And Sew On

Amazing

"When I see your face...there's not a thing that I would change...because you're amazing...just the way you are."

 

A Week in the Life

I love Ali Edwards "Week in the Life" project-- documenting an average week, taking photos of the everyday moments, and writing down the nitty gritty details. I did one two years ago, and I just loved it. (Update: Just looked at it again and it was THREE years ago!) I was looking back on that album recently and thought that I really should do another one. So, this past week I took my camera with me wherever I went. Sometimes I did posed shots, and sometimes just random details. I'll put this together in a album sometime soon, but I thought I'd share my initial impressions here:

Sunday

Baby Clark's baptism. The girls were looking forward all week to "seeing baby Clark at church", and Clark was such a little angel, sleeping through the whole experience. I love the photo of my sister and my Nanny with Clark. She just loves her great-grands!

Monday 

A morning out in The Beach: walking down the boardwalk with the stroller, both girls with their babydolls. Going to the park, then the bakery for an oatmeal chocolate chip cookie, and then the cheese shop for some parmesan and Canadian brie.

Tuesday

Practicing their bike-riding skills on the street, Audrey reading at the island while eating her cereal (this gave me a major flash forward of what the coming years will be like), Lily pushing her little shopping cart in her pjs at 3 in the afternoon. (She likes to get into pjs very early. As a matter of fact, I think this was the second pair. She got yogourt on the first set!)

Wednesday

Peaches still in the grocery stores in September, and it's a good thing because the girls absolutely love them. Company came for dinner and I made two chicken pot pies.

Thursday

Millie is 9 now, and she is starting to act like a senior dog. She wants her place on the couch, no matter what, and gets pretty annoyed when someone else is sitting there! Folding laundry on the counter while the kids played with play-doh, and afternoon cuddles with Lily while Audrey was at school.

Friday

Another walk in the morning: the library, pumpkins at the grocery store, and browsing for books while I bought a gift for a friend. We made Audrey's birthday party invitations, too. The afternoon was rainy and I took some shots of Lily as we walked home from pre-school. Dinner at Campagnolo with my girlfriends.

Saturday 

Breakfast at the island, Audrey still wearing her ponytail from the day before. Matching pj's. Quick walk in the neighbourhood, as I had  (and continue to have) a sore neck. A $15 bouquet from our favourite little florist, freshly made apple fritters with cinnamon sugar, and Audrey's portrait of me in my new autumn hat.

That's it! It felt good to have my camera out more. I was relying too much on my iphone this summer. Don't get me wrong-- I love Instagram!-- but nothing beats a real photo.

Baby Jacob

Brand new baby Jacob. I was so lucky to meet him at 6 days old to take his newborn shots. What a little angel he is! Karen is already a wonderful mama, as I knew she would be. I can't wait to visit again and get my newborn fix.

Jacob, thank you for smiling for the camera...and for being okay with me sniffing your head.

Hanging Pictures on the Walls

For all my photography, and scrapbooking, and love of interior design, I have a really hard time hanging things on the wall. I hate to commit. I hate to make holes in the wall. I am a major procrastinator in every sense.

However, last week I received a photo canvas in the mail that I had ordered through Groupon. The photo was taken by Heather last summer. I wanted a beach photo, with us facing away from the camera. (Part of my reticence about hanging family photos is that they look dated so quickly. I figured without our mugs in the shot, it would look more classic and timeless.)

I'm quite happy with the result (although not enough to give the company a plug here):

I hung it on one of those 3M hanging hooks that come right off the wall when you're done-- i.e. no holes. I love the way it looks in the kitchen, right near the window:

I love the beachiness of it.

Of course, there are trade offs for living in The Beach. Today Audrey asked us if we could get a garage. We told her that we will never have a garage at this house (mostly because houses with lots big enough for garages in this neighourhood are very expensive), but that we get to live near a beautiful lake instead. She told us that when she grows up she's going to buy a house in Newmarket (the suburbs), so that she can walk to Becca's (her cousin).

So much for my urban kid!

 

Mexico

Be back soon...

More shots for the December Daily

...when I get to it...sometime in February...

 

 

Still more shopping to do, events to host, dolls to finish, and so on. Still, we are also taking lots of time to just chill out by the tree. Right now the girls are using wrapping paper from last night's party to rewrap presents, writing cards, cutting and pasting, tearing up tissue paper-- it's a pretty big mess, but they are happy. :)

I hope you all are taking time to put your feet up and watch the general mayhem around you today. After all, that's part of Christmas, too.

 

 

December 18

From Costco-- $10 a bunch.

I think I've found a new Christmas tradition.

A Disclaimer

Okay, here is Audrey's letter to Santa, as dictated to her older "book buddy" at school.

The disclaimer is that we leave cookies and milk for Santa each year, but Daddy added the tradition of leaving a beer for Rudolph. (Of course he did.) While this is only marginally better than liquoring up Santa for his big night, it is, I feel, an important distinction.

And, one more, because this kind of dress up happens pretty much every morning:

I love having girls.

December Daily

I love the December Daily project every year, but for me it means more taking photos and making notes every day, rather than actually creating a page for the book each day. There's too much I want to do these days, and not nearly enough time to do it!

To streamline the process, I've been choosing my photos for each day, adding one word of text. I'm sharing those now to give you a feeling for our December, so far:

It's Beginning to Look A lot Like Christmas

Since getting back from my show in Barrie, I've been nesting, playing with the kids and starting to decorate. I LOVE this time of year. We're going to get the tree today (or tomorrow), and the kids already went to visit Santa this weekend.

A local photographer teamed up with a kids consignment store to offer Santa photos for $10 plus a can for the local food bank. I think the photos are so much better than your average mall Santa shots. Lily was not sure at first, but then she was able to sit next to Audrey and that made everything better. (I made Audrey's dress-- more on that later in the week!)

I made this little decoration out of a dollar store art canvas, linen tape, and my Studio Calico stamps:

The doily stamp becomes a wreath with a few glitter brads and rhinestones.

I am really into felting right now (that's how I made Audrey's dress, too), so I'm making stockings for the girls out of a felted red cashmere sweater that I bought at Value Village for $3.99.

The sewing is a bit of a hack job, but at least it looks handmade! :) I worked it so the bottom edge of the sweater became the top edge of the stocking.

Finally, a layout I did with my November Studio Calico kit. I barely had any time to touch it this month!

Oh, that photo just tugs at my heart strings!