cozyblue

thanks

this year, and every year, i have so much to be thankful for.  

these two top the list:



happy thanksgiving, everyone!
xoxo

sweet matilda

here's our sweet kitty.  she loves the kids so much, and follows them around pretty much all day.  at naptime, you can usually find her here:



it's her favorite spot.  when griffin moved out of our bed into his new big-boy bed (the bottom bunk), matilda moved right along with him.  she loves to snuggle up next to him.  sweet girl.

the tooth fairy finally came!

last week adella lost her first tooth!  well, two teeth, to be precise.  what a big girl she is.  


(photo taken after the first one came out, as you can see...)

a while ago, when we first noticed that she had two loose teeth, we talked about making a special tooth fairy pillow.  you're not surprised, are you?  adella drew a picture of what she wanted it to look like, exactly where the pocket should be, and the words that should be on the pillow.  we went to the fabric store and i let her pick out the fabric (by herself!  no gentle nudging from me towards a certain print this time).  i sewed it up, stamped the words on, stitched the pocket in place, and we waited.  we waited patiently for many weeks, wiggling those wobbly teeth every day, waiting, waiting.



finally, last friday, the first one came out!  then, a couple days later, the second one came out too!  the lovely and generous tooth fairy left a $1 (gold!) coin for each tooth, and adella has them squirreled away for a special something, someday...

i'm afraid that losing the baby teeth means she is really not a baby at all anymore.  geesh -- what a big girl.

it's fall! (video)

some things (very long!)

first of all... HI.  hi!!  i'm still alive.  i dropped off the face of the blog-world unexpectedly and without explanation and i'm sorry!  i have been meaning to sit down and catch everyone up for several weeks now, and it's just been too darn busy.

things are good here.  very good.  but there are so many things i need to say, i think a list is the only way to go:

*adella and griffin are doing great.  actually, i should say, we are all doing great.

*adella's two loose teeth are just barely hanging on and will fall out any day now.  the tooth fairy pillow is ready and waiting.
*she still loves school.  she is doing amazing there, and i am so proud and happy for her.  i had a conference with her teacher a few weeks ago, and adella is above and beyond all the kindergarten expectations -- writing, math, and reading are all at the 1st grade level already!  she is getting along beautifully with her teachers and classmates.  but last week her "very best friend, tressa" moved and had to change schools.  adella took it really well, but still gets a little sad.  it's hard to lose a new best friend so fast!  but luckily, she is very resilient and has been very happy to play with all her other friends.  and today when i dropped her off, another little girl saw her and ran over to give her a big hug.  so i'm not worried.
*she's been bringing home lots of amazing artwork -- i plan to take photos soon and post them.  i'm thinking about opening a separate account for adella's artwork, instead of on my flickr stream.  i'll keep you posted.
*she's also bringing home a 'baggie book' each night, one that she picked out from the classroom, and she reads to us!  she is totally reading.  sounding out new words and already knows so many on her own.  it's really cool, and i can see that she is very proud of herself.

*griffin is a crazy little guy -- running and racing and flying his rocketship (finger) all the days long, talking non-stop, and generally being very cute.  
*on halloween evening, he fell on some wet marble steps and ended up with a big shiner and swollen eye.  he took it pretty well, though, and already his eye is back to normal.  poor guy -- he looked like rambo for a few days.
*he is OBSESSED with hot wheels and rocketships.  as i mentioned, he flies his finger (or stick, or fork, or penny, or rock, or stuffed rocket toy, or toy airplane) around all day, every day.
*he loves drawing, especially on himself or the kitchen table.
*he hears everything!  even when we're not talking to him, his little ears hear all, and he usually answers or responds with his own opinion.  and wow, can that boy talk.  all day long (and his day usually starts around 5 a.m.).

* stig has been working these past few weeks, which has been really good.  i'm not going to go into detail here, but i will say that we are VERY thankful that he has work right now, and we hope it lasts a while longer.
*most of you probably already know this, but in case you don't:  stig's band is playing at Merlefest 2010!!  they are really excited (and so are we -- me, mom, and the kids are going too) and have been working on some new stuff for spring.  merlefest is about as big as you can get with Americana music -- and Dehlia Low is so awesome, i know everyone at the festival will love them!

*my big news is that my little etsy shop has totally taken off!  i have this new product, and i planned to post about it here, but the first few were gifts and i didn't want to spoil the surprise so i waited.  and meanwhile i listed a few in the shop, and all of a sudden (and very quickly) -- they sold!  and then more sold, and more, and the sales have just kept coming.  i have been so extremely busy that i have hardly had time to do anything else besides craft and sew all day long.
so this is it:


