happily ever after shower

my sister in law and i hosted a bridal shower for my other sister in law, bethany. we all had a great time!

 her wedding shoe- isn't it just like Cinderella?! and lucky for her, she has a teeny little foot to match. :)

my wonderful mother in law and 2 sweet sisters in law (the lovely bride-to-be is in the coral dress).

isn't she cute?! we couldn't be more happy for her!

the big move

sister and i have been dreading this move for months. yet mixed with that dread is confidence that God's best is working itself out...whether the hows and whys are obvious or not. 

i'm grateful for the rare and unlikely blessing of living around the corner from each other for these past 3 years. when we were little we would daydream about living next door to each other (and marrying brothers!).... now, i just have to get used to the rather heartbreaking reality that she's not there anymore.

 

i think it would be an easier adjustment if she had even lived across town...but as it is, we pass by her old house every evening during our walk and i have to remind the kids to not run through "Aunt Deedee's old bushes", not pick "her old lavender", not climb "her old tree"... its sad.  

i have to remember things too: i can't run over to her house to ask her opinion on a new shirt or to borrow chocolate chips and a couple eggs, or a dress for the shower this weekend, or a few of her blue mason jars and white cake plate for a party next month.

or when andrew is flying, i have to remember that she's won't be able to slip away after her kids are in bed to have a little chat, or help me move furniture or craft while we talk out the highs and lows of life.  and when the mornings are endlessly long, we can't walk around the corner and let the kids run around together while we give each other pep talks.

instead we have to be brave and thankful for the time we had to live life so close to each other....and for all the fabulous technology that help make living far away a bit more manageable. 

tonight during a thunderstorm, sophie exclaimed, "i hope our cousins are ok!" and a short time later will commented, "we need to make sure at the end of every letter we write to our cousins that we always say, 'we miss you a lot'."

i love this song we sang at our church a couple of weeks ago. i know its kinda dramatic to apply it to my little situation especially when true and horrible suffering is going on in so many people's lives, but if i didn't believe that jesus cares about the "little" things,  life would feel bleak and sad indeed. so, i thank Him that he does care, and that He is working out a beautiful plan in all things.

p.s. these pics with the letters on them were part of a little ABC book i put together as a going away gift for our sweet cousins. thank you picmonkey for being in business and making editing so easy :)

cinched up backpack

My little nephew just turned one last week. He and Baby Ben are exactly 9 months apart. Andy's sister and i planned very hard to work that out.... hee hee. But we are super thankful for this little guy and have big plans for he and ben to be best buddies. 

That said, he had a party this weekend and i kinda scrambled to think of a gift. 

MADE had just posted a great tutorial on how to make boxed-out totes so i started with that. 

Then i decided he needed his name in felt on the front,  another pocket on the inside and some cheater lining.

Then i wanted to add another color so i sewed on the yellow cinched up tie on the top...

 and BACK PACK straps to the back. Everything was done extremely randomly and probably more complicated that it needed to be but i was happy with the result and can't wait to see a toddling little eric stuffing treasures into his pack soon.

and to get him started i made sure this {most adorable} Eric had a new title to add to his collection of Eric Carle's books.

Now, i have to spend a little time on the star of this post. This baby (i mean BIG boy, sorry joelle! ;) is the most expressive and interesting little guy i've ever known. He is full of fun and sweetness but he also has the most extensive collection of absolutely hilarious little faces. He entertained a group of at least 10 adults at his party for nearly 15 minutes with his expressions alone. And those brown eyes with the longest lashes i've ever seen...well, i guess i've seen some like them on his lovely momma.
Anyway, he's just too much cuteness to take.

