Nests

On these cold days, when everyone is stuck in the house together, hour after hour, everyone tends to carve out little niches around the house for their own personal peace.

Wherever Rose is, she arranges her blankets, green bird friend (named "Friend'), snack, sippy cup and other various toys she's carrying around that day into what I call her nest. She'll sit there happily, watching a movie or what her two crazy siblings are up to. Sometimes her nest is in the middle of the living room floor, her room, behind the couch or in this case, in a laundry basket.

My nest is in my room, on the red love seat. It was moved into our room to make more space in the living room. I love having the couch in my room. With the sun shining in from the two windows, my music, books, and journal, I can sit there all day. What's not pictured here is the space heater, blowing directly onto the couch.
Claire's nest is on her bed, next to her little reading lamp. I can find her there, reading her many books or playing with her dolls. It really is a cozy little corner. (I will soon be painting that green wall a more appropriate girl room color - on my upcoming to do list)
The boys tend to migrate to wherever the action is. If I had my way, my house would be filled with niches, nooks and crannies! All with their own lamp, window and embroidered cushion, of course.

"There may be times when we must make a courageous decision to hope even when everything around us contradicts [our] hope." - Dieter F. Uchtdorf

Random

Well, I've been knocked flat on my back with the mother of all ear infections - actually, it's not the worse I've had, but it's enough. So due to my lack of photos, inspiration (and balance), I'm leaving you with this for today.


Let's hope the antibiotics kick in before tomorrow night - lots to do for Young Women's. I hope you all have a restful evening.

Twilight

I love this time of day; when it's light enough that people leave their windows open, but dark enough that it makes the home come to life. I love driving down the street, with lights shining out of windows, where you can see people making dinner preparations, sharing their day with one another.

You can ask my husband this, for I mention it often, how sad it is to drive by homes (the ones we pass day in and day out) that never, ever open their curtains and light never shines out of the shut-up windows. It makes me sad, somehow. Why would you never want sunshine to come into your home?

While our street is hardly traveled, I hope our neighbors and passer-by-ers are cheered as I am, by our bright windows.

quiet moments

Nothing new going on. Just the day-to-day. Enjoying the sunshine from the warmth of my space heater.

And working on the accompaniment to a new song one of my sweet Young Women picked out to sing at New Beginnings this month. Here's the youtube link - listen to it if you get a chance. It's a beautiful song. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKh3wF7DBPk

Like Mother, Like Daughter

You know those movies/commercials where kids (or clueless husbands) attempt to make a meal or treat for mom and they end up destroying the kitchen? By the time they're done, it looks like every small appliance exploded and there are dishes everywhere. Well, I'm sad to say, that I myself am not the most graceful of cooks.

My kitchen mishaps however, usually involve dropping food-covered utensils, bags of flour, or dishes. I recently burned my eye and wrist when I somehow managed to splash boiling chicken broth all over me. I also recently (while helping my mom with the baking), dropped a new bag of flour all over the pantry floor, causing the bottom of the bag to break open. The kids and Ryan are frequently alarmed when they hear screaming coming from the kitchen as I have injured myself or splashed/broken something.

But while my Mom was here for Christmas, I think I've discovered where I get my kitchen clumsiness from:

Whoops, there's a hole in the flour bag (no, this is not the one I dropped)

A sweet potato mishap, by Mom again

I will tell you one thing, we laughed pretty hard.

O Christmas Tree

I can't tell you how many blogs and magazines I saw last month picturing these giant, woodland beauties; filled with gorgeous homemade ornaments with a decorating theme/color scheme that made you want to cozy up next to a fire and look at the glory of these beautiful trees.

Now for those of you who do NOT have a tree like that, but instead had a 10 year old tree bought at Wal-Mart for $25, decorated and redecorated by tiny hands with ornaments that can only be described as art-projects-gone-wrong, with only half the light strands actually working, this is for you. This is what my tree looked like by Christmas day. Down to one and a half working stands of lights and a reconstructed base after it fell over the day after we put it up.

This has to make you feel better about your tree.

Fox Creek

I love it when it's warm enough for my kids to explore outdoors. It's usually too cold (for me anyway) but those two don't seem to notice. It was probably 35 degrees in this picture and they're outside with jackets and sandals - not approved by me!

Their imaginations allow them to transform the drainage ditch around our property into what Claire has lovingly named, Fox Creek. Though there is no water running through this "creek" (except in heavy rains), they have caught all sorts of fish and have muddied up all of their galoshes and snow boots working on their creek.

Tornados and such

Growing up in Texas, right in the middle of Tornado Alley, we had our fair share of bad storms. I remember school being canceled when a tornado went right through our neighborhood, ripping off roofs, tearing down fences, throwing peoples' sheds around and flipping cars (on our street). Did my family and I go into the basement? NO! Why? Because in Texas, people don't have basements. Nor did we bunker down in the bathroom with a mattress over our heads. In fact, I slept right through it.

So here in Illinois, we get some nasty weather too. Our neighbors, who all have basements, have invited us to join them should there be a tornado. We thanked them, seeing as how we don't have a basement. However, through all the sirens going off, I have yet to panic. So when we had a tornado in our midst the other week, did you find us in our crawl space? Nope, we were on the front porch watching the storm go by with lots of loud hail and lightning.

I caught this right as some thunder hit us - surprise!

Watching the storm

Tiny Clothes

For Christmas, Claire received this doll from her grandparents. My mother-in-law had made two precious dresses for her, but I did not have time to make anything. So I gave Claire some patterns for Christmas and told her that she could pick out which dress she wanted me to make and also the fabric. Of course Claire picked out one of the more difficult dresses. But I must say, even after spending a day and a half (off and on) sewing this dress, I enjoyed doing it and I love how it turned out. Claire did a fantastic job on her fabric choice. It's hard to tell from the picture, but the dress is a emerald green crepe.

Now I just have to finish the cream-colored organza shawl that goes with it. If I didn't enjoy making it so much, I would say next time, lets just pay the $30 and buy the dress!