beautiful sunday

Karl would like me to point out that he's my only baby daddy, but for some reason I feel like making that distinction makes the card feel less special. ;)

We had such a lovely time celebrating Father's Day with our favorite man. We treated him with some all natural shave soap I ordered from my sister's shop, Cedar Creek Soaps, a thrifted mug we transformed into a shaving mug and gave a Sharpie treatment to, and a badger brush. Then we spent the afternoon doing some geocaching for the first time this year (and the first time with Milo walking on his own two feet instead of in our hiking pack!), which left us with slivers and dirt under our fingernails--proof that a good time was had by all. Hoping you all had a lovely time celebrating the men in your life, too! 

:)

bah humbug

I've been struggling with the "so much to do, so little time" feeling I usually get this time of year. It adds to the hustle and bustle, the stress of not having everything just so, and the desire to BUY MORE! that I feel has taken over so much of the Christmas spirit. I noticed this year that there was Christmas decor out at many department stores before Halloween was over. What's the rush? Don't people understand the sooner Christmas comes, the sooner it's over? How can you savor the present moment, when all you ever do is plan for what's next? There have been so many years that by the time Christmas is over, I wonder where the enjoyment even was. I was so busy doing or making or buying or stressing that I didn't even enjoy it. So this year, I've decided to stop.  Stop and enjoy the "right now". Stop worrying about giving the kids the "perfect" Christmas with lots of presents. At the ages they are at now, I do not want them to get the impression that Christmas is all about toys. I want them to experience the comfort of tradition, the warmth of being together, and the love of friends and family more than anything else. Because of this we have decided to bring Christmas into our home slowly this year, adding something small whenever we feel like it. Last week we cut out and hung "tie-dyed" paper snowflakes and hung a paper-bag chain decoration. This week, the kids each were allowed to bring a tiny seedling into their room and decorate their own Christmas tree. And we'll eventually hang stockings and get our family tree sometime before Christmas, when the time feels right for us. Each time I feel the "oh no, Christmas won't be perfect!" feeling start to creep in, I'll take a deep breath and remind myself to just enjoy the present moment. I also plan to stay away from all department stores from now on. ;)

happy halloween in too many photos ;)

 we had a pretty last minute halloween around here tonight, but luckily that didn't take away from the excitement of it all for my littles. 

 saturday was pumpkin carving. maxi didn't care much for the pumpkin guts, but was thrilled that we allowed him to use a forbidden sharpie.

 mad was all about playing in the guts.

 how is one suppose to keep a two year old clean, anyway?

 pumpkin creations! 

 though at one point i had intended to sew up some costumes, that flew out the window when i thought i might have a newborn at halloween. silly me.

 madelynn thought my blue dress looked like the ocean, so she cut some sweet marine life out of construction paper and helped me attach it just so for a kickin' last minute costume. :)

hope your halloween was just as awesome as mine!

:)

a good 4th.

We hope you had as great a 4th as we did this year. Ours was quiet but very enjoyed. It included lots of watermelon, corn on the cob, a lunch picnic, sparklers, a small firework show thanks to Daddy, and lots of rest for this mama!

Look at this girl. Just look! She is getting so grown up.
And she reminds me daily that she is an almost kindergartner. 

It seems to me the more I realize just how fast my kiddos are growing and how quickly my family seems to be expanding, the more I enjoy just being with them. And so, a nice quiet summer holiday was just perfect, and leaves me today feeling oh so blessed!

:)

my weekend in photos.

We had a GREAT weekend. Saturday was a beautifully sunny day and we spent nearly every hour of it outdoors. Sunday, however, was a cold and rainy mess which meant less egg hunting and more napping on the couch in front of Anne of Green Gables. It was perfect. I hope you had the kind of weekend that leads into a lovely Monday.

:)

Happy Valentine's Day.

You can click the picture to read a Wikipedian History of the special day, which is where I found this fantastic piece of artwork.

:)

valentines:: from me

 Here is a fun valentine idea. An embroidered card. I made this one for my special someone. The bottom wing looks crooked in the picture, but in person you can see that I used variegated thread, and where the line looks crooked, it is actually filled in with pink. I probably shouldn't have folded the thread over so that the pink and red are "mixed", but it really it does look better than the picture shows.

The bird is a Jenny Hart pattern from her book, Embroidered Effects.

:)

valentines:: from the kiddies.

The other day the kiddies and I did some sweet Valentine's Day projects. Our first was the classic painting of rocks, making them into "love bugs."

Mad couldn't decide if these should stay out by our flower bed or if they should reside in her bedroom.

 Our second project was making actual cards for Madelynn to mail to her friends. We used this idea, which we found here. (That all makes sense once you click on the links.)

 Madelynn, who takes recycling very seriously, used our card scraps to make her "love-bot" which now hangs next to her bed.

:) 

merry christmas

From our family to yours! 

griswold style.

As I had hoped, we had some nice weather this weekend to walk the tree farm in search of our perfect Christmas tree. I love going places where it doesn't matter whether or not I have makeup on, or whether I actually showered, or whether or not I even changed out of my pajama shirt before I piled a bunch of extra warm layers on. A Christmas tree farm is perfect for this. You can remain at a distance from strangers, and the smell of all the pine makes everyone smell good.

We dragged my brother and his cute little family along with us. It was really a great time.

Luckily, there were no live animals still residing in our tree once we got home. And we didn't walk through 3 ft of snow to get it. But our tree is too big for our living room, and since my brother's fam came with us, this is what our vehicle looked like as we drove down the street. In this sense, I think we basically "Griswold-ed" it.

:)

it's beginning...

... to look a lot like Christmas! 

The fact that I have any decorations out at this moment is a pretty huge deal for me, considering the last two Christmases in this house. Two years ago, I was HUGELY pregnant, terribly exhausted, and praying I would go in to labor at any moment (of course as it would happen, I remained HUGELY pregnant for about 3 1/2 more weeks!). Our decorations that year consisted of a single strand of snowflake lights on the front porch and a fake, sparsely decorated tree. Last year I was the couch for the entire month of December (and most of January, too), following an emergency surgery. Somehow I managed to finish sewing the stockings, but that was about it. I think the little fake tree may have made an appearance, though I'm not sure when or how. Needless to say, this year I have been extra excited about getting the whole house looking like the season that is upon us. I am extremely grateful this holiday season to be able to feel the warmth and joyous anticipation of family gatherings, keep up a cozy home, and to finally begin some of the traditions I've spent the last few seasons dreaming up with my family. If all goes as planned, we'll take a walk in the woods this weekend to find our perfect tree.

:)

I hope everyone had a fabulous Halloween! 

 we had lots of sweets,

fun times with cousins,

and some good trick-or-treating!

:)