and it's something that (obviously) i am very excited about.  a while ago i decided to start experimenting with screenprinting, and i had a few wedding gifts to make, so the printing and the design just fell into place.  basically i screenprint the tree (a design i drew a few years ago, that you might recognize from here) onto some fabric, then embroider the little heart, which can be customized with whatever names/initials someone wants.  then the fabric panel is sewn up into a pillow cover with some cute red coordinating fabric on the back.  sounds simple and easy enough, right?  well it is, but i was totally unprepared for the amount of sales i've made!  right now i've sold over 100 pillows, and currently have 89 on my 'to-do' list.  the list grows every day, and i'm stitching just as fast as i can.   i've just hired some wonderful helpers, though, and the pillow list is beginning to look a little more manageable.  still non-stop busy, mind you, but do-able at last.
*on top of the pillow business, i'm going to be at The Big Crafty again this december!  it's going to be a great show -- tons of amazing indie crafters and artists -- and fun fun fun!  i'm hoping to have some new items to unveil there, but we'll see how much i can get done in the next (gulp) three weeks.  for you locals, it's going to be december 6th at Pack Place downtown -- i promise it'll be awesome, so please come and say hi!
*i also made a sweet little felt embellished belt buckle that, along with lots of other buckles, will be raffled off to raise money for the Big Crafty, and possibly become part of a new craft book  (all about belt buckles, of course!) so be sure to check that out while you are there.

*there will be more pics of all of this (and more) soon, on flickr, but right now my camera is in the shop.  i really hope to have it back soon!!

*whew!  that seems like just the tip of the iceberg, but i think this post is long enough now.  are you still reading?  good for you!
there's just so much going on these days.  taking care of myself and my family always comes first, but every spare second - literally - has been spent working on my etsy shop stuff.  it's like a full-time job (on top of my other part-time job, and full-time life)!
but i hope this explains why i haven't been around as much.  i'm trying, i promise, but i have a LOT on my plate right now and i'm just trying to balance it all and keep myself sane and happy.

happy halloween!

some super trick-or-treating this year!
 


drizzly wet weather, golden leaves blowing around, kids dressed up, creepy beautiful old houses and brick sidewalks, lots of sweets and treats... and the cutest little dinosaur and loveliest fairy ever.



griff's costume was store-bought (and will last a year or two more, for the dress-up collection) and adella's was the 'simplicity' tinkerbell costume, with some minor adaptations.  mom and i worked on it together, and it came together relatively easily.  i'm happy that it'll definitely get some dress-up action after halloween has passed.  adella really wanted the sparkly ballerina shoes, and she insisted on the polka-dot tights also.  adorable, huh?



griffin caught on very quickly to the 'trick-or-treat' routine, (though it sounded a lot like "a treat?") and he had a blast on our fun adventure.



more pics over on flickr!   .... and hello november!

griffin is TWO

our little guy turned two today.  



it started with a breakfast cupcake.  adella really wanted to start his birthday off right, so she went ahead and gave him the gifts and a card from her.  (she drew the card for him weeks ago, and had it hidden away until this morning!)



after dinner we continued the celebrating with another cake (strawberry frosting on vanilla cake), ice cream (strawberry), balloons and gifts.  so much fun!  griff had a great time.  he was SO excited to see the cake and candles, and all the fun new toys & books.  he loved every minute of it, and we had such fun watching the excited smiles and squeals.



it's hard to believe he's already TWO years old!  happy birthday to our sweet, funny, crazy little guy -- we love you!!!

today's post is brought to you by the letter P

we went to the pumpkin patch today,



to pick out the perfect pumpkin (or two).



piles and piles of plump little pumpkins,



and piles of pudgy ones too.



i'm all p'd out now...  see more pics over on flickr!

snuggle bugs

a good thing to do on a rainy day:

pile as many blankets and pillows as you can on the living room floor.



bring along a friend or two.

snuggle up.  be cute and goofy.  have fun.

francie the fish

say hello to francie, everyone.  she came to live with us last week.  old purpsie checked out, after almost a year (that's quite a while for a fish, isn't it?).  francie seems a little more shy, but she's a beauty and adella is very happy.

rocket boy

(i bet you can hear the "whoosh!" without me even mentioning it...)

ay-pround!

we've been getting out as much as we can to enjoy this AMAZING fall weather we're having, and spending lots of time at the "ay-pround," which is griffin-speak for playground.

these were the photos i took in the morning.  then we went home, i put griffin down for his nap, and stig stayed home with him while i went to have lunch with adella at school.  (i swear, i almost didn't recognize her -- she looks so grown up!)  then after school, stig took the kiddos back to this same playground for round 2.  what can i say?  the kids love it.  and adella found out that we'd gone without her, and really really wanted to go.  on a day as pretty as this one, how can we refuse?

hello, lovely fall

apple pickin' 2009

we finally got a break from all the crazy rain we've been having here.  the sun peeked out, the weather warmed up, and we took advantage of the gorgeous day by going for our annual apple picking trip.  

this was our fifth year at sky top orchard, and it was as beautiful as ever.  i'm going to let the photos speak for themselves, but please check out my flickr photostream, because there are many more there.

also, some links to past years at sky top:  2008, 2007, 2006.  it's fun to see the kid(s) and how they've grown and changed each year.  go see!

just one afternoon at the park, part III - the view from my bench