Saturday, March 30, 2013

treasures

yard treasures
curated by Little Man
to take to show and tell
at preschool

Friday, March 29, 2013

color your world challenge

Remember how I was participating
No? Well. I got way behind.
I feel like I'm finally coming out of the pregnancy haze
and am tacking long-planned projects.
I scaled down my plans
and completed all three missing color challenges this week!

September: Teal
This is supposed to be a teal silhouette of a teal duck,
but I think it might actually be a wood duck. Oops.
It still turned out pretty nicely.

October: Orange
“[Orange] is one of God's favorite colors--

He stuck it right there between red and yellow
as the second color in the rainbow.
He decorates entire forests with shades of orange every autumn.
It shows up in sunrises at the start of the day,
sunsets at the end of the day,
and in the glow of the moon at the right time of night.”
~Reggie Joiner

November: Brown
I love Brown.
"The color brown, I realized, is anything but nondescript.
It comes in as many hues as there are colors of earth,
which is commonly presumed infinite.”
~Barbara Kingsolver

linking up with Jennifer's In the Studio

Thursday, March 28, 2013

funny little flower hat

A few weeks ago I decided to use up some of my yarn scraps
by making a hat for Sweet Pea (my girl loves hats)
that used a cool technique I found on Pinterest
for incorporating 3-D flowers into whatever you're crocheting.

It turned out pretty cute!
Though on second thought it might have been smarter
to use this technique on something that was going to be flat
instead of curved like the hat is.
The flowers might lay flatter that way instead of being quite so quirky.

But on third thought,
it was a fantastic time to try a new technique in a small project,
and Sweet Pea likes it and has already gotten quite a bit of use out of the hat.

Time to stop second guessing myself. : )

Monday, March 25, 2013

resolution

So it's almost the end of March,
and I'm finally posting about my New Year's Resolution.

This actually ends up working nicely
because often by this time of the year, Resolutions are forgotten.
But instead of forgetting,
I'm writing about it for the first time
and getting a nice reminder of my year-goal.


(acrylic and sharpie)

Several bloggers I follow
wrote in January about how their resolutions
were encompassed by a single word or short phrase.

I loved it.

And the more I read,
the more convinced I became
that my special resolution words for this year
should be Peace and Peaceful.

Between family and friends, church, work, and play,
not to mention sleep-deprivation and emotions,
I find myself becoming agitated far too often.

So this year I am pursuing being a
person who is characterized by peace.
It is a hard but excellent goal.

Thursday, March 21, 2013

art journal

Doodles with a basic ball point pen.

This rather psychedelic creation was made
when Little Man wanted to share his markers with me.

While I was doodling with his markers,
he drew a picture of the two of us together.
I so love it.

And Brother drew "ladybugs in the tall grass beside our porch."

Sweet Pea is still mostly drawing abstract squiggles
though she is working on drawing circles.

Another bright marker doodle.
Even though this one's just a doodle,
it has special layers of meaning for me.
The black dots are braille for "love"
which is significant since my mom is legally blind.
I wanted to communicate that love is a language
everyone can undersand
and that it can be "seen" be everyone.


I got some fun new art journal supplies last week.
A water brush and basic water colors.

I know, I know.
Gell pens are so nineteen-ninety-nine.
But I really love the way these lay down ink so smoothly.
Plus once they're dry, they're waterproof!

I'm learning to make the most
of the small windows of time I have for art.
This only took about ten minutes
but I felt refreshed afterward
and had a little art to show for it!

I really need to stop chewing on my pen lids while I draw, though.
It's a yucky and destructive habit.


Little Man wanted to try my new pens too.
This is "A Jabber" when it's facing this way
and "A Colorful Bag With A Handle"
 when you turn it upside down.

Thursday, March 7, 2013

two months


eats
mama milk on demand

sleeps
likes sleeping on his side gripping a blanket
is beginning to prefer his crib and swing to crashing anywhere
though he still likes cuddling best of all

says
soft coos of one or two syllables
(his voice so reminds me of Brother's when he was tiny)
sweet giggles and the occasional little belly laugh
hearty cries ("MAAAAAAA") when distressed

does
holds his head up with increasing stability
rolls from stomach to back in tummy time
is starting to focus on objects and try to grab them
escapes from his socks with ease

likes
baths
swinging
eye contact and conversation
having his head rubbed (still)
staring at Daddy's guitars (they're hanging on the wall)
sitting propped up on the couch and looking around
interacting with his brothers and sister
being held

dislikes
sudden loud noises and hats
having shirts put on over his head
being squished by Sweet Pea's hugs
having a stuffy nose
being too warm



Saturday, March 2, 2013

the big picture

but of course life's not all sunny mornings,
painting peacefully with the boys,
enjoying sweet baby smiles,
and delighting in my girl


it's also up-all-night
comforting the coughing, feverish ones
and your being cries for rest
through aching body and runny nose

exhaustion beyond  imagination

yet appointments must be kept
and dishes pile up
while laundry mountains grow
and trash begins to stink

and everyone still wants to eat

so you gulp the coffe down
and try to breathe in deep
and you pray for super-human Grace
to keep on going, keep on loving

and somehow strength is there