worth the wait

you know the phrase, the cobbler's children have no shoes? well, in our house, it is often chided that the photographer's family has no pictures. don't get me wrong, we have pictures . . . of our children, sometimes even all 3 together. but, those pictures rarely contain one of us, much less both.

in december, josh told me how one of the photographers whose style he really admired was coming to do a workshop in our city. no one comes to our city. like no one. during our discussion, i asked if he would want to see if he could do a shoot of our family. josh seemed shocked that i asked but agreed it was an amazing opportunity as he was coming to where we lived. so, we begged. uh, i mean asked. and, he obliged. 

we couldn't have imagined a better experience. it stormed all week, but this morning it was beautiful and even a bit chilly. 

our children responded like we never see. they are used to someone taking their picture, you know. 

of course, josh couldn't leave the house without a camera of his own, so he shot some behind-the-scenes pictures, too. i love seeing both views. to see jonathan's favorite pictures, you can go here. and, it was also featured here. thank you so much, jonathan! we will treasure these forever!

a confession or two

in the last few years, i have discovered something about myself. i like to make things. and, i like to make things for other people. both of these are confessions. why?

well, when you make something, it is like wearing your heart on your sleeve. (or, at least i think it is . . . i am very bad at understanding old phrasing.) a compliment or criticism can make or break you. example: as a girl, if you buy a shirt on sale and while wearing it, someone comments on how cute it is, then it validates that you got a steal and almost makes the shirt even cuter than it was just minutes before. when i make something, if someone comments that they like it, it tells me maybe it is possible to make something and make it cute. it gives me a little more confidence to try something else. am i the only one who feels this way??

then, i see something i think someone would like. even better, i think i can make this something. at first, i get really excited. i collect all my supplies. i start creating and, another confession, i start to doubt that what i am making would be appreciated by someone else. i start to wonder if they will be sad that they received it. i think, will they want this gift or will they throw it away wondering why i didn't just buy them something . . .

but, when you make something for someone and they like it . . . or they even love it . . . words cannot express how much it makes my heart smile. and, if they find out i made it, and still like it and don't feel like i gipped them out of a real gift . . . well, then i might just make another gift because it feels good to create something for someone else. really good.

so, i confess. and, i wonder am i the only one who feels this way? (oh, good night, people. i really just put myself out there. if you know me, you know i am not so lay-it-all-out about my feelings. abusive punctuation-yes, sharing my fears-no.)

i hope not. and, i hope to share a quick and easy gift tutorial, too.

i'm back and ready to craft!

i love . . .

to hear her read to her sister. it makes my heart so happy!

a summertime favorite

i have vivid memories of childhood . . . most of which involve food. one of my favorite summer traditions was going to sno cream castle. it was a tiny little stand with two serving windows and a row of four picnic tables to the side. it had a hand painted list of all their treats from corn dogs to hand dipped ice cream cones. my favorite treat was the rainbow sno cone. we visited the sno cream castle every summer no matter how much the surroundings changed. during college, i stopped there after summer school one day and told josh i wanted them to cater our wedding . . . nothing says forever like footlong corn dogs and sno cones, right?

eventually, the sno cream castle closed its windows forever. occasionally, i drive by its faded sign and remember childhood summers standing in long lines waiting for my yummy sno cone to help quelch the heat of the south.

then, a few years ago, someone introduced us to another local sno cone shop. nestled in a neighborhood that has seen better days, people come from all over the city to stand in long lines to order their favorite flavors from pickle juice to shrek.

so, now, on hot summer nights (and some days), we pile into the car, head down to jerry's, select our favorite flavor and pile into the back of the car to enjoy our tasty treat.

sometimes, we even get to share with friends. 

i love that i now get to share this tradition with my own children. while the location may be different, the affection is still the same. there is nothing better than a yummy sno cone on a hot summer day.

if you are local and want to know our favorites, miller loves blueberry, carter loves to try new things, josh loves blackberry supreme and i love wedding cake, but every once and a while i have to go with rainbow.

lost

there are some things i can't live without. there are some things i can't imagine waking up and not being a part of my life. and, occasionally, something sneaks onto that list without me even knowing how dependent  i have become. like diet coke.

sometimes, i fight the relationship at first. sometimes, i refuse to believe how needy i am. but then, when i let my guard down, i realize that the opportunities are immense, the possibilities endless. and, suddenly, the love affair begins.

