A Little Something for Anna

I don’t know what it is about fabric flowers, but I love them!  They make me so happy.  I had this little lovely all stitched up and waiting for a clip about three months ago.  I finally dragged out the glue gun and finished it just in time for school one morning.  I made it to match Anna’s butterfly skirt and I was starting to worry she would outgrow the skirt before I got around to finishing the darn accessory.  Of course, now it just makes me want to whip up some more.  ;>

Anna surprised me that morning by grabbing my hand on our way to school.  She told me her hands were cold.  Perhaps I should pick up some gloves for her.  However, there are very few things sweeter than holding hands with the people I love, especially the little ones.

Lu’s Polka-dot Pants

It seems like it’s been forever since I’ve posted a sewing project (probably because I haven’t done any, ha!).  Last week Alyx picked out this polka-dot fabric from my stash for a pair of pants.  I used the pattern from MADE.  This is actually my second pair using Dana’s pattern.  The first pair I made out of a black double-knit cotton that made a terrific pair of yoga pants.  I wasn’t sure a straight weave would have enough wiggle room for Lu, but these turned out beautifully.

I originally intended to put a ruffle on the bottom, but it just wasn’t working with the fabric, so I slapped on a little polka-dot appliqué instead.  I love how it turned out.  I do not like, however, that my sewing machine, which badly needs servicing, kept skipping stitches.  Dah!

 

I have already pulled out two more fabrics to whip up a couple additional pairs.  Then this little lady will be all set for fall.  Yea!

(It looks a little funny in the back because we were just trying them on (now she won’t take them off) and the elastic casing was not finished yet.)

Food For Thought

Recently I’ve been reminded of how impossible it is to concentrate when life changes are taking place.  Food preparation has gone from a fun little hobby that I dive into every once in a while, to a flat-out obsession this past month.  At the beginning of September we found out that Sean needed to eliminate dairy from his diet for health reasons.  I had no idea how much dairy we consumed until I had to cut it out.  It seemed I only had about three dishes out of the thirty or forty that I regularly prepare that were cheese-free.  I had to start thinking outside the cookbooks on my shelf.

Enter: the Library.  Seriously, one of my very favorite places to be on earth.  I even regularly visit libraries when I’m on vacation – not bookstores – libraries.  They are such happy comforting places for me, no matter how big or small.  But I digress . . . The point is that after grumbling and groaning about all our new limitations, I started making friends with the idea that great cooking could happen without dairy.

Then something tragic happened. Gluten had to get the boot, as well.  At least for me.  And since I am the main baker/chef/shopper/nutritionist in our family, gluten-loaded products are rapidly disappearing from our shelves.  As annoyed as I was about the loss of dairy, I actually cried over wheat.  I bake a lot of bread.  Really, really good bread.  And while I still make it for my family in all of its crispy-outside-soft-fluffy-goodness-inside glory, I cannot partake.  Sigh.  Enter: the library – again.

Two things have stood out to me throughout this shifting process.  The first is how obsessively stressed-out this change has made me.  I pour over cookbooks every free moment I have, even my non-free moments.  I am in a constant desperate search to find amazingly good food that my entire family can enjoy without feeling deprived of two of the main ingredients in the American diet (the third one being sugar, which we are also on guard against, but which can be replaced more inconspicuously).  I feel like I’m falling in love or something, but I know it’s not love because I don’t actually WANT to think about any of this, I just can’t help it.

And the second thing that has practically slapped me in the face almost everyday is how grateful I am for people who know how to cook with these issues and are willing share their amazing food.  I have found current (meaning they were printed in the last two or three years) gluten-free vegan cookbooks to be heaven-sent. I like the vegan ones because dairy is automatically eliminated (because it is an animal product) and they are masters at creating foods that feel like dairy (rich, creamy sauces, etc.), without the actual dairy.  They also tend to steer clear of refined sugars, which is a big bonus for us.  Basically, in a gluten-free vegan cookbook, I feel am knocking out three opponents with one punch – gluten, dairy and refined sugars.  Plus, they really know how to make vegetables appealing.  And they tend to be good students of nutrition, ensuring plenty of protein through the combination of grains and legumes.  All of that really appeals to me.
My very favorite cookbook of the moment is Chloe’s Kitchen by Chloe Coscarelli.  And the book I credit with helping me discover all was not lost (I could make really yummy stuff without dairy and gluten) is Cooking For Isaiah by Silvana Nardone (she uses a lot of sugar, which we have to guard against, but her banana bread and chocolate chip cookies are easily the best I’ve ever tasted).
I guess I’m writing this post in the hopes that someone will find it helpful and comforting if your world seems to be crumbling like a gluten-free pizza crust.  I know that may seem a little dramatic, especially to those of you who have never had to undergo a dramatic change to your diet.  But it really is a big deal, especially when it involves keeping children happy.  That’s the part I agonize over more than anything else. 

