March 25, 2009

Miracles happen

I was trying to catch up on photo editing (as always) and was delighted to discover that we finally have a family photo of ALL 5 OF US. This hasn't happened since there were only 4 of us (and Anya was still a floating bean inside me). This is worth celebrating. With a post.

Taken in February after attending open house at the Draper LDS Temple, where all 3 kids surprised us with amazingly good behavior. Photo was taken by Mark's friend and co-worker who happened to be there with his family too. He has no idea what a historical moment it was for us to have him take our family photo.

draper temple bw

March 19, 2009

Two giveaways that caught my attention

If there were two giveaways I wouldn't be able to resist, then it would be for a new breastfeeding book and a quilting/sewing machine... Well, they are happening right now!

"Breastfeeding with Comfort and Joy" giveaway is ending on March 20th, the review sounds wonderful and the book is self-published so this is your big chance (and mine) to win one!

Then there's the Marie Osmond 200 Quilter’s Companion (by Janome) waiting to be loved by someone, it could be you or me, who knows :) Maybe I will finally manage to finish the quilt that I cut last summer, ha!

Good luck!

Fun times

Has it been nearly two weeks already? Or should I say, it's only been less than 2 weeks and I am making another post!

But seriously, I have to blame it all on Anya's teething. Or who knows what it is that keeps her up at night more than ever. Thank goodness for her cuteness during the day and all sunshine with warm weather to sweeten the exhaustion from staying up at night trying to get little Anya to sleep. I secretly have to giggle when she wakes up next to me and starts crawling on our bed in the dark, sticking her fingers in whatever openings she can find on our faces. But the cuteness of it wears out in about 2 minutes when the overwhelming feeling of having to get her go back to sleep settles in. Well, at least in these last couple of weeks it looks like teething is to blame, as compared to no obvious excuses during all those countless nights when she kept us awake. Someday she will figure this sleep thing out and then we'll naively reward ourselves with another newborn thinking that it surely will sleep better than Anya did...





I'm often in awe at how creative our children can get when they try to find things they are not supposed to play with. Maya's old trick of using my make-up (with a lot of effort put into her eyebrows) is nothing compared to what Elijah can do. Every night when I go to bed, I quickly scan the room and the kitchen for things that need to be put out of sight and reach. That involves hiding knives, scissors, any hair products, locking the bathroom and the door to the closet in my craft room (where I now store my Dharma dyes on the highest shelf, but you can't be too cautious after he showed me what he's capable of doing with my dyes last summer).

Well, one of his last week's victims was a nice big jar of extra virgin and extra expensive coconut oil. To my defense, I did think for a second that the jar needed to be hidden when I was doing my usual scan, but since it was probably 3 a.m. when I was going to bed, that thought quickly escaped my mind. I really wasn't a bit surprised when I found Elijah thoroughly enjoying a good amount of coconut oil the next morning.







The cleanup was slightly easier than after 20 emptied jars of Dharma dyes, thank goodness for that. I think the hardest part was seeing all that good oil go to waste (well, not from Elijah's perspective obviously). The upside, his hair smelled and felt heavenly once it was washed.

What a life. Can't call it anything but exhaustingly exciting.

And of course there are always sanity savers that eat up my sleep time when there's such a thing. Meet Maya's very orange and happy new tunic, crafted by mama at 3 a.m.

swing top

detail


Now I want one too. Some day...

March 7, 2009

Emerging from underground like a spring flower

Yes, that's me. Don't know how to explain the feeling but I know some people know what I'm talking about... I don't know about you but I like to celebrate the arrival of spring on March 1st, after all, that's how it's always been done where I grew up. Slowly, but steadily I feel like the winter ice cap is starting to melt from over my head, the sun is shining brighter, the birds are getting more cheerful and the life begins to emerge. I feel I can breathe again...

With spring comes the irresistible urge to clean, get rid of things that we can live without, make some room for the sake of having more room. Time to organize, evaluate, look at things from a different perspective.

I finally got around to turning Maya's former bedroom into my craft/guest room. It's tiny and cozy, a perfect little corner for my art/sewing/knitting supplies that used to hide in the corners of our living room.

guest/craft room

dresser find corner of goodies


And it's only natural that with organization comes inspiration. So I'm back in the sewing groove, the downside is that my head is bursting with ideas. Now I just need to start sewing for US instead of making gifts for others all the time.



another not-for-me apron

Vintage bed sheet apron


And there's more where this came from... Back to sewing, ta ta!