at first, it was just a picture or a phone call but then it was directions no matter where i was or the ability to make a list when my 5 year old had ganked every pen within a 5 mile radius. and, even when i didn't handle it with care, even when the impact forced little spider like veins to scatter across its body, it continued because it knew i needed it. it knew i couldn't make contact with the outside world unless it was in my possession. but, everything has a breaking point . . .

and, a concrete floor was its demise. now, it just glows.

and, i can't do anything. i can't call or be called. i can't text or be texted. i can't make a list or find out where i am or check the weather in los angeles (which i needed because i was in los angeles!) or take a picture when my baby fell asleep on the floor the other day or check email or entertain children with various games or function. somehow, slowly, over the last two years, my entire brain was transferred into various iphone apps. and now, it is gone. all gone.

goodbye, friend. i will miss you.
well, at least until the bigger, better version of you enters my life.

he is four

this is my sweet boy at the beach last year. he had just turned 3.

this is him just a few days after he turned 4. four.

because i want to freeze time and enjoy him at this age forever, i want to document some of my favorite things about miller at 4:

*he has a huge heart. he loves his mommy like no one else. he is so protective of his baby sister and recently told me that he likes being a big brother better than a little brother. (i don't blame him.)

*he can sleep anywhere. (look at how long he is??) this is what happens if he doesn't get a nap. he cannot make it. can.not.

*he has the sweetest voice. i love to hear him talk and there are several things i could hear him say over and over again. (including: WHAT?!?, Hugh) of course, this same voice can make glass break when he is upset.

*he lays his clothes out on the floor before putting them on, complete with his shoes on the wrong feet ;)

*he still loves books, toy story, pockets, and the colors hot blue and brown. he still loves blueberries, tomatoes (but he doesn't pronouce them bumatoes anymore :( ), cheese, and milk and will take a bite of anything once. even if it is just once.

*he comes up with bedtime get-ups that look like this:

this kid is a mess. full of personality. full of life. full of love. he makes our life more full because he is in it. happy 4th birthday, miller!

bunny love

last year, i made this bunny garland. it is one of my favorite paper things i have made. i hung it in the aqua frame i painted for spencer's first birthday party and, ahh, i could look at it all day. i haven't gotten to craft much for easter this year, so we are going simple with this and a little bunny topiary. i am enjoying the simplicity, but definitely felt the need to decorate with something. am i the only one who feels the need to decorate for each holiday?

random photo friday

i've got sunshine . . .

. . . on a cloudy day

after phil decided we have even more winter weather to endure, i found a cure for my weather induced bitterness.

"they're yellow and cute. i'll look like the morton's salt girl." (oh, i miss those girls.)

it's christmas time

wow! where have i been? i have no idea.

i am busy. (as usual)

there has been sickness. (not uncommon)

i have been crafting. (as usual)

and sewing. (not uncommon anymore)

but blogging, i have not. (definitely unusual)

so, now i have to catch you up on life.

ahh, it's christmas time. the trees are decorated. the christmas music is playing. the activities have begun. it truly is the most wonderful time of the year. we are totally obnoxious like that. totally.

we both have extremely fond memories of christmas growing up. as our little family grows older, we have begun some of our own traditions. first, this guy arrives the day after thanksgiving:

then, on december 1st, we begin to unwrap one of these each night:

23 christmas books wrapped in brown paper (sigh). on the 24th, we read the night before christmas. i will eventually wrap it in a patterned paper to keep it separate. right now it is hidden. each year, we add to the collection. my little bibliophiles adore this tradition and look forward to it each day.

but, this year, i wanted to add something. something i wanted growing up. but back then, i just wanted to peel back a paper door and reveal a tiny piece of chocolate. not because i like chocolate (because i don't), but because i love countdowns and calendars and the like. last year, at 22 months gestation, an advent calendar did not make it to crafting fruition. but, this year . . . this year i was determined.

at craft club, we found these square tins and fell in love. i found this paper and it was perfect. next, i just added all sorts of vintage-y bits of goodness to create each tin. here are a few of my favorites:

it was really hard to come up with 25 unique ideas. i think i will have to alter a few as i find new bits and pieces. it was really fun to use all these little pieces i had picked up at estate sales over the past year.

then, because i cannot commit, i put them on my giant chalkboard. i set it up calendar style and each day we move that day's tin to the top. inside each is a family activity, some big and some small. for example, tonight, we are watching elf movie theater style (in the dark) while drinking hot chocolate with marshmallows and candy canes.

tis the season to be merry.

