life lately // january

I'm going to attempt to do a little monthly re-cap this year, so as to be sure to post at least monthly. Documenting a bit of our family life is really important to me, and as I get busier and busier with the demands and joys of being a parent and enjoying my babies, I figure this is the least I can do. (Thank Goodness for the iPhone!!! Best Mother's Day Gift ever!!!)

We rang in the New Year by going out to pizza and then partying at home with noise makers and party favors in our pjs. Maybe some kids can't make it all the way to midnight - but ours can, no problem. We have a bunch of night owls! The past year was exhilerating, adventuresome, challenging, and a little bit crazy - we are thrilled to see what the New Year has in store, and hope things settle down a bit. Whew! What a year! 

We had lots of indoor picnics (though the weather was beautiful...but when baby is  napping you've got to get creative sometimes). It's one of my favorite ways to change things up. The kids love it. It's amazing how simply moving lunch from the table to the floor can be so delightful - even for me! Who cares about crumbs? We can always vacuum later! We also made a little "happy playhouse". It's gotten good use and is very popular during playdates.

Aspen is kinda obsessed with Hello Kitty. Her Great-Grandma Saville sent her this purse for Christmas and wow it's a hit! 

I can't believe my baby is seven months old! I totally know I'm biased, but she's a doll. Godiva chocolate eyes on our Hazel Grace. So so glad she's part of our family! 

January is full of celebrations in our family. It used to be a kinda dreary month - after the holidays but full of gloomy cool weather. But here in Austin, it's a whole other story! We celebrated six years of marriage and ate at one of our favorite fine dining spots - Contigo. We also celebrated my 36th birthday, and Aspen's 3rd birthday. In temps warmer than Seattle's average high during the summer! 

Since Hazel started solids, I made a ton of babyfood and froze it. I have made all my babies food and find it fun and rewarding - and they find it so much more delicious and healthy than the store bought varieties. Look at that messy face!

Speaking of messes, we ALWAYS have a mess on our dining table. I've got some mini artists on my hands. I love it! Someday, we'll have an art spot perhaps separate from where we eat! Ha! Oh, and Sawyer's getting pretty good with his free-hand drawing. He's also getting pretty good at writing/spelling out words. He spells everything phonetically and I don't correct him, so sometimes the words are very cute (and make more sense than with some of our crazy english grammar rules, quite honestly!)

Okay, so I was going through the kids clothes (I won't lie - sometimes when I go through Sawyer's clothes I hold the little ones and wonder if I'll someday have another little boy to wear his hand-me-downs. I'd love one! If not, though, I'd love to get rid of the two boxes I've been saving that take up space!)

While going through some of his outgrown clothes, I realized some could work really cute for Aspen. So, even if he never has a little brother to hand things down to, his sisters can look pretty stylin' with boy clothes, too!

-gray skinnies with hand-me-down converse kicks? Yes, please!
-a button down oxford with a sparkly bow, jeggins and boots? Why, of course!
-an old sweater-vest with a peter pan collar and shorts? I think so!

Of course, Aspen was over the moon and so thrilled to be the recipient of her brother's outgrown clothes :) So darling!

I mentioned it before, but for reals...our new city rocks! Soccer games, a little sand volleyball, fro-yo - oh, and a very cute baby girl wearing nothin but a onesie - all in JANUARY! Lovin' Texas weather and our cool new city!

Birthday girls. I got over 80 degrees on my birthday - the first time in 36 years I got to wear shorts and flip flops on my birthday. I was ECSTATIC! We trailer hopped for my birthday dinner in East Austin, had a BLAST. One of my best birthdays to date!

And this little sweetie turned 3. I can hardly believe it. Such a sweet girl. One of my most precious gifts, for sure.

Outings // Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center

A week or so ago, I took the kids one afternoon to the Wildflower Center, which is really close to our home and a beautiful little escape in the Texas Hill Country. We spent several hours exploring and decided we didn't have enough time (we actually stayed past their open hours and almost got kicked out of the parking lot because they were closing the gate for the night). 

Yesterday, Jacob and I took the kids back for more...we just love this place. We can hardly wait to see when everything starts to bloom. For the time being, though, we have two favorite spots: the Children's Little House, which my kids were completely enchanted with - they have puppets, books, an art table, puzzles, and all sorts of little trinkets - like a kaleidoscope - for the kids to discover and get their hands on. As we hiked out on one of the trails, we discovered something magical - a bunch of handmade swings, just waiting for us. And did I mention that winter in Texas rocks? We have some chilly days, but the rest are sunny, bright, warm, and absolutely perfect! 

I promise, she was excited about our outing - she just wasn't excited that I wanted to take her picture, she wanted to get on with the show!
Aspen and her sunglasses...Hello Kitty purse...jellies...she just cracks me up!

Yes, she is pulling herself up on everything she can these days. Baby, slow down!

