sunshine

It was a lovely day,

Did you see it?

Sunny and 42 degrees on this Sunday. There's something to be said about the long, cold winters we weather together. 42 degrees wouldn't feel all that spectacular without the long series of below freezing days that come before it. In fact, if it were October and 42 were the high, we'd be freezing and bundled up in big heavy wintery coats. But not in the middle of February. It felt, dare I say, like Spring?
We went outside this afternoon for a nice, big, refreshing dose of Vitamin D. We skipped the coats and snow pants in exchange for layers of sweatpants and long johns and sweatshirts.

It's energizing really; the sunshine and warmer weather. Makes me want to get up and do something. Organize things, plant something, clean out a closet. But now it's night and I'm ready to curl up again under the big heavy blanket my mom just gave me this weekend. I like the colliding of the two; sunny and productive afternoons and quiet, cozy nights.

coffee talk

{A few displays at Anthropologie, some hardware and fixtures, Sara and Erica chatting over sales.}
On Saturday, Sara and I drove to Erica's house in the city. It's a beautiful place, lots of character and charm and streams of sunlight pouring in through huge windows. William stayed to play with Ben and Bret and we left for a morning of coffee, brunch and a little shopping. We ate at Julius Meinl; an adorable and cozy little coffee house/cafe. The nutella crepes were perfectly delicious.
Sadly, just after our coffee was served we got word that poor sweet Gabe had gotten sick at the sleepover. By no urging of a doting grandma, but more because of the tuggings on a mother's heart, we sped up our morning. {Is tuggings even a word? Leggings? ha}We chatted through breakfast and then stopped quickly at Anthropologie {it was love at first sight as I suspected -- I even bought something I really, really, love for the house and spent less than 8 dollars! } and then swung through Paper Source. Time with friends is always refreshing and worthwhile no matter how short. I'm so thankful for our morning together. Brunching with friends is something I would love to do more of!
And here's a little peek at the slumbering fun,


{Darling boys! My mom borrowed my camera so we could have some pictures from their night together.}
Feel better soon, dear sweet Gabe. love you!

sleepover

Tonight the big boys {Gabe and Henry} are having a sleepover at Oma's. The little boys are slumbering together in Chicago in matching Superman pj's. A lovely Friday night!

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family bowling night

{Henry celebrating his spare.}

Tonight we went bowling with our small group; all of us, ten adults and ten children. It was fun. The grownups shared lanes and the children bowled together, alone, on their own lane. So grown up of them.


William mostly ate pizza and break danced on the slippery lanes.

Valentine's garlands

This is a super simple way to bring a little love to your special valentine's {and your home} this February.

I'm pretty sure I got this idea from another blog last Valentine's Day, but now I can't find it!  I bought these doilies at the Dollar Tree. Each package comes with 36, either red or white. So one package goes a long way. I actually bought mine last year and made a few garlands for Leland St.

I just used ribbon I already had; this was left over from Christmas. It's easy to weave it through and voila,

pretty little garlands to show your love!

craving color

 
I'm sipping my second cup of coffee; I brewed decaf since it's afternoon, but I'm pretty sure the regular stuff doesn't have much of an impact on me, at least not to my ability to sleep. William is reading books, Henry is working on puzzles. I'm feeling itchy. Not the woolly sweater kind of itchy. The kind of itchy that makes me want to pack the boys up along with a suitcase full of swimsuits and call Patrick to tell him to meet us at the airport and jump on the first plane to Mexico, kind of itchy.
I'm craving color; the colors of sidewalk chalk on a warm sunny day. But we're buried under inches and inches of snow, so we settled for watercolors.

And instead of sitting bare toe-to-toe on the hot concrete outside, we sit elbow to elbow all around the table.


I watch Henry paint the strokes to make the names of our family. I wonder when he got so big; big enough to write, big enough to spell, big enough to call me 'mom'. He is so content in his house, with his family; it's his world. While I want to be sure as his mom to broaden his horizons, I also want to nurture his love of home and being cozy within these four walls. I know it won't always be this way, that he wants to stay home and is content with just being here.



Sitting here at the farmhouse, under the gray sky, well...it's not Mexico. But it's good. There's goodness in touching elbows and sharing paintbrushes and making bright colors appear on plain white paper. Goodness in huddling around the table, staying in, just letting the distractions of what's outside fade away. Until what emerges is really what is most important at the core. Our family; we're together and that is oh, so good.

