enjoying the moment.

today chris took the kids with him to new jersey to hang out with grammy and boppa. this means i get the entire afternoon and evening alone. he did this last week, too, and i gotta tell ya...i didn't know what to do with myself last week. so today, as they drove off, i went to the kitchen, made some coffee, came upstairs to spin some yarn but just ended up sitting and thinking about our morning.

i took the kids to a park nearby, pool forge. it's a great park - big pavillion, great playground for all ages, and a nice, cool creek. lots of mud, flowers, rocks and twigs to play with. we were there celebrating the end of the school year with one of the homeschool co-ops we attend, community homeschooler's learning group. it was so nice to play in the mud with eli, as he collected little pebbles to chuck into the creek and watch the ker-plunk. he was so into the creek - didn't want to leave it, except to play with some of the bigger boys. stella had her friends to run with, play kickball with, hold hands with and slip in the creek with. she is normally nervous near the creek, but today, with her friends, she was brave and walked across to the otherside. i haven't taken any pictures lately, but this one will be burnt on my brain for awhile: stella, standing on the other side of the creek, beaming, hands held high. i felt my eyes burn a little...and clapped for my girl. we ate some ice cream and headed home, wet and muddy. it was a really good morning.

ok...i'll try...

so i talked briefly with rachel on the phone the other day, then read this post, and said to myself, c'mon...write!

so, it may only be a sentence or two, and it may be mundane and not very inspiring, but i will try my hardest to post more. chris has the camera on tour, so there won't be any new photos, but maybe i'll pull out some old ones.

like this...our october consisted of a very special birthday...stella turning 6...


don't you love the red tutu over the t-shirt and jeans!?! she insisted...and i was thrilled! she wanted a "rainbow-cake-tea-party"...so i made up a rainbow cake!...very fun to mix and bake and play with all that color! all hidden under a real chocolate buttercream...mmmmmm.

then, of course, halloween. we thought we were having a princess leia and luke skywalker, but stella changed her mind the day before (yep) and i whipped up this costume thursday night before friday's trick-or-treat. again, she was SO happy...it is well worth it.
we were accompanied by lilly - the old fashioned lady, and ida - the girl beaver. good times!

so...maybe next time, i'll hit a bit of november...voting, tour, getting ready for the holiday season. see, there are always things to think on, right?

so what's up??

so...it's tuesday, i know, but i'm getting there. thought i'd share some photos of recent stuff:

eli broke his pinky finger by slamming it in my studio door. of course, he was listening to me telling him to please stop playing peek-a-boo with the door...a sweet little, "ok, mama" was followed by a cry i've never heard out of him and the sight of a purple swollen little finger. a trip to the e.r. resulted in x-rays and a splint. the follow-up visit to the orthopedic doc resulted in this:
thankfully, he is so into spiderman right now, that he thinks he has webs in his cast and shoots them out at everyone. yep...check out the spidey cartoons on netflix...he loved them. wish you could hear him sing the song...every word of it.
we've been spending our saturday mornings (like half of america) on the soccer field. stella has wanted to play for a long time, so we did it.
she is having so much fun being a part of a team...
i love that these photos look like she's all over the ball...truth is, she'd rather share the ball, if you know what i mean!
my mama found this great china set at a yard sale. now we just need some guests for dinner...any takers?
and i'm about to get sewing on some new fall clothes for me and some christmas gifts for the rest out of these books. for those of you interested in japanese craft books, this website offers great help in translating your books and patterns...check it out!
so, in other news...i've been working on getting mickleton music going, but it doesn't seem to be happening. while it's a disappointment in some ways (lots of hard work promoting, marketing, etc.), part of me is relieved...life is busy enough! especially with the school year starting up...we are homeschooling stella this year (her kindergarten year). i think that deserves it's own post. i've realized that folks are either completely supportive or completely opposed to homeschooling. and that has been hard. still trying to find some supportive friends with kids stella's age. hoping our co-op will do that!

and for total randomness (and to entice the nyssen's to get there butts to the east coast), chris and i went to vietnam (restaurant, not country) on saturday and i got my usual, #41, with added crispy spring rolls. we were with megan and jed, and meg showed me a new way to eat the spring rolls...and holy cow!!! THAT good. wrapped the little delicious bites in a lettuce leaf with a sprig of mint, dipped into the sauce - heaven in my mouth. also, went to the bar first and had a french martini. crap. good. need to go again....(c'mon, rach!!!)

anyway...i'm back in a way. slowly, but surely!

