bits of sunshine

cozy

last night

and this morning

 

i have been making some bright earrings.  you can take a peek over here.  thanks for looking!

randomness from monday

i stayed home with my maddie girl in the morning.  she's fighting something off, she hadn't slept well on sunday night, so i let her sleep in on monday morning and then she and i played mancala together and played piano together.  i made her a bit of lunch, and snuggled her in with a movie while i went on a little field trip with isaac's class. 

the guy in orange is my guy.  the little guy closest to my camera ran up to me when i joined the kiddos and said, " you're isaac's mom!  isaac is so nice.  he is such a good friend!"  then the little guy next to isaac told me, "yeah.  isaac is a good buddy.  i like him." 

what fun to tromp around outside - even though the sky was mostly heavy and grey and the wind was was whipping along briskly - and to see my guy interacting with all his classmates.  he is so kind to all of them, and is so interested in what the grown-ups are saying and teaching.  i'm proud of him!

later, i got to snuggle by these two dears:

and after supper, maddie set to work making some really pretty bead and string bookmarks for her teacher and student teacher out at the prairie.  she is so thoughtful.  she used browns and golds for mrs. d.  "because she likes those colors a lot!"  and all sorts of blues for miss q.  "because she always wears something blue."

behind maddie is this - my new wall arrangement:

which i had to figure out because (thank you, renee!) i needed a place to display this lovely:

in other news:

i keep getting to sub.  almost every day.  i am growing to have some favorite rooms and favorite kiddos.  this is a good job for me. 

we keep getting random little bits of winter. though not like north of us. i'm so glad. most of our snow has melted and we can still see the ground through the little bits that have fallen recently. it's still cold,though. i'm ready for a warm-up!

i've been cooking some yummy new cookies and making some tasty, frothy hot drinks.  i'll share recipes soon.  i'm working on a post about what we eat - and i'll include some of our favorite recipes. 

i'm also working on some other writing.  a thought-filled blog post.  a book (more about that soon!).  letters.  and some other bits.  i've been keeping up with my notebook, too.  still such a helpful tool!

i also made a bunch of earrings again.  i'll have them listed for sale soon!

my birthday boquet from my mom is still lovely and fresh!  what a treat on these cold and grey days!

and for now, my friends - be wonderful! 

love, ~e

 

seven pictures and some words

{retro counter, spinach, carrot}

{our very favorite cookies.  i ate one.  the kiddos get the rest this time.}

{beautiful birthday flowers from my mom}

{the seven-gazillionth sink of dishes i've done in this tiny kitchen}

{little bird picks, assorted measuring spoons, dropper, retro glass}

{one more of the super yummy cookies}

{plus tiny green glass of toothpicks}

sometimes i think about how much time i spend beside my peeps, my favorite people.  and then i think about how much of that time i am really connected to them, how often i really invite them into my moment, how often i weave our moments together.  

today, isaac was home (to recover from a serious allergic reaction to a fish oil supplement).  just my nine-year-old boy and me.  so, i stopped the to-do's and sat on the couch under a blanket with him and we read a picture for harold's room (you know harold with his purple crayon, right?) - i read a page, he read a page, all the way to 64 - the end.  then i started reading the boxcar children to him.  i read the first four chapters.  we also visited about legos and ninjago over our lunch, and i really listened to what he had to say (when he's talking ninjago, sometimes it's easy to just nod and smile . . . ).  we spent some time beside each other today.  and we spent some moments woven together today. 

i stopped by my mom's today and made sure to blow her a kiss (she's got some sad, yucky sick bug) and tell her that i love her, to say the words out loud.  more than once.

when i tucked maddie in tonight, i crawled up onto her top bunk with her.  i love to settle in by her and just be with my girl.  this sunshine of mine.  weaving quiet moments with her.  

i sat down on the couch with ben and really kissed him.  we get to be by each other a lot right now - i need to take advantage of that!  use this time when he's home to our full advantage, so we have lots of good memories to live off when he's gone this fire season.  because fire season is coming.  around here it's melting and drying out.  in the west there wasn't much snow this winter.  get ready to be busy, boys.  there'll be fires to fight. 

so, friends, weave moments with your favorite peeps.  make some happy, cozy, smiling, gentle, wild, wonderful memories. 

birthday number 34

this has been a super awesome day.  i woke at 9:00 am to sunshine.  and i felt so rested.  we puttered around home a bit, then all four of us headed to the Y for some good exercise.  after we returned home, my mom came by with a boquet for me - a huge gerbera daisy in the middle and some pussy willows - so spring-like - in a vase that belonged to my grandma.  what a happy treat! 

