Little Pile of Luscious

I have a friend who makes the most adorable hair clips.  I mentioned that I would like to have a little workshop with her and she graciously obliged.  She sent me a link to this tutorial and assigned me the job of ruffling the fabric (I have a special foot for this, so it is a walk in the fabric flower park, so to speak), and she would handle the rest.

I only managed to get one flower done in the hour-and-a-half we worked on these at her house (mostly because I was busy wrapping a headband with ribbon, prepping it for it’s gorgeous bloom).  A little later in the day I attempted another and it only took me twenty-three minutes.  And then I just couldn’t stop.  Isn’t that the definition of obsessive-compulsive? 

Ribbons, ruffles, buttons, embroidery floss and massive amounts of hot glue sticks overtook my kitchen counter for days as I whittled away on my stack of ruffled fabric strips (which I compulsively (that word again) kept replenishing).  A couple of flowers are missing from these pictures.  I spiraled one around itself and turned it into a lapel pin like the green and black ribbon clip at the bottom.  I want to do another one like that in the turquoise and black fabric.  Someday.  I finally had to stop this whole flower-making-frenzy and move on with my life (Lu’s birthday is coming up and I have so many things I want to make her).  Sean never said a word of complaint through the mess, but boy, oh boy, did he make a big deal about how clean the counters looked when I finally relocated all my supplies back in the studio.

Aren’t they pretty?  I just want to look at them.  For hours, really.

Drum Roll, Please

Guess what this guy got today . . .

Ta-dah!

Strangely exciting, this thing we call torture.

Wahclella Falls

We went hiking last weekend up in the Gorge and I just had to share some of the beautiful sights.

We hiked with my sister’s family (her sweet mother-in-law is taking our picture).

Lot’s of hand-holding.

Lots of beautiful vistas.

This is the first family picture we have had taken since before Alyx was born (that’s over two years – pathetic when you consider how many pictures I take).

The entire hike was so gorgeous!

 

Lots of cold noses and hands.

But a beautiful sun shone on us all morning.

 

My breath was taken away by the heavenly light shining through the crevasse.

See you next time!

Movie Review: Secret of Moonacre

Secret of Moonacre  had been popping up repeatedly on my Netflix suggestions.  Yesterday I had the good fortune of being miserable enough to find nothing more enjoyable to do than sit on the couch and while away the entire day watching random movies.  This one finally had its day on my computer screen (we don’t have a television).  The film was absolutely delightful.  I will definitely watch it again.  It was humorous, dark, light, very colorful and quite charming.  I found the climax lacked a climax, but its lightheartedness made it a good choice for our whole family (in other words Annaliese found the ending plenty scary while the rest of us just bounced along pleased as punch to be watching a movie in the middle of the week).

My favorite, favorite part was the costumes.  They were gorgeous!  I loved how they took a period movie and made the costumes so very modern and magical.  The construction details were amazing, the fabrics were beautiful, and it was all so delightfully creative.  I seriously want every single one of those dresses hanging in my closet just to look at and be inspired by.  Wow!

If you haven’t seen this movie and have kids I highly recommend it.  If you love sewing I double recommend it.  And if you are like me, who has kids, loves sewing, and can’t soak up enough nineteenth century costume (and early twentieth century), then I triple recommend it.  Again, don’t hold your breath for an amazing ending.  But the journey is well worth the trip.

Five-Year-Old Fashion

I know my mother used to seriously roll her eyes at some of my wardrobe choices during my school years.  I only have one clothing memory for Kindergarten.  It was a lovely polyester double-knit royal blue dress that I wore with knee-high socks and Mary Janes.  Awesome. 

Yesterday morning when Anna stood at the top of the stairs in this lovely ensemble it took everything I had to simply smile and tell her thank you for getting dressed without reminders.  I wanted to tell her any one of those elements would be enough to make an outfit and that all together it seemed like overkill for anything less than playing dress up.  But I kept my mouth shut and reminded myself I am here to nurture healthy forms of self-expression and the precious self-esteem that is so closely linked to it.  She felt beautiful and happy and oh, so fancy.  So I smiled and hugged her and took her picture.We flipped through the pictures on the camera to make sure we got a good shot.  From over my shoulder she asked, “Don’t I have a pretty camera smile?”  Oh, you make me laugh, girly.

Do you have any clothing memories from childhood?

One of Those Days

Yesterday was just one of those days.  And so much so that I did not even have the energy to blog about it until this morning.  One of my daughters peed on the carpet (the one that has no excuse for such things), I found out Djeryd’s Civil War costume was due this morning, the toilet in the guest bathroom overflowed, I had been single-parenting for three consecutive days, Alyx was still sick, the laundry mountain seemed to multiply exponentially throughout the day, the girls did not get their after-lunch naps, NO ONE would do anything I asked until I threatened with a consequence of some kind, and I thought my head was going to explode with all the frustration I was trying so desperately to keep under control. 

