So long, September

September was a really, really full month for us. Lots of stuff I want to write about, lots of pictures I still hope to post. October looks a bit more relaxed at this point, and for that I am glad.

September's blog posts are sort of a riot to me. Lots of Sara Groves excitement with a few other very random posts. So to stay consistent with my random September, sporatic blog posts, I thought I'd close out the month with a video Rory just had me watch, sent to him by his friend Bill. It was exactly the humor I needed today. Happy Friday Everybody!

Just a friendly reminder...

I am hopeful to see lots of you on Saturday night! We just found our babysitter and are so excited for a great night filled with good music, friends and family. Sara's concerts tend to be filled with stories, lots of thought and heart. Your car is sure to be filled with meaningful conversation as you leave the parking lot Saturday night and head back home.

Here's a video of Sara telling the story behind her song "From This One Place." In it she talks openly about her struggles with anxiety attacks and then shares the song she wrote while working through her new normal. It's good stuff, and gives a good feel for what a concert of hers is like. click here and listen. The video coloring is terrible, but the audio is great... so treat it like the radio and enjoy.

See you Saturday!

it's been a while

...just thought I'd put a few pictures up to say hello. It's been a good month...a full one... and as a result the blog has been neglected. But we're well, on the move (read: Ivar is mobile and life will never be the same) and utilizing anything we can find as makeshift playpens...

adventures in missing the point

When we unloaded the moving truck at my sisters, I was given the sweet job of unpacking Mara and Sonna and getting their room settled. They have the upstairs of the house, full of fun little nooks and crannies. It's all sloped ceilings there is this small crawl space that is actually tall enough to stand up in and probably four feet wide. Turns out it is the perfect little place for all of their games, art supplies, ponies and sleeping bags.

If you know me at all, you know I love me a good organized shelf. I love staging things so it looks clean, inviting and colorful. This project was perfect for me. I worked hard to get everything just so.

I called the room "The sleepover room" because of their sleeping bags spread out on the floor. Mara took this quite literally and went to get all of her pajamas to string along that bar on the side of the slanted ceiling. She thought her pajama's made for nice decoration.

Unfortunately, I had a different vision. I could handle the messy pj's for a while. But before everyone came up to check out the girls rooms I told Mara, "I'm just going to put these back in your dresser, okay?"

Mara nodded and seemed okay but later that night I was stricken with guilt. Are you kidding me? Could I honestly not handle the pajama's hanging as decorations in the sleepover room? Really? Am I really that uptight that I couldn't see the creativity in her thinking?

The next day I apologized to Mara. I told her that I really like a clean and tidy space and that sometimes my need for clean gets the best of me. I told her that after thinking about it, I could understand how clever and bright her pj's were for setting the theme of the sleepover room. I just didn't catch her vision the first time around.

Mara acted fine, I told her she needed to help me relax a bit and enjoy a mess more.

As it turns out, she and Sonna are doing a great job of helping me with this request. Because all those games stacked nicely on the shelf there? They play with them! And the evidence is strewn all over their fun-loving bedroom.

rainbow crayons

I hit up a few garage sales with some girl friends and found these silicone heart and star molds for ten cents. Perfect. I made the alphabet crayons a while ago but they were hard to get out of the molds, and my guess is that they were hard to color with....though they were adorable and I will still make them again and again :)

I had my nieces over on Saturday and decided it was time to get crafty. Mara used the Ikea cheese grater to grate the crayons really fine. Sonna helped take the paper off of the crayons, and I used the super sharp knife to cut the crayons into small pieces.

Full instructions on how I made these crayons can be found on the Alphabet Crayon post. More fun than making the crayons was coloring with them when they were cooled from the freezer. Each crayon was filled with so many colors.

We decorated envelopes and played mailman with our mail slot, a highlight for all visitors-of-a-certain-age to our house.
Unfortunately, this mailgirl left one of the crayons in her pocket and her mom did a huge load of laundry with that crayon tumbling around in the dryer. Big Whoops.