We were delighted to celebrate his birthday and even more delighted to have him in our family.

summer list

well, since today is officially the first day of summer i thought it would be a great time to post our summer list. a week and a half ago we got our little family together and had a summer list brainstorming meeting. here's our list last year

i finally wrote it up on the chalkboard yesterday and now we can begin crossing stuff off...just in time for Target to put out school supplies. does anyone else feel a tad robbed of their summer when this happens so early? grrrrr. maybe i'm just overly sensitive to the big blank spot in the bottom corner which should have written on it: "PLAN SCHOOL". oh well, for now i'll just focus on the fact that today is "make ice cream" day. woohoo ;)

i'm linking up with sweet Alicia for her "happy day project." go check her happy challenge for today. :)

We {heart} daddy

Happy Father's Day Handy Andy. We love you "yots".

 i love that i was able to capture the filth that is stained onto my children's sweet little feet. They're hard-core "bare-footers".... and well, their feet show it but they make their daddy proud. ;)

**here are 2 of about 20 outtakes. sheesh! these kiddos make it hard to take their pictures. although hats off to big brother Will who put himself in charge of keeping Ben's legs down so i could snap a coherent picture! bless his heart.

 oh ben, you and your squishy face...

summer spray

Summer is here. hip hip hooray!

I'm loving these hot-enough-to-get-the-hose-out-in-regular-clothes kind of days.

sophie is loving it too. :)

Summer Learning FUN!

We ended school for the year. i didn't post about it because there wasn't a lot to say and my feelings about the success of the year are a little iffy. One thing i was certain about is that i wanted to continue some learning into the summer but i knew it had to be FUN...or at least as fun as possible. :)

 So, here comes my brain child. ha. i actually did spend a lot of time thinking about this- even waking up in the night trying to figure out the best way to motivate Will and get some goals crossed off my list.
My 3 main goals for the summer  are:
1) FORCE, i mean encourage Will to practice reading
2) Finish our Handwriting book
3) Get out in nature and purposefully explore

Here's what i came up with. My title is kinda stupid but it was the best i could think of before i walked out the door to Kinkos. So, it's just a little board game type chart hung on the fridge.

 For every blue circle he picks a blue "DESTINATION" card. I have a lot of repeats and a little variety thrown in to make it interesting.

Here's a full list: Read a book, Do 2 Handwriting pages, Read a summer poem, Read a book with mom and dad, Retell a story to your sisters, Go outside and a find an object in nature the size of a quarter, draw a picture of it in your journal, Listen for 2 bird calls and try to find the birds they belong to, Go outside w/ the small camera and find a bird or bug and take a picture of it. Write about it in journal, Recite your summer poem, READ a book, READ a book!

 THEN, once he has done 3 "DESTINATIONS" he gets to pick a "TREASURE" card.
This envelope is mostly filled with "Pick from the BOX" cards but i also included some fun ones too:
- Bike ride to Safeway and pick out an ice cream topping
-Bike ride to Safeway and pick out a cold drink
-Pizza party with the family at the pool
-Frozen Yogurt at Aspen Leaf
- Dinner at Red Lobster

The Treasure box is filled with all kinds of snacks and little toys. I'll also use this box to reward the girls for their own version of this chart.

Today was the first day and all 3 were pretty jazzed. Will did his 2 handwriting pages with only a small sigh and the girls did a little color matching activity. They each put a sticker on their chart and were asking "can we do more summer sailing, pleeeeease?!"

* i decided to add a few stars to random blue cards so that every once in awhile they would get a bonus treasure from the box. we're all about motivation over here.
* I also added more than enough treasure cards so i'm hoping he'll be motivated to go through the chart more than once.

lollipops + cousins= yum

I've had the pleasure of hanging out with all 7 of these little peeps a couple times this last week and its always a lot of fun...and a lot of crazy. But since 3 of the 7 will be moving to Iowa in a few weeks, i'm happy for any opportunities to soak them up. This morning was made extra sweet thanks to...

Sister leaving a bag of these lollipops for us to enjoy. We try not to do a lot of sugar in our fam but sometimes, its nice to have a treat. We discovered this brand awhile ago and just love them.

100% natural, organic, no high fructose corn syrup, real fruit extracts like black carrots and pumpkin!, sweetened with cane juice and brown rice syrup and have fantastic flavors!