a vintage halloween

i absolutely love to decorate for holidays. if it were up to me, there would always be a holiday approaching just so i can decorate. this year, i seem to prefer a more simple black and white color palette. i have streamlined most of my decorations this year to reflect this change. i bought several of these foam gourds and pumpkins last year at hobby lobby for 90% off (that's $.19 to $.39 each). this year i spray painted them all black or antique white.

once i saw this idea on flickr, i was on the look out for the perfect book.

i just happened upon a taller old book with the top of the pages inked black at an estate sale a few weeks ago for $.50. i love it!

my boo girl!

she makes my heart so happy it is almost silly! i have wanted to create something like this for a while, so when i saw this kit here, i had to have it!! it is amazing the detail that went into creating mixed media piece. so many of these pieces use creepy looking photos, but boo girl is too cute. i love how she fits into my theme. do you think it is too much if i leave her up year round?? maybe they will have a christmas kit. i hope so.

here is another picture that includes the pumpkins and gourds. after i painted them black or white, i striped or dotted them and white washed them and put them in a glass jar.

of course, i have more, but it is not finished and might not be. we will see. our weekend is full of festivals and the like. happy halloween!

(fyi: all photos were taken with film by my incredibly generous husband, who only gets slightly annoyed when i ask him to photograph such things ;)

the big reveal and happy pictures

remember this??

well, here it is now!

when i saw this chair in it's original state, i quickly imagined it painted with a monogram in place of the decal. and, i imagined it in a field of tall grass. seriously.

so, you ask, how did it get from point a to point b?? it began with a serious cleaning and sanding to even out the old stain. it then got a bunch of coats of primer and heritage white spray paint. because i wanted to keep the original concept of the chair but with a modern feel, i decided to go with an image instead of a monogram. hmm, but what type of image. a silhouette seemed to be a perfect solution because they are precious, they are very vintage, and they fit the concept. after ridiculous amounts of time searching, i found an etsy shoppe with an image i liked and asked them to make one no more than 3 inches tall. alicia kindly obliged and called it "nice and tiny for maribeth." i love it! and, it came with three more!

now, back to the happy pictures. i have said before that contrary to popular belief we do not have tons of pictures of our children much less walls full of eye candy. in fact, it is often a source of discord here that others reap the talents of my husband frequently, but not his own family. (i know, i know, it is his job. i know, i know we still have pictures. i know, i know . . . i'm just keeping it real.) so, i said i envisioned the chair in a field of tall grass. i once saw a picture taken by this amazing photog of a vintage high chair full of chubby baby nestled in the wet california sand. last time i checked, we don't have any beach for such an image, but we do have grass. or, tall weeds. lots and lots of tall weeds. once josh understood my vision, he was a man on a mission to find the perfect location to shoot. then, we just had to wait for a small break in his schedule. well, people, all the stars aligned and we were able to go sunday evening to take these . . .

i am in love! thank you, baby!

if you would like to see similar images taken with film, you can look here.

now, you can find this and other finds at the "i'm a flea marketeer party"!

time is slipping away

"january, february, march and april, may and june and july . . ."

 july? how in the world is july already gone? 

i definitely didn't fill my days with blogging  . . .

or sewing . . . 

i wish i had. here are a few things i did in may before preschool was out. i made my niece (yes, i am an aunt now-that happened this summer, too) a matching bird burp cloth.

. . .  and a couple of t-shirts for miller. 

while my days were not filled with sewing, they must have been full of something for someone to sleep like this:

and, yes, he still loves cookie. that day, we found cookie "underpants" and cookie cookies at the walmart.

no little boy's summer days are complete without creepy crawlies like frogs . . . 

and caterpillars. especially weird white ones.

we did make it to the sprinkler park one day, but we didn't get wet. instead, carter blew bubbles, miller filled buckets with water and they crossed the monkey bars over and over again until mommy's arms felt like jello.

and, at some point, the poor middle kid decided to find his own space away from his sisters in the corner behind the chair with cheez-its and his cookie baby toy. or, maybe he just did it so no one would eat his cheez-its. that might be me if it weren't for these:

tomato and mayonnaise sandwiches. one of my summer time favorites. so yummy.

especially with ripley homegrown tomatoes.

and, look who else gets to eat! we finally squeezed solid foods into our daily schedule. while her bib is definitely distracting, as is her thumb, she likes food more and more and it helps keep her rolls abundant. and abundant they are. you just have to squeeze them!