The Happiest Place on Earth.....

A whole day at Disneyland...

6 cousins, four parents, two grandparents. Two backpacks full of sandwiches, one bag of popcorn. Three cameras, 250 photos, 24 tired feet, one stop for ice-cream. Big Thunder Mountain, Tom Sawyer's Island, Peter Pan, Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, It's a Small World, The Mad Hatter's Tea Cups. Six dizzy boys. Buzz Lightyear, twice. Aidan's first roller-coaster. Jackson on stage for Jedi Training. Dirty faces, sticky hands. Late-night walk to the car. Asleep before we leave the parking lot.

Happiest place on Earth.

Sunny days are here again...

We bring you this post from sunny san diego....
craving sunshine and now we've got it...
proof...

cousins at the beach...

sunshine...

jackson...feeling it all the way to the tips of his toes!

i love jack's face...sitting on the shoulder, so stoked for his buddy jake!

Coming soon...disneyland. Oh, the joys.

Little girls = twirly ribbon skirts

Um, yes, it's still winter.

Contrary to my hopeful post below, we've had the most crazy-ass weather I've ever seen the last few days. Pardon my profanity, but seriously. Waking up to snow, then rain, then beautiful sunshine, then a blizzard, then more sunshine and steaming pavement. And that was all by about 3 p.m. yesterday. I kid you not, people.

As such, I've been having my own little version of spring fever. Here's my first little project to coax spring into existence...



And yes, she looks a bit like a miniature french tart smoking a cigarette in that last one, but I promise she's not. Smoking, I mean. She may be a french tart. It's probably too soon to tell.

I whipped out this skirt in about an hour this afternoon - after baking this cake from my fave cooking blog and before Aidan got sick and put himself to bed, started running a fever, and Chloe projectile vomited. I was feeling much like a domestic goddess. Then, I was a goddess scrubbing baby throw up off the kitchen floor.

Anyhow, the skirt is a free pattern from oliver + s, which is the same brand as the jammies I'm working on for Chloe and my niece Charlie. Click here to see their blog, then look to the right under free patterns. It's called the lazy days skirt and it makes me want spring RIGHT NOW!! Luckily, we may get some wear out of it when we go to San Diego next week. I think it will look super cute with a tshirt or tank and some bitty sandals.

The cake is called the Pink Lady cake, and today was a practice run for Chloe's birthday, in May. I made one for the cake walk at the boys' school, which I then did not get to attend. See above paragraph about sickness and such. Regardless, it was divine. And not that difficult. And the frosting was pink and delicious and there were real pureed strawberries in the cake. Yum.

perfect spring day

Spring is coming. I know it. I can feel it in my soul, despite the fact that we're supposed to get more snow this weekend. Days like today...

A picnic blanket bathed in sunlight.
Golden rays warming the backs of your shoulders.
Babies squinting, hair aflame from the last rays of afternoon sun.
Basketball bouncing on the driveway.
First crocus, purple and white, unfurling.

Spring is coming. There is something delicious about the anticipation, something wonderful about the days like today being a delicacy.

"faith is the assurance that what we hope for will come about and the certainty that what we cannot see exists." hebrews 11:1

Days like today make faith a bit easier...

On another note, I'm trying to redo the pillows on my sofa.
Hmmm. That could have been a smoother transition, I think.
But anyhow.
I want something fun, a little funky, still sophisticated, but less...neutral. Everything in my living room is neutral, and we just had it painted this really lovely shade of seaglass-ish blue green which I L.O.V.E. However, I just can't decide if this is cool, anthropologie funky or just way too much, went to the circus for pillows funky. What do you think? (it's just fabric laid over the pillows so far, so no commitments yet!)

drama!!!!!

I have to post about the MOST DRAMATIC night of reality tv EVER. What is there to say? Anyone who watched has their own opinions about what happened on the Bachelor season finale. But the part that made me die laughing was the sudden EXPLOSION that happened on facebook, myspace, twitter, and every other possible social networking gig. The entertainment blogs, the network news stations, for crying out loud. And all this over a show that (I thought) was sort of embarassing to admit I watched! Suddenly out of the woodwork come all the secret Bachelor watchers. Grown men. Husbands, even, who've been doing the drive-by watching all season long. Anyhow, if you're interested in a few other opinions, including a blog from the host guy and a link to Jimmy Kimmel's interview with the dumbest man on TV, click here, here and here.

My two cents? Well, it certainly isn't "reality" television in my opinion if a guy thinks he can date two women (and they're both okay with it), take a fantasy trip to another country, propose to one, send the other one packing and completely humiliated, then dump the first one on national television to get back with the one he kicked to the curb and still walk out of that studio with all his important bits intact. Reality? I don't think so.
Great television? In a train wreck that you can't look away from way, certainly. And come on, everyone needs a guilty pleasure here and there!

projects

We've been working on projects around here. Which is sort of nice, because when they do a project, I can maybe grab a few minutes for my own projects.

Jackson got a new set of big-guy legos for his birthday, and his little engineer brain is like in hyperdrive right now. He could not wait to get those bags of bitty pieces open. Watching him read the instruction book step by step was awesome. He was so focused...I practically had to drag him to the table for dinner. Here are a few of his finished products...




I'm also in the middle of my first ever real sewing project from a (gasp!) pattern. I've always been a make-it-up-as-you-go sewer, which is why most of my projects have involved straight lines. Pillows, quilts, curtains...I'm cruising. Sleeves? Neckbands? Excuse me? But I saw the pattern for these little wrap pajamas from oliver + s and I had to try. I can't show too much, since there's gifting involved here. I'm trying to make a coordinating set for Chloe and for my niece Charlie, the two baby princesses of the Butler clan. Here's just a little sneak peek...



I'm doing Chloe's first to work out all the kinks. We'll see how it goes...but I had fun learning to cut out and place all the pieces, etc. I've only had to go back for more fabric once...so far.

happy birthday.

Yesterday, my oldest turned 7. Seven. That's like, a lot of years. I certainly don't feel old enough to have a 7-year-old. Apparently I am. We were supposed to take cupcakes to school on Friday, but the flu had other ideas. Instead, we had a lazy Saturday and then Mimi & Pa came for birthday boy's choice of dinner. Which was ravioli, shrimp and scallops. I know.

We sat around looking at old pictures, including the pictures of Jackson's birth. (Well, the ones that are fit for company, anyhow!) As hard and exhausting as that day (and night) was, I realized that we birthed more than a baby that day. It was the birth-day of our family. It was the day my parents became grandparents, the day we stopped being just a couple and started being "mom" and "dad." It changed everything for us. The birth of each child is a miracle, but there's a special miracle that arrives with the first one. Now, he's tall and gangly, and when I pick him up to hug him he's like almost as long as me. But he still gives me a kiss before school every day, so I count my blessings.

Okay, I'm done. And no, that is not a tear on the laptop. That's baby drool. From the one that's still a baby. Sniff. Sniff.

Happy Birthday, sweet boy.