my dear friend elissa called to wish me happy birthday - so i got to visit with her while ben made us a grand brunch.  eggs and sausage patties and more bluberry crumble bars (leftover from last night) and coffee - of course.  then ben and the kiddos did the dishes.  and i took my sweet time in showering and getting ready for the rest of the day. 

we drove in the sunlight to starbucks where maddie and ben told me to pick out a mug before we ordered our drinks.  i picked one with a porcelain marker - so maddie, isaac and ben could decorate it for me for my birthday. 

i wanted to watch maddie and isaac ride the ferris wheel - they make me smile.  of course, they didn't mind fulfilling that wish for me.  :) 

i also wanted to visit a dear friend and meet her almost brand-new baby boy.  she and her husband shared part of their saturday afternoon with us. 

he is such a tiny little bundle! 

ben had done some restaurant research and picked one out to try.  we had to wait for about half an hour for a table, but it smelled so yummy (wood-fired rotisserie chicken cooking away), and ben had read good things.  so we waited.  maddie worked on math (by her own choice) and kept us smiling.

isaac was a bit disgruntled by the wait.

once sitting at the table and knowing that food was on the way, he was his happy, goofy self again.

maddie insisted on a birthday kiss for the picture she snapped of us.

the food was worth the wait.  so tasty!  and i had a few bits of cheesecake with raspberry sauce for dessert.  we all kept commenting on what a grand day we were having together.

we stopped at a store at maddie's request.  she and ben went one direction.  isaac and i went to find some kettle-corn for him and maddie and some dark chocolate for ben and i. 

then, we headed home.  we listened to and sang and whistled to this music, this song in particular (thanks to maddie for bringing cd's so we could have some good birthday music), and visited and again talked about how much we all love hanging out together.

back at home, i took a picture of the table - with some of my favorite things on it - before tucking my dear kiddos in and sitting on the couch next to my hubby as he does some research and i write this.

all throughout the day, i had happy birthday notes coming my way, through the mail, by text message, on facebook, on my blog and on my flickr page.  this has been a super awesome birthday.  i have very dear people in my life, and i am so very, very grateful and blessed.

on a little side-note - this is what i wore today:

this is a pic from my 30th birthday:

some things haven't changed . . .

 

birthday eve

tomorrow i will be 34.

tonight i am thoughtful and a wee bit melancholy.

i am drinking some lovely black (starbucks) coffee in my happy bird (starbucks) mug.

and eating this wonderful blueberry crumble that i made using this awesome recipe - i just doubled it for a 9x13 pan, used half ground almonds and half ground pecans and added a LOT of bluberries.  so. very. yummy.

when i have posted this, i am going to read some more of the book i started today; all four of us are just chilling together in the living room.  it's a very nice birthday eve.

 

isaac's eyes

two weeks ago, i took isaac to the eye clinic.

he had a comprhensive eye exam.

which showed that isaac needs not just some vision correction, but bifocals.  pretty strong ones.

well, no wonder this reading gig has been hard!

we also were prescribed some eye muscle exercises.

isaac's eyes take turns working on some different activities for about 15 minutes each day.

i am so interested to find out where these exercises and the new glasses take isaac on his journey to reading chapter books!  

but for now - well, now he can see that the back of the ketchup bottle has real words and that those little street signs have letters that can be read from the car as we drive by.  this is a good start! 

i wish we would have done this sooner!  but - here we are now.  {if you ever know a child who is struggling with reading - get his or her little eyes checked - sooner, rather than later!} 

rock on, isaac.  we'll keep getting this all figured out!

hello again, friends

the sky was so gorgeous this morning before the grey set in.  the kiddos and i were up to see it - i had bus duty, and with the time change, it is just getting light out at 7:45 am.  the sun was just behind some trees and there is this plume of smoke glowing pink and maddie's comment?  we can still see the sky here - and things we couldn't see when we weren't in town.  like that pink smoke!  that is so pretty!  thank you for the perspective, dear one!

the snow is melting.  which means some grey days here.  but that's the way of it.  

the sun disappeared behind a cloak of grey soon after it rose above the tree line.

we went sledding a couple times over the past week. it finally was warm enough!  but before too much of the snow melted away.  one time was after dark.  :)  that was fun!

outdoors is the best place to be.  i am so grateful that it is warming up, even if that means some grey-sky days.  the snow is melting.  we are getting closer and closer to spring and warm sunshine! 

ben will be heading back to his FIsh and Wildlife / Wildland Fire job, soon!  april 7, to be exact.  someone is counting down the days . . .  the snow melting is so good - they will be able to start doing some prescribed burning sooner rather than later.  exactly what my man has been itching to do!

and before long we'll be trading the snow saucers in for bicycles!  hurray!

for now, i'll enjoy saying goodbye to the snow as the days get longer. 

more soon!  love, ~e