Grass stained knees

Friday Goodness

Hurray for Friday! 

Lots of little things are making me happy today. Take a gander at the eggs we bought yesterday. Can you tell from the picture that some of them are green? It's the prettiest pale, mint green and every time we happen to find some in our dozen, it makes me just giddy. No kidding, the first time I opened the carton in my kitchen and saw green eggs I screamed out-loud because I had never seen them in real life, only on Martha Stewart. They make me feel so "fancy-wholesome"!! 

We are all happy and excited to be venturing to the post office today to send off our Mini Swap box to our partners down south. The boys and I have had a really fun time compiling this assortment of surprises. We hope they bring lots of smiles!!

Best of all, we are super excited that tomorrow, Nan and Grandpa George are flying in for a visit. It looks like the weather is going to be really nice and we are gearing up for some great adventures with two of our very favorite people.

So if my presence here seems sporadic next week, please know that nothing is wrong, rather things are very right and we are just enjoying time with family!

Happy Leap Day and meet you back here in March.

teeny-tiny happiness

DA, DA, DA, DA....So here it is, my happy little space.

See, I told you it was tiny. If I stand in the middle and stretch out my arms, I can touch every wall. But that's OK. What's important is that my sewing table fits and the door closes. It's a sunny little spot where I can go to be creative or simply regain my sanity on a nutty day. This space allows me to start a project and leave it in the middle without feeling like I have to clean it all up in order to clear off the kitchen table to serve dinner. Hurray for that!! 

These are crazy blurry pictures of the shelves that hold materials for knitting, sewing, embroidery and painting with room to spare, in case another craft catches my eye. There is something excellent about the fact that all of these things are organized, ready and waiting. No more spare moments wasted rooting through closets, and bags trying to find supplies.

My favorite thing about this spot is the fact that during mid afternoon, (nap-time!!!) the sun shines incredibly brightly through those windows, filling it with warmth and glorious light. Just sitting in there feels like a mini vacation, ya gotta love that!!

Tuesday Snippets

It was a stay at home day yesterday. We woke to the soothing sound of rain, hard rain, like the build an ark kind. We took advantage of the opportunity to lounge around in our pajama's till way late.

For the last few days Samuel has been sporting a yucky cough. By noon he had sprouted a pretty high fever to go with it. This of course meant retiring to the couch with blankets and juice for favorite movies. At least that's what it meant when I was little and it only seems fair to return the favor.

In the last few days Caleb has discovered the joy that is scissors. This seemingly ordinary implement has enabled him to find an attention span previously unattainable. He is totally content to sit at the table with stacks of paper and work away at it, with perfect, quite concentration, snipping it into a giant pile of fancy edged bits.

All morning, with the most earnest enthusiasm, he appeared at my side, over and over, offering up these handfuls of snippets. Honest to goodness, I felt completely honored to be the recipient of such painstaking work.

And, I'm just asking, but is there anything that smells better than fresh baked bread? I know ours isn't as healthy as Amanda's, but what can I say, we love our white bread around here. When it's piping hot from the oven and the butter melts almost before it touches the surface, Yum.

Crafty-Pay-it-Forward

Look at this lovely little offering from Kristin courtesy of the crafty-pay-it-forward. (read more about it here).  It is the sweetest little pouch made from a vintage place-mat. Stupendous, no? That fabric makes me so happy. I can hardly believe the fact that she took scissors to it, but I sure am glad she did. Like I told her, I can think of about 500 things to hold in this special little bag. I feel so lucky to call it mine. Thanks blog friend!!

As if that weren't enough, her little Micah decided there should be some treasures in the bag. We were so tickled to find a generous assortment of these colorful glass beads. Thank You Micah! Upon spying the beads, Samuel immediately said, Oh, I think those would be good for a project. It's so nice to see that he's finally getting with the program here.

So here's the deal, since I accepted Kristin's crafty token, now I am responsible to pay-it-forward. The way it works is this. Someone crafts something for 3 people and those lucky recipients agree to craft something for 3 other lucky people, and so on and so forth. So if you would like to be the recipient of a currently undetermined crafty product of my hands & heart and are willing to also pay it forward, please let me know in the comments. Just to let you know, I have left the project undetermined so I will have the opportunity to custom craft each item with the recipient in mind. I think it's more fun that way!!

In other random news....

