret little projects ... and it seems like it's time to stop being so hush*hush on one of them.

now... i'm a super lucky soul. i don't too often feel very shy. quite private? most certainly.
a worrier? usually!
sometimes quiet? sometimes.
but not too shy too often. but i certainly am today!

i don't mind talking about my shyness on a secret project. i think a good secret project will be brimming over with fun emotions! let's embrace new feelings! i just mind actually putting the finishing touches on things... cause hey - then the new thing is an actual thing! eek!

i set myself some new rikraky goals this year:

• writing a blog to challenge my crazy non-writerly skills... it's on! (and hey - i was SUPER nervous about that - thanks for your help!)
  

• working on some other still-to-be secret rikraky plans... check!

• working on some new kinds of rikrak goodies a wee bit outside of my usual realm; to challenge myself a little bit .... tada!

do you have some secret little projects in the works? how are you feelin' about them? feel shy about crafting sometimes? here's a peek @ secret project #1... stay tuned!

w.i.p. by rikrak

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under the weather

oh dear. poor littlerikrak isn't feeling much better today. thanks to all of the nicies who have sent their well wishes. :) hopefully better soon! so here's a little handmade goodies care package for my little sweetie...who's the best little lego spaceship builder around!

these cuddly, recycled sweater slipper boots by 4pippi
this beautiful, snuggly quilt by upup
these fun DIY wooden toys to paint by goosegrease
this hilarious (and useful!) moustache handkerchief by avrilloreti
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