My nephew's favorite is (in his words) "flamango mango" :)
Anyway, just thought i'd pass the fun along in case you've never heard of these.
oh and i've found them at Sprouts and even stores like TJmaxx and Marshalls.
So, there you go. bet you're craving a "too berry blueberry" right now.

Carol Marie born on May 23

oMy fabulous mother in law had a birthday this week, and i had the privilege of hosting her party.

 I had big dreams for an outdoor dinner, but our crazy CO weather had other dreams. About an hour and half before dinner, i gave in and brought everything inside, just before it poured and kept pouring!

the decor was simple: my fantastic globes from Target clearance a couple summers ago, vintage sheet table cloth (thank you, Sister) Blue ball jars with Irises (than you Sister).
The kids and i planted these little wheat grass plants [below] a week ago. Can you guess where we got the colorful little "pots"??  Spray paint lids!! I knew i would find a purpose for them! ;)

 For the menu we had what were my favorite tacos...i posted the recipe here. I think they might still be my favorite...but they certainly didn't turn out for the party. I'm hoping it has to do with me tripling the recipe or something because they were pretty dry and a little on the tasteless side... and my side rice turned into MUSH...but oh well. These drinks made up for it...until we had cake, that is.

 Non-Alcoholic Mojitos (thank you Sister for use of your jars, oh! and also for the use of a couple of your plates...and a glass platter...AND the mint from your backyard...yep, i think that's all i took from your house) 

**Oh man, i'm going to be a goner when she moves next month. I've been trying to deal with the emotional reality of what life will be like without her 2 houses away but i'm not sure i've thought enough about my dependency on her physical belongings as well! yikes. i might have to grow up and buy my own plates....hmmm

ok, back to the party. So, unlike myself, whatever my brother in law touches turns to gold.  

Case in point this absolutely AMAZING chocolate orange cake he created himself. Complete with chocolate orange mouse and handmade crystalized orange peel. It was the best cake ever.

When i was describing my flopped tacos to my sister, she encouragingly pointed out what a blessing it was that they flopped since consequently the guests probably had ample room for a big piece of this decadent cake. thanks sister. good word. ;)

Here's the birthday girl with her wonderful kids.

 I was so pleased how everyone coordinated with the party color scheme.

Happy Birthday Carol Marie. SO glad you were born! We all love you so much! :)

just a little design sponge

While waiting to go to church, Will spied the Design Sponge at Home book from the library. He cozied up on a chair with Sophie and spent a good deal of time absorbing some design inspiration.

 Sophie was just happy to be in a chair with Will, regardless of the book choice.

"hmmm? what? just a little design perusing, that's all."

These were two of his favorite pages. He totally loved the sliding barn doors (so do i!) and thought maybe we should have this picture of the "wasp" (bee) in our club house since they keep building nests inside. :)

Get your own book here and you can absorb some awesome design inspiration as well. :)

May Day...nearly a couple weeks late

Happily for us we finally remembered May Day this year! HandyAndy and i both have great memories of making baskets, driving around town to our friends' houses and delivering them all ninja-like.

He started the morning out right by delivering his own handmade may day boxes to our doorstep.

Check out his origami handiwork. pretty fancy, right?  Then, since i hadn't even considered May Day baskets for the kids until Andy thought of it late the night before, we popped some popcorn and put in a couple little maple candies he had brought home from Canada and called it good.

Then we went to work rounding up little baskets and pails around our house in addition to making these silly little decorated plastic cup baskets.  

We filled them with some mini carrot muffins (because again, there was no planning ahead here!)

And loaded everyone up in the car.

 The kids picked just a couple of their little friends and had a BLAST running up to the door, ringing the bell and then dashing back in the car.

After we drove just out of sight they loved to stop to see if anyone had tried to follow. :)

This is just the best holiday for kids- its all about giving, thoughtfulness, surprising others and not expecting anything in return. So fun! We need to have "May Day" every month!
At least mark in on your calendars for next year. You'll have a blast. :)