Ah me

You know that time of night when the kids are long-since sleeping and you have a million things you've been waiting to do all day but all you want to do is go into the little one's room and pick him up in his sleepy warm snuggly goodness and nuzzle your nose into that chubby little place where his cheek meets his neck? And then you want to go into the big boy's room and pick him up, gangly legs and all, and hold him like he used to let you do before he became a "big boy" and sing him a quiet silly song and hold his sweet little hand? And then you wish there was a way to make them stop growing up so fast - not forever, but just for a little bit. Just until you got tired of crawling around on the kitchen floor and building lego tractors and calling all food "na-nas"and laughing together about things that nobody else would understand ... And then you realize that all the things you wanted to get done tonight aren't really important at all and that you have a wonderful life and you just love your kids so much it hurts. And you decide to go to bed and skip the ironing and get some sleep so you can do it all over again tomorrow. And you're looking forward to it. You know what I mean? I love that time of night.

Fall snuck up on me!

Last week I was lamenting the fact that I was still wearing shorts, and today I'm in a sweater! That happened fast. Oh well, the Indian Summer quilt is in the shop anyways. :) I was really tempted to keep this one to use as a wall hanging, but decided it would go better with a baby and lots of snuggling.

Home Made Fig Newtons

I can't take any credit for these - our neighbor made them from freshly picked figs and they are phenomenal! She also gave me an extra jar of the fig filling, so I'll be cooking up some of my own soon. It's actually pretty simple: Just cook down a pot of peeled and chopped figs along with some honey and chopped walnuts. You want it to reach the consistency of really thick jam. Then make a basic sugar cookie dough, chill, and roll out into a rectangle. Place the fig filling (you want it to be warm so that the cookies cook correctly) in the middle and roll the dough up around it, forming a log and pinching the ends shut. Bake just like that according to the dough recipe and cut into cookies after they cool. Yum! The perfect fall cookie.

Indian Summer

Just when I get antsy for a good ol' sweater and jeans, it gets super hot around here. One of the perks of California, I suppose, though I'm always ready to be done with summer by the time September rolls around. We've been making the best of the heat, though, with lots of afternoons on the shady lawn and running through the sprinkler. Who doesn't love a good run through the sprinkler? (Answer: Titus. He was pretty insulted by the whole thing, poor kid.)

This morning I was able to rescue some of my millions of scraps from the scrap drawer and work them into a little quilt. I think I'll call it Indian Summer - the colors remind me of this time of year. The tiny pieces in the last photo were too small to save. It was sad throwing them away, but I did my best. I always feel so resourceful when I use up scraps.

Oops

Well, I was ahead of the game yesterday - dinner was waiting to go into the oven, the kitchen was clean, and I was sure that, for once, I wouldn't be rushing around like crazy at 5 pm. But then this happened. No, it wasn't an earthquake. Sadly, the pantry already looked like that, except for the Honey Nut Cheerios sprinkled over everything. Everything.

Ug. Of course the first thing I did after accidentally dumping the box was run for my camera, solidifying the fact in my husband's mind that I am a complete lunatic. But then I cleaned it all up and was, of course, running around like crazy at 5 pm. Oh well. Up side: the pantry is now clean. Down side: no more Honey Nut Cheerios. :(

The next phase

Have I mentioned that Moses started Preschool? It's pretty great - and weird. Dropping off my big boy at school, driving home with just one kid, putting him down for his nap and then trying to figure out what to do. All the while feeling like I'm missing something... oh yes, it's Moses! I miss that funny guy when he's gone! But I'm trying to be productive with the extra few hours I'm left with - the floors are clean a bit more often. And before we pick Moses up there is a bit of precious time crawling around with the little guy, just the two of us. Then it's time to pack up a snack and head back down the hill to get things back to normal - we need our Moses back!

Oy.

Today felt like a doozie. There was a whole lot of this (that's dirt, not Oreos). And more than enough of this (insert screams of anger to complete the picture):

And daddy is out of town getting some much-needed rest, so I am on sole mucus duty. BUT, as of right now everyone but me is asleep and all I have to do is choose between painting my toenails and sewing a blanket. Rough life, I know. :)

I also managed to get a few new creations in the shop. Here's one of them - Moses' favorite fabric. I think he felt very generous when he "allowed" me to use it for the shop, stating proudly "I think they will like it when they see my baseball fabric in there." What a nice guy.

Mission: Lavenderize

I've decided that I want my entire house to smell like lavender. It is possibly the best scent ever - so clean and out-doorsy. Plus, it reminds me of my grandma which makes it even better. I recently received a new batch of lavender from Popko, who sells the greatest stuff in her etsy shop, and I've been making sachets like crazy. I'm putting them in my linen closet, hanging them in my own closet and putting them in my drawers. I'm working on a new batch of dryer sachets too - have you made yourself some yet? You'll be glad you did - they're pretty great! There are some new sachets in my shop - I saved the really pretty ones for you. :)

Good thing I spent all morning cleaning Moses' room...

This is what Moses created during "rest time" yesterday. He quietly and calmly (the only two rules governing what he does during rest time) created this "fort" using literally everything in his room. It is hard to tell by looking at the picture, but this fort consists of every pillow and blanket, diaper, toy, and article of clothing contained in the entire room. That is 4 people's worth of clothing. I actually gasped audibly when he showed it to me - luckily he mistook my gasp of dismay for a gasp of delight and his adorable little heart wasn't broken. I think I'm going to stop cleaning his room - what's the point?

The Wedding!

We have been recovering (in a good way) from the most excellent wedding of Daniel and Cindy. There are only a handful of experiences that I think about and end up with a huge grin on my face, and that wedding is now one of them. What a blast!

Cindy was gorgeous (no surprise there) and a wonderfully gracious bride - any of you who have gotten married know that it is HARD to be gracious in those hours leading up to the ceremony. Things always seem to get stressful for a bit, but she was simply lovely and I had such a great time with her and the other bridesmaids.
The ceremony was great, the party was a huge success. Moses got to wear a tuxedo and dance with us under the lights. I'm wearing the grin again! Thanks for a lovely time Daniel and Cindy (and Bill, Liz, Duane, Brett, David ... ) - Congratulations!