1/52

I love going to Che and Fidel.  The photos and writing are so synchronized and soothing.  It's one of my favorite little worlds to get a glimpse into.  Plus I love imagining a warm summer world while it's grey and cold out the window.  
I tend to shut off when blogs have gimmicky buttons and days of the week set aside for this project or that...but the idea of tracking the growth and progress of the kids over a year of pictures was very appealing to me.  I'm trying her 52 project...I hope that I can do it. 

These photos are from the first week...

Owen: jumping, jumping, running, rolling, throwing, happy to be outside stretching those growing muscles.
Ever: snack time ended up being a few of the dried cherries and a lick of the cream cheese.

(Play Kitchen)

I mentioned this in the last post.  I made it waaaay long ago for Owen's second birthday. 

I love it.  

Another imperfect attempt to be sure...but so many fun hours were poured into this project.  My dad helped out too which made it special.  I learned so much and made way too many trips to Home Depot.

The kids play with it daily and it's such a happy little messy spot in the kitchen.    

On tents and love

This is our Christmas present to the kids.  

I've probably mentioned that we're not really big holiday celebrators.  Gosh, I'm sure that sounds heartless and cruel to some people but we've found that being low key works for our family.  The holidays pass semi-normally with scattered bursts of special events - like going to see the light with friends, or visiting family.  But there is no big build up to Christmas morning.  The kids are still little and don't know any better and the general season is still special with it's cookie baking and sparkly light spotting.  I'm interested to see how things change and evolve as the kids get older.  I'm pretty sure that we will still keep things simplified...no matter what traditions we adopt.

This year is the first year that I thought about getting them any presents.  They don't want for toys at all and have super generous grandparents so there hasn't ever been anything that I really wanted to buy for them. About a year ago, though, I started thinking of making Owen a little tent.  We constantly build forts here - blankets and pillows and chairs going every which way.  I thought it might be nice to have something a little more permanent and they looked easy enough to build.  

Aaand like most ideas I have...it evolved.  Into a teepee.  Into an 8 foot tall teepee that we all could kind of camp in.  I saw a tutorial on Smile and Wave and suddenly I was buying the wood in Lowes...I'm not sure what happened.  

It took me a few extra days to finish it - so it ended up as more of a New Years present than a Christmas present.  And I accidentally bought 5 pieces of wood instead of 6 so it's a litttttle different.  And I modified the instructions to make the door flaps overlap...but in general her measurements and instructions are a good place to start.  Easy enough for a sewing novice like myself to whip out in a few hours.  

It looks homey in our living room - is roomy enough that we can all cuddle inside - and is WARM.  Perfectly cozy.

I love making the kids random toys...homemade things like this or the play kitchen or the yarn blobby things. They're wonky and imperfect and take so much longer than I estimate they will...but there is something so important about finding ways to tangibly express love to someone else.  Baking them goodies, giving backrubs, building tents, mowing their lawn...whatever it is...I want our kids to grow up learning to DO as well as say.  To be creative in their expressions of love and friendship with others.  

I definitely need to ponder ways to encourage such creativity in them but I think that practicing it more often myself is a pretty good place to start.

She's cute and I'm definitely in love

Everly and I were getting some rare daddy-daughter time the other day and, boy, was it fun!

So we cheesed it up...

and goofed around...

and, well, goofed around some more...

what a gorgeous smile!

what a doll!

Not quite done napping

Owen is a complex little boy.  At one moment, headstrong and stubborn, the next - sensitive, sweet and affectionate.  He's also not very fond of being by himself... ever.

So, the other day, Owen comes down after I left him upstairs napping so I could get some work done.  It was a short nap and I could tell he wasn't quite ready to be awake.  But I also wasn't quite done with what I needed to get done.

So what did we do?  Compromise!

The angle from my computer...

(notice the couch fort in the background)

And one from Emily...

We got another 45 mins out of him... and I didn't mind the extra quality time myself.

Merry Christmas

A perfect day to send our love
To our family near and far
And our friends around the globe

J, E, O, & E

Mac and cheese

Does this look gross? I think that because I've eaten it (and love it) my perspective is a little skewed. The photos also confirm that I'm not a food photographer. But...maybe if I just Instagram those shots...?

Anyway...

I cooked up a pumpkin recently and was locked in a staring match with the leftovers when I remembered how much I love putting a couple tablespoons of the purée (or any squash purée actually) into store bought macaroni and cheese (we're partial to the white cheddar Trader Joe's box, fyi).

The pumpkin gives the sauce that slightly neon orange glow that feels so familiar and the taste is so subtle that no one notices. I think it actually gives it a nice rich flavor.

Anyway...my plan is to freeze up some ice cube trays full of leftover pumpkin so that I can just throw a few cubes in whenever I make pasta. Sneaky and delicious.

Actually not so sneaky since the kids help me cook and I also put in three pounds of frozen vegetables...but they're too young to know any better so I'm taking advantage of this window of time by defining 'normal' for them.

And normal is pumpkin purée. :)