How We Remember...

Music: Good Old War

Some tunes for your morning:





Listen and float away to a beach somewhere. 

You. are. welcome.

Little Artists

I'm looking back on this evening and I am so grateful.

Grateful for an a set of listening ears and a good cup of coffee. A few minutes of sharing my heart, a few minutes of being listened to and my night was magically changed. Thank you, dear listener.

Grateful for four fabulous little people, two we borrowed, who smiles, giggles and hand prints warm my heart.

Grateful for a whole community of people who help our day to day life run smoothly. Teachers, grandparents, amazing caregivers and friends. I am blessed everyday. I am blessed with this day.

Loving my husband who works so hard to keep our garden plans for this year on track. Remember this table? It was too moldy to bring inside so there are now wild flowers planted in the drawer. And it's for starting seeds now, but (but!) soon it will be all kinds of gorgeous.

Even though I pulled out my wool coat and scarf. I love that our walk around the neighborhood in the drizzling evening was just what we all needed. Even in that gloomy weather, we looked at the spring that is facing us!
 
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Giggling that I have chalk pastel dust on my glasses. I guess I shouldn't have left the setting on the table during this type of art project but, it's a good reminder of a sweet afternoon.

We had two very special visitors stop by for a bit.
In addition to reading stories, playing cars, dressing up and stopping for a snack break, we broke out the chalk pastels. And our new favorite obsession, grocery bags. Everyone had a great time.

Isabel channels Rothko in chalk.

We put on aprons, and the dust was still covering hands and shirt sleeves.


There is so much to be grateful for.

Dreaming:: South of France

A few things have my mind sailing away to a place I've never been...
Sara Midda's South of France: A Sketchbook

(via not your average ordinary, images from google books)

And a a song:

Making Pies-- Pizza Pie

So for the last few days, I've been waking up singing the Patty Griffin song, Making Pies.

"You could cry or die
Or just make pies all day
I'm making pies..." 

So sing it with me and then visit me over to see the pizza pies I'm making with the What am I Cooking? gals.

Making pie. Pizza pie. 

And tell me what your doing for the weekend... cause I'm all nosy like that (:

Yarn + Reading

Yesterday afternoon made up for all of Monday afternoon’s shortcomings (which were too numerous to recount, I assure you).

The kids played outside while Eric and I tag teamed dinner. After dinner, the kids helped me clean up the playroom. And they REALLY helped. Our treat for finishing the playroom was to run to the basement— ahem.... my cave of a ‘studio’-- to pick out a few special things to craft with. Given the run of the whole studio Isabel picked, three Popsicle sticks and red twist ties. Truman picked a baggie of rickrack and elastic. I grabbed a few skeins of yarn for an easy shrug. We were all happy with our treasures.

We all sat around the table with a projects in hand and the light fading from the skys, I said a quiet Thank You, for the little people I’ve been given.

Bedtime was peaceful. We stared reading J.M. Barrie's, Peter and Wendy. They LOVE that the kids are taken care of by the dog, Nana.

After they went to sleep and the house was quiet, I continued knitting a new project and listened to the end of Rilla of Ingleside and the beginning of The Chronicles of Avonlea. What am I going to do when I finish the Anne series?


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I’ve joined Ginny for Yarn Along... just a few days late.

Leftovers getting you down? I rolled mine up into egg rolls!

Mumford and Sons sing Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing-- the Sufjan arrangement. Beautiful.

Hope you are having a beautiful week!

*If your viewing this in google reader, I did a little design update so pop over and say hi!

A Little Artistic Music for Your Morning

Parlours - I Dream of Chicago from Des Moines Freelancer on Vimeo.


Blitzen Trapper "Furr" from Sub Pop Records on Vimeo.

A Little Rest....

It is so good to be back, settling into Sunday night routines. And readying the home, our bags, clothes.... for the week ahead. I think I’m winning the war on laundry, but you can never tell for sure. It was so amazing tonight to put the kids to bed, and sit in a clean, decorated house with a book for five chapters.

How was your Thanksgiving? Our holiday was wonderful, totally not what we expected, but exactly what we needed. We were unable to make it to Thanksgiving dinner with friends— the kids were sick. Suspected Strep, but Friday morning we found out that it was just long-lasting effects of the dreaded flu. Exhaustion, body aches and sore throats. The two little people, and their little bodies needed some rest and healing. 

Thursday we made breakfast Monkey bread and smoothies, while watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. The kids really interacted with the balloons. Truman said "Hello Abby Cadabby, this is Trubey, here my house!" 

 

At lunch time our friends brought over Thanksgiving dinner for us, so delicious. And it fed us several meals— I love holiday leftovers.

Other than that, we spent the whole weekend cuddling, napping, drinking soothing drinks, playing games, trains and tinkers. We took the opportunity to get back on schedule, to rest well, to get healthy. Good food filling our bellies, lots of sleep at night, sunshine on our walks and nothing sets forth healing like hot chocolate. Right? 

Friday after nap time, Isabel woke up a new woman. She look refreshed and had rosy cheeks. O that made my mama-heart soar. We were able to venture out a bit later in the weekend, but stayed close to home. 

 

Truman had perked up too— a little faster than his sister. He spent the weekend coloring and building trains.
We needed this weekend. I think it was in God’s grace that we were unable to travel, we were given this opportunity to retreat into our own little cocoon. Hopefully better health is on it’s way.

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Check out the new playlist below... Christmas Tunes. Any other ones I should add? Send me your favorites!

Goodness for the Growing...

This is my last post on the weekend. But it’s chocked full of thinking/cooking goodness.