10 x 10

{i'm hi-jacking the 10 on 10 project via ann-krestene and jen. enjoy!}


10am::


11am::


12pm::


1pm::


2pm::

3pm::


4pm::


5pm::


6pm::


7pm::

pictogram

happy belated easter

::eggs decorated::

::sugar rush hitting hard::

::fever hitting 102.5::

::cake hitting the freezer to be eaten this weekend, when we will actually celebrate easter...::

*photos taken on a trial run lumix....to be returned tomorrow to purchase the D80...woo hoo!

catching my breath

wowzers.

we hibernated last week due to a nasty virus infestation. stella and eli had it bad, up all night for about 4 nights coughing like crazy. broke out the nebulizer again. i have a love hate relationship with that thing. freaks me out, but it works...so i don't know. we all camped in the living room...it was the only way we got any rest. stella had to sleep almost completely upright, so she was on the couch. i pulled her mattress onto the floor where i crashed and had eli by my side, all propped up on pillows. not fun. and quite exhausting. glad they are better now...

in the meantime, i had delusions of glorious hours of knitting as they napped away their illness, but no. i barely got anything done! but i'm back at it now. the hourglass body is finished and i'm halfway done sleeve #1. looking good (might still be a bit baggy, even with doing the smaller size!...oh well. it'll be cozy) i panicked about the bagginess one night and had to set it aside. so i cast on elizabeth zimmerman's february baby sweater. so cute and easy. i can't give details because the recipient reads this! wink wink lura. i got some hours to myself on sunday (thanks chris) so that i could hit the yarn store again (what a problem!)...they were having a great sale! 30% off ALL yarns. i got some nice merino for more baby items and some luscious malabrigo for a sweater for stella and an aran for me. i'm going to try to design it myself! this may not happen for a while...but the stash is now sufficiently overflowing with goodness. also got some great sock yarn...i still never knit socks! gotta try it.

so...my pay it forward friends, your gifts are now planned and hopefully will be completed by the end of the month. i'll keep you posted!

hope to be back into blogging mode now...see you soon!

school day

while eli naps and the girls play with colorforms, i thought i'd drop a little note telling you of our day. i wish to GOD that i had a camera, because these girls are so DARLING! i mean, seriously now!

the day started with our "circle" if you can call it that. eli knows the start of a school day means we sit together in the living room and sing...twinkle, twinkle little star (eli and ida's favorite) and today stella added her twist from her violin group class. a kind-of pre-solfege thing...sing and touch head to toe (or toe to head, actually):

toes toes (twinkle) head head (twinkle) air air (little) head (star)
shoulder shoulder (how i) waist waist (wonder) knees knees (what you) toes (are)

i think you can figure the rest. absolutely hilarious and fun for some reason.

next we had our "lesson" which i though was going to be a bit too tricky...and i DID underestimate these kiddos! i decided to talk about vowels and how they are a special family of letters that we need to spell all words. so i wrote them out
Aa Ee Ii Oo Uu
we made all the sounds...more fun...
then we wrote them in our books...
then we wrote our "spelling words" i thought...yeah right! they totally read each word with no problem!!!
Cat
Pen
Sit
Hot
Fun
they wrote each word five times in their books. loved it, too!
then i wrote the words out again on a paper with their names and they had to circle the vowels...perfect!
onto lunch...quickly scarfed down so we could go outside for a walk. it is freezing cold (not as cold as seattle!) bu cold enough for flurries. we walked the block and then hit their favorite backyard tree to build another beaver dam. after an hour of this (yeah, i know! i was freezing!) we went in for hot chocolate. eli crashed and now colorforms. we might read some stories before the end of our day...but all in all...a fun and educational day. for all of us!

weekend update...part one

the crafty side...


here's what's been happening around here:

knight dress-up capes for nephews, sons and daughters...

the valiant

(this one i made up on the fly...)

the princess (and back view...sorry, bad photo)


more eye pillows...for???

