pretty, happy, funny, real

~ Capturing the context of contentment in everyday life ~

Pretty:





It's hard to believe that it's technically still winter. The weather has been truly spectacular these last few days, so we've been hanging out in the back yard quite a bit. Some of us weed, some of us climb trees, some of us try to put rocks, sticks, grass, and other assorted debris in our mouths, and some of us try to stop this oral exploration. Good times.

Happy:


A few days ago, my kids actually played together for an extended period of time. I had an entire uninterrupted CONVERSATION ON THE PHONE! which made me happy, but obviously, I'm also really happy about the relationship between those two. They love each other so much; it brings me lots of joy.


Funny:



Corbin is NOT a fan of how grass feels on his legs.

Real:
 
I've been thinking a lot about Noah and schooling. He's turning five this summer, so he could go to Kindergarten in September. But there are what feels like millions of options. We're leaning towards homeschooling for a variety of reasons, but there are so many different ways to homeschool! I'm reading about public school independent study programs, private school homeschooling programs, homeschool co-ops, charter schools... it's all a bit overwhelming. Part of me wants to build my own curriculum from the ground up and do it all on my own. The (more realistic) part of me knows that some sort of accountability beyond what's required by the state would be helpful. It's a good thing I have six months to figure it all out!

Pretty, happy, funny, real is the brainchild of these ladies here, who are encouraging their reader to find contentment in the everyday perfection and imperfection of life.

dinner conversation with Noah

Noah borrowing Murphy, January 2012

"Papa, are you 54?"
"No."
"Because you have to be 54 to have a dog."
"Ummmm..."
"FIFTY-FOUR!"
"Okay. I'm not 54, but I don't actually want to have a dog anyway. They poop in your yard."
"Yes. When you hear them fart, you have to hold a bag under them."

sigh

This is pretty much what my face looked like at the post office today, when I was looking for a specific flat rate envelope and the friendly lady behind the counter informed me that those are only available online, for people to ship stuff from home.
How about clearly stating that on your website, USPS?!!

{pretty, happy, funny, real}

~ Capturing the context of contentment in everyday life ~

Pretty:

While the East Coast was getting pounded with snow, we had some winter of our own out here in Southern California. It's been raining quite a bit, we had hail one afternoon, and last Saturday morning, we woke up to this frost!
Of course, I ended up having to run out there in my pajamas (and a jacket!) to get some photos of it before it all melted. (Which happened so fast you could almost watch it.)



Happy:



I've been on a sewing kick lately. Last Saturday night, I finally finished this apron. I cut it out in October with the intention of sewing one to try out the pattern so that I could make cute aprons as Christmas gifts. Hahahahahaha.... HAHAHAHA. Ha. Hahaha.
At any rate - it's finished now and it's lovely.
It also inspired me to make pancakes for breakfast, and since we'd had heart-shaped pancakes for Valentine's Day just a few days before, Noah requested that I make more heart-shaped pancakes. I aim to please...




Funny:

Elliora is... having a ball. (Ba-dum ching!) Related: Taking pictures of kids playing catch is kind of tricky!

Real:

my sweet little laundry helper

The baby's not sleeping well. At all.
On top of that, we've all been sick on and off since Christmas.
I've accidentally deleted my blogger profile photo and haven't had a chance to take a new one (or find one I could use) and upload it.
And yes, there's laundry coming out of our ears (as per usual).
I'm ready for this, too, to pass.

Pretty, happy, funny, real is the brainchild of these ladies here, who are encouraging their reader to find contentment in the everyday perfection and imperfection of life.

how my brain works

1. See recipe for tofu-based chocolate mousse on pinterest.
2. Read recipe, decide it sounds okay but not interesting enough to try out.
3. A few days later, see packages of tofu at Trader Joe's.
4. Be unable to resist purchasing a package because the recipe has become stuck in subconscious.

 
5. Come home, read recipe, then put chocolate chips and chocolate on your shopping list, because now you need to make chocolate mousse so the tofu doesn't spoil.

sniff

My lovely children are on their second cold of 2013. Is that some sort of record? After all, that's two colds in less than four weeks! Neither of them are in particularly good moods, which isn't altogether surprising, considering they spend their nights coughing and their days sniffling. At any rate - I hope they recover more quickly this time around - otherwise I may lose the tenuous grip on sanity I possess at this time.

futzing around

Unrelated picture is unrelated and taken by Bethany.
Don't mind me, I'm trying to figure out how to talk blogger into letting me post photos. Long(ish) story.

Update: HEY, IT WORKED! Woot!

unintentional blogging hiatus, thy name is Sonja

Things that happened but weren't blogged:
- my birthday
- Christmas Eve
- Christmas Day
- a cold that got everyone sick for the better part of two weeks (A friend had to go to the grocery store for me because too many of us were too sick to leave the house!)
- going to bed around 9pm on New Year's Eve
- goals for 2013 (I really do want to blog about those. Spoiler alert: not procrastinating is NOT one of my goals, because I wanted them to be realistic. I'm so proud of myself for that!)
- a really fun trip to the zoo
- a San Diego visit on the train
- going to Sea World
- the dishwasher breaking at a most inopportune time (though there really is no opportune time)
- lots of googling for chicken coop building plans
- Corbin getting sick again less than three weeks after getting over the above-mentioned cold

putting the pro into procrastination

This year's advent calendar, wrapped the night of November 30th.

I've fallen off the frequent-blogging bandwagon, and if I had any free time to do so, I'd hang my head in shame. But as it turns out, I'm too busy getting ready to Do All The Things (aka procrastinating).

I've had this candle holder for as long as I can remember - growing up, we each had a lit candle by our breakfast plates during Advent.

And what could be a better way to NOT do what needs to be done than blogging? Wait, don't answer that.

We made gingerbread boys!

Here's proof that I have done SOME Christmas baking. Noah was very excited to load those cookies up with icing and sprinkles of all kinds, while I was practicing my letting-go skills (which are so very necessary if you're cooking or baking with preschoolers, and also if you enjoy having areas in your house that are not covered in sticky, pink sugar-goo).
Noah also had a grand time playing ice cream shop with me - practically all the ice cream he sold was chocolate-flavored, regardless of color. That's my boy.



Guess who's getting more and more mobile? He's getting better and better at rolling exactly where he wants to go, and he's very determined... the next six months are going to be pretty interesting!
Elliora turned two, so we went and celebrated. With cake, of course.

sunset view from Bethany's back yard

This is one of my favorite photos from that day. It gives me warm fuzzies.

This happened... which means I should probably start planning his first birthday party, right?!

misadventures

It's been an interesting couple of days.

unrelated picture is unrelated

We had a lovely Thanksgiving dinner, but then I succumbed to a stomach bug and spent the better part of the night throwing up. Thankfully, I had my husband around home from work the next day (and then the rest of the weekend), so I could actually stay in bed and recover.
Yesterday morning, I woke up and rolled over in bed. When I stopped rolling, the room kept spinning around me. Getting up didn't improve things - on the contrary, I actually ended up getting motion-sick from the spinning (nausea, as it turns out, often occurs with vertigo). I cancelled all the plans I had for the day, D arranged to work from home, and I made an appointment to see my doctor. I started feeling better around lunchtime, and by the time I went to my 3:30pm appointment, I was feeling perfectly fine. Go figure.
I felt pretty good today... I wonder which part of me is going to break tomorrow!