Happy Valentine's Day (A Day Late)

Valentine's Day dinner at our house, 2012. Pictured, left to right: Captain Pretty Man, Goofy-Goofy, Belle, and Big Blue.  Everyone was styled by the five-year-old except for Goofy-Goofy, who refused all dress-up clothing and only consented to be photographed with her beloved water in hand.

Things have been quiet on the blog lately because things have been decidedly not quiet at home.  More on that later, but first a few words from Betsy, shown here with the valentine that she made for herself and brought to school to put in her own bag:

"I made a valentine for myself because they have candy in them and I think I would be fussing if I didn't get my own.  And other kids would, too.  A lot of people would.  But I made one for myself because then I would be happy."

Of course she gave valentines and candy like this to the other kids, and was surprised and delighted to receive quite a few in return.

Love yourself and others, and be pleasantly surprised when you're loved back.  A formula for a pretty happy life.  Or she could expand that by about 200 pages and she's got a self-help book.

Painting

I think this was her first time.  Is it bad that I don't know?

Two minutes of painting, twenty minutes of washing out her brush, one happy toddler.  Of course as soon as I got her into dry clothes she was trying to open the paint again.  Because seventeen-month-olds do have opinions about what they want to do and when they want to do it!

Making Christmas, Part 2

Behold, more Christmas crafting fun!

Dolls that I made for the girls:

 

This was another of the projects I'd planned for years, and finally accomplished this Christmas.  I'm so happy with how they turned out, these little muslin dolls with embroidered faces.   They were actually pretty easy and only took a few after-bedtimes to make, patterning to finishing.

On Having Enough

A few weeks ago, while we were wandering around a local greenhouse, Matthew and I made an impulse purchase. 

Cooking Lessons

As you probably know by now, I do a lot of cooking with my girls.  And yet I find I have so much still to learn.  That's the thing about this parenting gig.  As soon as I think I have (part of) it figured out, they grow up a little bit more and learn to read enough to work the forbidden TV at a friend's house.  Why is it always my kid who does these things?

But back to the cooking.  Right.

What I learned from cooking with my sixteen-month-old this morning.

Making Christmas, Part I

We had a very crafty Christmas gifts this year, with much secret sewing in the dining room and routing on the porch.  There were some group efforts and some individual projects, all done with much care and love.  In fact, that I don't know who enjoyed these handmade gifts more, the givers or the receivers. 

Here is the finger labyrinth Matthew carved for me, modeled after the one that I've walked at Shrine Mont, which is based on the one at Chartres Cathedral:

A little bit of that Shrine Mont peace and quiet in my own home.  Perfect!

The mini-quilt I made for my mom, loosely based on a picture I took while backpacking in Shenandoah National Park:

Snows

Today we had some unexpected snow showers.  Here I am today with Betsy under a tree in our front yard:

And here we are under the same tree, nearly 5 years ago.

I'm not sure which of us has aged more.  But we both still do think the snow is a pretty wonderful thing to see.