These are some of my absolute favorite images from the late afternoon, actually pretty close to the time the sun was going to set. Living in Seattle, with all the cloud cover, I always had a natural filter for the sunshine. Here, I am learning a whole new way to shoot - in direct sunlight! I'm having fun experimenting - I absolutely love playing with light :)

She adores rocks. Especially, little rocks. She often makes little rock families :)

This boy is often too quick to get in a picture, but here I caught him! My funny, handsome, wonderful little boy, swinging like Superman!

Hazey sometimes gets this serious look on her face, like she's just soaking it all up and pondering all of the world around her, through her fingertips, and those pretty, big eyes of hers. She loves to discover the world with touch.

If you're ever in Austin, I highly recommend checking out the Wildflower Center. It's a little oasis, great to explore, relax, and soak in some sunshine any old afternoon. 

I'm also really excited to soon share about a new project I've been working on...it's kinda a big one...I've decided to carry the torch from Seattle and start a Nature Preschool here in Austin. I've been working hard to get it put all together and we have several families that are going to join us. We will be starting up at the end of the month! I'll have to share more about it later...it's very exciting!

Handmade // Tablecloth Playhouse

Last week, I finished a little project I had started before the Holidays, and it turned out so cute I just have to share it! Actually, I shared it via Instagram and had such positive feedback and some questions, that I thought I'd share here with a little more info.

Welcome to our little playhouse!

Sawyer and Aspen were off in their room gathering things they needed to "move in" and make their little house all cozy, so while they were busy there, I decided Hazel could show you around. She looooves crawling around and around the house, and then heading in (without knocking!) Most of the time she is welcomed with giggles, unless the homeowners are having something like - cookies - for a snack, then they ask me to show her to the door :)

Gotta love a baby bum in bulky cloth diapers! I won't even mention her toes...don't you just want to nibble on them?

Of course she noticed the flowers we planted...she liked them so much she picked one and tried to eat it!

About our Playhouse:

First, I am thrilled to give credit where credit is due - I first spotted a playhouse like this one on Etsy, in the shop CoolSpacesForKids. She didn't have any up for sale at the moment, but I remember thinking - I could do that! It doesn't look too hard to do - and it's sooo cute! I think I had seen it featured on some kids lifestyle blog or something, and had dragged it to my folder of fun ideas (I don't have a Pinterest account). I thought back fondly to building little houses with my twin sister under my Grandmother's table with sheets and blankets, and how they were sometimes heavy and would slip off if we couldn't find something heavy to weigh it all down. Of course, that didn't stop us and we spent hours pretending under Grandma's table. Isn't it funny how some of the things you get excited about for your own children are the things you got excited about as a child, yourself? It happens to me ALL the time! I love that I get to go through childhood again...with my kids (if only I had a cook and maid we'd be set! then I could play with them all day long!)

So, that's where the idea came from. Then, since we had recently moved and were going through stuff (downsized from house to apartment) I found this old muslin backdrop I had hardly ever used...and likely would hardly ever use again. So, suddenly I was thinking...what could I do with all of this fabric? And I remembered the little playhouse! So, I made it a game to figure out how to make a tablecloth playhouse with only materials I had on hand - a scrap here and there that was too small to do much with so I'd either throw it out...or find a way to use it. Essentially, this little house was FREE using all materials I already had on hand. However, if you were to make it, I don't think it would be too expensive to make - if you purchased inexpensive muslin and other supplies - I'm guessing about $35-$50, depending on the size of your table. It does take time, for sure, and a bit of patience to put it together, but it's totally do-able!

I, however, was slightly short on patience (and I am just a lazy sew-er anyway, never pin anything!) and since I hadn't invested any money in the project, I just whipped it together as quickly as I could (I had a couple of kiddos cheering me on!) I didn't even hem around the bottom - the front part looks hemmed because it was the side of the backdrop that the rod went through, thus already hemmed for me. I did do a zigzag stitch (a sloppy one at that) around the doorway and the door, just so it wouldn't unravel, but otherwise, the only stitching I did was the windows. Ironing it was almost impossible - we only have one of those tiny ironing boards so by the time I ironed one size, the other side was already wrinkled (you can't even tell I ironed the whole thing!) The windows - I used felt around the spots I cut out to make it a bit more sturdy. The curtains, I made from this ruffle fabric which - guess what? you don't need to hem! It's great stuff! And then, I decided to make the little window boxes with some "slots" so we could pretend to "plant" flowers - I cut a few out of card stock for now, but we will probably make some out of a heavier duty fabric (pipe cleaners, fabric, felt and hot glue perhaps) that will not be a choking hazard when the neighbor baby comes by and steals the flowers because she's teething and wants to chew on some paper flowers ;)

So, I'm kinda of long-winded. I wish I were more organized and could give measurements and yardage etc. for others who want to try making a tablecloth playhouse, but here is my take: Tables are all shapes and sizes so you'll have to make one custom for your table anyway. If you have a small table like we do and want to use an old king-sized sheet, I think it would do just fine. Use your imagination or use what you have on hand, or be much more precise and patient for playhouse perfection, if you want to. Anyway around it, I promise that your child(ren) will be thrilled to have a little place to play and pretend and exercise their imagination. Most importantly - have fun! 

