The Fairy Festival

My pretty fairy. She is wearing the fairy dress I made from Wee Wonderfuls. The crown was part of the festival activities.


Wand making was very fun.


I wore wings too. We must have dropped beads under the table.


Wren was not going to have fun, he has entered the "this is girl stuff" phase. :(


But I made him a wand and he had a hard time staying grumpy.

Kids Say The Darndest Things

While driving in the car...

Violet: "Are superheros real?"
Me: "Not really."
Violet: "Oh, hmmm. Yeah they are, some are real and some are not real. I think I just saw a superhero flying in the sky!!"
Me: "Really?"
Violet: "I think so."

A Frosty Walk

We received a book called WALK THERE! 50 treks in and around Portland and Vancouver and decided it was as good a day as any to go for a walk. The path we chose was along a creek with wildlife viewing areas and is a favorite of local bird watchers.


Brrrr! Look at all that frost!


We walked along a creek where attempts are being made to bring back salmon and steelhead.


Frost covered railing.


Frozen rose hips, so cold, but so beautiful.


We weren't really expecting to see any wildlife in the cold, so we were very excited to spot this great blue heron in a pond about 15 feet away from the path.



School is back in session tomorrow. I think we will all benefit from getting back into "the routine". It was a wonderful holiday break. I really enjoyed the pace of our Christmas, not so many presents, with an emphasis on handmade. I'm also ready to start on projects that got put on the back burner while I was in production mode. I've almost forgotten where that back burner is!

The End. And A New Begining

The end of 2008 is here. I'm not a fan of resolution lists. But I do like to reflect on the year that is passing and try to send myself into the new year with a positive attitude. Hoping for the best, reminding myself to be adaptable because things don't usually happen as they have been planned. Remembering that things happen for a reason and you may or may not figure out why.


We are all one year older, hopefully wiser.


I am very thankful to have a healthy, happy family to accompany me into the next year.


All in all, this has been a wonderful year, I've been able to spend a great amount time making and creating and I have found a great place to share it. Thanks for reading and supporting my efforts and experiences.

Wishing everyone a Happy New Year!

Happy Holidays!

*I'm a guest blogger over at Dabbled today! I needle felted a little gnome and wrote up a how to. Dabbled is one of my favorite blogs. Dot dabbles in many things, felted sweater crafts, illustrations, robots, cooking, just to name a few. She also hosts contests that are very fun to participate in. Go check her out!

We had a wonderful time yesterday, quite relaxing.




Denny's mom took pictures of the kids in front of the tree on Christmas Eve,


and I wanted to join in the fun!

Attempts With The Point And Shoot

The good camera is still in the shop, but I just had to take some shots with the old point and shoot. I can't believe this used to be the only camera we had!


Wren likes to 'ride' his finger board on the tree and sometimes I find it there, left for decoration.


I think this shot actually turned out quite nice! Denny took this while we were out playing in the snow yesterday. I don't want to go outside today, it is freezing. We just aren't equipped for this kind of weather here in Portland, OR.


And here is a picture of some craftyness. I cut a cool print off of one t-shirt that wasn't fitting so well (due to shrinkage, I'm sure!) and sewed it onto a plain old brown shirt. Et Voilà! Now I have a one of a kind creation.

OK, now I must go work on more Christmas projects. I'm trying to take pics of them with the old camera and I'm just not pleased. Hurry home Power Shot G9!

Raking Up The Leaves

Or at least trying to. While I was out getting groceries, Denny snapped these pictures.

Violet's Fishy Swimming Party

Violet turned three! She wanted a fishy swimming party. I made a fish cake (how to coming soon), and a birthday crown from The Creative Family.


And these wool felt fish for party favors. We ate cake, opened presents and then all met at the neighborhood pool for a swim. Much fun was had. Hurray for 3!

A Happy Halloween

Carmel Apples from 101 Cookbooks.com, insanely delicious!


Violet and her friend Anna in their fairy costumes sewn from Wee Wonderfuls pattern.


Violet's pumpkin, ready to be carved.


One of Wren's pumpkins getting carved.


left to right: Wren's, Violet's, Wren's, and in back is mine. Denny just got to help carve the kid's pumpkins and didn't get to his own.

Missing: picture of Wren in his costume!

It's Pumpkin Patch Time

We went, we conquered, we found the perfect pumpkins!


We all loved tramping through the field, searching for pumpkins was almost secondary.


Diane from CraftyPod was at The Pumpkin Patch with her parents running a fall photo booth. We sneaked up to say "Hello" and snap a picture. We also sat down and had a family photo taken that turned out great, all of us were looking forward and smiling! Thanks Pam, Kirby and Diane!

Just A Quick Note...

to say that I'll be away for a bit, we are going to my grandpa's funeral. He had a wonderful life and accomplished many great things. I'm sad that he is gone, but I'm looking forward to celebrating his life with the rest of the family, some of whom I haven't seen in years.

Thank you, and we'll talk again when I return.

We Survived!

We were all exhausted by the end, but we survived the first week of school!


Silly face pose for Dad on the way out the door on the first day.


Signing in.


Finding her cubby.

I've got a back log of posts that I've been wanting to get to, some foodie stuff and some crafty stuff too. Hopefully I'll be able to think about more than getting the kids out the door with the appropriate items and then picking them up on time so I can squeeze in some blogging.

What? No Internet??

Our trip to Idaho was wonderful. We went boating and swam in Lake Pend Oreille and spent most of a day at Silverwood Theme and Water Park, and had a great time with my cousin and her family.

We had brought the lap top expecting that we would be able to hook up to the internet somehow. Our expectations didn't quite match with what was probable. We could get dial up for $10 a week, but our lap top doesn't have a phone jack! What?!? So, no internet. I did manage to sneak on at my cousin's house where they too can only get dial up, wow, that is one slow connection! I have forgotten all about my dial up days. I didn't have the patience or the time to wait for pages to upload. So, a week with out the internet...what did we do?

Read books, talked(!) to one another, I got some knitting in, swam, went for a drive, hung out!


Finding round granite stones on the river.


Violet and I being pulled by the boat on the tube!


Denny and Violet swimming in Lake Pend Oreille.


Wren "wading".

I have market pictures to show you from the last two Saturdays. The bread posts are almost ready, I'm making one batch today! And I'm excited to show you my new pin cushion.

Our New Fence

We are a part of a wonderful group called The Barn Raising Collective. It was started by four families who were new home owners and needed help with all the large projects that come with owning a home. Brittney, one of the originals from the group and a good friend, has written more about the group with additional pictures from our fence building party.

The fence that needed to be built was on the property line with the neighbors on the south side of the house.


Denny and our neighbor Sam bought all the supplies, set the posts and figured out the design of the fence a few weeks before the big day.


We had a great turn out.


We wanted to have the fence taller near the back of the yard for more privacy. We also wanted to have a gate and a shorter section so we could still chat with our neighbors.


Snacks for the workers. Some of those delicious black berries I brought home from the market and some Coconut Banana Bread from Baking Bites. We also made them lunch, part of the deal when holding a barn raising. You get workers to do your projects, they get fed. It's a nice trade off!


We had enough people to help us paint a room inside as well. The colors don't show it, but the room was originally an apricot color that I've really disliked. Now it is a lovely blue gray.


Denny finishing the last of the panels.


I loved the various colors of the cedar planks. They wont stay like this though, it will all turn a grayish color. We could seal it, but that would be a whole other work party. I'm just glad to have a new fence!


Our new fence and some of the great workers who helped us build it. It really does take a village. Thank you!