I know it is for the best, though; my jeans are fitting better, and we’re all eating more vegetables and whole foods, and I simply feel better – much better.  I’m actually storing home produce this year because I can control the ingredients (which, as a side benefit, gives me that really happy proud-of-myself feeling). Now I just have to figure out how to stock-up a year’s supply of all those crazy gluten-free flours, or better yet, how to make some of them myself.  I hope you won’t mind a random food post here and there as we get used to our new way of life.  Happy cooking-baking-shopping-nutritioning to all of you.

Old-to-New Dining Room Set

Dear Deni,

We had such a lovely time at your house last month.  Inspiring, even.  After drooling over all the beautiful, creative things you have done with your home (I remember it from way back when, you know), I have felt inspired to make some changes around here.

First, the dining room.  Our table and chairs needed a serious facelift.

Taking your lead, we decided to freshen-up what we already had.  So we disregarded all child labor laws and put the kids to work.

We also purchase an inordinate number of cans of spray paint.  And Sean rose to the finger-numbing challenge of covering every last inch of faux 70’s wood with sleek black paint.

We ate on a modified dining room table that night.

And Sean braved four more hours of painting in the dark of night.

I love how glossy it all looked under those super-bright lights.

The fabric took a week to arrive, and then it took me another week to find the time to finish the project.

I was urged along by the fact that the seat cushions were not screwed onto the chairs and therefore kept sliding off when people wiggled in their seats (much to the dismay of Alyx and Anna in particular).

Sean spent his lunch hour helping me recover the seats and securing them to the chair frames.

And viola, we had a new dining room.  And as much as I wanted that set in the Pottery Barn catalog, I’m glad we didn’t have to refinance the house to get “new” dining room furniture.

Deni, you also inspired me to finish these little blocks I’ve had sitting in the studio for a year.

Aren’t they cute?

So, my dear friend, know that by just being your creative, industrious self you have improved our life.  You have made it lovelier and a little more fulfilling.  And now, when I think of a project, and that it might be too challenging for my tastes, I think, “What would Deni do?”  And then I do it.

Gratefully yours,

MyLiege

School Days

Life is starting to settle into a routine of sorts around here.  It seems there is always something a little out of the ordinary to keep things interesting, but nothing major.  The days begin with scriptures and then the big kids start trickling out the door.  Alyx and I walk the “middles” (Erik and Anna) to school and leisurely find our way back home.

Alyx insists on stopping for a spell at a bench about three-quarters of the way home. We stop and visit for as long as she likes. I am thinking of toting my camera out every morning and capturing the year from that little bench. I think it would be fun.

Alyx usually plays pretty well by herself once we’re home (I think she likes the calm of all those crazy big kids being gone) and I can get a couple of hours of work in (we have a new job thing going on over here that I’m really excited to share).  Then we move into lunch (sometimes with Daddy) and naptime, and before I know it, Djeryd’s home.  It’s crazy how the day flies with all the comings and goings of our little family.

Erik and I still try to get in some chess after school whenever we can.  Some days are easier than others.  I love that he’s always willing to play with me.  ;>

And just in case we have a day where things are slow, I’m working on helping this little girl to be a big girl.  And can I just say potty-training my fourth is considerably less frustrating than potty-training my first.  Why did I ever think it was such a big deal?  That being said, I am a terrible potty-trainer.  But I’m okay with that – at least I’m enjoying it this time around.  Alyx and I listen to music and read and play Barbies and ponies for hours in the bathroom and I love it.  I get the laundry folded and little hand-sewing projects wrapped up and I get to enjoy having my daughter all to myself.  I do not believe she will be fully trained for another six months (who knows, maybe a year), but I don’t really care.  We take it one day at a time, one hour at a time.  It will happen when she’s darn good and ready.