6 months old

Things were so busy last month with the holidays and all, that I forgot to do my little monthly post for our dear Hazey. I realized over the weekend that she'll be SEVEN months old this coming week...so on Saturday I tossed her on our bed and took a handful of photos. I wanted to take her outside but it's been a bit chilly...so maybe next month she'll finally get some with a different background :) Wherever she is, though, she's pretty darn cute! Most importantly, she's as sweet as can be. Love this girl - and I can't believe she's already half way to her birthday! (I've already started brainstorming for her party!) Here she is with her green holiday headband and the surprise Santa left for her - a cute little fox. It was slightly challenging to get her to hold still for one second for a picture since she wanted to just crawl right over to me...or off the bed! But we did get a few...six months!

Hazel, at SIX months...

-You're just so squishy and chub-a-licious! "Now that is a breast-fed baby!" I've heard people say. I LOVE it! You smell so yummy and feel so...perfect. You are just how you should be!

-You had your first cold. It was sad to see you sick, but you were a great sport about it! You didn't seem to mind your runny nose and you slept right through most of your coughs. Well, I take that back...one night you DID mind. You had a night with scary croup and, though I've experienced it before both as a nanny and as a parent, this time it really scared me! And YOU! You couldn't breathe well and you started crying because you were scared, and it just broke my heart. Luckily, it went away after that first night - and I hope we never see it again!

-You had a WONDERFUL time celebrating your first Christmas! It was so fun to see the wonder and curiosity in your eyes (and hands)as you explored all you could and took in all of the lights and activities we did for our advent. You started crawling last month, but this month, baby, you were going FULL SPEED AHEAD! 

-You also learned how to sit up independently this month, so between sitting and crawling you were having all sorts of fun! It makes me smile to see you crawling around and getting into things! You look so little...but you know where you want to go - you love to go into your brother and sisters room and wade through the duplos and find things (we're lucky, so far we have NO toys that are too small to be dangerous, which is mind-easing for me!)

-Now that you sit up, you have joined your brother and sister for bath time a couple of times and you LOVE it! You've always loved your baths, but now that you can splash and swim and get all their fun bath toys, it's even better! Quite the party in the tubby at night! Daddy and I often get drenched :)

-You started solid food this month, and you've been loving it! I generally feed you breakfast and dinner and then you just do a lot of nursing in between. I think we might add lunch this next month. Oh, you also started practicing with your own sippy cup! I put a little water in it and it keeps you entertained as you carefully place your little hands and lift it. Just watch out below for when you toss it off your high chair tray!

-You still wear 3-6 months sized clothes :)

-You love lullabies, and classical music. Well, maybe it's just music in general, but you definitely loved listening to the Nutcracker Suite around Christmas - you even danced in our family's production of the Nutcracker - you were Marie and you did the Waltz of the Flowers with Mama.

-You draw people to you. Seriously. People are just drawn to you - I mean, most people are drawn to cute babies, but people even say "there is just something about her..." your eyes? your smile? your sweet disposition? I like to think you just bring out the best in people - what a wonderful trait! 

-Your brother and sister love that you can get in on the action, now that you're crawling and sitting and eating at the table with us and doing all sorts of fun things - like laughing at them. Sawyer will make himself fall off his chair at the dinner table over and over again just because he loves to make you laugh. You bring so much joy to our family - I can't even imagine our life without you in it. We are so lucky to have you, and we are so in love with you.

-The second part of the month, you started trying to pull yourself up onto things - anything that will work. We don't have a lot of furniture, so one of your favorite places to pull up is our dining room chairs, which can be tricky, but you're doing it. Sigh. Can you slow down just a little bit? A little?

-I kind of accidentally gave you the nickname "Hazey" so now your sister likes to call you Hazey, too :)

-Your eyes appear to be settling into a nice custom shade of Hazel.

-I think your hair is going to stay dark! It's so beautiful! Your sister's hair (if I recall) had already started lightening up by about this age (all of you were born with super dark hair) but if yours is still dark now, I'm thinking it might stay! When I look at your brunette hair and pretty defined eyebrows, I imagine dressing you up some Halloween as Audrey Hepburn, I'm not sure why. But I think it would be so fun, and you'd look stunning!

-So much more I could say...but the most important is simply: I love you. We love you. Everyone loves you! You're our beautiful, lovely Hazel Grace and the world is blessed and honored to have your presence here :)