(adapted from the rice heat therapy pillows tutorial found on sew, mama, sew's blog.

tissue holders...to be added into the wellness packs

(also from a tutorial found via sew, mama, sew)

the christmas skirt

(yep, tutorial (although i changed it a bit) found you-know-where!)

meanwhile...the kiddies stayed in jammies for WAY too long!


but they were happy!



had to get these photos up...just to show y'all. more on the weekend tomorrow (hopefully)...it was very nice!!!

gifting music

it's not necessarily handmade and not necessarily not (whoa...too many negatives), but music is SOO much fun!

we have always been a family who plays with music...here's proof (ripped from Sally's Music Circle's website): me very pregnant with eli and stella playing with sticks...i think its to the tune of "oats and beans")

and i've been reminded of just how much kids love (and in my opinion, need) music in their lives recently by stella. she received a cd player for her birthday in october and we have been blessed to her choice of tunes daily ever since. this has had it's ups and downs. one can only listen to the cars soundtrack so many times. or the american girl theme song (too much when eli is singing in eli talk "hey hey hey...it's great to be an american girl"). so she started venturing into our cd rack. how funny when i find her listening to low, pedro the lion, sufjan stevens, edith piaf, but more times than not, the beatles. she has her taste. and it happens to look a lot like her daddy's.

there is so much good kid music out there...for some hip, fun and wacky songs, check out wxpn's "kids corner". they even have podcasts!


but when i am trying to encourage more playfulness and a little less "cool," i ask stella to put on some of our music circle cds.

for the first couple years after chris and i got married (and pre-kiddos!) i worked for a great, small company called Sally's Music Circle. i loved doing these preschool music classes. they are so much fun and the kids really do benefit so much from singing and playing with music with their mama's and daddy's! (speaking from the "violin teacher" mouth now: seriously...kids that participate in this type of program and sing and play at home with music come ready to learn their instrument at an earlier age with more competence...ok enough jibber jabber) i took stella to the classes until she was literally too old to go! (classes typically end at age 5, but we'll see about that!) and we STILL play with our instruments and sing the songs. i have watched eli slowly sing along...in tune! and do the little chants...with GOOD rhythm! stella absolutely loves them and i couldn't be happier.

these cd's are great even if you don't live in the philadelphia area (or baltimore at peabody prep). the cd's alone are magical. sweet songs, chants and lullabies that kids truly love to sing. so you can hop on over to cdbaby or itunes and grab one or more for yourself! you can buy the hard copy cd and they'll mail it to you or just buy the download! i've pictured two of our favorites (because it would be obnoxious to show all the photos!)

listen and enjoy!!



*****totally unrelated and absolutely hilarious...go here!**********

****edited to correct the link to Sally's Music Circle CDs on CD Baby...go NOW!*****

the diaper dilemma

boy have i been stressing over this for way too long!

i have (since stella was born) wished i could use cloth diapers...and had i taken the plunge then, i'd probably be ok with it. the only trouble is, we live in an apartment with little space for a stinky diaper pail and have to pay to do laundry...so cloth is not cheapest in our scenario.

but it obviously is not just about being cheap.

i cannot handle how many diapers i am sending to the landfill to sit in heaps for the next 500 years. i have used huggies on both kids...until now.

i've been trying out and wanting to use gDiapers. they are flushable, compostable and biodegradable...and about double the cost of disposables of any brand. (seriously...i did the math: huggies $0.22/dipe, seventh generation $0.26/dipe, gdiapers $0.38/liner...plus you have to buy the outer pants one time for about $50 for 4 of them (includes some liners))

so i think i might have to settle on seventh generation they are not biodegradable, but they are a bit more environmentally sound and the price is good....

dangit gDiapers...why are you SOOOOO expensive...????

i just have to be ok with it...but i'm having a hard time...my conscience is torn...frugality vs. "green"...
i gotta reach a compromise here...right???

where has the time gone?

well...i don't really know, so i will just give you the short run down instead!
hmm.
chris left on tour yesterday...that day is always hard, especially for stella, but things are improving today (phew). i need to know how other mama's handle this...ann krestene... does ellanor break down??? stella is a mess EVERY time. it's awful. tears, sobbing, stomach aches. my poor girl. i'm trying to keep her busy with fun things like swim lessons, visiting friends and family, maybe a movie this weekend (ratatouille maybe???)

before that...well, i don't even know! i've been working on my quilt for my quilt class (dick and jane fabrics by michael miller - no photo right now to share) as well as my quilt for the doll quilt swap II. have a little sneak peek. i can't show it all, as it is a secret!!! but those mamas at the swap are quite something...my partner and i seem to have so much in common...it's killing me! i want to know how much thought was put into pairing up the quilters. anyway, i am doing some foundation piecing from patterns i got in the mailorder from kingpod those little square were so much fun - kind of addicting!