In the meantime, I’m just trying to enjoy all these little moments that make up my life right now.  I keep thinking about how this phase of my life will all be over before I know it.  Whatever I do, I don’t want to wish it away, or wish it faster (even though there are those moments).  I can’t hang on to it, but I can immerse myself in it.  I am consciously diving in.  Swimsuit, anyone?

Summer, Interrupted

I have been really, truly trying to look forward to this day for at least a month.  But in the end I couldn’t quite succeed in my intended attitude change.  I cried yesterday after all my sweet children were in bed with visions of the first day of school prancing through their sleepy little heads.  I came downstairs, walked into the living room and was instantly surrounded by pictures of my loves and I just wanted to freeze time.  Not for forever.  But just for a little bit longer.

But today came and went with no regard for my feelings.  Sean trotted off with Djeryd in the early hours, and I trotted off with the littles an hour later.

Lu and I tried not to feel forlorn.  Lu stayed busy with puzzles and beads and books and songs.  I stayed busy cleaning out the cupboards in the laundry room.  I came across this quote in my efforts to spruce things up. 

(source)

It only made me weepy again.  I don’t normally feel this way when school starts, but this year is different for some reason.  Maybe it’s Djeryd starting middle school.  Maybe it’s having only one child at home with me all day long.  Maybe I’m just realizing how frighteningly fast life is happening.

The good part is everyone came home happy and shining with something so fresh and new and exciting in their lives.  I’m happy for them.

I could not help snapping this last picture as Alyx and I walked through the gate this morning; back into a yard and house that would be so quiet and still when compared to the constant noise and activity of the past three months.  This bit of our life, obviously interrupted.  It’s as if we were in the middle of a great game of tag, screaming in delight and cheering each other on, when all of a sudden the ice cream truck pulled up, and my children are just . . . gone.

Gymnastics

We decided to enroll the kids in gymnastics this summer.  Admittedly, I think this can almost wholly be attributed to seeing a picture of Mary Lou Retton on a Wheaties box at the grocery store (which I impulsively shoved into my over-flowing shopping cart). 

I figured with the summer Olympics taking place this year, and all of the weeks Djeryd would be gone through the summer, the littles needed something new and challenging to look forward to each week.

It worked out really well.  I only had to take Alyx along once.  It turned out to be a total nightmare and I vowed to never do it again.  You know it’s bad when the instructors, who you’ve never talked to in your entire life, comment after class about the size of your child’s lungs – especially when that child was down the hall and around the corner during almost the entire lesson.

  

I was really hoping for gymnastics to be a catalyst for some serious cultural immersion.  I expected they would want to watch and learn all they could about every Olympian competing in gymnastics.  I had visions of pouring over books about other countries, cultures and civilizations.  I seriously thought a little gymnastics class would open up this big wide world to my children. . . . No such luck.

 

But they had fun and explored a new skill.  It helped mark time in what could have been a very long, uneventful summer for these little guys.  And I loved watching them.

Especially with a face like that.

Summer Update

It seems like forever since I posted anything here.  The busy-ness of daily life with all four kids at home all day long has made carving out time for creative blog-posting nearly impossible.  Not that I don’t have moments of time to myself, but I am usually so tired of everything else that has gone on during the day that I use that time to read a bit or sneak in a little nap.

I could probably make a complete post about each of these pictures, but in the interest of time (both mine and yours) we will be skimming over that last few weeks of summer at our house.

We have played copious amounts of chess.  It’s mostly Erik and me.  And it’s mostly every day.

My summer sewing really deserves a post of it’s own, but in case I don’t get around to it I will just say that I sewed six a days a week for 10 weeks for at least twenty minutes a day before I finally threw in the towel on that one to get some balance back in my days.  The sad thing is I have not sewn a single thing since that fateful night of “I want my life back!”  It’s not that I don’t want to sew, or don’t have things to sew.  It’s that without that commitment to myself to do something everyday in the studio, I just don’t get in there . . . which was the reason I set that goal in the first place.  (sigh)

 

We had one day of painting in the sunshine.

And days of painting in the cool of the house.

Our craft projects have been really fun and different than our normal standbys.  Lots of glue and paper and popsicle sticks and recycled milk cartons and googly eyes and yarn.  I did not take pictures of very many finished projects.  The process is far more gratifying to me than the finished project when it comes to my kids’ art.  I love watching them so focused and content.  Creating is absorbing and fulfilling for them – that’s the part that is important to me.

And of course we’ve made some sweet stuff to eat, too.  Very few things taste better than homemade jam.  Ah, summer . . .