A Taste of Tree Trimming

We are quite tardy.

Normally if my tree is not cut and standing in my home by dark the day after Thanksgiving, something strange is amiss.

This year we're late. We're still on our Thanksgiving travels. And some changes are afoot once we get home, so tree procurement dates are still a bit fuzzy.



Luckily, however, we got to have a little taste of tree trimming at Gram's house.



Apparently we are rationing clothing around here. Only one item per child at a time.

For both my babies' 1st Christmases I made clay ornaments of their little feet and hands.

My how those feet have grown.

I am itchin' to get my halls decked...but that'll have to wait for now.

T-Day Revisited

What I did on my summer...I mean Thanksgiving...vacation:

Did some swinging.


Listened to secrets from Aunt Joann.


Chilled out with my new buddy...Buddy.


Chased some kitties.


Beed cute. (There's a whole series of these found here. Trust me it's worth a click)


Played outside with Dad.


Posed with the fam.


Played charades. Two words. It's a dance move....Sprinkler Dance!


Watch a movie with my bro.


Looked cherubic.


And at the end of the day I jammed as many applesauce cookies as possible into my mouth gerbil style by the double fistfuls. And I was thankful.

A Story.

Let me spin you a little yarn. It's a story wherein Amos sits on a swing, holds stuff and is ridiculously cute.











The end.

Sweet Anticipation

The goodies are cooking. The tables are set. The babies are resting as we wait and ready the house for a family Thanksgiving.


Gram prepared a special table for Eli and Amos. As soon as he saw it Eli got situated in his vintage child's chair and said, "I'm ready Mama!"


He played away at his little table, setting his barn and trucks just so and chattering about being thankful. A bit early but still.


As we've been traveling I've been repeatedly struck by how big and confident and self sufficient my elder boy child is becoming. He's tall enough to turn on the sink to wash his hands on his own - and what's more - he does it. Sometimes without being asked. When did that happen?

I'm struck by Baby A's joviality and gusto. His personality gets bigger by the day and now includes, in addition to his usually sweet contented whimsy, little grumbles of displeasure. These usually occur when Eli's trying to exert his birthright wherein he assumes he has first dibs on all the toys. Way to go Little A. Get yours.


I am struck because I am unduly blessed.

On this day, only slightly more than on any other day, I give thanks.

She Sells Sea Shells...

The little boys and I have just returned from a merry adventure to the shores of Kitty Hawk and Kill Devil Hills. We went to visit my Mama, their Yaya, in her beachy haven.

For weeks they've been experiencing a nor'easter there. Ocean covered roadways. Dunes migrated.

But we enjoyed a miraculous little window of meteorological perfection. For us, the sun, she shone. Three 65 degree days lined up before us and we basked in them.

We soaked up as much sand and Yaya as we possibly could - oh so salty sweet.



Now we return to these blue mountains to rest, to feast and to be grateful.

Llamas are a hoot.

I did the second of my two holiday sales on Sunday. It was not great. It was fun and I met some lovely people, but alas, I did not make the big bucks. Alas.

But it did give me a renewed appreciate for etsy. I spent two months in preparation for these two little sales, completely neglecting my etsy shop (Happily Home Sewn - found here :-), and even with no attention from me, etsy sales out performed my profits at these shows. So I'm going to show etsy some love by freshening up my listings with new photos and spruced up descriptions. Stay tuned for the Happily Home Sewn makeover.

Blech...enough money talk. Now onto some fun critters.

I got a few special orders at the sales. The owls were a big hit:

Dude. I need a girl.


And today's random critter applique request: llama t-shirt and onesie for the Sllama kids. I think it's an inside joke, but a friend ordered these for her friends - the Sllamas. Llamas...Sllamas...get it?

The next few post will be coming to you from the Tarheel state. We'll be family hopping across North Carolina for the rest of November. We'll even take a swing to the coast to visit my Mama. Can't wait!

5 Reasons I love...

...these banana oat bars we made on Thursday:
1)On Thursdays I watch two other kiddos - a brother sister duo about the same ages as my boys. One is Dizzy's BFF and the other is Boogie's lady. Dizzle and his pal were excellent baker's helpers and loved making these yummy bars.

2)Baking was the perfect activity for a snowy day.

3)Eli's 2nd homework assignment ever was due the following day and it was to choose a yellow fruit or vegetable and talk about it, eat it, and cook something with it. Check.

4)We were responsible for bringing snack to Eli's class the following day. Check.

5)They were yummy.

Try out the recipe!

Getting Arty

Still loving the new camera. I've slacked off on my class a bit (who has the time!?), but I plan to catch up in the coming weeks. But I've gotten some good shots here and there.

I liked these two because there's something a little off about them, but it works (much like myself).
Fun, eh?

This Autumnal Moment

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. Inspired by Soulemama.

Thankful Tree

Bursting with gratitude?

Got a hefty stash of felt handy?

Well here's the tutorial for you.

I must give credit where it's due - I get (*cough* steal *cough*) lots of ideas from Pottery Barn Kids. Eli loves to play in there, and while he plays, I get inspired. That's where the idea for the Thankful Tree was planted, as well as the Paper Bird Mobile. I don't take photos (the fella scolded me for that one) I just look and let the ideas ruminate for a while until they bust their way out via my fingertips. To begin, sew four sheets of green felt together like so:
(That beige sheet should be green, but I only had three green sheets).

Then cut it into a bushy/tree shape por exemplo:
Now, because my sheets weren't all the same color, I decided to felt in some green roving to mask the different shades. You can skip this step if you have enough green sheets of felt.
Make some branches and a trunk out of brown felt:
Voila.

Then cut out a buncha leaves out of fall colored felt. Add numbers for the dates of the month. I sewed my numbers with a very tight wide zig zag stitch. But you could cut numbers of out felt and stitch them on by hand or machine (don't worry about the edges - felt doesn't fray - love the stuff!).
Then stitch the leaves on, leaving the center portion of the leaf, and the top wedge un-stitched, so that you'll have a little pocket into which you can tuck a note of thanks.
Because November's been a busy month, I just got this finished today, so the boys and I played Gratitude Catch-Up at dinner tonight. Dizzy totally gets it. Right out the gate - he's thankful for his family (melt). Then he's thankful for us one by one (including me, with a little goading - "How about the one who made the tree?")

Then he exclaimed, "The next one's for Luca and Inara!" - his besties. Heart...warmed.

We were thankful for his school, teacher and class buddies...our yummy food, especially when prepared by Daddy, and being so healthy. And now we're caught up.

The plan is to continue discussing gratitude and write something we're thankful for each of the remaining days in November. I even plan to take this with us on our travels.

Gratitude abounds...

Reunited and it feels so good.

My weekend at Sunny's was sooooo lovely and I took full advantage of all that lounge time. I relished not being needed. I savored not changing diapers or wiping noses.

But I missed them something fierce. There is nothing better than rising up the escalators from the terminal train and seeing Dizzy's sweet smile and arms full of flowers saying, "Hi Mommy! You came back!"

Yum. Me.

So I've been eating up some boy time since I got back.

Poor Baby A. He was sick and pitiful while I was gone. He's made it clear I should never go again. He's still a little puny, but hopefully on the mend.





Absence has made our hearts even fonder. Imagine that.