So Cal trip, Part I

Way back in April the kids and I embarked on a little road trip to visit my family in Southern California. We were gone for about a week and a half and managed to squeeze a whole lot of adventure into that time. The first part of our journey brought us to my grandmother's house. The kids LOVE their GG (short for great-grandma of course), and I am so thankful they are getting a chance to know this amazing woman who has been such a big part of my life. We then got to hang out with my brother and sister-in-law. Tom even babysat for me while I went to a baby shower for Chris' cousin Erica (whose baby has now arrived! Welcome to the world, little Z!)









Another great part of the visit was celebrating my dear friend Erin's engagement!!! Erin and I were in Girl Scouts together way back when and it is such a joy to continue the friendship we started all those years ago. Her fiance just happens to live around the corner from my brother, so we met up with yet another dear friend (and her husband and adorable daughter) for breakfast and play time at the park. Whew! I'm tired just recounting all of that! Speaking of tired, please disregard my horibbly puffy eyes in these pictures :)


We had an amazing time seeing wonderful family and friends. I miss everyone already!

Mother's Day

It is still strange and surreal to me to be on this end of Mother's Day, not only honoring my own wonderful mom and mom-in-law but being the recipient of cards and calls from my own family and friends.

Even with an almost five-year old I still feel like I'm winging it a lot of the time, that I in no way posses the quiet assurance and confidence the word "mom" conjures in my head - the way my mom looked to me as I handed her a bouquet of flowers picked from my Grandma's garden with a crayon-scrawled mother's day card in my fist. Now I realize that my mom also felt this way, that while my daughters may see me as invincible they will grow up to discover the insecurities and second guessing that each seemingly confident decision contains.

And of course I appreciate my own mom and my amazing mother-in-law more than ever, understanding the courage, sacrifice and worry that accompany this most wonderful and difficult job. Thank you both for being amazing models of selfless love and for being the best grandparents my kids could have! We love you!

This year my mom and I got to celebrate with a lovely tea at the Smith Berry Barn. The weather was perfect, the ambiance relaxing, and the food was wonderful! I hope they decide to serve tea again next year so we can make it a tradition.



I hope everyone had a wonderful Mother's Day!

a kite flying day

I have great memories of flying kites with my Grandpa at a park near his house - he had some amazing kites and we had so much fun running down the big hill to get them in the air. I decided the kids were ready for some kite-flying of their own and after buying (and then returning) a cool but huge Elephant kite from Costco, I realized that dollar store kites were more their speed. My kids were quite excited to have Dora staring them down as they tried to make her fly. Two dollars and an afternoon well spent!

Knittin'

Yet another reason I should have been born a hundred years ago is my irrational love of and appreciation for knitting. Part of that love, I'm sure, comes from the fact that I can choose whether or not to do it and it is not a matter of necessity for the warmth of myself and my family. But I do somehow feel the otherwise intangible connection with the past every time I grab a pair of needles and some yarn and proceed to make the same stitches women (and men!) everywhere have made for generations upon generations. It's a great feeling to make something practical and beautiful from such humble raw materials, and the very act of knitting is soothing and meditative (once you get past the initial frustration of learning a new craft). I love that when I give someone something I've knit, I'm also passing along hopes and prayers that have been added to each stitch, thoughts of the person who will be wearing it and of course the love that goes into thing made by hand. Not to mention a sermon or two as I find knitting at church or Bible study actually helps me concentrate better :)

Here are some photos of my finished "Olympic" sweater:
From this:
to this (in two weeks!):

I set up the camera on a tripod and used a timer to take some pictures and of course the girls had to get in on the action:
Here's a scarf I made for spring - after so much knitting at Christmas it was nice to do some "selfish knitting"


I have a hard time making hats that fit because I get so excited to wear them that they turn out too short! My kids' heads are well-covered, though!

The thing I love more than the knitting itself is sharing it with others, so if you want to learn I'd love to teach you (or attempt to, as I have no real teaching prowess. But we'd have fun trying!)

What crafty/arty things do you love to do?? I am always amazed at the talents my friends and family possess, and would love to see more - it's so inspiring!

10 on Tuesday

Here's a smattering of 10 random things I've been pondering but not yet posted. I got this idea from my friend Katherine and will try to make this a weekly list - maybe that will help me post more often!

1. I know it's technically Wednesday (umm, Thursday now) but I thought about posting yesterday, so it still counts as "10 on Tuesday," right?