Are your friends like mine? Do you enjoy eating/talking/being with them. Is it soul-filling for you? I have a few groups of soul nourishing friends, and this group knew me from the infancy of my soul. The stretching and growing from a college freshman into an artist, friend, wife, mother and beyond. We are all in a stretching and growing season again, but now with more grace, it seems. This is one time in our life where we feel centered in our personhood as we make changes and choices about the world around us. But we feel very centered, knowing ourselves and being know by others.

A few things we’ve been throwing around at each other. Goodness for the growing--if you will. I’ll make a short list for you here. These books and music were thrown around quite heavily this weekend.

Books:
Wisdom Distilled From The Daily
Let You Life Speak
The Quotidian Mysteries
A Long Obedience in the Same Direction
The Will of God as a Way of Life
Music:
Sufjan Stevens Christmas Album

It was really good to have time to spend in our friendships, enjoying and celebrating the years we’ve been together and the years we’ve been apart.

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I promised my beautiful Kim that I’d post the potatoes recipe so here goes.

On Saturday night we had our annual ornament exchange and holiday party. We made a big meal together roast chicken, holiday potatoes, Kim’s sweet corn frozen at it’s peak in the summertime, and fresh bread. Eric made one of his delicious cheesecakes too. There was of course coffee.  

Holiday Potatoes
5 lb bag of red russet potatoes
1 pint of heavy cream (divided in half)
4 tablespoons of butter cubed
3 tablespoons of olive oil
Salt
Pepper
Paprika
8oz sharp cheddar cheese grated (divided in half)

Wash, peel and cut potatoes just into large chunks, half moons. Place in a 13 x 9 baking dish. Season generously with salt, pepper and paprika. Mix. Add half pint of heavy cream, portion cubed butter evenly over potatoes, drizzle olive oil over pan. Cover with foil. Bake at 350 for one hour.

Add the 2nd half of the heavy cream, half the cheese. Stir well to incorporate. Top with the rest of the cheese. Bake for 45 minutes more covered in foil.

Remove foil and bake for remaining 15 minutes. This recipe reheats very well.

New Music

I always love good music, here's a few bands that I've newly discovered:

Pomplamoose: I first heard them through MY*Bohemia


Renee & Jeremy, thanks to MommyCoddle:


Sara Lindsay, I went to elementary school with her brother, Mike and now look at her all grown up. Her CD release party was just his week!


Alela Diane:

Summer Music

Inspired by Mama Urchin and a group of ladies that put together a great summer mix, I put most of their suggestions on my play list. (Down at the bottom of the page-- you have to push play). Wonderful stuff ladies!

Ahhh mix tapes, remember those? A group of us growing up spent hours during the summers making elaborate mixtapes. Taping songs off the radio to start at just the right second to transfer over to another tape. To have just the right mix of songs. Lisa Loeb (who we used to follow around LA in high school/college), The Cranberries, Live, Green Day, Nirvana, Tom Petty and the Heart Breakers, Marcy’s playground, K’s Choice... The list just goes on.

So I ask the question, in dire need of some new summer music, who are you listening to?

So far a friend sent over: Tyler Reynolds

Missy (my twin), said Shawn Colvin (Live) album is really good too!

Old Songs Through New Eyeballs

We have this song in our family.

It’s a theme song of sorts. My husband first heard it over 10 years ago now, at a Youth Conference in Toronto. He brought back the CD, played it for my prolific-worship-leading twin sister who sat down, with prolific-piano-playing mother and figured out all the music. Then they introduced it to our friends, our church, our college, and hundreds of other people along the way.

She and my younger sister sang it at my wedding. It was played at Isabel’s baptism, it will be played at Truman’s and it has been sung countless times, round campfires, the old piano in the house I grew up in, and with a group of people around the death bed of my beloved grandfather. It has a lot of power to us, it binds us together.

With all that background in place, Isabel asked us to play it for her in the car this morning. We did.

Here are some of the the lyrics:

God of Jacob (Give Us Clean Hands)
We bow our hearts, we bend our knees
O Spirit come make us humble
We turn our eyes from evil things
O Lord we cast down our idols

Give us clean hands give us pure hearts
Let us not lift our souls to another
Give us clean hands, give us pure hearts
Let us not lift our souls to another

O God let us be a generation that seeks
That seeks Your face, O God of Jacob
O God let us be a generation that seeks
That seeks Your face, O God of Jacob


She starts strong, sings every word, on keep in time. Somewhere though the second line of the verse and says, “I have to cast down my eyeballs!”

Huh?(ME: Muffling giggling)

Izzo: “O I cast down my eyeballs all the time!”

Eric: Do you cast down your idols?

Izzo (indignantly): “No, we have to cast out our eyeballs.”

She’s three, and gets words mixed up. Hey I’m (almost) 26 and I get words mixed up. It makes me think of that old VH1 show where they debunk lines of songs that everyone sings wrong (Think: “Hold me closer, Tony Danza).

So, have a wonderful day and don’t forget to cast down your eyeballs!
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Rainy Day GiveAway Winner

Congratulations to Jane who said:

You've won the rainyday mix.

Just send me you're contact information and it will be on it's way to you!

GIVEAWAY: It's not raining here...

But it is foggy. And I made these CD covers for my sister's rainy day mix...


Follow the directions below to win your own copy of my rainy day mix!


How to enter:
-You have until Midnight CST on Sunday, March 8th to enter this giveaway.
-Just make a comment ON THIS POST to enter — any comment. One entry per person, please.
-For an extra entry "follow" my blog
-The winner will be randomly picked and announced Monday, March 9th.