In Christ Alone

{I love this hymn and I love this version of it. Owl City; swoon.} 

Driving to Bloomington with William this morning, this came on the radio. Oh, how I love this song. I first heard it at Christ Church and later chose it as the hymn for Henry's dedication service. I am so moved by this song. I love the way it describes what God did for us through His son, Jesus.
The lyrics to me are so reassuring:
In Christ alone my hope is found
He is my light, my strength, my song
This Cornerstone, this solid ground
Firm through the fiercest drought and storm
------------------------------------
What heights of love, what depths of peace
When fears are stilled, when strivings cease
My Comforter, my All in All
Here in the love of Christ I stand
------------------------------
In Christ alone, who took on flesh
Fullness of God in helpless Babe
This gift of love and righteousness
Scorned by the ones He came to save
-------------------------------
Til on that cross as Jesus died
The wrath of God was satisfied
For every sin on Him was laid
Here in the death of Christ I live
---------------------------
 There in the ground His body lay
Light of the world by darkness slain
Then bursting forth in glorious Day
Up from the grave He rose again
{This verse always makes me want to do a big fist pump!}
And as He stands in victory
Sin's curse has lost its grip on me
For I am His and He is mine
Bought with the precious blood of Christ
-----------------------------------

No guilt in life, no fear in death
This is the power of Christ in me
From a life's first cry to final breath
Jesus commands my destiny
--------------------------------

No power of hell, no scheme of man
Could ever pluck me from His hand
'Til He returns or calls me home
Here in the power of Christ I stand.

blue

Blue is the color of the sky today. It was a gorgeous shade of the summer kind of blue. The crystal clear kind of sky that stretches on and on without a single cloud. Patrick bundled the boys up and took them outside to play in the snow. They ran up and slid down the huge pile next to the driveway, which has affectionately become known as Drift Mountain. I put on my scarf, coat and boots, cursing winter as I zipped, and trudged outside to take a few pictures of the boys. I prepared for the biting cold and gusts of wind. Snowballs whizzed past my face, and I snapped pictures of the laughing children, reminding them of the camera in my hand, so don't hit mommy.

And then, like some kind of moth that buzzes in through the front door attracted to the light, I walked around the house next to the open field until I was standing directly under the light. The afternoon sun poured down in grand style making everything bright. Standing under that blue sky in the bright light was such a welcome change today. I really am a gray kind of girl. But I'm finding that I'm a gray girl when it comes to the walls and a blue girl when it comes to the sky.

honorable mention {2}

In July, Henry turned five. To celebrate we had our family and some friends over to the farmhouse for a superhero birthday party.

{warning! This turned into a monster post. refill your coffee cup and come right back.}

{Dessert table. Cake by Sandi. Cake stand and cupcake platter by Holly.}

{Sandi designed this cake to compliment the party invitation. She made the fondant; rolled it and dyed it to match. Amazing. She is an artist! My dad baked the cakes and they turned out delicious. This cake tasted every bit as delicious as it looks.}

 

{Fondant cupcake toppers are from this shop. A new Etsy favorite. Charynn is exceptionally talented, super sweet, and a total doll to work with. My frosting was supposed to look more like this. Something clearly went wrong. It was a hot day, I think it was a combination of my bad baking and the heat melting it, it was a total flop. Please don't judge the darling toppers by my terrible frosting.}

{Marshmallow pops. I dyed the white almond bark blue to match, dipped marshmallows on lollipop sticks in the chocolate, sprinkled them with red sprinkles-from the cake supply store-and once they dried I wrapped them in cello bags and tied them with ribbon. By far my new favorite thing to dip. I ordered extra large jumbo marshmallows, but they didn't arrive in time. These worked fine though.}

{Sara made each and every one of these darling sugar cookies. The design was all her idea and the execution was flawless. After she baked and iced the cookies with yellow, she added the blue icing and then the letters to spell either "Bam" or "Pow" made out of--get this--chocolate. Yes, they tasted every bit as yummy as they look. Amazing! These were the favors for the adult guests.}

 

{Water bottle labels. Holly helped me make these using strips of coordinating scrapbook paper; the comic graphics are from a Batman book I bought at the Goodwill for 25 cents.}

{Favor bags for the children. Simple stuff: superhero Pez, mini squirt gun.}

{Crunch! and Chomp! boxes, were prepackaged lunches for the children. They included a simple sandwich, bag of chips, pickle and apple. The boxes are these from a cake decorators grocery in Bloomington. My mom assembled all of the boxes and the lunches. And thank goodness for her! She worked hard and fast to finish on time.}

{Super Z: gigantic, uninvited super sized zucchini, plucked from our garden on the party morning.}

{Henry took to plugging his ears for the first time this year.}

{And a party is not a party without the homemade chocolate chip cookie/ice-cream sandwich that have become a summer party tradition.}

{I made capes and masks for each child with their initial using no sew/heat transfer iron tape and sticky felt. Super easy peasy.}

{This was our first ever party pinata. Henry was so excited to pick this out himself. William was so thrilled with his pinata loot.}

{Holly made this super darling party game. All hand drawn. Another artist! The children played pin the mask on the super hero. Dan ended up winning!}

My most favorite part of any party is the crazy/silly/downright exhausted fun that is had sometimes during, and always after the party:

A super special thank you to Sara who took so many of these pictures. You got a gift, girl! And to my mama, who came early so Patrick and I could have a date night Friday to celebrate our {8th} anniversary and who helped with every small and large party detail and everything in between. I am blessed.

One of my favorite memories that weekend was the next day, a Sunday. Dan and Sara spent the night so the boys got to have a slumber party. It was another steamy July day and Sunday morning, the boys had a major water fight.

happy fifth birthday to my sweet, sweet Henry! Around here birthdays are a big deal. Another year of life deserves a big celebration.