Nice

When I'm a nice wife I get flowers from the farmer's market (smile).

Or maybe it's because I started doing all his laundry.

Flower Picking

On Saturday Connor said to me:

Mommy I just wanted to tell you something. I picked some flowers for you for Mother's Day and put them in my desk to hide them from you. Now they are all dead. I guess they needed water.

The flowers were these little purple wildflowers that I had actually thought of picking for myself.


So on Sunday morning I found a new bunch of purple flowers sitting next to the door. These I got into water before they wilted. They were one of my favorite Mother's Day gifts, right next to the handmade pop-up book about soccer, frogs, snails, sisters, and of course Connor & Mom.

Ten Joys of January

1 ~ Matching handmade elephants, Christmas gifts for brother and sister. (Pattern from Last Minute Patchwork + Quilted Gifts by Joelle Hoverson)


2 ~ Lots of rocking in this little corner.



3 ~ Gifts of food from neighbors and friends after Maari's birth (especially those weekly grocery store runs from Grandma). I have been a little spoiled lately.

4 ~ Silly spectacles on a silly seven year old.

5 ~ New bangs.

6 ~ This CD

7 ~ The snowman that never melts (now diasassembled but still here).


8 ~ Watching Polk come up with new places to nap.

9 ~ Fitting into a pair of non-maternity jeans!

10 ~ This little peanut.

Practice

Trying out my new birthday/early Christmas present on the belly...baby is going to need to get used to that camera. Justin's pictures seem to be turning out better than mine. After this crazy holiday stuff I am planning on sitting down for a one on one with this monster - so much to learn!

Spring Inside

Snow all day tomorrow - last year at this time the temperature was 72 degrees! Yeah, March can be pretty unpredictable in the Midwest. So to help lift the spirits, a few attempts have been made to bring spring inside, since it is refusing to make an early appearance outside. It helps a little...

Connor was so excited last week for the first day of spring. It came, and then the next day we got several inches of snow. "Mommy, it still looks like winter to me."

Me too Connor!

Piano Man?

My poor old piano - not getting much use these days. Its main function: dropping spot for random mail and other loose ends. The other day however, as I was finishing up some laundry I heard its familiar echo as I was coming up the stairs. And there was Connor. He had cleared away enough clutter to open the old beast up.

It shocked me how lyrically he was playing. When he was a year or so younger he loved to pound out a few tunes all at one sound dynamic - LOUD and one tempo - FAST. This time he was alternating loud with soft, slow with fast.

I have been eagerly awaiting the day that he wants to learn to play, if that day ever comes. My big parenting philosophy is not to push. I have always cringed at those parents who are so adament about little Johnny or Susie following in mom/dad's footsteps that they make the poor child frightened of failing or just plain unhappy.


So I have held myself back, but this time he wanted to try to learn so I dug out my old first book. This little lesson did not last long. I think maybe Connor figured that after 5 minutes of learning he would master a song... Maybe he is not quite old enough yet...I'm keeping my fingers crossed that someday he might decide to follow in Mom's footsteps but who am I to decide that?

Welcome March

Thank goodness for March. This winter has been LONG. What do we have, one month of slushy gray melting before a little green starts popping out? Sometimes I wonder why we live here and put up with it all, but I think each season makes us appreciate the next so much more.

This weekend recap:

Friday - movie night. I think I am somewhat of a jinx when it comes to movies. Every time Justin & I watch one together it ends up being a really bad flick. This could also be my requirement that the movie be less than two hours. It seems that the length of the average movie has doubled over the past few years. I can understand why some need to be three hours long for artistic purposes or whatever, but 3 1/2 hour romantic comedies......come on!! I guess I just lose interest after a certain point (unless the movie is so fantastic that it deserves taking up my whole evening).

Saturday - some friends we have not seen in so long came over - fun fun catching up.

Sunday - tiling the bathroom - Justin and my dad that is. Connor and I were a little less ambitious.

Ahh, Thanks!

Thank you to Sew, Mama, Sew for featuring my fabric basket. All of the kind comments about the basket and bookmarks put a smile on my face!

Happy Friday

That Time of Year

It has been a little hectic around here lately, as is typical of December. This one has been even more so. In addition to Christmas we have two December birthdays. This year we also have an out of town wedding sandwiched inbetween Connor's birthday (the 21st) and Christmas. And now the other night we had to rush Connor to the emergency room due to some scary nasty hives. We have found out that he is allergic to milk. So now, amongst the busy holiday season we must also readjust our eating habits. Luckily Connor likes soy milk, although lately I have heard some not so good things about it. And although I do not like this allergy, then again who would, I am glad to know where these hives have been coming from the past two months. Another positive - they rate the allergy on a scale of 1 to 6, 1 being the least allergic and 6 being the most. He is a 1! And so he does not have to completely eliminate dairy from his diet, just cut back.

So my holiday gift making has again been put on hold. Here is some of it waiting to be cut into:


And on another note, I had a wonderful birthday. Here is my favorite gift, a serving tray built and decorated by Connor.

**See the 21 on the advent calendar - the birthday boy's day is overfilling**