2. We had the most amazing sunny, warm (for February) weather the last few days. Here's a bit of spring from our yard to brighten up what has turned into a cloudy, gray and misty day.
3. My mother in law's friend made this sweater for Lucy when she was a baby and it still fits! I love Lu's sense of style and have fun seeing what she walks out of the room wearing in the morning:

4. Lately I've been obsessed with all things Jane Austen, mostly due to this PBS miniseries which has aired over the last three weeks. I loved this most recent adaptation of Emma, but I also watched the 1996 version (with Gwenyth Paltrow) and Clueless last week for comparison's sake. Which brings me to

5. Netflix. We recently joined and oh boy am I in trouble. You can watch movies streaming from the computer ANY TIME and AS OFTEN AS YOU WANT. You probably already know this because you've had Netflix forever (why am I always so behind on the cool stuff?) It all started when I had the brilliant idea to cancel my more expensive gym membership and rent fitness DVD's to work out at home, but I think the plan is backfiring as I spent every night of the last week firmly planted on the couch absorbed in one 90's chick flick after the next. I hope (for my husband's sake) the novelty wears off soon.

6. These songs make me happy




7. We got a swing from Ikea as a Christmas gift (thank you Carissa!) and I was hesitant to hang it as our house is small and I didn't want big silver hook-things stuck in the living room ceiling. The other day inspiration struck and I hung it in the kitchen from the hooks that are still there from the previous owner's pot rack. Now we have the perfect activity for those rainy afternoons when we're all going stir crazy.

8. If you knit you should really join Ravelry, a website that has hundreds of free patterns and an archive of basically any and every knitting pattern and yarn known to man. They are also doing something called the Ravelympics where you start knitting something during the opening ceremonies of the olympics and finish by the time the games end two weeks later. I'm actually excited about the olympics this year! Hopefully I'll have a sweater to show you in two weeks time. And yes, I know I'm a knitting nerd :)

9. My poor Grandma has been dealing with some health issues lately and had to have emergency surgery a couple of weeks ago. She has been on my mind a lot and could sure use your prayers if you think of it. Love you, Grandma!

10. Carol brought up some delicious and beautiful lemons from her garden when she visited us at Christmas time. We're down to the last few and rationing them for special things. One was this yummy and buttery cake.
The next will be these scones. Do you know if they still sell fresh cranberries after Thanksgiving?

It was surprisingly difficult to come up with 10 things. I hope I can think of 10 more for next week! Let me know if I'm boring you and I'll try something else next time :)

sharing the love...

Hello blog! Welcome to 2010. I'm sorry I've been neglectful of late, but there's this little thing called Facebook that has stolen my attention. I hope to rectify my negligence soon, and will start by posting pictures (that's all anyone really wants, anyway, right??).

These are the result of a spontaneous photo shoot last week. It was the perfect end to a PERFECT day full of sweet treats (Krispy Kreme!) and sweet finds (vintage teal suitcases!). The photos were inspired by this sweet (and amazingly talented) photography friend and hopefully brought a sweet smile to my wonderful grandma who has been in the hospital (but gets to go home tomorrow!). What better way to get in the Valentines mood than with a day full of sweetness? I hope your day includes lots of sweet things, too :0)

(Sorry if this is redundant, all you facebook peeps!)

Are we done yet???

Advent

The Christmas season is upon us, and I for one am so happy to see all of the twinkling lights appearing on houses around the neighborhood and the glow from trees winking in windows at dusk. Thanksgiving is usually my favorite holiday, but this year I am so ready to nestle in with my family and reflect on the beauty and joy surrounding the celebration of Christ's birth. It helps, of course that we'll get to celebrate with all our family this year as Chris's parents and sister and my brother and sister in law will be here. The best part of the holidays for me is being with family!

Instead of the usual TJ's advent calendar - the one with the cute picture on the front and many doors opening to promises of chocolate within - I was inspired by all of the beautiful, homemade calendars I've seen on crafty blogs and decided to make my own. Ours is a hybrid of the origami cup idea from Kids Craft Weekly and this organic, earthy one from the Red Thread.



The origami cups are made from scrapbook paper from Target and will hold ideas of things to do each day that emphasize family time, doing for others, and spending time together creatively. Unfortunately I was struck down with a stomach bug on the first day and the scheduled activity (getting cupcakes with friends) was replaced by a trip to Wendy's with Daddy. That's life, huh? At least it was still family (-1) time.

Tonight we're getting the new Dora Christmas movie from Redbox which we will watch together after dinner. Fun times, I tell you!

We're also doing something called a Jesse tree that goes through the whole redemptive history of Israel leading up to Christ's birth. A friend sent me a file with corresponding pictures for the kids to color each day that they can then hang (or tape, in our case) on a tree. So far, they seem to be enjoying it and listening to the story. We'll see how the next 22 days go!

What things mean Christmas to you? Do you have any special family traditions, or ideas for fun things to do as a family that help you reflect on the meaning of the season? Please share!

(PS - I've been living vicariously through Chris' sister Laurel while she travels through New Zealand and Australia before joinging us here for Christmas. Click here or on the Laurel link to the right and be as enthralled as I am with hobbit-land and and gorgeous hikes. I can't wait to see the photos and hear the stories in person!)