Black and White and Red All Over

 

Remember this?

I thought it needed a little something.

Much better.  Wouldn’t you agree?

Two Moments

My mom often comes for lunch during the week.  She works near our home so if the day is not too crazy for her, we get a special treat around noon.  Elle loves it when Grandma comes over.  She loves to “hide” (curled up in a ball in plain sight on the couch) and giggle while Grandma tries to find her.  Usually we just talk over lunch, but the other day Elle asked Grandma to read a story to her.  Look at those two lucky people!  How blessed they are to have each other in their lives!  And how blessed I am to be a witness of their love and friendship, and to be able to enjoy a little piece of it myself.

And this little moment gets played out every single evening in our house, although occasionally one or both of those big guys on the ends may be missing because they have other obligations.  I love these people, this moment.  To me, it is the stuff of life.

Celebrations

Poor Djeryd misses so many yummy breakfasts.  He gets up before the crack of dawn and heads off to Seminary and school while the rest of us slumber for a bit longer.

Most days are cold cereal, but every once in a while a special breakfast comes along – spicy-sweet oatmeal or eggs and toast.  And every once in a very blue moon, perhaps if it’s a heart-filled holiday, a weekday breakfast will be comprised of pink pancakes and fancy dishes.

It is special

and sweet

and fun.

I’m not very good at traditions, but I am diligently trying to make special days feel a little more special.  I have to force myself to take the time to make the memory, in some small way.

Oh, and, happy birthday to me!

Creating

We’ve been doing a bit of creating around here.  Nothing too exciting, but the wheels are turning and that’s what I love.  Because of when we moved Valentine’s were anything but original this year.  But that’s okay.  We always have next year.  The girls still enjoyed picking out which little saying went to which little friend.  As we sorted through the Valentine bags after school I was so pleased to find a decent number of homemade simple Valentines; no candy, just tos and froms and hearts. Very simple and very sweet.

Anna decided to create a reusable Family Home Evening agenda.  With a little bit of help from her big brother she whipped up this very professional looking agenda and laminated it so we could reuse it each week.  She never ceases to amaze me!

We also finally finished her tote bag.  The houses were leftover blocks from a quilt I made.  We added a few borders to expand the size of the finished bag, and then Anna went to town machine quilting fun little patterns and lines all over the bag.  With a little bit of direction from me she made the strap, the lining and fully assembled the bag.  Again, totally impressed. I’m afraid I won’t be able to keep up with her pretty soon.

Djeryd has been creating food, not as much as I would like, but we are eeking some meals out of him.  The push for cooking is two-fold:

1. He has to finish his cooking merit badge so he can earn his Eagle (the clock is ticking!!)

2. This boy is leaving home in a little over a year.  I want him to be able to feed himself wholesome, delicious, economical meals.

We’re getting there.

The other morning I decided to whip up a little skirt for Elle.  I wanted to see how fast I could get it done, start to finish, and still be a patient and nice mommy.  This took my a little under an hour (which made me feel pretty good, considering a mis-measured for the yoke and had to do some tweaking).  It needs a bit of black and white trim to spice up ease the transition from the flower print to the gingham.  Maybe I’ll do that today. 

Alyx has been making lots of books and writing lots of stories.  I need to snap a picture of that, I think.  I love watching the creative process touch each of my children.  It makes me so happy inside.

Why I love Living Here

:: I get to slather my walls with this most delicious of all paints

:: wildlife out my back windows

:: watching my children explore the wonders of the natural world

:: my boy having space and freedom to be very creative with fire and metal

:: oh, how we have longed for a place to shoot a few hoops on a whim

:: the hope and promise of homesteading dreams in our near future

:: and last, but certainly not least, the library is only a few minutes away

Decisions, Decisions

The other day was one of those where I had two different places to be at the exact same time.  I made a plan, you know those plans where you show up a little early at one event and then show up a little late at the next so you can squeak it all in.  I also needed to hit Costco and feed my family after piano lessons.  Why not do them at the same time? Brilliant!

As we were getting ready to check out, with just enough time to grab dinner (we had to eat it in the car and make it into a hyper-fast check out line – but still, we could make it, darn it), my son informs me he has a National Honor Society induction ceremony in twenty minutes, he thinks.  “And, oh yeah, I think it’s a big deal.  I think I’m supposed to dress up.  And I think parents are supposed to be there, too.” Oh, my.  After quizzing him a bit on how long he’s known about this, etc., he informs me, “I don’t really want to go anyway.”

We tell him we can race, we can do this, we can pull this off.  We can skip the other two commitments.  We can divide and conquer.  We can DO THIS!  Before we know it social pressure starts pouring in from relatives via Sean’s cell phone.  That clinches it.  Djeryd digs in his heels, holds to his argument to not go, and we all decide to dine in at Costco to eliminate any possibility of even being in the right town for all three of the evening’s commitments.  Procrastination at its yummiest.

I’m sure some people think we should have insisted, but I just think if my seventeen year old son, who is just about the finest young man I have ever met, says he doesn’t want to do something pomp and circumstance-y – ‘nuf said.

Blogging Inspiration

Blogging has been challenging for me over the past several years.  Time just feels too precious to spend it on a computer instead of enjoying my children.  And I really don’t need one more thing to stress about.

But then I find my girls like this, curled up in the library with big books on their laps – my big books.  My books that have recorded the life of our family on this blog.  Sean takes my pictures and my prose and creates the most beautiful books, and my kids LOVE to look at them and read them and ask me questions about them.

Today Sean woke up from a nap to find us in the library reliving 2009 page by page – making a memory of memories.  And I thought I better get back on this blogging stick, because this is it – this is the good stuff – and I don’t want to miss the memories.

Painting the Entry

Our entry began the day in the dark raisin-y brown it had been since the late nineties.

But with some birthday help from my sweet husband, sweet sister and sweet niece . . .

By the end of the day (and scraping out 4 full gallons of paint!) we had sunshine on our walls once again.

And a Tiffany blue door in progress.  Yellow, you make me so happy!