** The snakes have been retrieved at school. Phew. The bunny is happy to be back in his familiar surroundings and I'm happy to have his smelly cage out of the dining room.

** I have been struck with a nasty sore throat that seems to be sweeping `round these parts. Blah.

** Spring is on the way, as evidenced in my new banner. Yippee!!!

Weekend notes: pythons and paint

Lots of painting happened this weekend. This is the new color of my closet, it's called "Flax", and I love the warmth and light that it brings to the space. Who paints a closet? you ask. Well my closet isn't any ordinary closet, it's really a room, with windows even. It's a really small room, but a room none-the-less. The closet happens to be where my sewing table resides and I'm completely thrilled with the way it's transforming into an actual working space. It promises to be a sunny spot all organized, poised and ready for creativity. I promise to share a glimpse or two, as things continue to come together.

While Papa was busy upstairs, the boys were incredibly busy downstairs. For a small time, I wasn't sure who was doing more painting. The boys went through almost 2 full pads of watercolor paper. It's so funny to watch the two of them work side by side, they each have such unique styles.

In other news, take a peek at our special weekend visitor. This is the sweet bunny from preschool. When I dropped Samuel off on Friday morning, the teachers and kids were busy hunting for the pythons who had escaped from their aquarium. There was concern for the bunny's safety. While it's doubtful the pythons could actually fit the bunny into it's mouth, it certainly could have received a tragic squeeze. That is not a sight anyone would have wished for first thing on a Monday morning. So the bunny came home with me. He has been quite annoyed by the attention the cats have paid him all weekend. I keep trying to explain to him that the cats can't really reach him, as opposed to the snakes, but he doesn't seem to believe me. Hopefully the snakes will be retrieved soon allowing Mr. Bunny to return to his quiet corner at school.   

Giving Up

Good grief, yesterday was a gloomy morning around here. Skies were gray, it was cold and windy with temperatures hovering around 39 degrees. Every other Thursday we watch a little boy from school all morning. I'm just going to go on record to say that 4 hours of having another child in your house is about 2 hours longer than what works well, at least for us. But, our obligation is from 8:30 to 12:30, so we just try to do our best. On sunny days, the backyard helps, but yesterday we were stuck inside, getting on each others nerves and by 10:15 our friend was asking if his mom was coming soon. Nope, sorry, not for what seemed like an eternity.

I had a huge list of things that I thought would be accomplished while we spent the morning at home, but instead of bathrooms cleaned, vacuuming done, the fishbowl scrubbed and laundry folded, my time was spent refereeing squabbles, recovering bits of Playdoh from underneath the table and dishing out what seemed like an endless supply of snacks and cups of juice. AHHHH!!! As you can imagine, I was in an excellent mood!

At about 11:30, the solution to a day like this occurred to me. Do you know what it was? To chalk it up as a loss, to throw in the towel and just Give Up. It felt like one of those times when it just wasn't worth trying to fight the tide. I didn't have the energy or the spirit to press on. So when 12:30 finally arrived and our friend hopped in the car, the boys and I hopped in the car ourselves and we went out for lunch. And when we came home Caleb went down for his nap and I remembered that I had taped Fly Away Home in December but never watched it. So as the freezing rain fell outside, Samuel and I snuggled up in my bed and watched the sweet movie about a girl and her Canadian Geese. Do you know what? It was just what we all needed. Sometimes a quiet afternoon to rest and recharge feels much more valuable than accomplishing anything at all.

Happy Friday Everyone!!

Chilly and Wet

On a recent afternoon, a memorable thing transpired while on an otherwise ordinary walk.

At the request of both boys, we made our way to the pond. As always, as soon as we got close enough, Samuel immediately assumed his favorite position by the edge of the water with stick in hand to do whatever little boys do with water and sticks. I think mostly scare their mothers to death and make themselves soaking wet & splattered with mud.

This of course meant that Caleb quickly followed suit, as he usually does. All was well and good until, it happened. It was bound to happen at some point in time. Unfortunately it happened when I was with them by myself, with my camera in hand and wearing my brand new shoes. But it happened none-the-less.