Not a horrible day, but not one of my best, either.

At one critical point I walked into my bedroom, closed the door, flopped on my bed and tried to turn all those frustrations into blessings.  I decided to be thankful for the pile of laundry screaming at me to be folded because it meant I had a family of so many wonderful people that can play and run and get dirty.  I was also grateful because it meant that we had enough clothes that there were extras; more than just the clothes on our backs.  That growing pile of clean laundry also meant that my washer and dryer were working – I could be doing lots of other things, like making dinner, and the laundry was still getting done (and multiplying).  I was grateful for that pile because it meant I had a good excuse to put on a movie and fold my laundry in the peace and quiet of the night.  And I was grateful because I knew I would feel so accomplished when it was all folded and put away.

I went through each difficulty and tried to see the good.  I felt so much better when I abruptly walked out of the room five minutes later (because Anna was screaming at me that Erik needed help with his knitting project – good for fine motor skills).

The inner peace and calm did not last for too long.  Within a couple of hours I was in my closet bawling my eyes out (from exhaustion, I think).  But it’s okay.  The bottom line is I didn’t explode, which is a really big deal for me.  And today is a fresh day, a new start, with no mistakes (except we got up late and I kind of got grumpy with everybody trying to get out the door, and I over-reacted with Erik playing with his alarm clock instead of brushing his teeth).  Oh, well, I mean tomorrow is a fresh day, a new start, yadda, yadda, yadda . . . 

The Car – The Race – The Boy

Erik raced in his first Pinewood Derby last week.  His car looked schweet!  He did a great job.  Grandmas and grandpas came to cheer him on.  The coolest part was they had the race on a big screen complete with finish-line-playback.  Sean even discovered he could watch it on his cell phone (which sort of reminded me of that scene in Ocean’s Eleven where the bomb guy is watching a building being obliterated on live television while you can see the actual building fall by looking out the window over his shoulder). 

We had a fun night.  My favorite comment came at the end of the night.  Erik raced several races, and actually won one of them.  When we got home Anna told him he had a great car.  Erik said, “I know!  I won first place tonight!”  Way to believe in yourself, buddy!  I love it.

Scripture Study for Sleepy-heads

In the interest of family history recording I decided to document a small portion of our daily schedule – morning scripture study.  They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so I will let them do most of the talking with small explanations from myself.  Our bishop challenged our ward to read the entire Book of Mormon this year.  We thought mornings would work best.  Here’s the drill: Sean wakes us all up bright and early (I will not specify the time as it makes some people roll their eyes that we find that particular hour so early), and we all eventually gather around the table.  Sean usually carries Anna down, sometimes wrapped in a blanket.  Lu has already been up for a half-an-hour, and the boys are still rubbing sleep from their eyes.

On this particular morning, Djeryd got downstairs early enough to sneak in a little Calvin and Hobbes before the scriptures were opened.  Lu gratefully found a half-dressed playmate to amuse herself with for the fifteen to twenty minutes we spend on this (I love the train of ribbons cascading down her dolls back – please note: Alyx dressed her little brunette friend all by herself).

I got Sean a Book of Mormon for the Latter-day Saint Family that has some good explanations, vocabulary words, and thought questions as a birthday gift.  We have picked up many new things reading it in conjunction with our regular scriptures.

We each take turns reading a verse and usually get through one chapter a morning.  To keep our kids focused Sean came home from church one day with the idea to color each reference to Christ in the scriptures. We are 53 pages into the book and have yet to find a page that does not speak about Christ. It is amazing to see and physically mark how this book is truly another testament of Jesus Christ. 

(I love Lu’s face in this picture.  Man, that girl cracks me up!)

Breaking the Rules

I’m pretty big on rules (probably bigger than I should be), but every once in a while there comes a time to throw them out the window.

I have to be very careful about my timing because I have a certain little someone in my house who really struggles with knowing where the lines are and when enough is enough. Flexibility in regular rules can screw up his little brain for weeks, if not months.

 

So when the girls started diving off the couch Friday after Kindergarten I let things slide because it was just us girls (*furniture jumping is strictly forbidden*).

 

They were hilarious!  They assembled a diving board by stringing the couch, the table and the ottoman all together.  They would run off the “diving board” and . . .

. . . SPLASH into the water.

 

Over and over and over again, for over an hour, one after the other, only stopping for a quick cuddle.

And only pausing for a picture.