but then...my sewing machine is kaput. yep. snappying threads left and right, jamming. ergh. i love my 401a, but is it time to update? plus i want to machine quilt and don't know if it does that. i'm such a stinkin' novice. any advice????

alrighty, so when the machine broke, stella and i did these (she did most of it...i did the ironing on):
for daddy: a rocket ship (based on a story he made up for her)

for herself: rainbow kitty and a map to magical places only rainbow kitty can go...?


i'll post these up to the project of the month's site too..fun!

eli is now walking all over the place and cutting more teeth - JOY!
but this is my favorite. he walks over carrying his shoes
signs "more" and sits down for me to put them on him! he loves them! and his new favorite toy is a birthday gift from aunt lauren...he now makes mmmmrrrrrrrrrmmm sounds!!! i love it!


one last thing to share...stella has been amazing me with her drawings. check out these birds (i hope chris is reading...) she did these completely on her own. a mama bird with babies flying behind her...i think they are gorgeous! very graceful and dancy...

i mean she's only 4...as my friend loren and i say...it's because she's gifted...because all of our kids are gifted...just sayin'.

in over my head...

whew! what a weekend...and it's only saturday!

thursday started it all w/ a follow up visit to eli's g.i. doctor. he didn't like how little eli gained (again) and scheduled an endoscopy to biopsy eli's stomach monday morning. i freaked out. there are no symptoms except low weight gain to signify such a procedure (which includes anesthesia, intubation and biopsying the tummy)...nope not doin' it. no way. i refused. which brings me to my now diligent schedule of feeding eli. i will fatten the boy. i will feed him stuff he will eat at every meal. if that means brocolli for breakfast, by-golly that's what he'll eat.

argh.

then stella got a cold. yep, again. fever, cough, runny nose. the whole works.

and we are babysitting my 3 nephews at my sisters house in PA till sunday. shoulda been fun. instead, tired and boring for the kids, as stella is sick, and i'm stuck inside w/ her. today was supposed to be a trip to charis' wedding shower...but can't go. chris took the "big boys" (aka brennan and landis) to papa's house to do some mulching and tree-trimming. hopefully tonight we can do campfire hotdogs and s'mores. we did watch the spongebob squarepants movie last night. chris and i both thought it was funny. ashamed to admit that, a bit.

ok...seems like i'm rambling on. must need an ear.

also realized today that i missed my very best friends birthday this week and i feel like crap. happy belated birthday, rachel...i hope you enjoyed yourself and i hope to talk to you soon! i love you!!!


alright...i'll stop whining...
big sigh.
i'm gonna go do some laundry. yeah!!

another week(end) goes by...

wow. my last post was "weekend review" and here i am with another one! time has been flying around here.

to start i'd like to wish my dear hubby a very happy birthday today!! stella and i made him his favorite cherry pie from scratch...mmmmmm.....


oh where to start... we had a wonderful weekend in the "country" (or so we pretend). it all began thursday morning with a train ride to exton, pa (the good ole R5) where my sister, lura, picked us up for a day of fun. we went straight to wawa for coffee, then onto the harley davidson dealership for a birthday gift for her boss (that was funny). after delivering the gift, we went to her house. grilled up some really yummy turkey burgers with fresh sage (they were SO good) and got to the gardening...here is a little taste:

stella working

From general

hands in the dirt

From general

watering

From general

eli helps

From general

the next day we went to "nana and papa's" in parkesburg, pa (aka my folks). here we spent time with mommom (my grandmother), did some fun in the sun stuff, some birthday-boy shopping (the summer of the polo shirt), and some more yard work. not many photos of the latter, since i was covered in mulch, digging up hard earth and planting lots of pretty flowers.
another taste:
fun in the sun...making wishes for princesses

From general

yard work...eli with papa

From general

my souvenir...from lura's garden, beautiful peonies with the sweetest smell...

From general

we ended it with a smith family picnic with yard games, grilling and friends on sunday. memorial day included a memorial service at the world war 2 memorial across the street (it always get me crying...thinking of my poppop...and that generation), out to breakfast at le bus in manayunk, used bookstore shopping, some clean-up, pizza and ice cream...
all in all, a very good weekend.
hoping to slow down a bit this week...get some crafting done while enjoying the almost 90 degree sunshine.