He leaned just that fraction of an inch too far forward, lost his balance, did a somersault and landed completely IN the pond. One second he was on the grass and then, in an instant, bloop, he was on his back in the water, sinking like a stone. It was one of those moments when time slows to a crawl and in my mind there happened a dialog that went something like this,  Oh S_ _T...he's fallen in...I have my camera in my hand...he's sinking into the water.....I'm wearing new shoes.....Quickly, fool, raise the camera in one hand over your head, and forget your dumb shoes and step into the water and pull your child to safety.!!  Which is exactly what happened. The poor boy was soaked and terrified but thankfully he was unharmed.

Quite honestly, I'm really glad it happened and I'm even more grateful that I was only two steps away. Granted, I would have picked a warmer day, with different footwear, but an important lesson was learned. One from the experience, one from observation, both boys walked away with a new respect for playing near the water. Now anytime talk of the pond is heard, Caleb immediately says, "I need stay `way from dat edge, cuz I don wanna faw in."  Exactly.

freedom of expression

In the fall, when we decided to turn one of our kitchen walls into a chalkboard, we immediately heard warnings, especially from some of the grandparents, open ended statements like, "I don't know if that's such a good idea..."

We realized it was a bit unconventional, but really loved the idea that it could be a corner of the house where the possibility for artistic expression was always available. It has proved to be a favorite spot indeed, the only disadvantage is the fact that these creations rarely exist for the course of an entire day and some of them are the kind that I wish could be saved.

So when we hung the giant roll of paper on the other side of the wall for art of a less fleeting nature, we were equally excited by the possibilities and it has also proven to be another amazing space for capturing their inspiration.   

But when I came around the corner in the upstairs hallway yesterday morning and saw this little masterpiece on the wall, guess whose voice I heard echoing in my mind...Yes Nan, you were right. I guess it's hard for a 2 year old to discriminate, this wall yes, this wall, not so much. Oh well, I'm counting my blessings that it's pencil and not sharpie marker. And I'm still not sorry for doing what we did, and I'm not just saying that to be stubborn. For as much free expression as my children have had the last several months, I'll gladly sacrifice a wall every now and again.

And now if you'll excuse me, I have a date with a mighty large eraser.

Sweet Escape

Ahhhhh, the view from the sunroof yesterday morning on my adventure to the fabric store. Every once in a while it's so nice to leave them all behind and have some minutes to myself, to be alone with my thoughts, the sun and the open road. It was a gloriously warm day, the sun beating down, the breeze in my hair and the radio blasting a few favorite tunes. It's enough to breathe new life into a girl.

Then of course, there was the destination, the rows of fabric that seem to go on forever. For a little while I just walked around soaking it all in. It's so easy to get lost in the colors, the patterns and textures, scrumptious silks, sweet calicoes, savory velvets, gorgeous designer prints. As if that wasn't enough, I enjoyed the additional luxury of sitting down at the pattern tables to leisurely browse as many books as my heart desired, comparing favorites and imagining finished products. Good times. 

I don't think there are many people in the whole world who would have the patience to accompany me to this place. All told, I was there for 3 solid hours, mentally piecing together a whole host of different projects, visualizing, gathering prints, finding coordinating colors and calculating yardage. For some reason, this time I was drawn to these rather noisy patterns, all in delicious chocolate brown.

These are not selections I would normally make, but I couldn't turn away. There was something about the blue and the brown, there were about 7 different prints in that color combination that I could have scarfed up. So much inspiration, so full of promise. When it was all said and done, I returned home with the makings for at least one skirt, five aprons, two bags, and some odds & ends for mini-swap. I feel content knowing I have lots of sewing to keep me happily occupied for the next several weeks, and a spirit renewed by a brief, but sweet, escape!

Monday Morning Smiles

Several little things were found this weekend that are still making me smile....

*** A little "present" left on the counter after jumping out of the shower,

Even though it's something I not only recognize but have tripped over once or twice, the intention sure does warm a mama's heart.

*** Finding the time to cross several big items off of my current To-Do List. Yes Emily, that means that your Christmas present is finally in a package ready for the post office. Hurray for us both! ( And see Marian, this proves that I am not even close to the queen of time management!!)

*** Finding an invitation to Samuel's restaurant on Saturday where the special on the menu is something he can both prepare and spell all by himself.

*** Finding out that this is a 3 day weekend and seizing the opportunity to take a leisurely, boy-less adventure to Mary Jo's this morning. Me and giant fabric selections, alone for hours. Whoopie!!

Here's hoping that you are finding lots of reasons to smile this Monday morning as well!