Sleeping Babe

I don’t know what it is, but there is something that absolutely breaks my heart about my children falling asleep in random places.  Probably because it usually indicates they are sick, or they were so tired they didn’t even have the energy to let me know they wanted a snuggle or a story.  I found Lu on the couch this morning (she usually naps after lunch).

Anna had covered her with a blanket (the best big sister ever).

  

I want to climb on the couch with her and just snuggle up to her baby softness, but that would wake her up.  And right now I think she just needs sleep, wherever she can find it.

Sea World

I should probably break this collage down into more chunks, but as fascinating as the two-hundred-some pictures I took of killer whales and dolphins were two months ago, they just don’t seem as amazing anymore.  Shame on me for not blogging while it was fresh, I guess.  At this point I’m ready to capsulize the memory and move on.  I will proceed clockwise around the Christmas tree, starting in the top left-hand corner.

:: The dolphin show was fantastic and very beautiful, don’t miss this one if you get a chance to visit Sea World.
:: Anna and her cousin with Shamu.
:: All of us freezing wet people standing in a giant human dryer.  We went on one too many water rides in the morning and boy did we pay for it (all day long! – the day was not as warm as it looked).
:: Anna trying to get Alyx to shake Shamu’s fin.
:: The killer whale show was amazing.  I seriously could not get over how well those creatures performed (or how much fish they ate after practically every single jump).
:: Our posse in a virtually deserted parking lot, and consequently, a virtually deserted park.
:: Sean, my love.
:: As I watched these magnificent animals I could not help but wonder at the majesty of God’s creations.  It was truly take-your-breath-away amazing.
:: The only picture of all twelve of us taken the entire six days we were together.
:: Setting up for a family picture.  I love Erik holding his imaginary reigns, Alyx longing to be down with her sister, Anna checking with me for directions, and Djeryd looking oh, so cool.

Big Brother

 

I love this boy!

Can you see why?

Daddy’s Girls

I snapped all these lovely little photos after dinner tonight.  We were lolling about the table, not really ready for the meal to be over.

The girls climbed onto Sean’s lap and the three of them became our after-dinner entertainment.

Sean and Anna both tried to get a kiss out of Lu (who was not cooperating).  I love Anna’s eyes in this picture, “Are you getting this, Mommy?”

I recently read a quote: “The only shots you regret are the ones you didn’t take.”  Tonight I am twenty-eight after-dinner-pictures closer to no regrets.  ;>

Loving Lu

There is just something about this girl lately.  I don’t know what it is, but I simply cannot get enough of her.  She is changing so fast with something new to show me every day.  I am astounded at the things she is picking up, how she folds her arms for prayers without ever being really physically taught that – she just noticed that’s what we all do so she does it too.  She jumps and spins just like her big sister.  She pushes the nose on her singing pig so she can dance to the music and move her mouth like she’s singing along.  She has lately taken up perusing books in her crib when I lay her down or occasionally insisting on a short reading before bedtime snuggles (we read to Anna every night, but Alyx is usually nursing or in the crib during that part of the evening so her observation of reading at bedtime is peripheral).  She plays with Legos alongside her brothers with remarkable dexterity for a little person who has not yet reached the ripe old age of two.

 

She pops her newborn binkie in her mouth only while she is trying to feed her dolls a bottle (I have no idea where she got that one from, but it makes me laugh).  She has one dolly that cries when you squeeze its tummy.  This is Lu’s favorite.  She gives it a good squeeze, snuggles it till it stops crying, hands the baby off to me, then takes it back, squeezes the tummy, and we start all over again.  After receiving a nightgown for Christmas she refuses to wear pajamas with feet anymore, and tries to wear a skirt or dress nearly everyday.  I feel a sly little sense of humor with this one, too – she has a terrific poker-face.

For the past twenty-one months Alyx has summarily dismissed Sean on all but the rarest occasions.  This week, however, they had a breakthrough.  Something clicked (I think it had a lot to do with Jelly Bellies and Hot Tamales) and she finally said Da-Da and ran to the man.  It was as if the world stopped.  The entire family was in the hall at the time and we all just stopped and stared and kept quiet for Daddy to finally to have his moment with his baby girl.  A few tears could be spotted on cheeks here and there.  I think Sean almost burst with joy.

Now they are buddies. 

Like I said, she surprises me everyday.

Something Sweet

As cool as Djeryd’s birthday cake turned out is was a bit of a baking fiasco, leaving the cake less than desirable.  It left me feeling like a baker that wasn’t worth my frosting (although the volcano frosting was so, so good – chocolate truffle!).  Thankfully I had a bunch of bananas slowly turning to mush on my kitchen counter offering me a chance to restore my good baking name.

I sliced that sweet thing across the middle, filled it with banana pudding and smothered it with some yummy, sweet cream.

Sean declared it amazing.  I felt redeemed.  Mission accomplished.